[Advaita-l] Understanding

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

--- Viswanathan N <vishy1962 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Shri Sadanandaji /Sastriji and all learned
>    
>   I am not all that learned in scriptures or in the sanskrit itself to
> quote anything.
>   But Let me put my understanding of ' Truth' in layman' s language:
>    
>   All living /why everything in this existence are containers(c)  and
> the life  inside is the Content (C). The Content all over everywhere
> is one and same and the containers create the illusion of being
> different. Now let me put it in this way, atleast for humans:

Shree Viswanathanji - PraNAms.

Shree Shastriji has explained very well the need of karma for
purification of the mind. 
 
Shankara discusses this aspect in his bhAShya on sUtra 1, in his
discussion of the four-fold qualifications (sAdhana catuSTayam) for the
inquiry into Brahman.

This discussion focuses on the purification of the mind or chitta suddhi
and Karma yoga is the most efficient means to accomplish that.  It is
the niShkaama karma that is emphasized and not kAmya karma.

'yoginaH karma kurvanti sangham tyaktvaa Atma suddhaye' says Krishna. 
'Chittasya suddhaye karma na tu vastUpa labhyaye'-says Shankara in
VivekachuuDamani.

Hence requirement is chitta sudhhi - How one obtains that is up to the
individual.  In Gita Karma yoga is exhaustively discussed as a means for
purification or for jnAna yogyata Siddhartham - to be qualified for
jnaana yoga.

Karma as discussed in the pUrva mImAmsa - are they necessary? - for
jnAna yogyata? If that is the question then Shankara dismisses those
arguments in his above bhAShya on Sutra 1. The summary is it is not
necessary but it is helpful for purification, if done with right
attitude.

The bottom line is if you can gain the purity of the mind then you are
qualified for jnAna yoga or inquiry of Brahman.  The ball is in your
court.

Now just some clarification on your post. Please note that Brahman as
consciousness is substantive of all c's in your post.  This is the
essence of Mandukya Upanishad that we are studying. Hence the
body-mind-intellect as well as the life principle -both are within
consciousness.  In order to see that clearly only, we need a mind free
from vAsana pressure.  For that Karma yoga helps. I had posted few
months ago several posts on Karma yoga which you may like to study.

Hope this helps.


Hari OM!
Sadananda 




>    
>   C = is the 'Brahman' and  othe c =  combination of
> body/mind/intellect and ego
>   C is formless and  has never born or ever die...it existed exist and
> exisit for ever where as the other c having form keeps changing forms
> which we call birth/death. 
>    
>   Vast majority of all keep their conciousness centered on c and that
> why all birth/death, pleasure/pain, love/hate dualities. Once you
> shift your identity /conciousness from c to C...you have reached teh
> home....YOU become That. (call this shift Moksha/Nirvana whatever....)
>    
>   This is what I understood as ' Advaita'....for making this shift
> happen first you have to gain the knowledge (Jnana) and keep
> contemplating (Meditattion/ Dhyana)on that..and than keep performing
> your duty to complete the obligations to the various elements of the
> society untill this body lasts (Karma yoga).
>    
>   So, I wonder why this Rituals/ Ritualistic practices....The purpose
> of Karmakhanda???? 
>    
>   Pl correct me and guide me , if I am wrong
>    
>   Pranams
>   Viswanath 
>    
>   
> 
> "S.N. Sastri" <sn.sastri at gmail.com> wrote:
>   "s v a" 
> wrote on July 12, 2006:
> 
> I also think, the Madhwa & other who call Shankara , buddha in
> disguise, is bcoz, Buddha like Shankara alwayas rejected, Karmakanda &
> Upalabdhivad, which Mimansakas & their hidden followers like MAdhwa &
> Ramanuja stand out for.
> --------------
> 
> Far from rejecting karma kanda, Sri Sankara stresses the need for the
> performance of rituals till one attains total purity of mind and
> becomes fit
> for the dawn of self-knowledge. The following are a few instances from
> his
> BhAshya:
> 
> *Br.up.4.4.22. BhAshya (S.B)-- The words 'study of the Vedas,
> sacrifices,
> charity and austerity' refer to all obligatory rites (nitya karma).
> Thus all
> the obligatory rites (that is all those other than kAmya karma) serve
> as
> means to liberation through the attainment of Self-knowledge. Hence we
> see
> that the ultimate purpose of the two parts of the Vedas, that dealing
> with
> rites and that dealing with Self-knowledge, is the same, (namely
> liberation). *
> 
> taitt.up.1.11.S.B—The Vedic rites help in the attainment of
> Self-knowledge
> by eradicating the accumulated sins.
> 
> taitt.up.1.11.S.B---- For the attainment of Self-knowledge, the *nitya
> karma
> *becomes the means only by eradicating the obstruction in the form of
> accumulated sins.
> 
> Br.up.4.5.15.S.B-- We have said that rites are for the unenlightened.
> As
> long as there is ignorance of the Self, there is need for the
> performance of
> rites which are intended to produce, attain, modify or purify. (These
> are
> the four kinds of results produced by action). Rites are the means to
> Self-knowledge through the purification of the mind.
> 
> taitt.up.1.11.S.B--- The rites laid down have to be performed for the
> attainment of Self- knowledge (because they purify the mind and make
> it fit
> for the rise of knowledge).
> 
> Sri Sankara further points out that there is no demarcation of rites
> as
> 'kAmya' or 'obligatory (nitya) in the Vedas themselves. He says in
> Br.up.1.3.1.S.B--- As the rites with material ends (*kAmya karma),
> *such as
> the new and full moon sacrifices, are enjoined on one who desires to
> attain
> heaven, etc, so are the regular and obligatory rites (*nitya *and
> *naimittika
> karma)* on one who has the root of all evils, namely ignorance, and
> the
> consequent defects of attachment and aversion, manifesting themselves
> as the
> quest for what is pleasant and avoidance of the unpleasant. Rites such
> as *agnihotra,
> chAturmAsya, paSubandha *and *somayAga *are not intrinsically either
> rites
> with material ends (*kAmya) *or obligatory rites (*nitya).*They come
> under
> the former category only when they are performed with desire for
> results
> such as heaven. (The same rites can also be performed without desire
> for the
> result, in which case they become *nishkAma karma *and have the effect
> of
> purifying the mind and making it fit for Self-knowledge). No rites are
> enjoined in the scriptures for one who has realized the true nature of
> the
> Self. Self-knowledge arises only on the obliteration of the very cause
> of
> rites. One who has realized that he is Brahman has no obligation to
> perform
> even the obligatory rites.
> 
> Sri Sankara of course stresses that liberation results from knowledge
> alone. Karma is the remote means because it is necessary for
> purification of
> the mind.
> 
> S.N.Sastri
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