[Advaita-l] Basics

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005, Prasad Reddy wrote:

> Why you are substantiating and underlining "kartRutva bhAvana"?, like I will
> put the biggest Linga,
> I will build the tallest towers of hinduism, why you like to own/enhance
> something?
> When you do things with ahamkaram, you never get mukti. You may get higher
> posts like Indra padavi
> or some devata padavis, till your thus assumed/attained puNya/goodness
> surrounds your ahamkara.Later on like Nahusha you will
> be out of Indra padavi, and back to bhUloka.

Yes this is indeed the supreme teaching of Advaita Vedanta.  If one is 
firmly convinced of this, one should immediately take to sannyasa.  Merely 
deciding to not to do anything remarkable with your life is not good 
enough to dispel kartrutva.

As we will see in the Gita, the Vedas teach two paths, that of pravrtti, 
and nivrtti.  The latter is superior but the former is often ones lot.  If 
that is the case, pravrtti marga cannot be followed in a desultory, 
listless way.  It must be followed with faith and vigor.

So does this apply to the mercury lingam?  I don't know.  It could be out 
of a zeal to demonstrate love of Bhagavan or it could be a big publicity 
stunt.  I have no idea but I prefer to think well of other people.

> I went with one of my gujarati friend, he took
> me to a house in the evening there people are having
> 'swAdhyAy' session, he told me that they group, and read a chapter or two
> from our scriptures (that time it was from the Gita)
> and this kind of 'swAdhyAy' is started by some great person in Gujarat -I
> believe. And lot of people follow that.

His name was Pandurang Shastri Athavale (his family were of Marathi origin 
but lived in Gujarat.)  And he did inspire many people to deeper knowledge 
of our faith and shastras.  But I can tell you from personal experience 
that for every one like that, there are 10 who are only interested in 
putting their Guru on a pedestal.  And now that he is no more, they are 
slowly drifting away to other charismatic figures.  You cannot blame some 
saint for being treated like a monument instead of the life-changing 
teacher they are supposed to be.  But you also cannot blame a monument for 
being misused for the same reason.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>