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The understanding of scriptural / bhAshya quotes

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praNAmsHare KrishnaI was really wondering what stand one should apply while understanding the scriptural & bhAshya statements...I've been taught here in this forum that there are different levels of understanding & different levels of references & we should go accordingly etc. etc. There is no doubt that in sankara bhAshya there is a definite mention of loukika drushti & pAramArthika/shAstra drushti and shankara clearly explains how it has to be understood contextually. When it comes to paramArtha, shankara makes his stand crystal clear : ekarupeNa hi avasthitO yOrthaH sa paramArthaH (Sutra bhAshya 2-1-11)..so there can not be division of reality in paramArtha nor we can say paramArtha can be viewed from two different stand points...ekamEvAdvitIyaM, neha nAnAsti kiMchana ityAdi paramArtha darshana gOcharatvaM pratipadyate...Under these circumstances, how can we understand below bhAshya vAkya?? Unfortunately, here shankara does not say from which stand point he is making the following observation...Let me quote that bhAshya vAkya for the ready reference (repetition with a purpose :-)):// quote //sUtra bhAshya (4-1-13) :The knower of brahman will have come to this conclusion that " I am brahman devoid of *all* agentship and experiencing fruits of actions for all the three periods of time. I was never an agent or experiencer even before this, nor am I such now, nor shall I be such in future " . // unquote//It is a puzzle for the reader of this bhAshya for whom shankara addressing his statement...Ofcourse, jnAni does not need any clarification about his own status & he does not have any doubt about anything (bhidyate hrudaya granthi, chidhyate sarva saMshayaH...says mundaka shruti)...So, shankara must have been addressing this to the ajnAni-s like us who are still in avidyA vyavahAra & having doubts about the status of the jnAni is it not?? ...what he says about post period of jnAna (if at all jnAna is time bound), is meant for the ajnAni-s like us to understand..Here shankara telling us (here *us* means those who are still in avidyA vyavahAra) that jnAni is brahman all the three times & he was/is/will never ever be a katru or bhOktru...this express statement made by shankara for *us* & it seems he had the intention that his siddhAnta followers should not have any doubt in their mind about the post realization period of jnAni...With this background, I leave the following quotes of Sri Prof. VK prabhuji for the discretion of prabhuji-s...Let them decide from what/which reference they have to understand the verdicts of ashtAvakra gIta :// quote // Once Ego vanishes, the JnAni does not feel " There was Bondage earlier; now it has gone " . He only thinks `I am free by nature'. He is nitya-mukta-svabhAvaH.Thus Bondage and mukti are both false. The thought that `there is bondage, it has to go' occurs only in Ignorance. Both – Bondage as well as Mukti – are not pAramArthika truths. They are used only in instruction. All the objections that dvaita-advocates profess to counter the VedAnta-siddhAnta forget this secret.Two facts will be clear now. One, a jIvan-mukta does not consider himself a jnAni or a mukta and others as ajnAnis in Bondage; because, in his view there is no second to the only Self that he is aware of. Secondly he does not consider that he has been freed from bondage. Ramana Maharshi was once asked: " When did you get Enlightenment? " . He replied; " Nothing came to me. I am always what I am ! " . Enlightenment or Mukti does not come to one; it is always one's nature!.// unquote //Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!bhaskar

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