Ashvamedham (was Re: [Advaita-l] A lost Vedic ritual is brought alive)

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

On 11/4/05, Abhishek RK <rkabhi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Namaste,
>  On 11/3/05, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <rama.balasubramanian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On 11/3/05, Abhishek RK <rkabhi at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Namaste,
> > Meditations usually have no particular rules like the ahitaagni. That
> > doesn't mean anything because no one can do meditation properly unless
> > he follows yama, niyama, and a host of other stringent practices. So
> > of course there are "rules" even for these meditations. And of course,
> > it's difficult to control the mind and meditate. But that does not
> > mean one shouldn't try. Any one can try to meditate, but whether they
> > are successful depends on many things than just merely sitting in some
> > place.
>
>  I agree that this "meditiation" is for those of very pure minds. An example
> is: those in LKG cannot understand the teachings of say 10th standard. At
> present I must say we are in LKG in the field of vedic learning. So at
> present better concentrate on learning the mantras, then comes using them in
> karmas and learning their meaning! Sri Chandrasekara Bharati Swamiji says
> that Sureswaracarya was of such pure mind because of performing *all* the
> karmas to the tee that he was able to grasp the Acarya's teachings as soon
> as enunciated by the Master.

Thanks for the inormation on the books. Very curious indeed!

Re: meditation. On the other hand, continuous attempts at meditation
lead to purity. It works both ways. That's been my experience,
notwithstanding any stories found in books etc. Stories are
contextual, often exagerated to emphasize a point, and not meant to be
taken literally. Let's just respectfully disagree on the
interpretation of such stories. The analogy of LKG is also not exactly
appropriate, because unless an attempt is made, how will one know? As
the veda itself says priyaM shraddhe dadataH. I am 35 years old and
old enough to try to meditate. In the olden days, when everyone went
through adhyayana, they completed everything in 7 years before they
were 15 years old, and then learned the meanings, meditation etc. That
was their full time job.  But I am in a full time job which require at
least 9-10 hours work everyday (not veda related), married, with a
kid. That's the reality and I don't see it changing. It will be a
wonder if I can learn one aShTakam in 2 years, not to mention
memorizing it.  If I wait till I finish entire adhyayana and
memorizing it by rote, I'll probably be 50 or 60 by then. Perhaps even
older or even dead, who knows? Not to mention then learning karmas and
then learning meanings. I think I will just do things in parallel.
Again, best to respectfully disagree on the method and leave it at
that.

Rama