[Advaita-l] Advaita-l Digest, Vol 62, Issue 9

[sekhar goteti]

What we are destroying is the house of cards and clearing the ground on
which they stand. Philosophy does not result in propositions, but rather in
clarifying them. The end of language is the end of human world.World is
dwaitha and exists in relation of subject and object.

thank you

sekhar

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 10:30 PM, <
advaita-l-request at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

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>   1. Advaita Vedanta (Sriram Krishnamurthy)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 18:27:34 +0530
> From: Sriram Krishnamurthy <asksriramjobs at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Advaita Vedanta
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
>        <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
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>        <3724d9b40909090557v1f7b9a19k1f070be035d06bdf at mail.gmail.com>
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> Source : http://www.vedaneri.com/advaithavedantha.htm
>
> The term Vedanta literally means, the end portion of Vedas. That means,
> these texts generally come at the end of the Samhita or Brahmana portion of
> the Veda sakhas. Vedantic texts are also called Upanishads. Upanishad
> literally means the knowledge (and hence the book also) which takes oneself
> (upa) near to the Truth with (ni) all definiteness (Sad) to loosen and
> destroy the shackles of one?s bondage. This, ?treating a portion
> differently? is necessitated, because the first portion which is infact the
> major portion (which we call vedapurva) talks about deeds and rites,
> sacrifices and ceremonies for whom the qualified person adhikari, the
> result, etc are totally different.
>
> Those who have gone through the first portion that is to say, those who
> have
> led a life as detailed in that portion are eligible for the second portion,
> which talks about the absolute. It means that the truth revealed would be
> meaningful only to them. Thus within a single text, we are able to see the
> first portion as a means and the last portion as the end. It is very
> natural
> that the end portion need not be elaborate and the means portion cannot be
> brief.
>
> The Upanishads generally use negative words such as advaitam, anantam,
> avyavaharyam, alakshanam, acintyam etc. to mean the absolute. But the word
> ?advaitam? has become a bitter pill for the acharyas of other schools of
> thought. And also, it is improper to consider advaitam as yet another
> school
> of thought. Advaitam is the nature of the absolute being as the Vedas
> reveal.
>
> Advaita tradition
>
> It is considered that Sri Dakshinamurthy the knowledge aspect of Siva the
> primordial teacher as the first in the tradition. But for Him, the
> knowledge
> of absolute oneness negating all the perceived differences could not have
> been revealed. Such a non conceiveable truth could never be a product of
> mental speculation because mind deals only with differences.
>
> At the time when the Vedic tradition was split into more than seventy sects
> because of wrong or improper or illogical interpretations of the Vedas,
> Siva
> Himself came to the rescue of this glorious tradition from schisms in the
> form of Sankaracharya. Sri Sankara?s erudition is so clear, very thorough
> and direct to the point. His contribution to the advaitic tradition is
> enormous and hence will be remembered forever. But considering him as the
> founder of advaita is incorrect. In Taittiriya commentary, Sri Aadi Sankara
> gratefully attributes the knowledge of advaita to the ancient tradition of
> teachers.
>
> In the tradition of advaitic teaching we can find a noted difference
> between
> the teaching methodology of pre-Sankara and post-Sankara teachers. The
> post-Sankara teachers consider Sankara?s approach as the fulcrum.
>
> Advaita knowledge
>
> The crux of the vedantic teaching is in the definiteness of the self-being
> one and the supreme. Advaitam, meaning one without another is not a word
> coined by any acharya. But it is the word used by various upanishads to
> mean
> the absolute. The cause of the universe being non other than the self, the
> constituents of the universe and the universe as a whole are essentially
> non
> different from the self.
>
> Sense of difference and hence the sense of separation being doubtless but
> an
> erroneous knowledge leading to all sorts of psychological problems is
> considered as ignorance from a higher standpoint as revealed by the
> Upanishads. Thus dvaitam (considering the sense of difference as real in
> the
> absolute sense) is ignorance and advaitam is the knowledge which can negate
> it. Sense of separations perpetuates the sorry state of affair called
> Samsara and sense of oneness can alone snap this self-perpetuating cycle.
> Moksha
>
> Moksha should never be translated as salvation, which implies two things.
> Unacceptable condemnation on one side and irrational redemption on the
> other. Here rational thinking or pursuit of truth is sacrificed at the
> altar
> of a nominated Saviour.
> Moksha means freedom, freedom from the stackles of ones own notions,
> freedom
> from the urge to become. Since everyone?s essential pursuit is infact
> absolute freedom called moksha, there is no end for the cycle of becoming
> (birth & death time wise, place wise and situation wise) without gaining
> it.
>
> Means for freedom can never be known without knowing the nature of bondage.
> Ignorance of oneself being the cause for bondage, one can free oneself
> forever only with the knowledge of self. Seeing oneself in everything and
> everything in oneself, known, as ?sarvatmabhava? is the result of one?s
> abidance in the knowledge of advitiya atma, the self one without a second.
>
> Moksha is called Parama Purushartham (supreme pursuit) since it implies
> total fulfilment and with this pursuit alone, human life becomes
> meaningful.
> Due to this alone, the last ashrama called Sannyasa asrama is always
> assoicate with knowledge of self as means and Moksha as the end.
>
>
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> End of Advaita-l Digest, Vol 62, Issue 9
> ****************************************
>



-- 
sekhar