229 Anubhava in accordance with what truly is

In the GÄ«tā commentary this means roughly being (bhava) in-accord- ance-with (anu) what truly is. The sense comes out clearly in III.41 and IX.1, where the GÄ«tā has the pair jƱāna-vijƱāna. (This is translated by Edgerton as theoretical and practical knowledge.) In this pairing, jƱāna is taken by Śaį¹…kara not in the usual way as Right Vision (samyag- darsana), but as theoretical ideas (avabodha) of the Self and so on as taught by scripture and the teacher. VijƱāna in contrast is practical realization of the ideas ā€“ anubhava.

Similarly in IX. 1 vijƱāna as anubhava is distinguished from jƱāna. But he also treats the pair together as samyagdarsana, ā€˜the direct means to mokį¹£a.

The three terms ā€“ paripāka, avasāna, anubhava ā€“ came together (each twice) in XVIII.55. They also appear under XVIII.36 and 37.

The GÄ«tā and Śaį¹…kara both treat the teaching-point here as most important: Kį¹›į¹£į¹‡a introduces it with Hear!, which Śaį¹…kara glosses as: Be Concentrated (samādhānam kuru).

XVIII.36 Hear from me about the three-fold happiness.
What with practice one delights in, where pain comes to an end,

XVIII.37 Which at the beginning seems like poison but with maturity is like honey
That is said to be the happiness of light (sattva),
Arising from the peace of a mind-resting-on-Self (ātmabuddhi).

ā€˜with practiceā€™ means by application and facility; ā€˜delightā€™ means happi- ness-realization (sukha-anubhava). He does not use anubhava for the momentary experience of false happiness of excitement or the deluded happiness of sloth.

Śaį¹…kara explains that at the beginning, when jƱāna, vairāgya, dhyāna and samādhi are first tackled head-on, they are nothing but effort; in this preliminary stage, they seem against natural well-being ā€“ poison as it were. But when the jƱāna, vairāgya, dhyāna and samādhi are mature (paripāka) the happiness is comparable to honey of immortality.

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