Nirvikalpa samAdhi in shankara's advaita vEdAnta- PART-III

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praNAms to all truth seekers

Hare Krishna

 

Sri Shankara bhagavadpUjyapAda sadgurubhyo namaH

Sri SatchidAnandEndra Saraswathi paramagurubhyo namaH

Sri Ashwatha NarayaNa Avadhani sri gurubhyo namaH

 

I hope this would be the last but one part in this series. In the Part-II

we've seen how shankara without any ambiguity distinguish two type of jnAna

& its results. Though there are plenty of quotes from shankara bhAshya

which are clearly gives the picture of bifurcation of vastu tantra &

purusha tantra jnAna, due to space/time constraints I've picked only few of

them. Those who are interested to know more about it, kindly study in

detail the samanvayAdhikaraN bhAshya & in kArika's advaita prakaraNa

bhAshya. In this part I shall try to bring out the references of shankara

bhAshya wherein he explicitly deals with very very important aspect

*anubhava* & in the next part I'll take standard terminologies of PY such

as dhAraNa, dhyAna, samAdhi etc. & its contextual meaning in the bhAshya

vAkya samucchaya.

 

Since we have already talked a lot about YS's samAdhi & vEdAnta's Atma

jnAna, it is also required to know what is the role of *anubhava* in

advaita vEdAnta. Because this *anubhava* is what we've been talking all

these days...whether it is motionless state of nirvikalpaka anubhava of YS

or it is samyag darshanAnubhava of Atmaikatva jnAna etc. etc. Shankara

also gives great importance on *anubhava* which is universal to all

irrespective of cast & creed & he categorically states that vaiyuktika

anubhava (individual experience) cannot be the valid pramANa for the

siddhAnta nirNaya of advaita. Though he has not completely sidelined the

result of individual sAdhana-s like siddhis (subtle powers), samAdhi-s

(trance state), dEvatA darshana (vision of celestial beings) etc. etc. he

clearly states these cannot be the yard stick to determine shruti

pradipAdita brahma tattva. Since the experiences of these individuals

varies from person to person, the *anubhava* can not be generalized here

based on those experiences. That is the reason why brama jignAsa is an

independent quest & this cannot be enjoined to purusha tantra pradhAna

*dharma jignAsa*. This brahma jignAsa should be done strictly in

accordance with shruti-s & sArvatrika pUrNAnubhava ( The universal complete

experience).

 

In this world, each individual has his/her own experience depending upon

his efforts in various fields...Let it be material experience gained

through his professionalism in material world or divine experience gained

through antaranga sAdhana like japa, dhyAna, upAsana etc. We have heard

plenty of these divine experiences through the biographies of noble souls

like bhagavAn ramaNa maharshi, Sri rAmakrishna parama hamsa, mAta

amrutAnanda mayi, paramahamsa yOgAnanda etc. etc. Some of these noble

souls gained these divine feelings through dedicated sAdhana towards it &

some of them experienced it by merely doing vichAra on it. But you should

agree with me parama hamsa's continuous association with kALi mAta & his

divine conversation with her, his vision of Jesus christ, his familiar

state of nirvikalpa etc., mAta amrutAnanda mayi's dEvi bhAva, krishna

bhAva, paramasa yOgananda's bAbAji darshana, krishna darshana etc. etc. are

all *individual experiences* (vaiyuktika anubhava) only. It is fine & we

will whole heartedly respect it & worship them as noble souls. But can we

determine vEdAnta siddhAnta based on these *individual experiences*?? If

you consider the doctrine of vEdAnta is universal & applicable without the

limited barriers of space, time & individual experiences....then it should

convey the truth that is sArvakAlika & equally applicable to ALL. vEdAnta

donot deny these experiences but we cannot do siddhAnta nirNaya based on

these individual experiences.

 

Because, one divine incarnation through his sAdhana gains some subtle

powers & shows it in the public & tells his followers " see this is the

siddhAnta" follow it, you will attain final emacipation. After sometime,

another *pavAda puruSha* (miracle man) takes over the seat & shows *more*

power of miracles than the previous one & tells his followers " see what

you've been following all these days were mere rubbish, do what I say, you

will difinitely get the liberation" We have been witnessing this type of

episodes since the time immemorial. Under these circumstances how can we

say who said it right & on what basis??

 

It is appropriate here to recall shankara's sUtra bhAshya on these

observations. He says in 2-1-1 " ShakyaM kapilAdInAM siddhAnAm

apratihatajnAnatvAt iti chEt! na ! siddhEpi sApEkshatvAt! Since kapila,

kaNAda siddha purusha's have attained siddhis they can preach paramArthA

jnAna no?? shankara says even these siddhis gained through individual

sAdhana is relative (sApEkShata) & cannot be taken it as the yard stick to

preach jnAna. He continues to say in the same sUtra bhAshya : "

prasiddhamAhAtmyAnumatAnAmapi thIrthankarANAm, kapilakaNabhuk prabhrutInAM

*parasparavipratipatti darShanAt!! Shankara tells here noble souls like

kapila kaNAda etc. who were the great siddhA purusha-s will differ

themselves in paramArtha tattva & declarations of those cannot be treated

as shruti pratipAdita satya since they are talking through their individual

experiences howsoever powerful it may be!!!

 

It is quite evident from the above shankara bhAshya statements that

individual experiences, occult powers, miracles, savikalpa, nirvikalpa

samAdhi experiences of certain people cannot be the valid premise for

paramArtha nirNaya. Then what is required for siddhAnta nirNaya??

Shankara says this *experience* which is capable enough to determine

brahma tattva should be uniform in all places, in all time & in all human

beings.

 

In sUtra bhAshya (2-1-11) shankara says : "taccha samyagjnAnaM yEkarUpaM

vastutantratvAt! lOkE tad vishaya jnAnaM samyag jnAnaM iti uchyAte!! yathA

agnirushNa iti!! tatra yEvaM sati saMyagjnAnE puruShANAM vipratipattiH

anupapannA" Oh!! how beautiful shankara's statements are!!!, through guru

karUna, even from the mediocre knowledge of sanskrit I have, I could able

to grasp the shankara's declaration about vastu tantra ...I dont think the

prabhuji's of this list who are studying shankara for decades together &

great scholars of sanskrit would find any difficulty in understanding

purports of it. The knowledge which is realized through vastu tantra

jnAna is equal to one & all since it is in the control of objects /

vastu-s, like fire...We cannot modify the knowledge of fire according to

our whimsical thinking & say it is water...we have to realize fire as

*fire* only as it is...noway, the cognizer of this fire can influence the

characteristics of fire & say it is water!! The fire is *fire* for all the

human beings at all time & at all space...This vastu tantra *anubhava* is

called sArvatrika pUrNAnubhava this is not nirbIja, sabIja,

nirvikalpa-savikalpa, guNa rahita, guNa pUrNa, saMprajnATha-asaMprajnATha

samAdhi experience of few individuals...This anubhava is what explained in

bruhadAraNyaka shruti also ayamAtma sarvAnubhuH ..shankara while commenting

on this says " sarvAtmAnA sarvaM anubhavatItI sarvAnubhuH"...

 

Without knowing the difference between individual experience & universal

experience we have been trying to equate samAdhi with Atma jnAna &

endlessly arguing samAdhi of PY is pUrNAnubhava without giving an iota of

consideration to shankara's clear cut definitions to this effect.

 

I shall stop here...in the next part we will take the remaining pending

issues as listed in Part-II.

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar