The constant thought of 'I am Vishnu' results in liberation, moksha - Skandapurana

[V Subrahmanian]

At the end of this chapter, it is stated that one becomes liberated from bondage by constantly thinking 'I am Vishnu'. Srihari says that this type of devotion is the path to salvation:

स्कन्दपुराणम्/खण्डः ६ (नागरखण्डः)/अध्यायः २४०

https://sa.wikisource.org/s/fha

अहमेव सदा विष्णुरित्यात्मनि विचारयन् ॥

लभते वैष्णवं देहं जीवन्मुक्तो द्विजो भवेत् ॥ २१ ॥

चातुर्मास्ये विशेषेण योगयुक्तो द्विजो भवेत् ॥

इयं भक्तिः समादिष्टा मोक्षमार्गप्रदे हरौ ॥ २२ ॥

This kind of self-realization is mentioned in some works by Shankaracharya:

यस्य प्रसादादहमेव विष्णुर्मय्येव सर्वं परिकल्पितं च ।

इत्थं विजानामि सदात्मरूपं तस्यांघ्रिपद्मं प्रणतोऽस्मि नित्यम् ॥ २॥ [Vākyavṛtti]

अहमेव परं ब्रह्म वासुदेवाख्यमव्ययम् ।

इति स्यान्निश्चितो मुक्तो बद्ध एवान्यथा भवेत् ॥ १ [Brahmanuchintanam]

नारायणोऽहं नरकान्तोऽहं पुरान्तकोऽहं पुरूषोऽमीशः ।

अखण्डबोधोऽहमशेषसाक्षी निरीश्वरोऽहं निरहं च निर्ममः।।494।।

[Vivekachudaman]

This kind of worship and realization is admitted in the Sruti and Smriti.

There are many Puranas like Bhagavata, Vishnu etc. that admit of this 'I am He' realization. Only in Advaita is this not censurable. For other schools this is blasphemy and are censured.

Om

[sreenivasa murthy]

Dear Sri Subramanian,

You write :"one becomes liberated from bondage by constantly thinking 'I am Vishnu'"

IS it not like saying "One becomes a crorepati by 

constantly thinking 'I am Mukesh Ambani'"?

Is it ever possible?

What has been stated / quoted by you goes against the

teachings of Upanishads And Sri Shankara.

Such quotations are misleading.

Kindly pardon me for my frank opinion .

With warm regards,

Sreenivasa Murthy

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[V Subrahmanian]

On Sun, Jan 28, 2024 at 5:21 PM 'sreenivasa murthy' via advaitin <adva...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Dear Sri Subramanian,

You write :"one becomes liberated from bondage by constantly thinking 'I am Vishnu'"

IS it not like saying "One becomes a crorepati by 

constantly thinking 'I am Mukesh Ambani'"?

Namaste Sir,

The difference is this:  Since Vishnu (The all pervading Consciousness) is my very svarupam, the contemplation frees me.  Since crorepati is not my svarupam there is no use constantly thinking I am Mukesh Ambani.  But in the modern world, a person who wants to become a crorepati benefits from the lessons Mukesh Ambani's life teaches.

warm regards

subbu 

[sreenivasa murthy]

Dear Sri Subramanian,

You write: "

·         Since Vishnu (The all pervading Consciousness) is

my very svarupam, the contemplation frees me."

WHEN YOUR VERY  SVARUPAM IS VISHNU why contemplate as 'I am Vishnu'?

Who is that 'me' that contemplates thus?

Is that 'me' separate from Vishnu?

If he is separate from Vishnu then how can he be Vishnu or

become Vishnu?

Do you contemplate 'I am a human being'?

Is it not ridiculous?

When you are already a human being why contemplate?

Only a mad man will do that.

Is it not so?

Please ponder over.

With warm regards,

Sreenivasa Murthy.

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[Venkatraghavan S]

Very correct. shAstras are totally unnecessary. There is no need for shravaNam, mananam, nididhyAsanam. There is no need for Shankaracharya to have come down to earth and written all his commentaries. It is a total waste of time.

Whereas, not doing anything and whiling away one's time is perfectly sensible. 

Kind regards,

Venkatraghavan.

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[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Venkataraghavan prabhuji

Hare Krishna

 

Very correct. shAstras are totally unnecessary. There is no need for shravaNam, mananam, nididhyAsanam. There is no need for Shankaracharya to have come down to earth and written all his commentaries. It is a total waste of time.

Whereas, not doing anything and whiling away one's time is perfectly sensible. 

 

Ø    Hmmm…. Very rare sarcasm from you prabhuji 😊 however there is some theory which emphasizes that don’t take all these things as real!!  These are all just your dream characters and acting (as if) in your dream world 😊 A passionate DS vAdin would say this 😊 Just curious to know here in this dhyAna:  like ‘I am vishNu’ is something like svasvarUpAnusaNdhAna as in ‘shivOhaM’ ( keeping only vishNu tattva or shiva tattva in mind – upAdhi rahita tattva jnana ) or like keeta intensely thinking about bhramara and getting the ‘shape’ of bhramara (sArUpya type of krama mukti) ??  As it is clear in Advaita contemplating on I am vishNu or shivOhaM is not later type of meditation and that is not shAstra vihita as well. 

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

 

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Bhaskar ji,

It was sarcasm, but its purpose was not to belittle, but to illustrate that there is a reason why the shAstra and the guru paramparA exists. 

No one in the advaita tradition will say that the guru, scripture, karma, dhyAna or jnAna sAdhana are purposeless. They are very much necessary.

In response to your points:

On Mon, 29 Jan 2024, 15:41 'Bhaskar YR' via advaitin, <adva...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

These are all just your dream characters and acting (as if) in your dream world 😊 A passionate DS vAdin would say this 😊

True, but that is not the same as saying that the dream characters and dream objects serve no purpose. Even the vRtti that removes ajnAna is mithyA.

Just curious to know here in this dhyAna:  like ‘I am vishNu’ is something like svasvarUpAnusaNdhAna as in ‘shivOhaM’ ( keeping only vishNu tattva or shiva tattva in mind – upAdhi rahita tattva jnana ) or like keeta intensely thinking about bhramara and getting the ‘shape’ of bhramara (sArUpya type of krama mukti) ?? 

The original verses appear to be the former. However in some places, ahamgraha upAsana of the type has also been prescribed. The purpose of it is to prepare the mind for the rise of samyak jnAna.

Kind regards,

Venkatraghavan 

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Venkataraghavan prabhuji

Hare Krishna

 

It was sarcasm, but its purpose was not to belittle, but to illustrate that there is a reason why the shAstra and the guru paramparA exists. No one in the advaita tradition will say that the guru, scripture, karma, dhyAna or jnAna sAdhana are purposeless. They are very much necessary.

 

Ø     Yes, that is the reason why bhAshyakAra too give utmost importance to sampradaya,  sampradayavida guru and his teaching.  And when he is insisting the importance of sAmpradAyika teachings through shrotreeya brahmanishTa guru he never advised sAdhaka jignAsu-s that they are mere dream characters in sAdhaka’s dream state. 

 

However in some places, ahamgraha upAsana of the type has also been prescribed. The purpose of it is to prepare the mind for the rise of samyak jnAna.

 

Ø     Yes the purpose of OmkArOpAsana, vibhUti upAsana  or daharOpAsana, ahaMgrahOpAsana, hArdabrahmOpAsana as explained in chAndOgya shruti  etc. is for chitta Shuddhi and brahmalOka prApti through kartru tantra sAdhana.  And I don’t think these upAsana-s too not advocating the dhyAna like I am vishNu, I am shiva keeping and treating the sOpAdhika brahma / Pratima as me like imposter paundraka in bhagavata 😊

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!

bhaskar

 

 

[sreenivasa murthy]

Dear Sri Venkatraghavan,

      I thank you for your kind response.

As a reply to your response  I am bringing to your kind attention two postings of mine which appeared  in Advaitin group as well as Advaitin-1 group.

That will be enough for you to know the importance of the questions I posed to Sri Subramanian. Please ponder over the questions in the light of the mantras to which I have referred in the posting  [a-2]. My Revered Guru’s   Grace helped me in my journey undertaken in the direction as revealed by those mantras towards  MYSELF which is ATMAN / BRAHMAN.

 

POSTING :[a-1]

Re: [Advaita-l] How can prANa be Brahman?

 

From: sreenivasa murthy 

naray...@yahoo.co.in

SUBJECT : Re: [Advaita-l] How can prANa be Brahman?

 

To:hschand...@gmail.com,raviki...@gmail.com,adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org

Cc:adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org

Sat, 10 Sept, 2016 at 4:34 pm

 

Dear Friends,

 

Sri Chandramouli writes : "In short the goal of every advaita sAdhaka should be to be a    jivanmukta."

 

   The fact is that every one including an advaita sadhaka is already a jivanmukta but most of them, say 99.999% , are not aware of this TRUTH. So what has to be done is to become aware of this FACT. The methodology to become aware of this fact has been given in the mantras 2-1-3 & 2-1-4 of Kathopanishad and Mantra 2-4 of Kena Upanishad . In the commentaries to those mantras, Sri Shankara, in the most simple and direct way has explained and shown the path in very clear terms . If only a sincere mumukshu, with an open mind, can study at the feet of a Guru who has cognized the truth within himself by himself and see the Truth, not through the screen of the scholarship and knowledge which he has accumulated, but with a clean slate as taught by the Sruti and Acharya he can surely and certainly reach the goal which is no goal at all.

 Sri Shankara says :

          [a-1]Atman is nityavartamAnasvarUpaH.

          [a-2] nityatvAt mokShasya  ,

                   sAdhakasvarUpAvyatirEkAcca ||

           [a-3] AtmA hi nAma svarUpam ||

 

With sAShTAMganamaskArams,

Sreenivasa Murthy

 

Posting [a-2]

From::

Sreenivasa Murthy

naray...@yahoo.co.in

To:A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta,Advaitin

Sun, 10 Dec, 2023 at 11:02 am

 

SUBJECT : MESSAGE OF THE UPANISHADS

Respected members,

 

   Mother Sruti declares :

Yatra nAnyat paSyati nAnyat SRuNOti nAnyat

            vijAnAti sa BUmA || Chandogya 7-24-1

SatyaM  jnAnaM  anantam  brahma || TaittarIya 2-1

sarvagM  hyEtadbrahma  ayamAtmA 

                brahma || ManDukya Mantra 2

brahmaivEdagM  viSvaM  variShTham || muMDaka 2-2-12

sa EvEdagM sarvaM || Chandogya 7-25-1

ahamEvEdagam   sarvam || Chandogya 7-25-1

AtmaivEdagaM   sarvam  || Chandogya 7-25-2

Atmata EvEdagM  sarvam || Chandogya 7-26-1

prapaMcOpaSamam   Sivam   advaitam  caturtham  manyantE

       sa  AtmA  sa  VijnEyaH || Mandukya mantra 7

From the above quoted mantras it follows that

Aham which is myself and which is HERE and NOW

is  BUmA, Atman, Brahman. And also I am anantam and advaitam.

 I am HERE & NOW.

Hence where nAnu is there which is HERE & NOW,

there is no second thing besides me which can be seen,

Which can be heard or which can be thought about.

So I AM advaitatattva.

 This is the only conclusion  that can be drawn from the above quoted Sruti mantras.

 

I request the  very well versed Scholars in Vedanta

to ponder over the implications of these mantras

and show how what has been stated in these mantras is a fact of life.

 

This is a litmus test to all the great scholars of this group.

 

With respectful namaskars,

Sreenivasa Murthy.

Unquote.

 

With this I will close.

With respectful pranams,

Sreenivasa Murthy.

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[Venkatraghavan S]

Dear Sri Srinivasa Moorthy,

Are you aware of adhikAri bheda? 

When you ask - "WHEN YOUR VERY  SVARUPAM IS VISHNU why contemplate as 'I am Vishnu'? " - do you know that to be the case? 

If you do know it as an intimate, direct fact about oneself, then such a contemplation is simply reveling in that svarUpa, which is a source of joy. It is jnAna niShThA.

If you do not know it, then such a contemplation is a means to know it as fact, to free oneself from samsAra. It is jnAna sAdhanA for the purpose of moksha, the parama puruShArtha. 

And yes, I am aware that moksha is a siddha vastu and not an object to be attained. That being said, it is undeniable that a vast majority of jIvas consider themselves to be samsAri-s, kartA-s and bhoktA-s and do undergo a tremendous amount of suffering. To them, a nitya siddha moksha is as good as asiddha. For them, this jnAna is the highest goal to be attained.

In either case, there is a purpose behind the teaching and the comment "Only a mad man will do that" is uncalled for. 

Do you think Veda Vyasa, a maharishi and jnAni, and Mahavishnu, nitya buddha mukta shuddha Ishvara Himself, are not intimately aware of this knowledge themselves - why would they have given the teaching "अहमेव सदा विष्णुरित्यात्मनि विचारयन्" if it is fit only for "only a mad man"?

Regards,

Venkatraghavan 

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