Fwd: Study of the three states, a sine qua non for knowing the ultimate?

[Guest guest]

advaitin , Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

wrote:

 

Dear friends,

Recently, I chanced upon a book by one Swamy

Sachidanandeswara, a staunch traditional advaitin, calling in

question even the wisdom of some post-advaitic philosophers. The

author extensively expatiates upon the avasthathriya-viveka, coming

to the conclusion that any philosophy, whether belonging to the

Hindu origin or Western, not containing the wisdom of this, but

relying upon the waking state as an end in itself, and the other

states being merely appendages to strengthen the wisdom of the

waking state, is incomplete, being not capable of bringing in the

understanding of the final beatitude. I find some solid truth in the

averment of this saint, which it is difficult to gainsay. As you all

know, according to the avasthathriya viveka, there is no

experience, mundane or spiritual, beyond the pale of the three

states, which are declared to be unmitigated illusions. In the

scheme of advaita, since all experiences belong to the three states,

found to be

falsified, freedom consists in the extinction of individuality.

According to advaita, the philosophy of the dualistic schools is

based on the fragmented knowledge of the waking state, which is

insufficient-rather a detour-in knowing the absolute truth.

According to advaita, there is no experience of phenomena in the

enlightened state. The question arises as to whether 1)advaitic

wisdom- in view of its being via-negativa essentially-is one of mere

absence of sorrow, not admitting of any positive presence of joy, as

any experience of joy, according to advaita, constitutes the pursuit

of the dual realm, giving place to its opposite or 2) admits of a

positive state of joy, capable of being experienced by a relative

knower or finally it is that both the absence of misery and the

experience of joy constitute a unitary phenomenon outside the pale

of individuality. But one has to note that there are various other

schools of philosophy, Indian and Western. The question arises as to

what constitutes the relevance of the teachings of these schools

vis-à-vis the advaitic wisdom of avasthathriya. Most of the

dualistic schools, in spite of their technical terminologies,

definitely believe in personal immortality, equating spiritual

freedom as one of experience of godhood in a realm of time and

space. These schools confound the state of non-duality to be an

insipid, eerie, dark night of nothingness as advaita denies the

truth of even a personal god. An impartial observer can understand

the truth that the teachings of these dualistic schools are far

removed from the advaitic wisdom of extinction of individuality

through the wisdom of avasththriya, the very sine qua non in

understanding oneself. But still there are some nastika schools like

Buddhism, Jainism, which have got some parallel to advaita,

especially Buddhism, the difference between Buddhism and Advaita

being only their negative and positive terminologies. In recent

times, much impact was made on

the spiritual psyche by the teachings of the late Indian

philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurthy, who decried all belief-systems as

an impediment in understanding oneself, and gave out an iconoclastic

and maverick wisdom, which still contained explosive revelations

such as the falsity of psychological time through the process of

becoming in knowing oneself and coming upon the final beatitude, the

questions relating to death, reincarnation, the fallacy of

individual salvation, the unreality of an individuality continuing

after death, the fact of the stream not admitting of several

individuals psychologically, but being merely a concoction of

thought, a material process, the dimension of the sacred, the

emptiness, creation, and finally, the origin. The question arises as

to what constitutes the position of the schools other than advaita,

some of them being essentially antagonistic to advaita, a few of

them containing some elements similar to advaita, whether these

teachings can be

categorized under one or more of the following classes: 1) Whether

these so-called alien teachings are half-way through the sovereign

wisdom of advaita, 2) whether they are synonymous with advaita

differing only in verbal description, 3) and lastly whether they

constitute an independent path, the avasthathriya of advaita being

merely a formula stumbled upon by some great men, and that there

are other equally valid means of knowing oneself. The first and last

seem to be untenable to me; the second seems to be valid. Further,

in the light of the supreme averment of advaita, what relevance do

the dualistic, devotional, schools, have in the scheme of

understanding oneself, since they hardly talk of the three states?

Or is there mention in some schools of this? Other than Saiva-

Siddhantha, which is an essentially yogic methodology albeit the

fact of immense bakthi outpourings by great saints, I do not find

mention of this terminology of avasthathriya in any schools. Of

course, the yogachara idealism and the madhyamika talk extensively

the terminologies of dream states, equating the waking phenomena

with the dream states, although the substratum in these schools is

identified with the fleeting states of the buddhi and the void.

I would request the learned members of the

group who have intense spiritual longing- all of us have that

longing; otherwise, why should we talk about these matters instead

of indulging in a nice siesta- to offer their exchanges. This is not

merely academic, but vitally existential. If this discussion is

considered to be outside the purview of the causes espoused by this

forum, this may be kindly ignored.

 

yours truthfully,

Sankarraman