100. hrIMshaririNI

[Ravisankar S. Mayavaram]

100. hrIMshaririNI

SHE who has hrIm.h has her body. SHE is the soul of the mUlamantra. Hence,
hrIm.h is HER body of form.

AUM hrIMshaririNyai namaH

--
I will post the summary of  names 81-100 in few days.

>From  Sun Jul 19 13:33:37 1998
Message-Id: <SUN.19.JUL.1998.133337.0400.>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 13:33:37 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Karma and Sanyasa
Comments: To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
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Abbreviations:

Up. - Upanishhad-s
Sm. - sMR^iti
Sr. - shruti
_______________________________________________________________________

This post will summarize my understanding of karma and sanyAsa. I am
also concerned about how karma is being devalued (implicitly) by many in
this list. IMO, miunderstanding karma and Sanyasa is very serious. So,
please understand that my statements are from such a concern. People who
are offended by any and everything would do well by deleting this mail
at once without reading it.

Who can give up Karma?
-----------------------

Suresvaracarya is very emphatic that one who dons the Sanyasi's robes
alone can give up Karma in his bR^ihadAraNyaka Up. bhAshhya vArttika. I
don't have the text with me, but I know it's there. Perhaps Jaldhar can
help me here. See also the VivekachuDAmaNi where shankaracArya clearly
says the person desiring relase should give up action mentally AND
physically. Again I don't have this text, someone please quote this for
me. In the upadeshasAhasrI when shankaracArya talks about how a disciple
should be, he clearly mentions that he shouyld be a paramahamsa
parivrAjaka.

ShankaracArya's tradition, right from suershvarAchArya have emphasized
phycical renunciation _also_. Why?

I see many in the list claiming karma is not of much use and one can do
it however one pleases along with mental renunciation. I ask these
proponents of "mental renunciation":

How is it that
1. a fat paycheck is pocketed each month, but mentally renounced?
2. one lives in a house, but that is mentally renounced?
3. The car with AC is also mentally renounced?
4. The wife is present, but mentally renounced?
5. performances by ones own children, dance song etc are attended, but
mentally renounced?

BUT

when it comes to prescribed karma it is both mentally AND physcically
renounced. Why is it that I cannot find a SINGLE person in this list
among the proponents of "mental renunciation" who:

1. do prescribed karmas and mentally renounce it? or
2. also physically renounce wife, AC car etc.

Why is it that when ones physical comforts are concerned things are only
mentally renounced, but when one has to go through the trouble of doing
karma properly it is also physically renounced.

>From  Sun Jul 19 14:33:09 1998
Message-Id: <SUN.19.JUL.1998.143309.0400.>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 14:33:09 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: Karma and Sanyasa
Comments: To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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I accidentaly pressed the send key. Here's the rest:

Anyway, there is no point in saying that such and such is "my
understanding of shankara". shankara himself makes it quite clear that
he demands mental AND physical renunciation and his immediate disciple
sureshvaracArya is also rather explicit about it. Also the whole
tradition of teachers is quite emphatic about it. This being the case it
is better to question our understanding than wish away all these
passages and "renounce mentally" wordly comforts, but stop doing karma.

shruti and smR^iti
-------------------

Sm. is as valid as Sh. Only when Sm. directly contradicts Sh. we can
neglec that statement of Sm. Otherwise it's as valid a Sh. This goes for
purANa-s also. So the bottom line is that karma as in smR^itis is a
must.

Why is physical sannyAsa useful?
---------------------------------

In some Sm. texts and by some teachers mental renunciation is
emphasized. For eg, in the yoga vAshhistha mental renunciation is
emphasized in the shikidvaja chUDala story. But it does not mean
physical sannyAsa is useless. Similarly Ramana Maharshi also has
emphasized mental renunciation. But that does not mean physical sannyAsa
is useless. To one disciple, RM quoted the story from the very same yoga
vAshishhTha the story of a king who becomes an ascetic and first begs
till the edghe of where his city begins, then he goes inside but does
not go near the palace and finally goes to the palace itself. He also
advised one disciple of his to sustain himself by begging only since
this is very conducive to producing detachment. (NOTE: Being lazy and
hence begging is tamasik and will not produce any detachment.) The point
is that many who may have some interest in taking up sannyAsa are not
capable of it, but that's their fault and not the institution of
sannyAsa. And shankara very clearly advises mental AND physical
renunciation. This should not be misinterpreted as giving up karmas, but
still living with ones wife, children etc.

Some people here may have really mentally renounced everything. But this
cannot be followed by everyone and teaching it to other people,
especially youngsters, is very dangerous.

Rama.