The point

[Nanda Kumar]

Both Murthy and Allan have raise the question on the mode of attaining
jnanihood. I've objections to this line of thought:

For all the Upanishads, the Gita, the Dhammapada and works of theology
and philosophy, one may read, in the final analysis, all these are useless
if one doesn't delve deep inside and understand oneself. So in a nutshell
: "All the answers lie within you". When one understands oneself or his
true nature, one will attain jnanihood. For each person with differing
natures, problems and obstacles to overcome might be vary. True that
it's hard work, but to ask for an easy way or a ready to order and
generic method doesn't make sense.

I also have an objection as to determine whether another person has
attained Brahman or not. A Guru, even though might not have attained
Brahman, but who posseses all other qualities as prescribed by
Shankara in Vivekachoodamani can still be a true guru. If I'm a student,
the guru is important to me only to the scope of his guidance to the path
of enlightment and his knowledge.  Whether he's got the 'label' Brahman
or not, is immaterial to me. For even the Guru can only guide us till a
certain point, but for us to attain the Goal, again we've to do the hard
work of delving deep within and discovering our true nature.

>From  Tue Oct 28 11:20:22 1997
Message-Id: <TUE.28.OCT.1997.112022.0500.>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 11:20:22 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: Personal
Subject: Spirituality and Supreme Goal
Comments: To: Advaita List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
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Spirituality is divine and it is beyond human comprehension.
No single definition of Spirituality may be acceptable to everyone.
Categorization, classification and ranking of spirituality are
unspiritual. In simplest terms, spirituality is an experience of the
presence of divinity.  When a person reestablishes the TRUE HUMAN NATURE
he (she) adopts to spiritual life.  The beautiful conversation between
the human (Arjun) and the Divine (Lord Krishna) reveals that True Human
Nature can be regained if and only if the human understands what is the
role of  human in Nature.  At the end of the long dialogue, the Lord
asks Arjun whether his ignorance is dispelled? ( Bhagavad Geeta:
Chapter XVIII, Verse 72 ).  Arjun replies (Bhagavad Geeta Chapter XVIII,
Verse 73) that he has regained his memory and understood his True Human
Nature!  The true human nature calls for every human being to do their
duties spontaneously with a steady mind without looking for rewards.  No
spontaneous work without rewards is possible without a bigger heart
filled with love, kindness, goodness, courage and wisdom.  Fortunately,
the Heart is the gift of God and it necessarily filled with love,
kindness and generosity.  If we can take a moment to understand this`
simple fact, then we will enjoy our possessions by sharing with
others!
        Spontaneity is rule of the Nature and every species other than the
human beings follows this rule. For human beings, Nature is the best
training ground to understand spontaneity.   The flowers bloom in the
morning spontaneously without anyone asking! The flowers do not get any
reward for their actions nor do they expect any rewards! The presence of
flowers brings divinity around and this may explain why flowers play
such an important role in human life in all countries of the world.
Trees and plants do not store their wealth and they share their
possession with everyone.  Animals live in nature, they learn from
Nature and they obey the Nature.  Animals only what they need from
Nature, nothing more and nothing less!   The rivers and streams continue
to flow day and night and supply water to plants, animals, birds and the
humans.  Mountains stand still and force the clouds to bring rain
showers.  Nature has a built-in recycling phenomena where Oceans play a
vital role.  The Hindu spiritual masters understood the Nature
thoroughly and chose to live either along river banks, or on  mountain
tops or in thick  forests to practice their spiritual life.
        To witness the divinity, everyone needs to open  their spiritual eye.
Everyone possesses the spiritual eye but our vision is blinded by the
intrusion of our mind.  When the spiritual eye opens up, the delusions
and ignorance disappear and one can  visualize divinity.  To open the
spiritual eye, one has to shut the mind from thoughts.  Divinity, the
LIGHT from sun is clouded by the evil thoughts of the mind.   During the
deep sleep stage, the mind is calm and everyone experiences the bliss
momentarily.  Meditation is another way to experience inner peace and
tranquility.  Other techniques that are used to achieve inner peace
include music, prayers, reading, writing, volunteering, and walking
along the ocean beach, etc.
        In conclusion, Vedic spirituality is not narrowly confined to any
specific religion or belief.   Divinity is always present when a person
lives a  spiritual life.  It hardly matters  whether that person
believes  in God.   Belief in God is an inference and is not a
statement!  If I live according to the rules defined by Lord Krishna in
Bhagavad Geeta, I implicitly believe in Lord Krishna.  It hardly matters
whether I state I believe in Lord Krishna or do not believe in Lord
Krishna.  Similarly if I state that I believe in Lord Krishna and if all
my actions contradict my statement then by inference I am a
nonbeliever.  Self-realization is a revealed preference of a Jnani whose
actions alone will demonstrate the intent! For a Jnani, the world is an
illusion and demonstrator and the demonstration will become the same!
Under those circumstances, there can be no perception, no world, no
action and no judgment!