[Advaita-l] Fw: Re: Meditation Vs nitya karma

[sriram]

Dear Sri Amuthan
Your analysis is right.Self evalutation only will show whether siddha suddhi 
begins to accrue.But to stay put in the path to siddha suddhi is really an 
arduous task yet nevertheless it is possible by abhyasa and vairagya.And as 
we are in the samsara it will be like a tight rope walking without balancing 
equipment so to say.Raga and Dvesha are very difficult to root out as we 
donot know why we get attached to certain things in life though very well we 
know they are ephemeral.This clinging is due to avidya and jnana is the only 
antidote.To obtain jnana siddh sudhhi is fundamental.Some thoughts I wanted 
to share with our members.R.Krishnamoorthy.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amuthan" <aparyap at gmail.com>
To: <z1e1b1r1a at yahoo.com>; "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" 
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 11:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Fw: Re: Meditation Vs nitya karma


> Dear SrI Narayan Iyer,
>
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 8:18 PM, narayan iyer <z1e1b1r1a_at_yahoo.com> 
> wrote:
>>> I have always been wanting to ask this question.  How does
>>> the process of chitta suddhi works?  What are the symptoms
>>> that show me conclusively that I am making some progress at
>>> least?  How do I know that my mind is not deluding me into
>>> believing I am ascending in the spiritual progress?
>>>
>>> Can you please point any pointers that can help me
>>> bench-mark my progress?
>
> Fundamentally, any aSuddhi in the mind comes into being because of
> avidyA. Though avidyA itself cannot be directly perceived, its effects
> can be immediately recognized in its triple manifestation as rAga,
> dvesha and moha. So one's cittaSuddhi can most easily be understood by
> noticing how the mind reacts to various external events. Whether the
> progress is in the right direction can be understood if the history of
> the mind's reaction over a period of time is analyzed. As long as the
> mind tends towards a reduction of these kleSa-s one can be content
> that the progress is in the right direction. Though this is easier
> said than done, it is (imho) the only means to unambiguously see the
> effect of any form of vedAnta SravaNa or vaidika dharmAnushThAna or
> dhyAna or whatever activity for that matter that we perform, on our
> mind.
>
> Of the three, the most difficult aspect to study is moha since unlike
> rAga and dvesha which arise from sukha and duHkhAnubhava-s and are
> accompanied by a variety of observable mental and physical reactions,
> moha doesn't have any easily observable mental or physical correlate.
> It is precisely here that the mind can be deluded about its own
> progress since it is easy to wrongly attribute a state of calm that
> arises due to certain special external factors to some progress in
> cittaSuddhi. To elaborate, even when the mind is very calm, what lie
> dormant are a variety of deeply ingrained self-opinions and habitual
> tendencies (vAsanAs). When it so happens that some external factors
> are condusive to a peaceful mental state (as say due to proper
> prANAyAma or some sAlambana dhyAna or the acquistion of desired
> objects or laziness and sleep (!) etc.) these views and tendencies go
> entirely unnoticed and worse, do not get destroyed. And these are the
> culprits who stir up the mind with further suffering when the
> intrinsic impermanence of mental and physical events destroys those
> special external factors that led to the state of calm in the first
> place. The only way to destroy these is by the j~nAna that arises upon
> proper tattva vicAra.
>
> Useful and exhaustive description of the citta that is fit for
> brahmajij~nAsa and the appropriate means to train the citta can be
> found in innumerable places in the gItA whenever KRshNa talks of
> sattva guNa or the qualities of sthitapraj~na-s or in the yoga sUtra-s
> or in prakaraNa grantha-s like vivekacUDAmaNi.
>
> Amuthan.
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org