[Advaita-l] aruNa prashna for sUrya namaskaara - A Scholar's Opinion

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms Sri Karthik prabhuji
Hare Krishna

Thanks a lot for your kind clarification.  My knowledge in pUrva mImAmsa is
absolutely nil...as I've not studied any of the pUrva mImAmsa works.  I've
just shared whatever being conventionally followed in pUjA vidhi / kriyA
vidhi.  Hence, kindly bear with my ignorance.

Karthik prabhuji:

Vidhis are orders to be followed in action, but
Mantras are reminders during the performance of an action.

bhaskar :

My question is ..dont these maNtra-s (reminders) be followed with necessary
vidhi (action) from the kartru??  Though we can say these are all
instructive maNtra-s, it invariably follows some kriya/vidhi from the
kartru...under these circumstances, how pUrvamImAmsaka-s distinguish
maNtra-s from vidhi pUrvaka vAkya-s & what would be the justification for
that ??  I shall wait for your next set of postings on this issue prabhuji.

While on the subject, I seek the clarification from the learned members of
this list with regard to karma kAnda of vEdA-s.  Whether we, the advaitins,
who are more inclined more towards jnAna pradhAna vAkya-s (vEdAnta) have to
religiously/meticulously  follow each & every rule enshrined in the karma
pradhAna bhAga of vEda as our pUrva mImAmsaka-s did?? otherwise, it should
be followed as one of the means for mind purification without giving much
preference to vidhi-vidhAna as precribed in pUrvamImAmsa shAstra...I think,
since, pUrva mImAmsaka-s believed that strict observance of karmA itself
fetch the svargAdi lOkAntara phala, it is mandatory for them to adhere to
the strict observation of kriya vidhAna as karmAcharaNa is the sole means
for them...but for those (advaitins) who are doing this only for the
purpose of mind purification (chitta shuddhi) may not have to follow
vigorously those rules & regulations (for example we do relax some of the
procedures in pUjA vidhAna like gandhArthe pushpAni pUjayAmi, dhUpArthe
akshatAn samarpayAmi, AbharaNArThe pushpANi pUjayAmi..etc.etc. & in punaH
pUja we do recite maNtra-s like gItaM shrAvayAmi, AndOLikArOhaNAm,
gajArOhaNam, ashvArOhaNam samarpayAmi but without offering anything :-))!!
& some time in hOmaMs we place darbha danda in the place of brahma
sthAna!!)  ..for that matter no advaitin would endorse the view that karma
itself can give us ultimate realization.  Hence I think *strict* observance
of what has been their in pUrva mImAmsa practice is not necessary for us.
Kindly clarify.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar