[Advaita-l] Pratyavaaya paapam

[Ramanathan P]

--- On Wed, 10/29/08, Krishnamurthy Ramakrishna <puttakrishna at verizon.net> wrote:

> 
> It is not Iswara's will that some are born in the Order
> and some outside the
> Order - individuals propel themselves to their future birth
> by their own
> actions in the current birth (gIta - 5.15). If it is
> Iswara's will that one
> is arbitrarily born to a lesser or higher environment, then
> that Iswara is
> not worth much or for that matter is not worth anything at
> all, for He may
> be accused of prejudice. It is abiding by one's
> svadharma that one elevates
> himself to more conducive environment. Let me make an
> example of our
> business life to make this clear.
> Let us say it is the svadharma of every employee to show up
> at work for
> eight hours, apply his/her skills to solving the problems
> of the business.
> If he does this diligently and shows progress, he may be
> promoted to a team
> leader, wherein he is required to help other employees, in
> addition to his
> eight hours of diligent work. This, if you will, is the
> additional
> responsibility, akin to nitya karma of an individual in the
> Order.
> 

Namaste, sorry for the abrupt last message. Regarding above: my understanding: Yes.. the terms "will" and "wish" are the jiva's interpretations/superimpositions of/on Ishvara, based on its experiences. It is not to imply a dualistic God with personal attachments. The sampradaya says that the jiva born in the Order has the svadharma of abiding by that work (ALONE) -- the conducivity of environment I doubt is in reference to the work-choice, rather it is with regard to our freedom to contemplate on Ishvara, etc. Here the point is the Brahmana is born in the Order, due to past karma (or Ishvara's decision on that basis, as I put it), and the sampradaya says he/she is chosen for that work. That is an extremely small group, and the requirements were always consdired extremely stringent/demanding. For that person, it is paapam to be doing business, first of all, not to talk of the svadharma of that paradharma.

I agree that a person in the Order not doing the svadharma may only mean they get kicked out of the Order, next time around, born in some other religion and so on. That possibility I interpret as that it is Ishvara's wish that the person selectively chosen for the Order abides by that, following the rules to the letter. 

Ramanathan