Bhakta's jnAna and jnAni's bhakti

[Guest guest]

Among other things Tim Gerchmez asks the question:

How can the Bhakta and the Jnani shake hands, embrace,

and reach the same conclusion?

I am pulling out an extract from the book: Ten Commandments of Hinduism,

as a possible response to the above and summarising it below.

Krishna, in the gIta, eighteenth chapter, begins the end, the essence of

all his teaching, at verse no.49, which says: Only that man attains

Perfection in Actionlessness whose work is wrought with unfettered mind,

dead desires, subdued lower self and results renounced. Then He goes on:

(Verse No.50): Learn from Me, briefly, how attaining that perfection (of

Actionlessness) one attains brahman, the Supreme, the highest height of

all. Krishna uses a very pregnant phrase here, jnAnasya parA nishTA. This

means the ultimate state of jnAna. The perfect state of Actionlessness is

the parA kAshTA of karma yoga. The next three verses dwell on how and by

what discipline one reaches the brahma-bhAva. And in verse No.54, he

completes the thought process by saying: Such a one who is in brahman,

with soul brightened, sorrows no more, desires no more; his personality,

loving equally all that lives, attains the Supreme Devotion towards Me.

This then is the meeting point of the different schools of philosophy.

After bringing up the discussion to a height, wherein He was talking about

jnAnansya parA kAshTA, the acme of jnAna, starting from verse 50, He now

says such a one attains the apex of bhakti towards Him. Does it mean that

Devotion follows Enlightenment? In the next verse (No.55) He is going to

say that Enlightenment follows Devotion. It all only means that the

supreme state of jnAna and the supreme state of bhakti are the same. What

is described is the jnAni's devotion. He loves equally all that lives. In

the next verse the jnAna of the bhakta is described 'He knows Me as I am'

(Verse No.55) - bhaktyA mAm abhijAnati ... . The becoming of Self into

brahman, is a natural process of reverting to the Original Source. Our

true nature is Divinity and becoming divine is most natural to us. In this

natural state one loves all human beings and the love to the Personal

Manifestation of the Impersonal is a spontaneous effervescence. This is

the parA bhakti - Devotion par excellence. The parA bhakti knows no 'I'

or ' Mine' . The little self is merged in the Supreme Self

Thus verse No.54 says that the acme of Enlightenment is the acme of

Devotion - so jnAna yoga ends in parA bhakti; and verse no. 55 says that

the acme of Devotion is that of knowledge of Reality - so this is bhakti

yoga ending in supreme jnAna. In verse 56 this is linked to karma yoga

with the same acme of perfection. The acme of the three yogas are

identical.

For details on this discussion one may refer to pp. 285-292 of the above

mentioned book.

Pranams to all advaitins.

V. Krishnamurthy

 

===

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

You are invited to visit my latest book entitled GEMS FROM THE OCEAN OF HINDU

THOUGHT VISION AND PRACTICE at

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/contents.html

_______

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Prof. Krishnamurthyji,

 

Hari Om!

 

Thank you very much. In deed, it one of the very good explanations I ever

came across. My pranams to you.

 

Best Regards,

Madhava

>

> V. Krishnamurthy [sMTP:profvk]

> Tuesday, June 22, 1999 3:08 AM

> advaitin

> Bhakta's jnAna and jnAni's bhakti

>

> "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk

>

> Among other things Tim Gerchmez asks the question:

> How can the Bhakta and the Jnani shake hands, embrace,

> and reach the same conclusion?

> I am pulling out an extract from the book: Ten Commandments of Hinduism,

> as a possible response to the above and summarising it below.

> Krishna, in the gIta, eighteenth chapter, begins the end, the essence of

> all his teaching, at verse no.49, which says: Only that man attains

> Perfection in Actionlessness whose work is wrought with unfettered mind,

> dead desires, subdued lower self and results renounced.