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The Advaita of
Samakra is best studied in his great commentaries on the principal Upanisads, the Vedanta
Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. The system was further elucidated after his time by his
followers- Suresvara, Vacaspati, Padmapada, and Anandagiri. A very brief outline of it is
all that can be attempted here. In the preceding chapter we spoke of the lower bhakti and
the higher bhakti. The latter is otherwise called Jnana. It is the final ascent in
spiritual life.
If spiritual progress is
represented as a series of ascents, we may say that the first ascent is a life of
righteous ness, the second ascent is a life of devotion and the third ascent is a life of
realization. The moral discipline of the first ascent leads to the mental illumination of
the second, which i its turn leads to the spiritual vision of the third. At the end
of the first ascent we see that morality is not enough, and at the end of the second we
see that worship is not enough either.
For religious experience, in the narrow sense of the term, is
not the highest experience that man is capable of. In all devotional life there is the
same implication of duality as in ethical life. Just as in ethical life there is a
perpetual distinction between the ideal and the actual, so in devotional life there is a
perpetual distinction between a perfect God and an imperfect soul. And, as long as there
is such a distinction, we may take it that the goal has not been reached.
Author : S.D.Sarma
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