[Advaita-l] Desire and its Management - A brief study

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 6:18 AM, Br. Pranipata <pranipata at hotmail.com>wrote:

Nothing to be appreciated for possession of viveka nor to be blamed is the
> prarabdha.
>

Namaste:

Viveka is the first step in cultivating vairagya.  As Viveka stregthens
vairagyam too deepens. So, presense of viveka is indeed appreciable.

'prkRti' is the other word used in the Gita and the  bhAShya for
'prArabdha': 'prakRti' (BG 3.33): 'prakRtirnaama pUrvakRta dharmaadharmaadi
samskaaraH ...'  (PrakRti / nature is the samskaara stemming from the
dharma/adharma done in the past, *now manifesting at the start of the
present birth*).


> viveka which do not culminate is vairagya is no good.
>
> True.  That is the point to be understood.  Vairagya is to be cultivated by
doSha dRiShTi in the viShaya; the dosha includes its anartha hetu.
Undoubtedly these are viveka dRiShTi.  All these are covered in the verses
under consideration:  3.37, etc.


> desire management is not the technique preached in BG.
>

> Lord is very emphatic in his teaching ' jahi shatrum mahabaho kAmarUpam
> durAsadam'.
>

That is exactly what I mean by the term 'management'.  I certainly do not
mean:  keep the desire.  The 'managing'  is eminently taught by the Lord in
3.41:

Because desire manifests in the locus - senses, mind, intellect and deludes
the jiva's jnanam, first of all control the senses:  tasmaat tvam indriyANi
aadau niyamya...This is nothing but the method of managing the desire.  One
cannot simply pull out or expel the desire; one has to do it
systematically.  This systematic control/eradication of desire is what is
taught there.

On another count, Acharyas have taught:  Cultivating desire for the higher
goals like daivi sampat, one will simultaneously accomplish  the freeing
oneself from the clutches of the tendency for harbouring and nourishing base
desires.

Thanks for your comments.
subbu

>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "V Subrahmanian" <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
>
>  In this shloka, the word 'jnAni' is used to mean: viveki.  He who has the
>> viveka jnanam pertaining to vishaya-s and their binding nature.
>>
>>  9. It is not because of longing that the viveki gets this bhoga; it is
>>  because of prarabdha.
>>
>
>   13. The message of the shloka is:  Since it is the nitya vairee of the
>>
>>  viveki, one should take every step to thwart the bhoga at the beginning
>>  stage itself, if possible.
>>
>> It would be good to study all the verses referred to above with the
>> commentary.
>>
>>