[Advaita-l] Meditation Vs nitya karma

[Mahadevan Babu]

Pranams and SRI GURUBYO NAMAHA

Well said Ramananji.

Readers can benefit from reading this page, which exactly answers the  
subject question:
While browsing through the archives of advaitin list, I came across a  
beautiful dialogue between a devotee and HH Sri Chandashekara Bharati  
on Sandhya Worship. It is long, but should be read by anyone  
interested in the ancient meditation practice of Sanatana Dharma.  
Also, people interested in meditation would benefit from by reading it.

http://brahmanisone.blogspot.com/2007/12/on-sandhya-worship.html

Hari OM

M. Babu



On 15/10/2008, at 5:11 PM, RAMESH RAMANAN wrote:

>  Dear Sri Ramanathanji,
>
>  Pranams,
>  Please note that Sri Bhaskarji has not said that he regards Sri  
> Gondhavalekar Maharaj as his Guru. Only listening to a partial  
> speech of the latter has caused so much confusion in the mind of Sri  
> Bhaskarji. All our Acharyas have clearly said that one who gives up/ 
> does not perform his prescribed nitya karmas regularly, loses all  
> rights and becomes totally unfit to undertake any other religious/ 
> spiritual activity like even pilgrimage, or pooja/worship of Gods  
> (showing arati, burning incense sticks etc.). It is worth observing  
> here that every single Acharya of the Sringeri Math (I know only  
> from the 32nd Acharya Sri Ugra Narasimha Bharathi Swamigal onwards  
> and I definitely think the acharyas prior to this would not have  
> advocated otherwise) and the Kanchi Paramacharyaal have continuously  
> goaded and strongly urged their disciples to perform the nitya  
> karmas with sincere love, trust and faith first, before jumping onto  
> the bandwagon of meditation and higher spiritual targets.
>
>  Meditation is not an easy task even for an advanced spiritual  
> sadhaka. Many great spiritual aspirants have failed in spiritual  
> life, after falling short of the qualities required for meditation.  
> Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal has said that it is possible  
> for a spiritual aspirant to fall even after attaining the  
> Nirivikalpa Samadhi once and that he had himself seen a person  
> spiritually declining after achieving the Nirvikalpa Samadhi.  
> Therefore, it will be very highly advisable on our part to lay a  
> very strong and unshakeable foundation with the help of regular  
> nitya karma anushtanam and then proceeding further, when, our minds  
> become properly attuned towards higher spiritual goals.
>
>  I may also point out that Sri Mukkoor Lakshmi Narasimhachariar in  
> his Tamil Book "Kurai ondrumillai" says that a person who does  
> Gayathri Sandhyavandhanam regularly has miraculous spiritual power  
> to bless people and cites the example of a king, whose accidentally  
> dead child was brought back to life, by the blessings of the  
> brahmins who had gathered at the Ayushya Homa for the child. The  
> Gayathri is the mother of all spiritual mantras and I believe that  
> Sri Chandrashekara Bharathi Mahaswamigal once asked a disciple if he  
> was not ashamed to ask for some other spiritual mantra, if he were  
> performing the Gayatri Japa regularly.
>
>  Pranams once again, Ramesh Ramanan.
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Ramanathan P <p_ramanathan at yahoo.com> wrote:
>  Namaste, I agree with your view. The motivation is important. A  
> person doing nitya karma considers it to be the injunction of the  
> Veda, Shastra or Ishvara. Dharma precedes the objective of self- 
> progress, and therefore as with varna-dharma in general  
> automatically surrenders the ego.
>
> If a person has complete faith in a guru and the guru instructs the  
> person to do japa in place of a nitya-karma, then I believe the same  
> results are ideally possible. Here the guru takes the place of the  
> Shastra, at least in that person's mind. However in general, the  
> arguers prefer japa as a way to moksha, not as a fulfillment of  
> dharma; hence ego comes in and defeats their purpose.
>
> Ramanathan
>
> --- On Tue, 10/14/08, Bhaskar YR wrote:
>
> From: Bhaskar YR
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Meditation Vs nitya karma
> To: advaitin at yahoogroups.com, "Advaita-L"
> Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 7:33 AM
>
>
> praNAms
> Hare Krishna
>
> I need clarification from learned prabhuji-s of this forum...Can  
> spiritual
> practices like meditation, bhajans, nAma saMkeertan, japa be the  
> substitute
> for our veda vihita nitya & naimittika karma-s like sadhyA vandana,  
> agni
> kArya, dEvatArchana, vrata, hOma, havana etc.?? I have seen some  
> people,
> giving utmost importance to do japa, bhajans, nama saMkeertana and  
> while
> doing the veda vihita sandhya vandana, devatArchana, abhishekaM etc.  
> they
> do the same only for formalities sake & sometimes due to short of time
> &
> to do scheduled bhajans, saMkeertana, they are ready to skip
> pUja/abhishekam part of their programme!! Is this type of spiritual
> practice acceptable?? I was talking to one of the devotees of brahma
> chaitanya maharaj ( popularly known as Gondavali Maharaj), he was  
> saying
> after all we are observing/following these spiritual practices for  
> the sake
> of self agrandizement/chitta shuddhi..what is the problem if it is  
> done in
> one way or the other?? He continued to argue & said, moreover, in
> sadhana-s like japa, dhyAna, nAma saMkeertana etc. mind is more  
> focussed,
> still & gets the peace very quickly when compared to routine,  
> monotonous
> sandhya & devatArchana...However, he does not have any objection to  
> follow
> periodical pitru tarpaNa, shrAddha etc. in the form of pitru R^Na.  
> This
> discussion is stopped abruptly in the midway due to some reason..In  
> short,
> his intention was to say that he has very limited period of time for  
> his
> spiritual practice, & he would prefer to spend that time in doing
> meditation, japa etc. instead of sandhya, agnikArya,  
> devatArchana..coz. his
> contention is that later sadhana-s do require lot of kriya (action),
> parikara/pAtrAsAdhana/pUjA dravya & preparation time !!??
>
> IMHO, being a vaidika brAhmaNa one should first give preference to  
> observe
> his nitya & naimittika karma & other adhyAtmik sadhana-s like nAma
> saMkeertana, bhajans, japa etc. can be done as an additional part if  
> time
> permits...I dont prefer to do japa/ meditation directly without  
> observing
> saMdhyAvandana formalities.
>
> Kindly share your view points on this issue.
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
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Dev Babu
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