Mananam

 vidyate na khalu kascid upAya˛ sarvalokaparitosakaro yah | sarvathA svahitAm Acaraneeyam¸ kim¸ karisyati jano bahujalpa || One can find (or knows) no way of completely satisfying the whole world. By all means one should manage one's own welfare. What can criticizing people do to you? Jivan Mukti Viveka – 2.4.48 The context for this - is the section on _suddhAsuddhavAsanA_  in Jivan Mukti Viveka. Here while contemplating on how to safeguard knowledge (or one's sraddha in Brahma Vidya), I came across this sloka. The motivation for my investigation is - if one has done Sravanam, Mananam for few years - there arises this clarity that this Atma Bhavam has its basis on the Atman - which is Pure Chaithanyam. Yet due to Vasana Dosham (i.e. tendency to persist with Superimposition and consider the superimposition as real), we are subject to mental vacillation, mood swings etc.... so how to protect the Sraddha on Brahma Vidya ? While thinking thus - I saw this beautiful sl...

  (On the occassion of  Gītā Jayanti festival) Acronyms – Mbh – Mahābhārata (Critical Edition); BG – Bhagavad Gītā Introduction Tradition of vedānta maintains that cultivating the śāstra pramānika buddhi (i.e. conviction to treat śāstra as the means of knowledge, like one’s eye is a means of knowledge), allows us to achieve permanent relief from suffering – not just a temporary relief. This śāstra pramānika buddhi, which is synonymous with the word śraddha, helps one to gain knowledge [BG 4.34] with which one overcomes all notions of finitude of self, in this very life itself. One such precious śāstra is the Bhagavad Gītā, which Śri Śaṃkara extolls as samasta-vedārtha-sāra-saṅgraha-bhūtaṃ (quintessence of all Vedas). The great epic Mahābhārata is itself treated as the very extension of Vedas (See Mbh 1.57.74).   We shall herewith examine few aspects pertaining to the spiritual significance of Gītā. 1.         Gītā’s influence encomp...

Why this blog? One of the common misconceptions regarding Advaita, is that Īśvara bhakti takes a secondary position to jnāna anusandhānam (i.e. śravanam, mananam etc of brahmavidyā). Careful study of Gītā and Śri Śa ṃ kara bhāśya removes any doubt one may have in this regard. There is a role for bhakti to Īśvara (as in Īśvara prasāda buddhi and Īśvarārpa ṇ a buddhi), during the karma yōga stage. Since karma yogā purifies the mind and makes it conducive to jnāna śravanam, it can be construed that it (i.e. Advaitic view of Gītā) logically places bhakti (as part of karma yōga) as preparatory step to jnāna. It is true, but the bhakti to Īśvara which was prior to jnāna śravana, does not cease upon the dawn of jnāna niśtā, in fact it can ripen into parābhakti ~ supreme devotion. We can learn this, clearly from Gita śloka BG 18.54 and the insightful commentary of Śri Śa ṃ kara. In BG 18.54, Sri Krishna says that “ One who has become Brahman (i.e. jnāni) and has attained the blissful Self ( b...