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tute a correct reading of reality. It is a skill practiced and perfected over time. Nonetheless, the resultant realization is not temporal and is not merely the product of certain actions effected in a certain order. This mediation of the simple and eternal through the complex and temporal is explained, authorized and defended by the Advaitins in the variety of direct and indirect ways we examined in the previous chapter; but it is finally validated only by the example of an accomplished Advaitin, a properly trained and supremely discerning reader who sees the wordless simplicity of Brahman through and after the many sacred words of the Text. We must now trace the genealogy of that reader in the textually mediated desire for Brahman (brahmajijñasa). |
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1. The Desire to Know Brahman and the Desire to Read |
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The tension between the simplicity of knowledge and the complexity and temporality of the reading process by which that simple knowledge is attained is replicated in Advaita's twofold discourse about the expected background of the potential Advaitin. On the one hand, there can be no prerequisites for knowledge of Brahman; the desire to know Brahman has no cause, and the knowledge of Brahman cannot be produced; both are free and unconstrained by textual or other constraints and are simply, always possible. On the other hand, Advaita has very high expectations about who can become such a desirer and knower; it proposes a list of qualifications ranging from calmness and other virtues which flourish in the mind trained, or as if trained, by Mimamsa, to a set of external qualifications which include both the right manner of learningafter initiation, with a recognized teacherand by extension the right social identification. |
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The discussion starts under UMS I.1.1 with an exploration of the prerequisites which make one eligible to take up the study of the Text, particularly in the exploration of possible meanings for the word jijñasa, which indicates both "the desire to know" |
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