Scripture is just a tool

[Guest guest]

--- Tony O'Clery <aoclery wrote:

> Namaste,

>

> Sutras, shastras, puranas etc are just tools to help realise what we

> are searching for is where we are. Concentration that's all.

 

Tony you are right in one sense. pramaaNa means a valid means of

knowledge. If someone says this is true - immediate question is how do

you know. Hence how or by what or by means of what - becomes a

necessory tool for knowledge. If someone says 'I can see, therefore it

is true'. If I see a snake then 'it is a snake' is the truth but if

that conclusion is contradicted by our next experience then we need to

resolve that too - a snake that I concluded before is not really a

snake since I have a better means (pramaaNa) to establish the truth of

the object. If the enquiry is of the nature of the subject of the

inquirer himself, then we cannot use any pramaaNa that is of the type

that rests on objective analysis since they belong to the category of

anaatma. Hence scripture using the words in such a way that reveals by

implication the underlying truth becomes only pramaaNa. Hence here

Scripture is not just any tool as we are familiar in the objective world

but that which uses the words by implication reveals the truth that

cannot otherwise be revealed. That is evident in the very statement

'tat tvam asi' you are that. A literary meaning may be absurd but by

implication and inquiry with proper frame of mind and the teacher to

support, the truth gets resolved - like 'this is that john' - since by

simple perception this john at time 't' and place 'p' looks completely

different from that john at time t' and place p'. The words reveal the

truth provided the student and the teacher know this john and that john

to some extent. Then only the teacher's words become a pramaaNa or means

of establishing that this bald ugly lookng john is indeed the same as

that cute litle boy, john. The knowledge that this john and that john is

immedite (not mediate)- all I need is faith in the teacher's word. I

donot not have to sit down and pray that this john is the same as the

john nor I have to meditate on the statement that 'this john is the same

as that john'.

 

I should have faith in the words of the teacher and the scriptures. That

is called shraddha. All other means are only for purification of the

mind including meditation. The mahavaakya-s provide the essential truth

- the rest is to establish the proper frame of the mind for the seeker

to see the truth of the statement of the scriptures.

 

Hari OM!

Sadananda

 

 

=====

What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift

to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.

 

 

 

The New Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.

http://search.