[Advaita-l] namo namah: and some questions

[Sanskrit Beginner]

namo namah:

> > said. I would like to question authority if that's 
acceptable.
> 
> Upto a point.  Because the truth is in the end we do believe 
in authority
> -- of the Vedas, shastras, and tradition.  So this places a 
boundary.  But
> within that boundary, there is nothing wrong with enquiry

Thanks. If I overstep the bounds, please point it out.
 
> No karma is not like that.  It is cause and effect.  Every 
cause has some
> effect which in turn causes more actions.  You cannot "eat 
till you are
> full"  The only way to break the cycle is to not act and 
reduce your
> desire to act.

I think my question formulation was not clear enough - take 
two different karma's for example: the daily sandhya vandhana 
and the shraddha ritual. Both are to be performed, and are 
ordained. Right? In the daily case, people approximate and say 
while it must be performed 3 times a day, and at these 
specific times, for shrarddha ritual, it must be performed 
only on this day, must have these elements to it, etc etc. The 
rigour attached to one kind of ordained karma is more that 
that for other karma's. I am not able to appreciate the 
emphasis on attention to detail in one, while not in the 
other. These are just two examples, and there are a lot more. 
How does one draw the line on effort vs. return on investement 
(focus on detail)?
 
> But meditation is indeed a type of karma.

 Thats news to me. If even meditation comes under the cap of 
karma, is there anything that we do in the mortal world that 
we can consider as non-karma?

> > The third question is bhakti: Can two peoples' bhakti be
> > compared, measured, and contrasted as better/worse etc.
> 
> Yes.

 Can you please elaborate? How does one know, measure and 
differentiate? How can one progress in that path? In the 
internet age, with daily traffic congestions, associating with 
satsangha is practically impossible. What's the next best? An 
internet forum? I find bhakti to be too much of a 
temperamental thing to be got from or discussed in an 
impersonal medium such as the internet. 
 How do list members here deal with it? (more an open question 
here than a survey :))
 If the process of spiritual deveopment is threefold (karma, 
bhakti, gyana), how does one proceed on the bhakti aspect? 
Karma is either you do it on your own, or don't and gyana (or 
pursuit thereof) is reading material and clarifications on 
lists such as this .... what about bhakti?

dhanyavaadhah:

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