[Advaita-l] Analysis of attributes and their locus

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 6:17 AM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> And pray, how are suffering people to overcome their mental and/or
> physical balahIna-tva without a little bit of an intellectual introspection
> into the misconceptions that cause their suffering in the first place?
> You might as well claim that advaita is not meant for those who cling
> to  avidyA. On the contrary, all of it is only meant for those who cling
> to avidyA. Yes, advaita may be bitter medicine, but that only means that
> you may have to sugar-coat it.
>

Rajaram: If one is an atheist and rational, he will try to solve his
problems through rational means. His notion of dharma will be based on the
consequence of his actions to himself and others. As research shows, very
few atheists land up in prison and many advancements of human civilization
came from people who believed that we can solve the problems of this world
without divine intervention. Of course, a moral atheist may lose his
self-control and do harm to himself or others though it may be irrational.
If one is a theist, he will try to live by the book of dharma that he
believes in and by the values of the community that he lives in but may
also lose his self-control. He will try to solve his problems by entreating
to his chosen God and feel happy if the problem is solved or try to become
a better devotee if his prayers are not answered or lose faith. If his love
for God supersedes his desire to get what he wants and give up what he does
not, then he will accept his destiny as the divine will and derive his
happiness through his relationship with his god and/or the devotees. His
love for god and others will impel him to act selflessly considering
himself an instrument of the lord. In all these cases, the world is real
and so is God. If one really believes and realizes that the world is unreal
as in advaita, then he should simply not act because there is no desire to
impel action. However, we dont see anyone who does not act. We can
rationalize it by saying that  prakriti acts due to the influence of
prarabda karma but the moment there is perception of the world and action
therein, one is subject to its rules that cause dualities and distress. I
don't see how an intellectual conviction, however strong, will remove the
physical cause and effects.