Bhakti and Jnana .............Wave Wooing the Ocean !

[Guest guest]

(From B.S.B. I.i.12)

 

The answer (of the Vedantin) is: Brahman is known in two aspects -

one as possessed of the limiting adjunct constituted by the diversities

of the universe which is a modification of name and form, and the

other devoid of all conditioning factors and opposed to the earlier.

There are many texts like the following which, by making a division

between the subject matter of knowledge and ignorance, show in a

thousand ways these two aspects of Brahman: "Because when there is

duality, as it were, then one sees something... But when to the knower

of Brahman everything has become the Self, then what should one see

and through what?" (Brh.IV.v.15) " That is the infinite (absolute

Brahman) where (the illumined) one does not see anything else, does

not hear anything else, does not know anything else; while that is the

finite (qualified Brahman) where one sees something else, hears

something else, knows something else. That which is infinite is verily

immortal, while that which is finite is mortal" (Ch. VII.xii.7), " It is

without parts, action, change, defect, and virtue and vice; It is the

supreme bridge leading to immortality, and It is like fire that has burnt

out its fuel" (Sv.VI. 19)

((from trans. by Swami Gambhirananda pub. Advaita Ashrama))

||||||||||||||||||||||||

 

Namaste Adiji and all advaitins,

 

All this is well known and I reproduce it merely to remind us why, as I

think would be generally agreed, the distinction between the Bhakta

and the Jnani is not an absolute one.

Q: What is it that we know when we know?

A: Limiting adjuncts

Q: What are limiting adjuncts?

A: Forms that pure consciousness takes in order that the mind which

is insentient and separate may know that which it knows

Q: How are limiting adjuncts impressed on the mind?

A: By a type of superimposition similar to that experienced in

confusion bearing in mind that confusion is a sub-species of the

unknowable general avidya which is unknowable because it is

knowing as such and not any particular knowledge.

Q: What causes consciousness as it were to select the limiting

adjuncts that it does? Why is there a watch and a table and a book

and not when we put a watch on the book we get an object called a

watch-book??

A: You're getting tricky. Name and Form arises out the world we

have and the mind we have, in short, Nature.

 

There is this thing called darshan. Certain beings, places, objects are

but diaphanes whose limiting forms barely contain them. The bhakta

merges, the jnani emerges.

 

Best Wishes,

Michael.

[Guest guest]

Thank you Om-ji for your valuable commentary on this month's topic. i

am honored an eminent member like you found my 'post' worthy of

attention.

 

But you noticed me struggling to catch my breath and came to help me

and i appreciate that very much!

 

Durga Devi had SEVERAL 'Matrikas' to assist Her in her fight

against the forces of IGNORANCE ( represented by demons like

Mahisa) ! These Matrikas were Brahmani , Maheshvari, Rudrani,

Vaishnavi, Varahi, Narasimhi, Koumari, Indrani and Chamundi !

 

So, omji i am going to appoint you as one of the 'Matrikas' TO O

assist me in exploring this topic of 'Bhakti and Jnana' ! you please

provide the vedantic insights and i will come up with my thoughts

on 'bhakti' !

 

Other learned members are more than welcome to joiun this army !

After all the commander-in-chief is only as strong as his Battalion! i

 

The brihadarnaya quotes are wonderful! in fact, some of the quotes i

had planned to use was

 

Please read how Sage Yajñavalkya explained to his Wife Maitreyi, A

vedic philosopher in her own right , the 'Romance' of the Soul !

In truth, it is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear;

but for the love of the Soul in the husband that a husband is dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear;

but for the love of the Soul in the wife that a wife is dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of children that children are dear;

but for the love of the Soul in children that children are dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of riches that riches are dear;

but for the love of the Soul in riches that riches are dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of religion that religion is dear;

but for the love of the Soul in religion that religion is dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of power that power is dear;

but for the love of the Soul in power that power is dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of the heavens that the heavens are

dear;

but for the love of the Soul in the heavens that the heavens are dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of the gods that the gods are dear;

but for the love of the Soul in the gods that the gods are dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of creatures that creatures are dear;

but for the love of the Soul in creatures that creatures are dear.

 

In truth, it is not for the love of the all that the all is dear;

but for the love of the Soul in the all that the all is dear.

 

It is the Soul, the Spirit, the Self, that must be seen and be heard

and have our thoughts and meditation, O Maitreyi.

When the Soul is seen and heard, is though upon and is known,

then all that is becomes known...

 

Religion, power, heavens, beings, gods, and all will abandon us

if we think that they are apart from the Soul.

Because religion, power, heavens, beings, gods, and all rest on the

Soul.

 

You state

 

'The bhakta merges, the jnani emerges.'

 

This was true of Sri Ramakrishna - a state of 'Tanmayata '(ONENESS)

with his Divine Mother Kali !

 

In the case of Jnanis like Sri Ramana when the Light of Knowledge

strikes, the light of Devotion also follows!

 

Sri Ramana , the great Jnani sings ecstatically in a mood of extreme

Devotion to Lord ARUNACHALA

 

 

Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala!

Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala!

 

 

 

Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on Thee

in the heart, Oh Arunachala!

Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who dwell on their

identity with Thee, Oh Arunachala!

 

 

Display Thy beauty, for the fickle mind to see Thee for ever and to

rest, Oh Arunachala!

The strumpet mind will cease to walk the streets if only she find

Thee. Disclose Thy Beauty then and hold her bound, Oh Arunachala!

The mind by her unsteadiness prevents my seeking Thee and finding

peace; grant me the vision of Thy Beauty, Oh Arunachala!

 

 

Who can ever find Thee? The Eye of the eye art Thou, and without eyes

Thou seest, Oh Arunachala!

Being the sight of the eye, even without eyes find me out Thyself.

Who by Thyself can find out Thee, Oh Arunachala?

 

Just a few lines to show even after attaining the 'unattainable' the

greatest of all Jnanis, Sri Ramana bhagwan thanks the Lord for his

Divine Grace !

 

Sri Ramana says:

 

""To know God is to love God. Therefore the path of bhakti and of

jnana are same. "

 

"The thought of God is divine favour, is by nature prasad or arul. It

is by God's grace that you think of God."

 

"Take the case of bhakti. I approach Isvara and pray to be absorbed

in Him. I then surrender myself in faith and by concentration. What

remains afterwards? In the place of the original 'I' perfect self-

surrender leaves a residium of God in which the 'I' is lost. This is

the highest form of parabhakti (supreme bhakti), prapti (surrender)

or the height of vairagya."

 

Thank you, Om-ji ! You give me the strength and courage to continue

my journey on this INNER AND OUTER PILGRIMAGE!

 

love and regards

[Guest guest]

Namaste AdiMA!

 

Let me begin with your title "Bhakti and JnAna … Wave Wooing the

Ocean!" What an apt caption for the discussion! Wave and ocean is

an analogy Sw. Dayanandaji often employs effectively to articulate

the Advaitic Truth of Oneness. Thus, bhakti in a bhakta becomes the

individual wave and it wooes the Truth – the Ocean of JnAna which

very much it is in ultimate Advaitic analysis.

 

I have seen that our Neelakantanji has already affirmed that bhakti

and jnAna are not two different things. Yes, as I have repeated

here umpteen number of times, it is the two inter-complementary sides

of the same coin. In a nutshell, there can't be any true repeat true

bhakti without jnAna or vice versa.

 

We can all quote verses from scriptures and prayers to prove this

point as we have done several times in the past. There have been

several vociferous debates on this issue. However, I would like to

try a different approach.

 

Let each one of us, contributors to this discussion, analyse our own

efforts towards the Advaitic goal. Let me start with mine.

 

In my pre-teen boyhood, I had some bhakti in me thanks due to a grand

maternal uncle who had made it compulsory that all the children in

the household should say prayers at dusk time before dinner is

served. Much to his chagrin, which often provoked rebukes and

punishment, we used to chant whatever was prescribed in a very

disinterested manner. Most of the stuff was in Sanskrit. How could

we be earnest in the job while the smell and sound of seasoning food

(tAlikkum osai in your dear Tamil) were emanating from the adjacent

kitchen!

 

However, I had a childhood fancy for RamAyaNa as bows and arrows were

my favourite weapons in those days. I had a great soft corner for

Hanumanji too – the tormentor of Lanka. We had a precious

illustrated copy of AdhyAtma RamAyaNa by Shri Tunchat Ezhuthachan in

the house. Although this version of Ramayana is in Malayalam,

Ezhuthachan's poetry would baffle anyone as to whether it is in

Malayalam or Sanskrit. I was so fascinated by the voluminous work,

mainly due to the illustrations it contained, that I completed

reading it at least twice before I was ten or eleven. That was some

pUrva saMskAra, I should imagine. Otherwise, why did it happen to be

there and exert such a great influence on me in my boyhood?

 

The work also had Malayalam equivalents for difficult Sanskrit words,

which later helped in my Sanskrit lessons taught by indifferent

Sanskrit pundits in High School. I will give you here a piece of

Ezhuthachan's poesy to judge for yourself how much of what he said is

Malayalam. The context is RAvaNa taking Sita away from PancavaTI.

JatAyu, who confronts him likens RAvaNA's action to a dog's stealing

and carrying away the sacred offering from a sacrifice.

 

Adhwarattingal chennu shunakan mantram koNTa suddhamAM puroDAshaM

koNTupokunnapole.

 

Count the Sanskrit words: adhwara, shunaka, mantra, suddha,

puroDAsha. What is there left for Malayalam except the connecting

verbs and inflexions? Later on in this thread, I am going to quote

the Aditya HridayaM prayer from this RamAyaNa. It is full Sanskrit,

sweet and rhythmic, highly advaitic, which any person with a little

familiarity with Sanskrit can easily remember and happily chant.

 

Why am I saying all this? Yes. This is the environment in which I

grew up and it was not of my making. It was granted to me. By

whom? We will see that later.

 

Then the fall began. Communism was the then raging fad of Kerala. I

became an atheist in my college days and was in the habit of pooh-

poohing all and sundry who sounded theistic. That included several

revered personages. Once Shri Satya Sai Baba visited our place. My

friends and I laughed at him standing just a few feet away from the

dais where he was seated – an impertinent action which I have

regretted all through my later life. I was in the clutches of

materialistic influence and my Gods then were Marx. Engels, Lenin and

Mao Tse Tung. Let me confess I hadn't read any one of them

properly. Being a materialist, rationalist, empiricist and atheist

was the fashion and I used to derive the required passion for the

role from my eldest and elder brothers, who were then vociferous

communists. Of course, they have changed like me in following years

and the elder one is a devout Shiva bhakta now, who has named his

house in Kerala "Namah ShivAya". The weather was thus very fine for

me to grow materialistic sprouts. Another given. Given by whom? We

have to see.

 

Then followed years of existential angst of my Bombay days. Sartre

and Camus were the new gurus. Again, I haven't read Sartre

substantially. Life was a chaos. Bet it chaos; "If death is the

end of life, why should life all labour be?" I used to sing after

Tennyson. I can't describe here the decadence and decay to which my

hypocritical existential fad lowered me! Why? Sure, the person who

wrote the scenario for me had the answer.

 

Then, came in the light in the form of "Autobiography Of a Yogi",

which I read in one sitting foregoing food and sleep. It threw me

into convulsive weeping. I knew there was something wrong with me.

Why did it happen? Someone, sure, had the answer and wanted me to

rise up.

 

Things then changed very fast. In a couple of years I was abroad,

materially kind of well-off, keeping company with the works of Sw.

Chinmayanandaji on the GiTA and the Upanishads. Then, came in Sw.

Dayanandaji's message and brilliant interpretations through a

disciple of his stationed in the place where I am now, which bestowed

on me an academic understanding of advaita. Spontaneous contemplation

on the truth of the scriptures became my natural mode. Old Hanumanji

re-emerged from my boyhood days and I could appreciate the Advaitic

Truth ringing in his words `vastutastu twamevAhaM" (I am indeed you,

dear Rama). Then, I met Mata AmritAnandamayi Devi and my days of

Devi bhakti blossomed.

 

Thus, in my case, an academic understanding of Advaita, of what I

really am, has preceded bhakti. The bhakti of my boyhood with its

roots in previous saMskArAs perhaps remained buried under the chaotic

debris of my later life as a seed awaiting to be watered by Advaita.

Anyway, my bhakti now is rooted on Advaita and I cannot now tell the

difference between the two. It is a matter of being in love with

myself as the Truth of Advaita. There can't be anything else other

than me. Everything is there within me, as me, as an Ocean of Love

called Love.

 

That statement is again academic yet because, as a person, I am still

confronted with many human failures and weaknesses. But, the fact

that I have always existed with all this universe in me and I will

ever be there embracing them to my bosom – a knowledge I have imbibed

from Advaita - has really sunk in irreversibly. I thank my Advaita

teachers for this blessing. The erstwhile confused, hypocritical

materialist, communist, rationalist and existentialist has been

sublated in the One that I really am like icebergs crashing and being

one with the ocean. They had all to be there once upon a time for

this coalescence to have occurred. The RamAyanA boy has ultimately

triumphed!

 

Now, to the question I was asking all along? Who made and

orchestrated this chequered scenario? If I say the Brahman of

Advaita, I may be speaking the truth but running into epistemological

hurdles. Besides, I can't do that standing on the platform of an

academic understanding. I have to realize it. It is here that my

iStadevatA, the Devi, comes in. In my ongoing struggle with my

current failings and weaknesses, She is the anchor. Brahman

personified. Whether that personification sublates in an adhyAropa

apavAda towards realization is unimportant as of now. Let that

realization dawn on me on its own sweet will. As I said before, let

Her wait, for She is my mom and girl-friend put together.

 

Don't we sing:

 

mAtA ca pArvatI devI pitA devo maheshwaraH

bhAndavaH shivabhaktasca swadesho bhuvanatrayaM?

 

(ParvatI Devi is my mom, Shiva is my dad, His devotees are my

relatives and my land is everywhere where I am in the three states of

sleep, dreaming and wakefulness.) These are Sankara's own words! Can

life be any better than this? Where is the need for an ultimate

apavAda in search of a liberation or moksha? Like Sw. Vivekanadaji

asked in another context: "Who wants it when this understanding is

given?". Wanting is being incomplete.

 

Incidentally, that "swadesho bhuvanatrayaM" justifies Sw.

Chinmayanandaji's affirmation that if one is in the US, US is one's

home (Courtesy: Hershji). Just imagine the freedom advaita bhakti

grants – be a flitting golden sparrow through the three worlds

singing His/Her glory. What else can we ask for? It is in this

intoxication (lahari) that Sankara wrote all his countless prayers

for the benefit of all of us.

 

Now before concluding this, let me take a look at the prayer you sang

at the opening of your post:

 

sarva-ved'aanta-siddh'aanta-gocharaM tam agocharam

gov'indaM param'aanandaM sad-guruM praNato'smy aham ..(Viveka

Chudamani Verse1)

 

Govinda, to whom I prostrate here, is available or attainable

(gocharaM) through Vedanta. That Govinda is the Devi in my case. She

is attainable because She, as the Consciousnees of Advaita, is verily

me. I am always available to myself. Vedanta helps me understand

this. But She seems unattainable (agocharaM) to those that don't

discern. Advaita, encapsulated in the VivekachUdAmaNi, opens one's

eyes (chakSurunmIlanam – Ref: Guru Stotra) and enables one to know

that that agochara Govinda or Devi is always available (gocharaM) as

one oneself. Bhakti and jnAna sing and dance hand-in-hand in this

prayer. I must say your decision to insert this prayer in the

beginning of your post speaks volumes for your wisdom.

 

The Devi, the Consciousness of Advaita, was there with the RamayaNa

boy as Sitaji. He didn't notice Her. She was there even when the

world upturned on him with Marx and Sartre. She came as

the "Autobiography of a Yogi", Hanumanji and ultimately as the Devi –

Consciousness. The chakSurunmIlanaM has taken place through advaita

and the boy who loved bows and arrows now knows that She is the one

unceasingly unraveling his worlds so that he can flit through them

like a golden sparrow. There is no end to that flitting. May he not

forget to sing Her glories enroute! Bless Him, Ma!

 

AdiMa, if I have not bored, more will follow in my humble attempt to

enliven your topic. Sorry for the delay. You know the reasons.

Above all, kindly forgive the errors in this hasty writing.

 

PraNAms.

 

Madathil Nair