Jnana and Jivanmukti - Pt 1

September 25, 2009

Pranams.

The recent discussions with regards to jnana, vidwat sannyasa and Moksha have

been interesting and illuminating.

The topics that seem to be in play nclude the necessity of anything neeing to be

done after the attainment of aparoksha jnana, something that seems prima facie a

contradiction in terms, and the necessity of sannyasa if firm jnana has been

obtained for the purpose of jivanmukti.

I am presenting here, a humble attempt at a cohesive synthesis of the

traditional positions, over the course of a multi-part series.

Part 1.

Jivanmukti - Jnana plus Sannyasa

What is Jivanmukti? It is verily the pinnacle of human perfection, where a human

attains to the status of the Supreme by a complete annihilation of his ignorance

of his intrinsic non-individuality. It represents a release from the the pairs

of opposites of sorrow and joy and represents an abidance in that Bliss that is

one's very intrinsic nature- the swarupananda. Yah vai bhuma tat sukham – that

which indeed is the iInfinite Incalculable Unexcelled Innumerable – these are

its synonyms; that is sukham, Bliss. On a particle, a minute fraction, of that

Bliss alone does every creature live – Br Up 4.3.32 It is the attainment of the

fullness of one's own Self – so'snute sarvan kaaman saha (– Taittr Up 2.1.1) all

his desires are fulfilled and he attains to a state of complete desirelessness

-ihaiva sarve praviliyanti kaamah – (Mundaka 3.2.1) It is the State of Absolute

Peace (paramam shantim – BG 18.62) that is unconditioned and intrinsic, of one's

very nature (Taittr Up 1.6.2). Such a person has transcended the clutches of

Time and mortality and revels in His intrinsic Eternity. The highest joys in the

Universe are akin to droplet of water in the Ocean of Bliss that is a

jivanmuktas intrinsic nature says Shankara in the Br.Up. In recent times we can

look to the Shankaracharyas of Sringeri (His Holiness Bharata Tirtha) or Kanchi

(His Holiness Chandrasekhara Mahaswami) or Bhagwan Ramana, among many others, as

examples of such Oceans of Supreme Peace (only to help us gain a frame of

reference of what or who is a jivamukta). In the words of Madhusudana Saraswati

- among thousands of people, a seeker who sincerely adopts the janana marga is

extremely rare; even among such men it is very rare to find one who has reaped

the fruit of his jnananishta

Now can there be gradations in such mukti? The answer according to Shankara as

contained in the BSB is a emphatic " no. " And the reason he offers is that

Brahman being homogeneous, mukti which is the very nature of Brahman, also has

to be ekarasah homogenous as well… " Because the Upanishads have definitely

ascertained that state to be the same. For in all Upanishads, the state of

liberation is determined to be uniform in nature, the state of liberation being

nothing but Brahman itself. Brahman cannot be of

many sorts, since Its characteristic indication is declared to be uniform by

such texts…. "

On the other hand …. " knowledge (of Unity) can take place over a short time or

can take longer… " One thus understands this mukti or the status of a jivanmukta

to be without any differentiations or gradations of any sort – " it " – in and of

itself, representing the Absolute.

So one can understand the status of a jivanmukta as being uniform with no kind

of gradations of any sort possible.

Jnana – or the liberating knowledge is the proximate cause of Moksha. Being a

praptasya prapti – the gain of the already gained – it represents a removal of

ignorance or aviyda – so that I realize that my intrinsic nature is of Purnatvam

– in other words - I am Brahman – aham brahmasmi. Now this knowledge is

obtained by a repeated process of shravanam, mananam and nidhidhyasanam. A

person who thus has a doubt-free knowledge of Truth can be said to be a knower.

In the Brhad Up we have such a knower as one of the principal teachers in the

form of Yajnavalkya. It is important to note that Yajnavalkya was not a

jivanmukta. He was knowledgable about tat tvam asi but was not yet established

in Brahman. To gain knowledge OR ATMAJNANA he did not need to renounce anything

– he could remain ensconced in his householder status – have not one but two

wives – debate and score points over his opponents and actually teach people

about Brahmavidya. But when it came to attaining jivanmukti - Yajnavalkya had to

renounce – tyage na eka amrtatvam – and leave his family and renounce his

possessions and retire to the forest to live the life of a mendicant so that he

may obtain nishta in the knowledge. In his Br Up vartika Sureshwaracharya

comments thus:

...Yajnavalkya a householder who possessed knowledge of that wich surpassed all

excellence (i.e. atmajnana) obtained the highest place of Vishnu after attaining

the state of renunciation…

Indeed renunciation (tyaga eva hi) is for all the best means to liberation

(mokshasahdana) for it is ONLY by ONE WHO HAS RENOUNCED that the highest state

(paramam padam) of the individual consciousness can be attained.

So the question remains as to whether after the dawn of doubtless knowledge, is

there anything more that needs to be done? The answer is no. There is nothing

that needs to be DONE once knowledge has been gained, but there may be something

that needs to be UNDONE – particularly in the case of the unprepared mind or a

unprepared student.

Interestingly centuries ago, Swami Vidyaranya talks of " modern " (!) students

being unprepared and hence needing sadhana after the acquisition of knowledge

has been seen to be relevant at least for the past few centuries!

What about Shankara? Does he deal with his scenario of the non-synchronicity of

jnana and moksha? First of all it is important to remember that in Shankara's

schema, Vedanta shravana has to begin with sannyasa. In his Upadesha Sahasri he

explicitly mentions that the teaching should be given ONLY to a total

renunciate. In more recent times both the Sage of Kanchi as well as His Holiness

the Shankaracharya of Sringeri among others have also talked about it being

" ideal " for a student to be a renunciate prior to exposition to Vedanta

shravana. In his commentary on the Vivekachudamani His Holiness Chandrasekhara

Bharati comments. " sannyasya shravanam kuryat one should hear ONLY after

ordination as a sannyasin " . So in the multitude of places where Shankara

emphatically states in his bhashyas that as soon as one gains the understanding

of tat tvam asi in that very instant one is liberated, we should also remember

that he has already made clear who this tat tvam asi upadesha should be given to

and what kind of a adhikari he has in mind. It is like a Professor of surgery

saying that if you spend 2 weeks in practice with him he expects you to be

competent in performing an appendix removal – it goes without saying that what

this Professor has in mind is someone who is already a medical student and has

completed the requisite study of anatomy, and pathology, etc – you cannot now

hold him responsible if an unprepared sixth grader, spends two weeks in training

with him, and is unsure of how to even hold a scalpel in his hand. So when one

wants to read what Shankara's views are on jnana and mukti one cannot ignore the

entire context in which his teachings are based and the very critical

assumptions he is making about the student. After all in his age and time, this

upadesha was a Royal Secret, and could only be transmitted by one Guru to his

direct shishyas after of course ascertaining their mental competency for the

same.

There can be no denying that this would be a ideal situation – perhaps too ideal

to be practical in today's age of freedom, of " google-able " information and its

widespread dissemniation. So it is safe to assume that, with rare exceptions,

all Vedanta students today are not ideally prepared as they devote themselves to

Vedanta vichara and as a consequence, in these students, knowledge may be seen

to arise with no concomitant fruit –i.e. jivanmukti.

Having said that, there are instances even in Shankara's bhashyas where he

clearly differentiates jnana and mukti, and of the consummation of the former

leading into the latter.

(to be continued)

Hari OM

Shri Gurubhyoh namah

Shyam

September 25, 2009

Dear Shyam-ji,

Â

Namaste,

Â

I don't remember the exact words but i presume the sentence " sanyasya sravanam

kuryat " has one more word ie., " eva " .Â Which implies that special emphasis is

laid on the sravana, manana etc. for turiya asramis.Â OneÂ SHOULD ONLY undergo

the vedanta chintana and pranava upasana after the turiya asrama swikara.Â

Â

Then what about smarta grihasthas?Â Do they not have the adhikara of vedanta

adhyayana?

The answer is YES.Â

Â

It is interesting to note that the chief disciple of Vidyaranya was Shri

Ramakrishna Pandita who was *not a sanyasi* to whom the sage taught vedanta

rahasyas.

Â

regs,

sriram

Â

--- On Fri, 25/9/09, shyam_md <shyam_md wrote:

shyam_md <shyam_md

Jnana and Jivanmukti - Pt 1

advaitin

Friday, 25 September, 2009, 7:37 AM

Â

Pranams.

The recent discussions with regards to jnana, vidwat sannyasa and Moksha have

been interesting and illuminating.

The topics that seem to be in play nclude the necessity of anything neeing to be

done after the attainment of aparoksha jnana, something that seems prima facie a

contradiction in terms, and the necessity of sannyasa if firm jnana has been

obtained for the purpose of jivanmukti.

I am presenting here, a humble attempt at a cohesive synthesis of the

traditional positions, over the course of a multi-part series.

Part 1.

Jivanmukti - Jnana plus Sannyasa

What is Jivanmukti? It is verily the pinnacle of human perfection, where a human

attains to the status of the Supreme by a complete annihilation of his ignorance

of his intrinsic non-individuality. It represents a release from the the pairs

of opposites of sorrow and joy and represents an abidance in that Bliss that is

one's very intrinsic nature- the swarupananda. Yah vai bhuma tat sukham â€“ that

which indeed is the iInfinite Incalculable Unexcelled Innumerable â€“ these are

its synonyms; that is sukham, Bliss. On a particle, a minute fraction, of that

Bliss alone does every creature live â€“ Br Up 4.3.32 It is the attainment of

the fullness of one's own Self â€“ so'snute sarvan kaaman saha (â€“ Taittr Up

2.1..1) all his desires are fulfilled and he attains to a state of complete

desirelessness -ihaiva sarve praviliyanti kaamah â€“ (Mundaka 3.2.1) It is the

State of Absolute Peace (paramam shantim â€“ BG 18.62) that is unconditioned and

intrinsic, of

one's very nature (Taittr Up 1.6.2). Such a person has transcended the clutches

of Time and mortality and revels in His intrinsic Eternity. The highest joys in

the Universe are akin to droplet of water in the Ocean of Bliss that is a

jivanmuktas intrinsic nature says Shankara in the Br.Up. In recent times we can

look to the Shankaracharyas of Sringeri (His Holiness Bharata Tirtha) or Kanchi

(His Holiness Chandrasekhara Mahaswami) or Bhagwan Ramana, among many others, as

examples of such Oceans of Supreme Peace (only to help us gain a frame of

reference of what or who is a jivamukta). In the words of Madhusudana Saraswati

- among thousands of people, a seeker who sincerely adopts the janana marga is

extremely rare; even among such men it is very rare to find one who has reaped

the fruit of his jnananishta

Now can there be gradations in such mukti? The answer according to Shankara as

contained in the BSB is a emphatic " no. " And the reason he offers is that

Brahman being homogeneous, mukti which is the very nature of Brahman, also has

to be ekarasah homogenous as wellâ€¦ " Because the Upanishads have definitely

ascertained that state to be the same. For in all Upanishads, the state of

liberation is determined to be uniform in nature, the state of liberation being

nothing but Brahman itself. Brahman cannot be of

many sorts, since Its characteristic indication is declared to be uniform by

such textsâ€¦. "

On the other hand â€¦. " knowledge (of Unity) can take place over a short time or

can take longerâ€¦ " One thus understands this mukti or the status of a

jivanmukta to be without any differentiations or gradations of any sort â€“ " it "

â€“ in and of itself, representing the Absolute.

So one can understand the status of a jivanmukta as being uniform with no kind

of gradations of any sort possible.

Jnana â€“ or the liberating knowledge is the proximate cause of Moksha. Being a

praptasya prapti â€“ the gain of the already gained â€“ it represents a removal

of ignorance or aviyda â€“ so that I realize that my intrinsic nature is of

Purnatvam â€“ in other words - I am Brahman â€“ aham brahmasmi. Now this

knowledge is obtained by a repeated process of shravanam, mananam and

nidhidhyasanam. A person who thus has a doubt-free knowledge of Truth can be

said to be a knower. In the Brhad Up we have such a knower as one of the

principal teachers in the form of Yajnavalkya. It is important to note that

Yajnavalkya was not a jivanmukta. He was knowledgable about tat tvam asi but was

not yet established in Brahman. To gain knowledge OR ATMAJNANA he did not need

to renounce anything â€“ he could remain ensconced in his householder status â€“

have not one but two wives â€“ debate and score points over his opponents and

actually teach people about Brahmavidya. But

when it came to attaining jivanmukti - Yajnavalkya had to renounce â€“ tyage na

eka amrtatvam â€“ and leave his family and renounce his possessions and retire

to the forest to live the life of a mendicant so that he may obtain nishta in

the knowledge. In his Br Up vartika Sureshwaracharya comments thus:

....Yajnavalkya a householder who possessed knowledge of that wich surpassed all