BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED
V Subrahmanian
Bhaskar YR
praNAms
Hare Krishna
I think the bhakti aspect has to be finely blended with both pravrutti and nivrutti mArga. Bhakti is not an exclusive mArga to salvation. Arta, arthi, jignAsu & jnAni all adopt the bhakti mArga either in pravrutti or nivrutti mArga. Even to get Advaita vAsana and to pursue jnana mArga IshwarAnugraha is must. And to beget IshwarAnugraha Ishwara praNidAna / bhakti is required. It is all interlinked and go hand in hand. The last statement below by Sri Shivananda highlighted this culmination of bhakti and jnana in the real vedAnta :
// quote //
To decry Jnana altogether as some sectarian devotees do, is the height of folly. To deny Bhakti and Ishwara as some dry Vedantins do, is nothing but sheer foolishness. A happy combination of head and heart is true perfection.
//unquote//
Sri SSS somewhere writes : bhagavatpAda was not mere dry logician he was a saint par excellence. Ishwara sharaNAgati, Ishwara bhakti its significance and importance have been abundantly shown by all mahatma-s, sages and saints in Advaita jnana mArga sampradaya. So there is no question of Advaita sans bhakti in shankara’s Advaita sampradaya. In sUtra bhAshya bhagavatpAda says : avidyAvasthayAM kAryakAraNasaMghAtAvivekadarshinO avidyA timirAndhasya sataH parasmAdAtmanaH karmAdhyakshAt sarvabhUtAdhivAsAt sAkshiNaH chetayituH IshwarAt tadanujnayA kartrutva bhOktrutva lakshaNasya saMsArasya siddhiH, tadanugraha hetukenaiva cha vijnAnena mOksha siddhiH bhavituM arhati.
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
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Bhaskar YR
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Subject: [advaitin] BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED
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Michael Chandra Cohen
The topic of devotion (bhakti) has already come up for discussion earlier at several places in the present work. Broadly speaking, Sankara was capable of taking two different lines of interpretation where the term ‘devotion’ (bhakti) occurred in the texts on which he was commenting. If the text considered devotion in isolation from knowledge — for instance if it spoke of the path of devotion or ‘bhakti yoga’ — he made it a preparatory and subordinate phase of the path leading to knowledge, or at best one which would lead to union with the Lord in the ‘indirect’ manner, after death. But his more typical course was to appropriate texts on devotion to the Lord and identify them with the path of knowledge. In fact he frequently refused to acknowledge any difference between devotion and spiritual knowledge at all (Cp. Gita bhasya 13.10, sa (bhaktir) hi jnanam).
Saccidanandendra Svamin argued that Sankara is justified in taking the latter course both by the ancient texts and by the facts of the spiritual path (Sac, Glta-Sastrartha-Viveka, 123-126). Knowledge and devotion, he claims, are not two separate things, but one thing viewed under different ‘aspects’, as the power of the sun is one thing, though it may artificially be viewed as two separate things, heat and light. But knowledge and devotion are entirely inter-dependent. There cannot be knowledge of the true nature of the Lord through mere reasoning without the spirit of devotion. This is because the Lord is ‘the Self seated in the heart of all creatures and the Self is that which is dearer than a son, dearer than wealth, closer than anything else (Brhad. I.iv.8). And on the other side there cannot be devotion without knowledge. Of the four kinds of devotee mentioned in the Gita, the man of knowledge is the highest (Gita 7.18), as devotion is spiritual sensibility and not mere blind application of the will. When either knowledge or devotion are brought to their highest pitch they transcend themselves: the knower becomes one with the known, the lover one with the beloved ().
”Those who pursue action receive the fruits of action from Me, and those who pursue knowledge receive the fruits of knowledge from Me. Hence even those who serve Me through the Yoga of Devotion (bhakti yoga) pass through stages to acquire spiritual knowledge and are eventually liberated through My grace. If liberation comes to those who perform the Yoga of Devotion, how much more certainly does it come to those who acquire a correct intuitive knowledge of the nature of the Self in this very life. Gita bhasya 15.l”
“How, then, can the Lord be seen? Through devotion (bhakti). But through devotion to what? Devotion to nothing else. The phrase refers to that devotion which never swerves from the Lord. Devotion-to-none-other is that devotion whereby nothing other than Vasudeva is perceived by the senses or any organ of cognition. Through such devotion, O Arjuna, can I be known in this form —that is, in the form of the universe. I can be known from the traditional texts (sastra), and not only known from the texts but directly known in My true nature and can be ‘entered’ —that is, there can be liberation.
And now the whole teaching of the Glta-Sastra is epitomized and summed up and stated for the sake of man’s highest good. ‘O Son of Pandu, whoever acts for My sake, has Me for his supreme goal, who is devoted to Me, free from all attachment, and who lives without enmity for any creature, he comes to Me’.... A servant works for his master’s sake, but he does not think of his master as his supreme goal which he will attain to after death.... ‘Devoted to Me’ means that he worships Me in every way with his whole being and with all zeal. ‘Without attachment’ means without servile love or affection for wealth, sons, friends, wife or relatives. ‘Without enmity for any creature’ means without any feeling of enmity even for those intent on inflicting grievous harm on him. Gita bhasya 11.54 and 55.”
Hence it has now been proved that total cessation of transmigratory life (samsara) ensues when there is devotion to knowledge derived from renunciation of all action. Gita bhasya 18.67 (intro.)
Katha Upanishat (2.23) says, " whom the Atman chooses, by him is He obtained; to him He reveals Himself". "when he who is devoid of desire motivated actions, through the grace of God, the supporter, sees the ParamAtman's glory, then does he become freed from sorrow"- KU 2.20.
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sreenivasa murthy
putran M
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