Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Sage Sri, Sankara’s wisdom is complete and perfect.***




The Advaita taught by Sage Sri Sankara is a rigorous, absolute one. According to Sage Sri Sankara, whatever is, is Brahman. Brahman, itself is absolutely homogeneous. All difference and plurality are illusory.

Sage Sri, Sankara gave out what was of most use to the greatest number of people. Therefore, in the commentaries on the Upanishads, such as the famous Mundaka, he gave the highest nondual message of the identity of Atman and Brahman, revitalizing the philosophy and practice of Advaita, while in the commentaries on the Brahmasūtra he gave a lesser teaching, positing both higher and lower Maya and higher and lower Brahman (Isvara) to explain creation for those of lesser intellects until they were ready for the highest truth.

Sage Sri, Sankara's  Advaitic wisdom ~ Without a Parallel.  Sage Sri Sankara's wisdom is lofty, sublime and unique. It is highly interesting, inspiring and elevating. No other wisdom can stand before it in boldness, depth and subtle thinking.  Sage Sri, Sankara’s wisdom is complete and perfect.

Sage Sri Sankara was a mighty, marvellous genius. He was a profound thinker of the first rank. He was a sage of the highest realization. His wisdom has brought solace, peace and illumination to countless persons in the world. The Western thinkers bow their heads at the lotus-feet of  Sage Sri SankaraHis wisdom has soothed the sorrows and afflictions of the most forlorn persons and brought hope, joy, wisdom, perfection, freedom and calmness to many. His wisdom commands the admiration of the whole world.

Biographical anecdotes about his childhood about the crocodile story and the story in Sage Sri,   Sankara's life of going to Benares and occupying the body of another man and then having sex intercourse with his wife, is a myth created by orthodoxy hiding the real fact the reason best-known to the orthodoxy. Sage, Sri, Sankara had the scientific spirit and when told by Saraswathi the woman that he was talking emptily about sex, being a Sanyasi, he at once went to learn the truth by having actual intercourse himself and thus learning by experiment and observation.

Thus,  all the myth about Sage Sri, Sankara is nothing to do with the seeker of truth because the seeker is concerned only with the wisdom of the Sage Sri, Sankara.  

Sage Sri, Sankara:~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." (Select Works of Sage Sri, Sankara" also his commentary on Brihad)

Sage Sri, Sankara:~  The Gnani "should pass through life", not run away from life and should take a middle course between seeking worldly honor and worldly abasement(Chap.3.4.50; Sankara's commentary to Brahma Sutras)

Sage Sri, Sankara's work has got two aspects: the practical and the spiritual. He gave religious, ritual or dogmatic instruction to the populace but pure wisdom only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Sage Sri, Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never told them to give their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time he showed just one step forward towards the truth.

Sage Sri, Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words. He was no fool in writing.  Sage Sri, Sankara did more than write books or initiate Sanyasin: He brought India into a unity as a nation. He told people to worship what they wish, remain in their particular religion, caste and creed, but remember also you are part of a larger whole.

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions will determine the phenomenal world observed and experienced.  The orthodox pundit   seeing Sage Sri, Sankara will see differently from the A Gnani seeing the same Sage Sri, Sankara.  Each one of them interprets the world that they see in terms of their existing knowledge.  The orthodox sees Sage Sri, Sankara as the founder of their religion and also as a guru of Advaitic orthodox sect.  A man of truth sees Sage Sri, Sankara not as a guru but as a Gnani. The orthodoxy believes their experience of the birth, life, death and rebirth and the world as reality. Whereas a Gnani sees the world is a mere illusion created out of consciousness.  Thus,  Gnani sees no second thing other than consciousness. The one who treads the path of wisdom gains the knowledge of the reality beyond form, time and space. A  Gnani has delved into and he transcended consciously all identification with the experience form, time and space.

Similarly, orthodoxy has to be bifurcated from philosophy. To know the Non-dualistic wisdom of Sage Sri, Sankara, one has to be free from all superstitions and dogmas and orthodoxy and scriptural knowledge.  The seeker has to be more rational and scientific in his attitude.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the Jnana Kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures. 

Sage Sri, Sankara said: ~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns, but the liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Philosophy does not begin with the ultimate truth. Ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed. Hence, so-called philosophers who take Brahman for granted are not philosophers at all.

Most  of Advaitin scholars will teach that all is you, but none of them can show that this is so, none has analysed it scientifically, and none can prove it. The rational proof is required so that one arrive at knowing the ultimate truth or Brahman i.e. Gnana.  Theirs is a mere dogma, parrotism, a repetition of what they read in scripture.  Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved.

Sage Sri Sankara’s whole teaching can be summed up into one sentence, ‘There is nothing else but Brahman. He says that the Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge and Absolute Bliss are real. The universe is not real. He says that Brahma and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances.