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There was a question to the effect so: you have studied prasthAnatraya and are involved in tarka with technical words, but why is it that you are not a brahmajnAnI?
It is a valid question, if it really was a question, and I shall answer it in the context of anyone, as my personal issue is useless to anyone. However, I may also be considered as falling within the following if it helps. The journey to brahmajnAna begins with mumukShutva, which is not possible without a good amount of chittashuddhi, which assumes viveka-driven vairAgya and shaTsampatti. However, wanting mokSha also, meaning mokSha among other things, brings neither this nor that! It is this type of mumukShutva that most of the people that we know have, which is technically not that at all. We are unwilling to work hard on our chitta at the cost of our jobs/businesses/livelihoods, fame, possessions, luxurious lifestyles, etc. We have all sorts of excuses for not doing our nityakarma, why-- most of us don't even know our nityakarma, let alone do it. Many others among us entered late into it and do what we can. Then we pick simpler options that will bring chittashuddhi such as tIrthayAtra which may be more of sightseeing than anything else, temple visits, dAna, etc. We are more comfortable with this approach than have shraddhA in a guru and do gurusevA, as we have more-or-less concluded that "there are no real gurus" today, or less likely "I am unfit to find a guru", or its impractical in this day, or whatever.
With all that going on, we also come across several books with translations, blogs, mailing lists, groups, online classes, recordings, and some nearby satsanga to bring us jnAna! It is this jnAna that we think is theoretical and needs practice, not the jnAna that comes out of systematic study under a guru. With either of these, there is also possibility of jnAnotpatti that feels so real sometimes, and I am not talking that under emotional unrest, that we think "this is it", but as Sw. Paramarthanandaji says, it lasts only till we wear our footwear after satsanga! This is the reason we end up thinking that brahmajnAna is very difficult and worse yet, brahmajnAna doesn't mean mukti but "I need brahmAnubhava". However, the fact is to the contrary: the indulgence in the world like before takes away that "feeling" which was undoubtedly not different from experience. To avoid this, Bhagavatpadacharya has said that a person who wants mokSha should give up everything lock, stock and barrel at the very glimpse of that non-dual reality, or that mithyAtva-feeling towards the world. Rarely does anyone do so today. Those who want to are unable to, due to their prabala-prArabdha presenting obstacles at every moment taking away decades till the time is ripe! This prArabdha manifests as family dependencies, health problems, kuNDali issues, etc; take your pick! So what is left is a balancing act trying to do what you can for continuing chittashuddhi, shravaNa and manana. The main reason for prArabdha to bring in hurdles is that the vAsanas are ready to manifest as obstacles and sannyAsa is a strict no as per shAstras when this happens. One is lacking chittashuddhi as one has been a gatecrasher to the shravaNa-party! At this stage, taking to japa, pUja, yajna, and/ or upAsana, and avoiding indulgence of any kind is called for. This can continue lifelong and may lead to videhamukti if the person has knowledge free from all doubts. However, jivanmukti, meaning Ananda, is not possible without sannyAsa or at the very least, solitude. If not at the stage of shravaNa, sannyAsa is called for at the stage of nididhyAsa. A person who is unable to take sannyAsa is held back by a similar prArabdha that denies shravaNa in the first place. Now then, what hope is there? A person doing continuous shravaNa giving up indulgence along with desires, and going along with prArabdha without opposing it, is either led to sannyAsa in time or is sure to get videhamukti on the fall of the body.
In other words, brahmajnAna is not that difficult, but niShThA is extremely difficult because it needs a lot of sAdhana that is skipped before jnAna, making dropping-off everything difficult! (An ideal adhikArI is a kRtopAsti). And then people start questioning brahmajnAna itself and so on goes saMsAra, be it hunting for more jnAna or anubhava.
gurupAdukAbhyAm
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