kaisersose
Active Member
Here is a discussion between Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi where they discuss immortality. This is from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which is part of the Yajur Veda.
This description of the final emancipation applies without interpretation to Advaita. Other schools of Vedanta have to re-interpret these verses to align with their concept of a God who looks human and his abode Vaikunta. This is very close to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana and in my opinion, the full significance of non-duality in Advaita is not really known to many people who follow the doctrine.
This is also consistent with Shankara's statement in his Sutra Bhashya -
Brahman is real, the world is unreal, the soul is none other than Brahman
sa yathā saindhavakhilya udake prāsta udakam evānuvilīyeta na hāsyodgrahaṇāyeva syāt |
yato-yatas tv ādadīta lavaṇam |
evaṃ vā ara idaṃ mahad bhūtam anantam apāraṃ vijñānaghana eva |
etebhyo bhūtebhyaḥ samutthāya tāny evānuvinaśyati |
na pretya saṃjñāstīty are bravīmi |
iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ || 2.4.12 ||
"As a lump of salt dropped into water becomes dissolved in water and cannot be taken out again, but wherever we taste the water it tastes salt, even so, my dear,
this great, endless, infinite Reality is Pure Intelligence alone. This self comes out as a separate entity from these elements and with their destruction this separate existence also is destroyed. After attaining oneness it has no more consciousness. This is what I say, my dear." - So said Yajnavalkya.
sā hovāca maitreyī -- atraiva mā bhagavān amūmuhan na pretya saṃjñāstīti |
sa hovāca -- na vā are 'haṃ mohaṃ bravīmi |
alaṃ vā ara idaṃ vijñānāya || 2.4.13 ||
Then Maitreyi said: "Just here you have bewildered me, venerable Sir, by saying that after attaining oneness the self has no more consciousness."
Yajnavalkya replied: "Certainly I am not saying anything bewildering, my dear. This Reality is enough for knowledge, O Maitreyi."
yatra hi dvaitam iva bhavati tad itara itaraṃ jighrati tad itara itaraṃ paśyati tad itara itaraṃ śṛṇoti tad itara itaraṃ jighrati tad itara itaram abhivadati tad itara itaraṃ manute tad itara itaraṃ vijānāti |
yatra vāsya sarvam ātmaivābhūt tat kena kaṃ jighret tat kena kaṃ jighret tat kena kaṃ paśyet tat kena kaṃ śṛṇuyāt tat kena kam abhivadet tat kena kaṃ manvīta tat kena kaṃ vijānīyāt |
yenedaṃ sarvaṃ vijānāti taṃ kena vijānīyāt |
vijñātāram are kena vijānīyād iti || 2.4.14 ||
"For when there is duality, as it were, then one smells another, one sees another, one hears another, one speaks to another, one thinks of another, one knows another. But when everything has become the Self, then what should one smell and through what, what should one see and through what, what should one hear and through what, what should one speak and through what, what should one think and through what, what should one know and through what? Through what should One know That owing to which all this is known—through what, my dear, should one know the Knower?"
This description of the final emancipation applies without interpretation to Advaita. Other schools of Vedanta have to re-interpret these verses to align with their concept of a God who looks human and his abode Vaikunta. This is very close to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana and in my opinion, the full significance of non-duality in Advaita is not really known to many people who follow the doctrine.
This is also consistent with Shankara's statement in his Sutra Bhashya -
Brahman is real, the world is unreal, the soul is none other than Brahman
sa yathā saindhavakhilya udake prāsta udakam evānuvilīyeta na hāsyodgrahaṇāyeva syāt |
yato-yatas tv ādadīta lavaṇam |
evaṃ vā ara idaṃ mahad bhūtam anantam apāraṃ vijñānaghana eva |
etebhyo bhūtebhyaḥ samutthāya tāny evānuvinaśyati |
na pretya saṃjñāstīty are bravīmi |
iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ || 2.4.12 ||
"As a lump of salt dropped into water becomes dissolved in water and cannot be taken out again, but wherever we taste the water it tastes salt, even so, my dear,
this great, endless, infinite Reality is Pure Intelligence alone. This self comes out as a separate entity from these elements and with their destruction this separate existence also is destroyed. After attaining oneness it has no more consciousness. This is what I say, my dear." - So said Yajnavalkya.
sā hovāca maitreyī -- atraiva mā bhagavān amūmuhan na pretya saṃjñāstīti |
sa hovāca -- na vā are 'haṃ mohaṃ bravīmi |
alaṃ vā ara idaṃ vijñānāya || 2.4.13 ||
Then Maitreyi said: "Just here you have bewildered me, venerable Sir, by saying that after attaining oneness the self has no more consciousness."
Yajnavalkya replied: "Certainly I am not saying anything bewildering, my dear. This Reality is enough for knowledge, O Maitreyi."
yatra hi dvaitam iva bhavati tad itara itaraṃ jighrati tad itara itaraṃ paśyati tad itara itaraṃ śṛṇoti tad itara itaraṃ jighrati tad itara itaram abhivadati tad itara itaraṃ manute tad itara itaraṃ vijānāti |
yatra vāsya sarvam ātmaivābhūt tat kena kaṃ jighret tat kena kaṃ jighret tat kena kaṃ paśyet tat kena kaṃ śṛṇuyāt tat kena kam abhivadet tat kena kaṃ manvīta tat kena kaṃ vijānīyāt |
yenedaṃ sarvaṃ vijānāti taṃ kena vijānīyāt |
vijñātāram are kena vijānīyād iti || 2.4.14 ||
"For when there is duality, as it were, then one smells another, one sees another, one hears another, one speaks to another, one thinks of another, one knows another. But when everything has become the Self, then what should one smell and through what, what should one see and through what, what should one hear and through what, what should one speak and through what, what should one think and through what, what should one know and through what? Through what should One know That owing to which all this is known—through what, my dear, should one know the Knower?"
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