Why a commentary?

[Guest guest]

Namaste, Sri Nairji, Sri Stigji,

 

I could not keep up with the Advaitin postings for quite some due to some

technical problems, and as a result my mail box got almost choked.

 

However, I thought I would mention a few words about the exchange of mails that

took place between Sri Nairji and Sri Stigiji.

 

 

 

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Sri Madathilji wrotewrote:

 

(b) If it is the former, then isn't continuous contemplation, as stressed by

Maniji, still required for that academic appreciation to really sink in and

consume the aspirant?

 

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Sri Stigiji replied

 

My answer: But it is not about "academic appreciation".

 

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Sri Nairji wrote:

 

Here Swamiji seems to suggest that the acquisition of intuition itself is

freedom from samsAra. One may have that intuition off and on. To be free from

the shackles of samsAra, doesn't one need to have it uninterruptedly like the

stitaprajna of SrImad hagawad

 

GItA?

 

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Stigji replied:

 

My answer: But "intuition" in this context shall not be interpreted as something

temporarily, that is, like samadhi or deep sleep for instance. Perfect knowledge

of vakyas such as "That thou art" eradicates ignorance and thereby gives rise to

the intuition of Brahman. This intuition is the means of final liberation. It is

the very realization that comes the very moment avidya is eradicated through the

study of the shruti. It is not a separate pramana existing as an alternative to

shruti or anything.

 

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First of all continuous contemplation is required for that disciple who says, at

the end of Teaching by the Guru:

 

“Upanishadam bho bruhi…..”

 

i.e. for those who could not grasp what Self-knowledge is all about and, not to

those who say:

 

“na aham manye suveda iti no na veda iti veda cha,

 

yaha naha tat veda tad veda no na veda iti veda cha”

 

i.e. “I do not think, ‘I know Brahman well enough (i.e. I consider) ‘Not that I

do not know; I know and I do not know as well’, He among us, who understands

that utterance, ‘Not that I do not know; I know and I do not know as well’ knows

that Brahman”.

 

To my very little understanding, there is “knowing” in the usual sense we use

knowing, at all involved here.

 

 

 

It is “prati bodha viditam matam” i.e. in every piece of knowledge, It shines as

Consciousness i.e. “Aham” Janami and there is no separate knowing required to

know that “I” that knows. It is a fact; and all that is required is to

“recognize” that fact.

 

Self always shines as “prati bodha viditam” in every piece of knowledge, It

shines as Consciousness/ awareness. Even if one wants to reject/ignore the Self,

it is just impossible, It can neither be accepted nor rejected. It is a fact

always shining.

 

The Sruti says this Self is Brahman and Brahman is Sat Chit Ananda. We can

understand and “own” up that Self is Sat Chit since Self is Brahman and Brahman

is Sat Chit, but somehow we find it difficult to accept It is also Ananda,

because “prati bodha viditam” is just consciousness/awareness, and how that

consciousness/ awareness is also Ananda is something we have yet to understand.

This may be because we confuse between Ananda and Santosha, or happiness and

pleasure.

 

Suffering or pain is opposite to pleasure, but not opposite to happiness.

 

What the Upanishads unfolds, (it only my understanding) is “Self is Brahman” or

Jeeva is Brahman. This fact is established through “jahad ajahad” lakshana, i.e.

dropping contradictory (temporary) attributes, tatashta lakshanas, in two or

more objects and accepting the essence which is the same in them, and knowing

them as one and the same from the point of their essential nature, swaroopa.

 

I do not think any “academic appreciation” is required

 

It is like “the crow is black”. No academic appreciation is required here as it

is purely a question of knowing a fact. Even to say “owning up that” is not

correct, as there is neither owning up nor disowning up involved here. My eyes

say the crow’s color is black and since I have sradha in my eye, as it is a

right pramana for perceiving colours, etc. I come to know that fact. Even

“intuition” has no place in pramana janita knowledge, i.e. knowledge born from a

valid means or instrument of knowledge, and Sabda Pramana is one of the valid

means of knowledge.

 

To be free from the hold of Samsara, Sri Shankara Acharya says in Tattvopadesha

(I do not know whether it was actually written by Him, as I cannot verify it):

 

“bhava advaitam sada kuryat kriyad advaitam na kachinchit, advaitam trishu

lokeshu, na advaitam guruna saha”

 

i.e. “One should inwardly reflect on the Truth of non-duality always, but should

not seek to apply the teaching in his actions. Meditation on non-duality is

proper in respect of all the three worlds, (but it should not be done in respect

of the Guru).”

 

The Truth should always be reflected upon, because there is a chance of one

forgetting it, as one engages in actions always which involve duality.

 

As Lord Sri Krishna says “na hi kaschit kshanam api jatu thistati akarmakrut

karyate hi avashaha karma sarvaha prkrutijai gunaihi”

 

When karma is undertaken duality appears, but one who reflects on the Truth

continuously knows for certain that the doer is mithya and the mithya doer does

mithya karma in the mithya world. By reflection, he always recognizes the fact

of Jeeva Brahma Aikyam though he appears to be doing karma always. When the

result of karma comes, he also knows the “enjoyer or experiencer of the result

is mithya”.

 

There is no more reaction in him as he knows even the action itself is mithya

for a mithya purpose.

 

This way he always experiences “internal peace” when he continues to act in the

world, like any other person.

 

In short to put it in modern psychology language “he has emotional maturity”.

 

Om Shanti:, Shanti:, Shanti:

 

Hari Om and warm regards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢

 

 

[Guest guest]

1-II-23. The Self cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas,

not by intelligence nor by much hearing. Only by him, who meditates

Seeking the Truth, can It be attained. To him the Self reveals Its own

nature.

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Truth in a nutshell.

 

Love to all

Harsha

 

/join

 

 

 

 

"Love itself is the actual form of God."

 

Sri Ramana