[Advaita-l] Re: Understanding

[Abhishek RK]

Namaste Sadanandaji,
I'd welcome your clarifications to the below.

On 7/14/06, kuntimaddi sadananda <kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Shree Abhishekji - PraNAms.
>
> I must first confess that I am not an expert in Vedic Karmas nor I do
> any of them.  I am only a Vedantic student. I only subscribe to the

I'll also confess that I'm a Vedantic student. But that does not stop
me from doing nitya-karmas. :) In fact while studying Vedanta I've
learnt that karma is a very potent tool for citta shuddhi.

>  Karma yoga need not involve Veda vihita karmas

The above is a "motherhood statement". Bhagavatpada didn't have such a
thing in mind while commentating on karma yoga.

> as in karma khAnDa or Vedic rituals. Karma yoga, however, is essential
> for preparing the mind for the inquiry.  Afterwards what are required
> are shravaNa, manana and nidhidhyAsana.  I am not a ritualist and
> therefore I cannot provide any qualified answer to these questions. I
> will provide I understand and adopt for my own growth, without worrying
> about rituals that I have no frame of mind to do.
>

What is a "riualist"? Is there a Sanskrit equivalent to this term?

>
> Karma becomes yoga when we bring in Iswara with Iswara arpita buddhi.
> In that sense any karma (we are mostly referring to obligatory duties or
> niyata karmas) becomes yoga with Iswaaraarpita buddhi and prasAda
> buddhi. One cannot give up Karma in the sense that it involves only
> giving up  the notion of agency or kartRitva bhAva or 'I am a doer'
> notion. That is given up when one realizes that 'one is akartaa and
> abhoktaa'. That is when one becomes jnaana nishhTaa.
>
> Hari OM!
> Sadananda
>
>

I agree. Shri Krishna says that the same karma should not be given up
for any reason and doing so is due to tamas. We should however
understand here that He is talking abou the non-sannyAsi here. :)

Regards,
Abhishek

-- 
satyena dhAryate pR^ithvi satyena tapate raviH|
satyena vAti vAyushca sarvaM satye pratishThitam||

calA lakShmIshcalAH prANAshcalaM jIvita yauvanaM|
calAcale ca saMsAre dharma eko hi nishcalaH||