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edge of the self, by means of aiding the desire to know. The one who desires to know becomes single-minded in his direction to that one goal, and desires to perform the hearing and understanding [which lead one there].
58 Certain knowledge arises from the statement, ''Then, you are that . . .59 |
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UMS III.4.32-35 builds on the siddhantas of UMS III.4.25 and 26-2760 by asking a question which tests and fixes the interior boundaries between the potential renunciant and his "this-worldly" compatriots: if it is agreed that rites help the person who desires liberation, are rites optional for the person who does not desire liberation? As in the older ritual calculus shared by Mimamsa,61 intention (samkalpa) matters. A rite can lead to different results, depending on the announced intention of the performer. Here too, rites ordinarily serve the mundane and heavenly purposes of the person who does not desire liberation, but the same rites, performed in the same way, will help toward salvation the special person who intends liberation as an at least longterm goal. The rites themselves flexibly allow for this diversity of effects due to the performer's intentions. They help toward the origination of knowledge, and yet without contradiction they still bind the person who does not seek knowledge. The obligation to performance remains in force, whatever the intention of the performer vis à vis knowledge and other results. |
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These key adhikaranas1-17 on the distinction between the human and sacrificial goals (purusa-artha and kratu-artha), 18-20 on the legitimacy of a renunciant state of life, 25 on the independence of knowledge from rites, 26-27 on the subordinate but real role of rites, and 32-35 on the importance of intention vis à vis the nature of the efficacy of ritestogether compose the framework within which the independence of knowledge from ritual can be articulated in a fashion consistent with the ritual and Mimamsa precedents of Advaita.62 The intersecting, differing but not entirely separable purposes and results of ritual and meditation are carefully distinguished and rankedand both are properly inscribed within Advaita's overall description of reality. |
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