Chapter 6 JnAna and moksha
6-9 Taittiriya Upanishad- Brahmananda Valli
6-9-5 AnuvAka 8 – Ananda MimAmsa There is harmony and order in creation. Celestial entities are all the time engaged in their activities in a disciplined manner. It is possible if there is a ruler different from them. He is Brahman of Vedanta who is inactive but at his command all the worldly entities act as if He is the source of terror. This is one aspect. The Upanishad says that Brahman is the source of bliss in the world and in particular, the one enjoyed by a jiva. Whereas bliss is the nature of Brahman and is without any gradation and cannot be experienced, the bliss experienced by a jiva is graded and can be evaluated. Ananda MimAnsa is discussed in detail in (Ananda Mimansa | Advaita Vision)
6-9-5 Anuvaka 9 Offering Actions to the Self Within Brahman is that from which both the words and mind retreat without reaching. Reaching means objectification. Neither the words nor the mind can objectify Brahman, the subject. The subject can never be objectified. One who knows Brahman as the unobjectifiable subject, that is, oneself, is not frightened. A wise person is not afraid of anything in the creation because he has recognized that the Ananda or the fullness is his very nature and is not subject to arrival or departure. Happiness obtaining in external factors is conditional, risky, unpredictable, and fragile. There is a constant anxiety of losing it. AtmAnanda is claimed through knowledge and kosa-Ananda can be attained through sense objects or vairagya (dispassion). This is the gist of Ananda-Mimamsa.
To gain jnAna, a person should have the necessary qualifications: viveka, vairagya, shad sampatti and mumuksatvam. A jnAni possesses them. He has jnAna and vairagya. It has been shown earlier that vairagya is a means for attaining kosa-Ananda. Through jnAna, he has Atmananda and through vairagya he enjoys kosa-Ananda. All the joys fall only in these two categories: kosAnanda or Atmananda. Thus, a jnAni enjoys total happiness, even though he does not possess anything. Thus, through Ananda-mimamsa, the Upanishad corroborates an earlier statement: A jnani fulfils all his desires at once. An ignorant person always suffers from samsAra, whereas a jnAni, because of the knowledge, becomes free from it. He is a jivanmukta. SamsAra manifests as various psychological problems. The cause of samsAra is intellectual (ignorance), and the effect is emotional problems.
One expression of this emotional problem is the regrets of the past. As one grows old, the short life ahead appears as a problem. A possible definition of old age is like this. When the dreams of the future are replaced by regrets of the past, it is the sign of old age setting in. In short, omissions and commissions of the past occupy the mind. It is a two-fold regret: Why did I not do these good actions? It is the regret over omissions. Why did I do such inferior actions? It is the regret over commission. This omission-commission regret is guilt. This guilt does not torment a jnAni. He has also committed mistakes before acquiring jnAna. They do not hurt him as he considers them mithyA. After having woken up, I do not feel guilty of dream murder or any such action. In short, he looks at punya and pApa from a higher order of reality and they become insignificant, just as the candlelight becomes insignificant when the sun rises. This is called abhibhAva. When the sun rises, the candlelight continues to exist, but it is as good as non-existent.
Contd Part 34