The Question of the Importance of Samādhi in Modern and Classical Advaita Vedānta

Author(s): Michael Comans

Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Jan., 1993), pp. 19-38
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1399467
Accessed: 27-02-2015 11:14 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

University of Hawai'i Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy East and West.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
THE QUESTION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SAMADHI Michael Comans
IN MODERN AND CLASSICAL ADVAITA VEDANTA

The word samJdhi' became a part of the vocabulary of a number of Centre for Indian
Western intellectuals toward the end of the first half of this century. Two Studies, University of
well-known writers, Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood, were Sydney
impressed by Eastern and specifically by Indian thought. Huxley made a
popular anthology of Eastern and Western mystical literature under the
title The Perennial Philosophy (1946), and in his last novel, Island (1962),
words such as moksa and samadhi occur untranslated. In both these
works, Huxley uses the words "false samadhi," implying that the reader
was already conversant with what samadhi actually is. Isherwood wrote
an account of the life of the nineteenth-century Bengali mystic Sri
Ramakrsna, Ramakrishnaand His Disciples (1959), and he published as the
second part of his autobiographical trilogy an account of the years he
spent with his own guru, SwamTPrabhavananda of the Ramakrsna Order,
in My Guruand His Disciple (1980). Why these writers were drawn toward
Eastern spiritual thought, and to the Vedanta teachings in particular, is
not the subject for discussion here. But perhaps one significant reason is
that with the decline in organized religion after World War I,these writers
found in the Vedanta, as presented to them by the followers of Sri
Ramakrsna and his disciple SwamT Vivekananda, a spirituality which
emphasized the authority of firsthand experience as the only way to
verify what was presented as the Truth. The Vedanta, as they saw it, was
a "minimum working hypothesis," which could be validated through
cultivating a certain type of experience, and that experience was seen to
be a mystical, super-conscious state of awareness called samadhi.
Isherwood edited a book of articles titled Vedanta for the Western
World (1948). In his introduction he emphasizes the centrality of having
a direct, personal experience of Reality, which, he says, the Christian
writers call "mystic union" and Vedantists call "samadhi." Isherwood
raises the question as to how Reality can be experienced if it is beyond
sense perception, and he answers the question in terms of samadhi
experience:

Samadhiis said to be a fourth kind of consciousness:it is beyond the states

of waking,dreamingand dreamlesssleep. Those who have witnessed it as an PhilosophyEast& West
external phenomenon report that the experiencerappeared to have fallen Volume 43, Number1
into a kind of trance. The hair on the head and body stood erect. The January1993
19-38
half-closedeyes became fixed. Sometimes there was an astonishingloss of
weight, or even levitationof the body from the ground. Butthese are mere ? 1993
symptoms, and tell us nothing. There is only one way to find out what by University of
samadhi is like:you must have it yourself.2 Hawaii Press

19

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Huxley and Isherwood did not find Indian spirituality by journeying
to India-rather it was Indiawhich found them; and the variety of Indian
spirituality with which these Englishmen came into contact in California
in the late 1930s was that of the Vedanta Society, founded by SwamT
Vivekananda and his followers, who were monks of the recently estab-
lished (1886) Order of Ramakrsna. If we seek to locate the source of
the orientation of spiritual life around the cultivation of samadhi experi-
ence, which has become one of the principal characteristics of modern
Vedanta, it must be traced to SrTRamakrsna himself. Ramakrsnawas not
a Vedantin in the orthodox sense of one who has received instruction
centered on the exegesis of the sacred texts (sastra),which are generally
in Sanskrit, from a teacher (acarya), and who then consciously locates
himself within that specific body of received teachings (sampradaya).
Ramakrsna,as is well known, affirmed that a variety of diverse disciplines
and traditions within Hinduism, and even outside of Hinduism, were valid
in that they were all efficacious means toward the same spiritual goal.
However, as has been pointed out, it would be most correct to locate
Ramakrsna'steachings within a Tantric paradigm.3Tantra is an expressly
experience-oriented discipline and it relies upon yoga techniques, par-
ticularly those of Hatha Yoga,4 to bring about a samadhi experience.
Ramakrsnafrequently underwent trance-like states, which are referred to
in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna as samadhi experiences. A typical
description in the Gospel would be the following passage:
At the mere mentionof Krishnaand Arjunathe Masterwent into samadhi.In
the twinklingof an eye his body became motionlessand his eyeballs trans-
fixed,while his breathingcould scarcelybe noticed.5

Ramakrsna has himself linked the occurrence of samadhi with

KundalinTYoga, which is referred to in the treatises on Hatha Yoga and
is fundamental to Tantrasoteriology. Forexample, Ramakrsnais recorded
as having remarked:

A man's spiritualconsciousness is not awakened unless his Kundaliniis

aroused.
The Kundalinidwells in the Muladhara.When it is aroused,it passes along
the Sushumnanerve, goes through the centres of Svadhisthana,Manipura,
and so on, and at last reaches the head. Thisis called the movement of the
Mahavayu,the SpiritualCurrent.It culminatesin samadhi.6
From the above we should be able to see the importance that the
samadhi experience had in the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrsna.Such
an experience-oriented view of spirituality was a legacy which passed
from Ramakrsna to Vivekananda. Vivekananda was receptive to this
view, for it seemed to agree with what he had studied of the British
PhilosophyEast& West empiricist philosophers and the positivist Auguste Comte, insofar as they

20

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
had stressed the centrality of empirical experience. Vivekananda ex-
tended the empiricist epistemology that all knowledge is derived from
sense experience into the domain of metaphysics, for he thought that
since experience is the basis of all knowledge, then if a metaphysical
Reality exists, it, too, ought to be available for direct experience.7 And
from his association with Ramakrsna he gathered that samadhi was the
experience required in order to know God. In his writings he placed much
emphasis on the necessity of attaining samadhi. He loosely translated
samadhias "super-consciousness,"8 and he stated in his work Raja-Yoga,
a commentary in English on the Yogasutras of Patanjali, that samadhi
experience was the acme of spiritual life:

Samadhiis the propertyof every human being-nay, every animal.Fromthe

lowest animalto the highestangel, some time or other, each one willhave to
come to that state, and then, and then alone, will real religionbegin for him.
Until then we only struggletowards that stage. There is no differencenow
between us and those who have no religion,because we have no experience.
What is concentrationgood for,save to bringus to that experience?Eachone
of the steps to attain samadhi has been reasoned out, properlyadjusted,
scientificallyorganized,and, when faithfullypractised,will surely lead us to
the desired end. Then all sorrows cease, all miseries vanish; the seeds of
actions will be burnt,and the soul will be free for ever.9

Vivekananda was attracted to Ramakrsna for reasons somewhat

similar to those that initially attracted Huxley and Isherwood to the
Vedanta taught by the followers of Vivekananda: they all sought some
direct, experiential verification of the propositions of religious metaphys-
ics, and they all came to believe that the key to such verification lay in
the attainment of a samadhior "super-conscious" experience. This legacy
of Ramakrsna, the search for an extra-ordinary experience in order to
validate spiritual life, not only extended to the West via the Ramakrsna
Order of monks that Vivekananda helped to found, but it also become a
dominant view within the Western-educated Indian middle class through
the spread of Ramakrsna-Vivekananda literature. The modern Indian
philosopher, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, an eloquent advocate of the im-
portance of experience in religion, has described samadhi in the follow-
ing manner: "In samadhi or enstatic consciousness we have a sense
of immediate contact with ultimate reality.... It is a state of pure
apprehension...."10
At this point the reader may wonder whether we are not stating the
obvious, for is it not precisely because samadhi is so important that
modern Vedantins such as Vivekananda and Radhakrishnangave it such
emphasis? It is certainly important to modern Vedanta, but the question
can be legitimately raised as to what importance it has in the Upanisads,
the very source of the Vedanta, and in the classical Vedanta such as in MichaelComans

21

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 the works of Sankara, the most famous of all the Vedanta teachers. That
is the topic which we shall now address.
The first point to be noted is that the word samadhi does not occur
in the ten major Upanisads upon which Sankara has commented." This
is not a matter to be lightly passed over, for if the attainment of samadhi
is central to the experiential verification of the Vedanta, as we can gather
it is, judging by the statements of some modern Vedantins such as those
cited above, then one would legitimately expect the term to appear in
the major Upanisads which are the very source of the Vedanta. Yet the
word does not occur. The closest approximation to the word samadhi
in the early Upanisads is the past passive participle samahita in the
Chandogya and Brhadaranyaka Upanisads.'2 In both texts the word
samahita is not used in the technical meaning of samadhi, that is, in the
sense of a meditative absorption or enstasis, although the closest approxi-
mation to this sense occurs in the Brhadaranyaka. In the first refer-
ence (BU4.2.1), Yajnavalkya tells Janaka:"You have fully equipped your
mind (samahitatma) with so many secret names [of Brahman, that is,
Upanisads]."13Here the word samahita should be translated as "concen-
trated, collected, brought together, or composed."
In the second occurrence (BU4.4.23), Yajnavalkya tells Janaka that a
knower of Brahman becomes "calm (santa), controlled (danta), with-
drawn from sense pleasures (uparati), forbearing (titiksu),and collected in
mind (samahita). This reference to samahita is the closest approximation
in the Upanisads to the term samadhi, which is well known in the later
yoga literature. However, the two terms are not synonyms, for in the
Upanisad the word samahita means "collectedness of mind," and there
is no reference to a meditation practice leading to the suspension of the
faculties such as we find in the literature dealing with yoga. The five
mental qualities mentioned in BU4.4.3 later formed, with the addition of
faith (sraddha), a list of six qualifications required of a Vedantic student,
and they are frequently to be found at the beginning of Vedantic texts.'4
In these texts, the past participles used in the Upanisads are regularly
changed into nominal forms: santa becomes sama, danta becomes dama,
and samahita becomes samadhana, but not the cognate noun samadhi.
It would thus appear that, while Vedanta authors understood samahita
and samadhana as equivalent terms, they did not wish to equate them
with the word samadhi; otherwise there would have been no reason why
that term could not have been used instead of samadhana. But it seems
to have been deliberately avoided, except in the case of the later Vedanta
work, Vedantasara, to which we shall have occasion to refer. Thus we
would suggest that, in the Vedanta texts, samadhana does not have
the same meaning that the the word samadhi has in yoga texts. This is
borne out when we look at how Vedanta authors describe the terms
PhilosophyEast&West samahita and samadhana. Sankara, in BU 4.2.1, glosses samahitatma as

22

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
samyuktama, "well equipped or connected." In BU4.4.23, he explains the
term samahita as "becoming one-pointed (aikagrya) through dissocia-
tion from the movements of the sense-organs and the mind."15The
term occurs again in the Katha Upanisad 1.2.24 in the negative form
asamahita, which Sankara glosses as "one whose mind is not one-pointed
(anekagra), whose mind is scattered."'6 In introductory Vedanta manuals,
samadhana is also explained by the term "one-pointed" (ekagra).'7 The
word samadhana can thus be understood as having the meaning of
"one-pointed" (ekagra). In the Yogasutra, "one-pointed" (ekagra) is used
to define concentration (dharana-),8which is the sixth of the eight limbs
of Yoga and a preliminarydiscipline to dhyana and samadhi. We may see,
then, that the Vedantic samadhana means "one-pointedness" and would
be equivalent to the yoga dharana, but it is not equivalent to the yoga
samadhi.
The word samadhi first appears in the Hindu scriptures in the
MaitrayanTUpanisad (6.18, 34), a text which does not belong to the
strata of the early Upanisads'9 and which mentions five of the eight limbs
of classical Yoga. The word also occurs in some of the Yoga and Sannyasa
Upanisads of the Atharvaveda.20 Samadhi would thus seem to be a part
of yogic practice which has entered into the later Upanisadic literature
through such texts as the Yoga Upanisads as a result of what Eliade calls
"the constant osmosis between the Upanisadic and yogic milieus."21The
diverse teachings of yoga were systematized in Patanjali's Yogasutras,
where it is explained that the goal of yoga is to restrain completely
all mental fluctuations (vrtti) so as to bring about the state of sama-
dhi. Samadhi itself has two stages, sarhprajinatasamadhi,or an enstasis
where there is still object-consciousness, and asamprajnatasamadhi or
nirbijasamadhi, where there is no longer any object-consciousness.
Asarmprajnatasamadhibecame known in later Vedanta circles as nirvi-
kalpasamadhi.22 The point to be noted about yoga is that its whole
soteriology is based upon the suppression of mental fluctuations so as to
pass firstly into sarmprajnatasamadhiand from there, through the com-
plete suppression of all mental fluctuations, into asamrprajnatasamadhi,
in which state the Self remains solely in and as itself without being hidden
by external, conditioning factors imposed by the mind (citta).
When we examine the works of Sankara, however, we find a very
sparing use of the word samadhi.23 In the Brahmasutrabhasya he makes
three references to samadhi as a condition of absorption or enstasis.24 In
the first (2.1.9), he implicitly refutes the idea that samadhi is, of itself, the
means for liberation, for he says:

Though there is the naturaleradicationof difference in deep sleep and in

samadhi etc., because false knowledge has not been removed, differences
occur once again upon wakingjust like before.25 MichaelComans

23

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 What Sankara says is that duality, such as the fundamental distinc-
tion between subject and object, is obliterated in deep sleep and in
samadhi, as well as in other conditions such as fainting, but duality is only
temporarily obliterated for it reappears when one awakes from sleep or
regains consciousness after fainting, and it also reappears when the yogi
arises from samadhi. The reason why duality persists is because false
knowledge (mithyajinana)has not been removed. It is evident from this
brief statement that Sankara does not consider the attainment of sama-
dhi to be a sufficient cause to eradicate false knowledge, and, according
to Sankara, since false knowledge is the cause of bondage, samadhi
cannot therefore be the cause of liberation. The only other significant
reference to samadhi in the Brahmasuitrabhasyaoccurs in the context of
a discussion as to whether agentship is an essential property of the self.
According to Sanrkara'sinterpretation, sutras 2.3.33-39 accept agentship
as a property of the self, but sutra 2.3.40 presents the definitive view that
agentship is not an intrinsic property of the Self but is a superimposition.
The word samadhi occurs in 2.3.39 (samadhy-abhavac-ca), and here
Sankara briefly comments, "samadhi, whose purpose is the ascertain-
ment of the Self known from the Upanisads, is taught in the Vedanta texts
such as: 'The Self, my dear, should be seen; it should be heard about,
thought about and meditated upon'" (BU2.4.5).26Sankara shows by the
phrase atmapratipattiprayojana ("whose purpose is the ascertainment of
the Self") that he acknowledges that the practice of samadhi has a role
in Vedanta. However, these two references do not in themselves present
a conclusive picture of Sankara's thought, for in the first reference it is
evident that he does not consider samadhi to be a sufficient means for
liberation, while in the second he has clearly given it a more positive place
as a means for liberation. This second reference, however, has to be
treated with some circumspection as it forms the comment upon a suitra
which Sanrkaradoes not consider to present the definitive view. Another
reference to samadhi, where it again seems to have a more positive value,
occurs in the commentary upon the Man.dukya-karikaof Gaudapada,
where in verse 3.37 the word samadhi is given as a synonym for the Self.
Sankara glosses the word samadhi in two different ways, and in the first
he says "samadhi = because [the Self] can be known through the wis-
dom arisingfrom samadhi."27Thus we can see that, according to Sankara,
samadhi has a role to play in Vedanta, but yet the first reference (2.1.9)
indicates that this role is perhaps more circumscribed than the modern
exponents of Vedanta would have us believe. We will attempt to resolve
the matter through a wider examination of Sanrkara'sthought, particularly
in regard to his use of yoga.
The first specific mention of yoga is in the Katha Upanisad, and there
PhilosophyEast& West is a verse in this Upanisad which details a type of yoga meditation:

24

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The discriminating person should restrain speech in the mind, he should
restrain the mind in the cognizing self, he should restrain the cognizing self in
the 'great self' and restrain that 'great self' in the peaceful Self.28

Sankara introduces this verse with the comment that the Upanisad here
presents "a means for the ascertainment of that [Self]."29 In his commen-
tary upon Brahmasutra 1.4.1, Sankara refers to this Katha verse with the
remark that the sruti "shows yoga as the means for the apprehension of
the Self."30 In his commentary upon Brahmasutra 3.3.15, he again refers
to this verse when he says that it is "just for the sake of the clear
understanding of the Self that the sruti enjoins meditation, viz. 'the
discriminating person should restrain speech in the mind...."'31 It is
therefore evident that Sankara considers the verse above to present a
method of yoga meditation leading to Self-knowledge. As to his under-
standing of this Katha verse, he has explained it succinctly in his commen-
tary on Brahmasutra 1.4.1:

This is what is said. 'He should restrain speech in the mind' means that by
giving up the operations of the external senses such as the organ of speech
and so forth he should remain only as the mind. And since the mind is inclined
towards conjecturing about things, he should, by way of seeing the defect
involved in conjecturing, restrain it in the intellect whose characteristic con-
sists in determining and which is said here by the word 'cognizing self'. Then
bringing about an increase in subtlety, he should restrain that intellect in the
'great self', i.e. the experiencer, or the one-pointed intellect. And he should
establish the 'great self' in the peaceful Self, i.e. in that supreme Purusa who
is the topic under consideration, who is the 'highest goal'.32

As part of his commentary upon the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 2.4.11,

which forms part of the well known Yajnavalkya-Maitreyi dialogue,
Sankara briefly describes a method of contemplation which is similar to
the one mentioned in the Katha 1.3.13. It is as follows:

[text] ... as the skin is the one goal of all kinds of touch [commentary] such as
soft or hard, rough or smooth.... By the word 'skin', touch in general that is
perceived by the skin, is meant; in it different kinds of touch are merged, like
different kinds of water in the ocean, and become nonentities without it, for
they were merely its modifications. Similarly, that touch in general, denoted
by the word 'skin', is merged in the deliberation of the Manas [mind], that is
to say, in a general consideration by it, just as different kinds of touch are
included in touch in general perceived by the skin; without this consideration
by the Manas it becomes a non-entity. The consideration by the Manas also
is merged in a general cognition by the intellect, and becomes non-existent
without it. Becoming mere consciousness, it is merged in Pure Intelligence, the
Supreme Brahman, like different kinds of water in the ocean. When, through
these successive steps, sound and the rest, together with their receiving Michael Comans

25

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 organs,are merged in PureIntelligence,there are no more limitingadjuncts,
and only Brahman,which is PureIntelligence,comparableto a lump of salt,
homogeneous,infinite,boundlessand withouta break,remains.Thereforethe
Self alone must be regardedas one without a second.33

We can see that the type of yoga which Sankara presents here is a
method of merging, as it were, the particular (visesa) into the general
(samanya). For example, diverse sounds are merged in the sense of
hearing, which has greater generality insofar as the sense of hearing is the
locus of all sounds. The sense of hearing is merged into the mind, whose
nature consists of thinking about things, and the mind is in turn merged
into the intellect, which Sankara then says is made into 'mere cognition'
(vijnanamatra);that is, all particularcognitions resolve into their universal,
which is cognition as such, thought without any particular object. And
that in turn is merged into its universal, mere Consciousness (prajnafna-
ghana), upon which everything previously referredto ultimately depends.
There are two points which ought to be noted concerning Sankara's
presentation of yoga which differ from the model we find in Patanjali's
Yogasutra. The first concerns method. Sankara does not say that all
thought forms must be restrained in the manner of the cittavrttinirodha
of the Yogasutras. While in other places Sankara has mentioned that
meditation involves the withdrawal of the mind from sense objects,34 he
has also made it clear that control of the mind (cittavrttinirodha)is "not
known as a means of liberation."35Rather, Sankara's method involves
thinking, although it is thinking of a certain type, leading from the in-
volvement in particulars to a contemplation of what is more general and
finally to the contemplation of what is most general, that is, Conscious-
ness. Thus Sankara's method of yoga is a meditative exercise of with-
drawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading
to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Conscious-
ness. This approach is different from the classical Yoga of complete
thought suppression.
The second point is one of approach, for nowhere does Sarkara
present the Atman-Brahman as a goal to be reached. On the contrary,
his approach is that the Atman-Brahman is not something to be acquired
since it is one's own nature, and one's own nature is not something that
can be attained. This approach has its corollary in his method of negation:
the removal of superimpositions in order to discover what is already
there, although concealed as it were by all sorts of false identifications
based ultimately upon the ignorance of who we really are. Such an
approach is different from that of the classical Yoga of the Yogasutras,
where a goal is presented in terms of nirvikalpasamadhi,which one has
to achieve in order to gain liberation. That Sankara's method is one of
PhilosophyEast& West negation in order to "reveal the ever revealed" is evident throughout

26

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
his whole discussion of the role of action in the matter of liberation.
In Brahmasutra 1.1.4, an opponent argues that the role of scripture is
injunctive-it is to enjoin a person either to do something or to refrain
from doing something-and the role of the Upanisads, too, after present-
ing the nature of Brahman, is to enjoin meditation upon Brahman as a
means of release.36 Sankara replies that if liberation is to be gained as a
result of an action, then liberation must be impermanent. He specifies
that actions can only be of four kinds: an action can produce something,
or it can modify a thing, or it can be used to obtain something or to
purify it.37 He takes up each action in turn and argues that liberation
is not something that can be either produced, attained, modified, or
purified by any action whether physical, oral, or mental. His main argu-
ment is that if liberation is an effect of some kind of action, then liberation
would have a beginning and would be time-bound and hence noneternal,
and that such a consequence would go against the whole tradition that
teaches that liberation is eternal. Sankara's view is that liberation is
nothing but being Brahman, and that is one's inherent condition, al-
though it is obscured by ignorance. He says that the whole purpose of
the Upanisads is just to remove duality, which is a construct of igno-
rance;38 there is no further need to produce oneness with Brahman,
because that already exists. Sarkara's frequent use of the phrase "na heya
na-upadeya' (cannot be rejected or accepted)39 along with the word
Atman indicates that the Self cannot be made the object of any kind of
action whatsoever. Sankara has summarized all this in his commentary
on the Brhadaranyaka:

... liberationis not something that can be brought into being. Forliberation
is just the destructionof bondage, it is not the result of an action. And we
have already said that bondage is ignorance and it is not possible that
ignorance can be destroyed by action. And action has its capacity in some
visiblesphere.Action has its capacity in the sphereof production,attainment,
modificationand purification.Action is able to produce,to make one attain,
to modifyor to purify.The capacity of an action has no other scope than this,
for in the world it is not known to have any other capacity.And liberationis
not one of these. We have alreadysaidthat it is hiddenmerelyby ignorance.40

Thus we can see that the perspective of Sarkara is fundamentally differ-

ent from that of the yoga tradition where, although the purusa is pre-
sented as not something to be acquired, liberation is nonetheless a real
goal to be attainedthrough a process of mental discipline, which necessi-
tates the complete suppression of all mental activity.
That there is a certain ambivalence toward yoga on the part of
the followers of Vedanta can be seen in Brahmasutra2.1.3, "Thereby the
Yoga is refuted," which offers a rejection of yoga following upon the
rejection of Sankhya philosophy. The problem as Sankara sees it is that MichaelComans

27

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 yoga practices are found in the Upanisads themselves, so the question
arises as to what it is about yoga that needs to be rejected. Sarkara says
that the refutation of yoga has to do with its claim to be a means of
liberation independent from the Vedic revelation. He says, "...the sruti
rejects the view that there is another means for liberation apart from the
knowledge of the oneness of the Self which is revealed in the Veda."41He
then makes the point that "the followers of Sankhya and Yoga are
dualists, they do not see the oneness of the Self."42The point that "the
followers of Yoga are dualists" is an interesting one, for if the yogins are
dualists even while they are exponents of asarhprajniatasamadhi(nirvi-
kalpasamadhi), then such samadhi does not of itself give rise to the
knowledge of oneness as the modern exponents of Vedanta would have
us believe. For if it did, then it would not have been possible for the yogins
to be considered dualists. Clearlythe modern Vedantins, in their expecta-
tion that samadhi is the key to the liberating oneness, have revalued the
word and have given it a meaning which it does not bear in the yoga
texts. And, we suggest, they have given it an importance which it does
not possess in the classical Vedanta, as we are able to discern it in the
writings of Sankara.
The matter to be decided is what place samadhi, and yoga in general,
holds in Sankara's thought. We suggest that his commentary upon the
BhagavadgTtacontains certain programmatic statements that are of gen-
eral assistance in determining his views on the place of samadhiand yoga
in the Advaita scheme of liberation. In the Cita, Sankara very frequently
glosses the word yoga when it occurs in a verse by the word samadhi,
thereby indicating that on many occasions he understands yoga to mean
the practice of a certain discipline wherein samadhi is the key factor, as
in verse 6.19, "...for one who engages in yoga concerning the Self"
(yuinjatoyogam atmanah), which Sarkara glosses as "practices samadhi
concerning the Self" (atmanah samadhim anutisthatah).43 It is evident
that he considers samadhi as a state wherein normal distinctions are
obliterated, as is evident from his statement in 18.66, "the evils of agent-
ship and enjoyership etc. are not apprehended in deep sleep or in
samadhi etc. where there is discontinuation of the flow of the erroneous
idea that the Self is identical to the body."44Here, as in his commentary
upon Brahmasutra2.1.9, Sankara links deep sleep and samadhi, and it is
evident that he recognizes samadhito be a state wherein distinctions are
temporarily resolved, as they are in deep sleep.
At the beginning of his commentary upon the GTta,Sankara makes a
significant statement concerning the relation of Shakhya to Yoga.45 He
says that Sankhya means ascertaining the truth about the Self as it really
is and that Krsna has done this in his teaching from verses 2.11 up until
2.31. He says that srankhyabuddhiis the understanding which arises from
PhilosophyEast&West ascertaining the meaning in its context, and it consists in the understand-

28

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ing that the Self is not an agent of action because the Self is free from the
sixfold modifications beginning with coming into being. He states that
those people to whom such an understanding becomes natural are called
Sankhyas. He then says that Yoga is prior to the rise of the understand-
ing above. Yoga consists of performing disciplines (sadhana) that lead
to liberation; it presupposes the discrimination between virtue and its
opposite, and it depends upon the idea that the Self is other than the
body and that it is an agent and an enjoyer. Such an understanding is
yogabuddhi, and the people who have such an understanding are called
Yogins. From this it is clear that Sankara relegates Yoga to the sphere
of ignorance (avidya) because the Yogins are those who, unlike the
Sankhyas, take the Self to be an agent and an enjoyer while it is really
neither. They are, therefore, in Sanikara'seyes, not yet knowers of the
truth.
Sankara again clearly demarcates Saikhya and Yoga in his com-
ments on verse 2.39, where Krsna says, "O Partha, this understanding
about Sankhya has been imparted to you. Now listen to this understand-
ing about Yoga...." According to Sankara, 'Saiikhya' means the "discrim-
ination concerning ultimate truth," and the 'understanding' pertaining to
Saikhya means a "knowledge which is the direct cause for the termina-
tion of the defect which brings about samsara consisting of sorrow and
delusion and so forth." He then says that Yoga is the "means to that
knowledge" (tatpraptyupaya) and that Yoga consists of both (a) kar-
mayoga, that is, performing rites and duties as an offering to the Lord
once there has been a relinquishment of opposites (such as like and
dislike) through detachment, and (b) samadhiyoga.46 In 4.38, Sarkara
again explains the word yoga occurring in the verse as referring to both
karmayoga and samadhiyoga.47 It is evident that Sankara understands the
word yoga in the CGtato refer to both karmayoga and to the practice of
meditation, that is, samadhiyoga. It is also evident that he considers yoga
to be a means leading to Sankhya-knowledge but that it is not the same
as Sankhya-knowledge. In 6.20, Sankara says that one apprehends the
Self by means of a "mind which has been purified through samadhi."48
From the evidence of the above we suggest that according to Sain-
kara the role of samadhi is supportive-or purifying-and is preliminary
to, but not necessarily identical with, the rise of the liberating knowledge.
As is well known, Sankara considers that knowledge alone, the insight
concerning the truth of things, is what liberates. To this end he places
great emphasis upon words, specifically the words of the Upanisads, as
providing the necessary and even the sufficient means to engender this
liberating knowledge. Sankara repeatedly emphasizes the importance of
the role of the teacher (guru/acarya) and the sacred texts (sastra) in the
matter of liberation. Forexample the compound sastracaryopadesa, "the
instruction on the part of the teacher and the scriptures," occurs seven MichaelComans

29

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 times in his commentary on the CGtaalone, along with other varia-
tions such as vedantacaryopadesa, and it regularly occurs in his other
works as well.49 The modern Vedantin, on the other hand, has over-
looked, possibly unknowingly, the importance which sacred language
and instruction held in the classical Vedanta as a means of knowledge
(pramana) and has had to compensate for this by increasing the impor-
tance of yogic samadhi, which is then put forward to be the necessary
and sufficient condition for liberation.
The contrast between the Vedanta of Sankara and some of its mod-
ern exponents is clear enough. But it should not be thought that the
modern emphasis on yogic samadhi is without precedent. As we have
mentioned, there is evidence of yoga techniques in the principal
Upanisads themselves although it did not then have a dominant empha-
sis, and this is reflected in the approach of Sankara in his commentaries.
However, in the centuries following Sankara, Advaitins have exhibited a
gradual increase in their reliance upon yoga techniques. This can be
shown by examining a few of the Advaita Prakaranagranthas,noncom-
mentarial compositions by Advaita authors.
The only noncommentarial work that is widely accepted as the
composition of Sankara is the Upadesasahasr. In this work the word
samadhi rarely occurs. The word samahita is used in 13.25, and we have
previously argued that samahita (concentrated) has a meaning equivalent
to the word samadhana, one-pointedness of mind, but it does not have
the same meaning as nirvikalpasamadhi.50Sankara mentions samadhi
three times in the Upadesasahasrl,51 but he does not extol it; on the
contrary, speaking from the understanding that the Self is nirvikalpa by
nature, he contrasts the Self and the mind and says:
As I have no restlessness(viksepa)I have hence no absorption(samadhi).
Restlessnessor absorptionbelong to the mindwhich is changeable.52
A similar view is expressed in 13.17 and 14.35. In 15.14 Sankara presents
a critique of meditation as an essentially dualistically structured activity.53
Furthermore, in 16.39-40, Sankara implicitly criticizes the Sankhya-Yoga
view that liberation is dissociation from the association of purusa and
prakrti54when he says:
It is not at all reasonablethat liberationis eithera connection [withBrahman]
or a dissociation[fromprakrti].Foran associationis non-eternaland the same
is true for dissociationalso.55

Thus it is evident from the above that Sankara implicitly rejects both the
soteriology of yoga, namely, that liberation has to be accomplished
through the real dissociation of the purusa from prakrti, and the
pursuit towards that end, that is, the achievement of nirvikalpa or
PhilosophyEast&West asamprajnatasamadhi.

30

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 However such a view became blurred in the writings of post-Sankara
Advaitins. This can be briefly shown by examining some later Advaita
prakarana texts. For example, in the popular fourteenth-century text
Panicadasl, we find a mixture of Vedantic and Yogic ideas. Towards
the conclusion of the first chapter on the "Discrimination of the Real"
(tattvaviveka), the author explains the Upanisad terms sravana, manana,
and nididhyasana (vv. 53-54), and then proceeds to describe the cultiva-
tion of samadhi as the means whereby the mediate verbal knowledge
derived from the Upanisads is turned into immediate experience (vv. 59-
62). However, in chapter nine, "The Lamp of Meditation" (dhyanadTpa),
meditation is prescribed for those who do not have the intellectual
acuteness to undertake the Self-inquiry;and in chapter seven (v. 265), the
author repeats the verse of Sankara from the Upadesasahasrn("AsI have
no restlessness"), which was cited above. Therefore it would appear that
the Panicadas-is an early example of a Vedantic text which is consciously
making room for classical Yoga but which has not lost sight of Sarkara's
perspective.56
The Vivekacu.damani is a popular text in contemporary Vedanta
circles and is ascribed to Sankara. However, it is highly unlikely that it is
a genuine work of Sankara, for the fact that there are no Sanskrit com-
mentaries on this work by any of the well-known commentators on the
works of Sankara would indicate that the Vivekacu.damaniis either a late
composition or that it was not regarded as a work of Sankara by the
earlier Advaitins.57In this text, samadhi comes in for considerable praise;
for example:

Reflectionshould be considered a hundred times superiorto hearing,and

meditation a hundred thousand times superioreven to reflection,but the
Nirvikalpaka Samadhi is infinite in its results.58
We can observe in this text how samadhi is treated as the indispensable
requirement for liberation, and we can see in the following verse that
samadhi is advocated for the same reason as is given in Yogasutra 1.1.4:
"at other times [the Self] takes the same form as the mental modifications
(vrttisarupyamitaratra)":
By the NirvikalpakaSamadhithe truth of Brahmanis clearly and definitely
realized,but not otherwise,for then the mind,being unstableby nature,is apt
to be mixed up with other perceptions.59
As a final example of the use of samadhi in this work we cite the following
verse:

Throughthe diversityof the superveningconditions(Upadhis),a man is apt to

thinkof himselfas also fullof diversity;but withthe removalof these he is again
hisown Self,the immutable.Thereforethe wise man shouldever devote himself
to the practice of NirvikalpaSamadhifor the dissolutionof the Upadhis.60 MichaelComans

31

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 If we compare the idea contained in this verse with the ideas of the
Upadesasahasr, we find that nowhere in the Upadesasahasr does Sai-
kara advocate the dissolution of the upadhi: On the contrary, his attitude
throughout the Upadesasahasrnisto show that an upadhi is to be negated
merely through the knowledge that it is an object, for as an object it
cannot be identical with the perceiver; and because an upadhi is essen-
tially unreal (mithya), it cannot negate the nondual truth, and therefore
no additional effort need be expended for its removal.
As a final example of the increasing tendency to identify Vedanta and
Yoga, we refer to a late Vedanta text, the Vedantasara of Sadananda
(fifteenth century A.D.). He, like the author of the Paincadai, has added
samadhi to the triad of sravana, manana, and nididhyasana. What is of
interest here is that he has reinterpreted samadhi to make it conform to
Advaitic ideas; for example, nirvikalpa samadhi is said to be the state
where the mind is without the distinctions of knower, knowledge, and
object of knowledge and has become totally merged in the "nondual
reality."61Furthermore, this text lists the eight limbs of Yoga practice
mentioned by Patanjali (Yogasutra 2.29), suitably reinterpreted to con-
form to the Vedanta. There are other, later Vedanta texts which also do
this.62Thus we see that through the centuries Vedanta has increasingly
accommodated itself to Yoga, leading to the almost complete absence
of a distinction between the two in modern times.

Conclusion
Although the importance of concentration is evident from the early
Upanisads (BU4.4.23), a form of yoga practice leading to the absorptive
state of samadhi is only in evidence in the later texts. We have seen that
Sankara does speak of a type of concentration upon the Self which is akin
to yoga insofar as there is the withdrawal of the mind from sense objects,
but he does not advocate more than that and he does not put forward
the view that we find in classical Yoga about the necessity of total
thought suppression. We have seen that he has used the word samadhi
very sparingly, and when he has used it, it was not always in an unam-
biguously favorable context. It should be clear that Sankara does not set
up nirvikalpasamadhi as a spiritual goal. For if he had thought it to be an
indispensable requirement for liberation, then he would have said so. But
he has not said so. Contemplation on the Self is obviously a part of
Sankara's teaching, but his contemplation is directed toward seeing the
ever present Self as free from all conditionings rather than toward the
attainment of nirvikalpasamadhi. This is in significant contrast to many
modern Advaitins for whom all of the Vedanta amounts to "theory"
which has its experimental counterpart in yoga "practice." I suggest that
their view of Vedanta is a departure from Sankara's own position. The
PhilosophyEast& West modern Advaitins, however, are not without their forerunners, and I have

32

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
tried to indicate that there has been a gradual increase in samadhi-
oriented practice in the centuries after Sarkara, as we can judge from the
later Advaita texts.

NOTES

Abbreviations are used in the notes below as follows:

BSBh Brahmasutra-Saikarabhasyam with the Commentaries Bhas-
yaratnaprabha of Govindananda, BhamatTof Vacaspatimisra
and Nyaya-Nirnaya of Anandagiri. Edited by J. L. Sastri. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1980.
BU Brhadaranyakopanisad.
ChU Chandogyopanisad.
US Upadesasahasrn of Sankaracharya, A Thousand Teachings: in
Two Parts-Prose and Poetry. Translated by Swami Jagada-
nanda. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1979.
1 - When the word samadhi is used in this article, it refers only to the
higher stage of samadhi known as nirvikalpasamadhi, which is an
"enstasis without thought constructions."
2 - Vedanta for the Western World, ed. C. Isherwood (London: Unwin
Books, 1975), p. 15.
3 - The three years of continuous Tantric sadhana under the direction of
the BhairavTBrahmanTwas his longest and most significant training.
See W. Neevel, "The Transformation of SrTRamakrishna,"in Hindu-
ism: New Essays in the History of Religions, ed. B. Smith (Leiden: E. J.
Brill,1976). The time spent under the direction of Totapuri, who was
said to be an Advaitin, was much shorter than the time spent study-
ing Tantra, and the information available on Totapuri is very meager,
so it is difficult to be sure whether he was actually an Advaitin rather
than a follower of yoga.
4 - M. Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, Bollingen Series, no. 56
(New York: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 227 ff., and The
HathayogapradTpikaof Svatmarama (Madras: Adyar Library,1984),
p. 125.
5 - Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami Nikhi-
lananda (Madras:Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1974), p. 195.
6 - Ibid., p. 814. Also cf. pp. 310, 576. MichaelComans

33

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 7 - Cf. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (Calcutta: Advaita
Ashrama, 1970), vol. 1, p. 470, "Ifthere is a God, you ought to be able
to see Him. If not, let Him go." Also cf. his introduction to Raja-Yoga,
pp. 125 ff., and vol. 2, p. 220, "Knowledge can only be got in one way,
the way of experience; there is no other way to know."
8 - Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 137, 180, 181, 212, and vol. 5, p. 300.
9 -Ibid., vol. 1, p. 188.
10 - S. Radhakrishnan, Eastern Religions and Western Thought (London:
Allen and Unwin, 1940), p. 51.
11 - G. A. Jacob, A Concordance to the Principal Upanisads and
Bhagavadgita (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971); G. M. Kurulkar,
Sasandarbhanighantusahita Dasopanisadah (Pune: Tilak Maharastra
Vidyapitha, 1973).
12 - ChU 8.1.3, 4, 5; BU4.2.1, 4.4.23.
13- The Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, with the Commentary of Sanrkara-
carya, trans. Swami Madhavananda (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama,
1975), p. 410.
14 - Cf. BSBh,p. 36; Vivekacudaimani of Sr Sarikaracarya,trans. Swami
Madhavananda (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1974), vv. 19-27; Apa-
roksanubhuti or Self-realization of SrTSarnkaracarya,trans. Swami
Vimuktananda (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1977), vv. 3-8.
15 - Ten Principal Upanisads with Sanrkarabhasya,Works of Sarkaracarya
in Original Sanskrit, vol. 1 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978), p. 937,
"samahitah indriyantahkaranacalanarupad vyavrtya aikagryarupena
samahito bhutva." (Hereafter, all Upanisad references containing
Sarkara's commentary will be to this work).
16 - Ibid., p. 78, "asamahitah-anekagramana viksiptacittah."
17 - Tattva Bodha of Sankaracharya (Bombay: Central Chinmaya Mission
Trust, n.d.), p. 7; Aparoksanubhuti (cited n. 14 above), v. 8.
18 - Georg Feuerstein, The Philosophy of Classical Yoga (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1980), p. 84.
19 - Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads (New York: Dover,
1966), pp. 23-26. Also, see Winternitz quoted in S. Dasgupta, A
History of Indian Philosophy (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975), vol. 1,
p. 39. Eliade considers the Maitrayanlto belong to the same period
as the Bhagavadgita, i.e., between the second century B.C. and the
second century A.D. (Eliade, Yoga, p. 124).
20 - Amrtabindu 6, 16; Aruneya 2. It also occurs in the Bhagavadg?taat
PhilosophyEast& West 2.44, 53, 54.

34

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
21 - Eliade, Yoga, p. 114, remarks: "It is true that the Upanisads remain in
the line of metaphysics and contemplation, whereas yoga employs
asceticism and a technique of meditation. But this is not enough
to halt the constant osmosis between the Upanisadic and yogic
milieus."
22 - I do not know why later Vedantins used the word nirvikalpa to
characterize what is essentially the yogic asamprajnatasamadhi. Per-
haps they wished to distinguish their practice from that of classical
Yoga. The word nirvikalpaka was first introduced into the astika
("orthodox")tradition by KumarilaBhatta, who used it in his explana-
tion of perception, under the influence of the Buddhist philosopher
Dignaga. See D. N. Shastri, The Philosophy of Nyaya-Vaisesika and Its
Conflict with the Buddhist Dignaga School (Delhi: Bharatiya Vidya
Prakashan, 1976), p. 438.
23 - I am assuming that Sankara is not the author of the Yogasutrabhas-
yavivarana, as this issue has not yet been settled. See W. Halbfass,
Tradition and Reflection: Explorations in Indian Thought (New York:
State University of New York Press, 1991), chap. 6.
24 - BSBh 2.1.9 (p. 365, line 6), 2.3.39 (p. 545, line 10), 2.3.40 (p. 551, line
2); Word Index to the Brahma-Sutra-Bhasya of Sarnkara,T. M. P.
Mahadevan, general ed., 2 vols. (Madras:University of Madras, 1973).
25 - BSBh2.1.9 (p. 365, line 6).
26 - Ibid., 2.3.39 (p. 545, line 10).
27 - Man.jdkya 3.37 (p. 224, line 3).
28- Katha 1.3.13. Cf. J. Bader, Meditation in Sarikara's Vedanta (Delhi:
Aditya Prakashan, 1990), chap. 3.
29 - Katha 1.3.13 (p. 83, line 11).
30 - BSBh1.4.1 (p. 295, line 10).
31 -Ibid., 3.3.15 (p. 694, line 12).
32 - Ibid., 1.4.1 (p. 295, lines 12 ff.).
33 - BU 2.4.11 (p. 764, lines 11 ff.). See also Madhavananda, trans., Brha-
daranyaka Upanisad (cited n. 13 above), pp. 253 ff. I have cited
Madhavananda's translation here as I cannot make any significant
improvement on it.
34 - Cf. commentary on Katha 1.2.12 and BhagavadgTta16.1.
35 - BU 1.4.7 (p. 663, line 9).
36 - BSBh1.1.4 (p. 69, line 6). MichaelComans

35

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 37- Ibid., 1.1.4 (p. 79, lines 7 ff.). Also, for the reference to action as
consisting of four types, cf. BU 3.3.1 (p. 798, lines 22 ff., and p. 801,
lines 1 ff.), 4.4.22 (p. 933, lines 21 ff.);Mundaka 1.2.12 (p. 152, lines 25
ff.); US 17.50; Shr Shankaracharya's Upadeshasahasrn with the Gloss
Padayojanika, ed. D. V. Gokhale (Bombay:The GujaratiPrintingPress,
1917); ShriShankarabhagavatpada's Upadeshasahasri with the Tikaof
Shri Anandagiri Acharya, ed. S. Subramanyasastri (Varanasi:Mahesh
Research Institute, 1978).
38 - BSBh1.1.4 (p. 79, line 1); also BU2.1.20 (p. 739, lines 20 and 24).
39 - BSBh1.1.4 (p. 64, lines 2 and 4; p. 84, lines 3 ff.; p. 85, lines 1 ff.; p. 87,
lines 4 ff.).
40 - BU 3.3.1 (p. 798, lines 19 ff.).
41 - BSBh2.1.3 (p. 354, lines 1 ff.).
42- Ibid.,2.1.3 (p. 354, line 3).
43 - Bhagavadgita with Sarnkarabhasya,Works of Sankaracaryain Original
Sanskrit, vol. 11 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978) 6.19 (p. 107, lines 9
ff.), and also 5.21, 6.4, 8.10, 12.6, 13.10, 18.33.
44 - Ibid., 18.66 (p. 296, lines 6 ff.).
45 - Ibid., introd., 2.11 (p. 9, lines 14 ff.).
46 - Ibid., 2.39 (p. 27, lines 13 ff.).
47 - Ibid.,4. 38 (p. 80, line 18).
48 - Ibid., 6.20 (p. 107, line 16 [my emphasis]).
49 - Ibid.,2.21 (p. 20, line 12), 2.63 (p. 36, line 12), 8.8 (p. 128, line 16), 13.30
(p. 215, line 23), 13.34 (p. 217, line 19), 18.16 (p. 263, line 19), 18.17 (p.
264, line 4), 18.50 (p. 281, line 7), 18.55 (p. 284, line 9); Word-Index to
Sarikara'sCGtabha.ya,ed. FrancisX. D'Sa (Pune:Institute for the Study
of Religion, 1985). Also cf. BU 2.1.20 (p. 744, line 23), 2.4.2 (p. 767,
line 5), 2.5.15 (p. 776, line 12); ChU6.15.2 (p. 537, line 12), 8.1.6 (p. 571,
line 2); Katha 1.5.12 (p. 96, line 1); Mundaka 1.2.12 (p. 153, line 5),
2.2.7 (p. 162, line 22); US 17.51-52.
In an otherwise interesting and insightful article, "The Path of
No-path: Sankara and Dogen on the Paradox of Practice" (Philoso-
phy East and West 38, no. 2 [April 1988]), David Loy has come to
an erroneous conclusion (p. 133) that "there can be no means-
not even sruti-to realize Brahman...." But if that were the case,
it would not be possible to explain Sankara's concerted effort in
meticulously commenting on sruti; and such a statement also over-
looks the numerous references where he states that the sruti is the
PhilosophyEast& West means of knowledge for Brahman.It is precisely because Sankara sees

36

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 no other way to arrive at the knowledge of the unconditioned Abso-
lute that he resorts to the sacred words of the Upanisads as the
means to dispel the ignorance of the ever present Self. Among
Western scholars, Sankara's views on sruti have been well articulated
by W. Halbfass in his discussion of the role of sruti in Sankara's
thought; see his Traditionand Reflection (cited n. 23 above), chap. 5.
50 - Samadhana is mentioned in US 17.23-24. Cf. Tattvabodha (cited n.
17 above), p. 7: "samadhanarmkim?cittaikagrata."
51 - US 13.14, 17 and 14.35.
52 - Ibid., 13.14.
53 - Ibid., 15.14.
54 - The Sanikhyakarikaof lsvara Krsna,ed. and trans. S. S. Suryanarayana
Sastri (Madras:University of Madras, 1973), vv. 20, 21, 66, 68.
55 - US 16.39-40.
56- Cf. PanicadasTof SrTVidyara.nyaSwami, trans. Swami Swahananda
(Madras:Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1975).
57 - There are two commentaries on the Vivekacudaimani: one is by a
little known writer, Harinathabatta, and the other is a recent com-
mentary by SrTChandrasekhara BharatT,who was the Sankaracarya
of SringiriMatha from 1912 to 1954. See R. Thangaswami, Advaita-
Vedanta Literature:A Bibliographical Survey (Madras: University of
Madras, 1980), p. 218; Advaita Grantha Kosa, prepared by a disciple
of Sri Ista Siddhindra Saraswati Swami of the Upanisad Brahmendra
Mutt (Kancheepuram: n.n., n.d.), p. 67. Perhaps the Vivekacu.damani
is itself a work of one of the SringiriSankaracaryas?
58 - VivekacuCdamani(cited n. 14 above), v. 364.
59 - Ibid., v. 365.
60 - Ibid., v. 357.
61 - Vedantasara or the Essence of Vedanta of Sadananda YogTndra,
trans. Swami Nikhilananda (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1974), p. 110.
62 - The Aparoksanubhuti has been ascribed to Sankara but is unlikely to
be a genuine work. See Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, ed. Karl
Potter, vol. 3, Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His Pupils (Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1981), p. 320. The final forty-four verses (out of
144) describe yoga. Here, however, yoga is consciously reinterpreted
within a Vedantic manner: "The complete forgetfulness of all thought
by first making it changeless and then identifying it with Brahman
is called Samadhi known as knowledge" (Vimuktananda's trans.,
cited n. 14 above, v. 124). The Sarvavedantasiddhantasarasanrgrahais MichaelComans

37

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 another work which is most likely not a work of Sankara. See
Thangaswami, Advaita-Vedanta Literature(cited n. 57 above), p. 220;
Potter, Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara, p. 339; Advaita Grantha Kosa
(cited n. 57 above), p. 68. In this work we again find the grafting of
yogic nirvikalpasamadhi onto Vedanta teachings; see The Quintes-
sence of Vedanta, trans. Swami Tattwananda (Ernakulam:Sri Rama-
krishna Advaita Ashrama, 1960), pp. 171 ff.

PhilosophyEast& West

38

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:14:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions