[Advaita-l] Pitru paksha questions.

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

Personally,I feel that if one has come to Vedanta which is the Jnana Kandha from the Karma Kandha,and is convinced of the Advaita siddhanta that the "Atman is Brahman and eternal",one need not continue to perform the shraddha to his ancestors. 

praNAms Sri Srikanta prabhuji 
Hare Krishna 

I dont think so, one has to follow his svadharma and observe & follow veda vihita karma-s (injunctions & prohibitions as enshrined in scriptures)  in his respective Ashrama.  If not he will be treated as karma bhrashta.  pitru karma / shrAddha is one of such karma-s that we should not skip saying that I am jnAni.  If this jnAni is gruhastAshrami, he has to follow gruhasthAshrama dharma irrespective of his vedAnta jnAna.  He cannot observe sarva karma saNyAsa being a gruhasthA.  sarva karma saNyAsa has been prescribed only in tureeyAshrama i.e. saNyAsAshrama.   

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!! 
bhaskar
To sri Bhaskar:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What you are saying is the samuccaya vada which has been criticised by Shankara.The first step towards the study of the vedanta is to be discriminate between the nityaanitya vastu viveka.For a person who is on the path of Karma,he must necessarily have the discrimination between the various karmas.The BG also says that pursuing the path of karma is full of karma,and Shankara in his bhashya on the BG sloka:
"Karmanyakarma yah pashyedakrmani ca karma yah!
sa buddhiman manushyeshu sa yuktah krstnakarmakrt!!"-iv-18)
 
In his bhashya BG.266,Shankara writes:
"Ayam slokah anyatha vyakyathah kascit!katham?Nityanam khila karmanam Ishwararthe anushtiyamananam tathphalabhavath akrmani tani ucyante gaunyah vrthya!tesam ca akaranam akarma!
tacca pratyavayaphalatvat karmocyate gaunyeva vrtya!tatra nitye karmani akarma yah pashyeth phalabhavath!yatha dhenurapi gauh agauh ityucyate kshirakh phalam na prayacyati iti tadvath!tatha niyakarane tu akarmani ca karma yah
pashyeth narakadi pratyavayaphalam prayaccatiti!!
 
Shankara:Naitad yuktam vyakhyanam!evamjnanat ashubhanmokshanupapatteh! "Yajnatva mokshaseashubhath"(IV-16)iti Bhagavatha uktam vacanam badhyeta!Katham?Nityanam anushtanath ashubhath syannam mokshanam,na  tu tesam phalabhavajnanath!na hi nityanam phalabhavajnanam ashubhamuktiphalatvena coditam nityakarmajnanam va!na ca Bhagawathyeva iha uktam!Etena hi akrmani karma iti darshanam kartavyataya iha codyate,nityasya tu kartavyatamatram!na ca akaranath nityasya pratyavayo bhavathi iti vijnanath kincit phalam syath!napi nityakaranam jneyatvena coditam napi karma akarma iti mithyadarshanath ashubhath mokshanam buddhimatvam yuktata krstnakrtvadi na phalam upapadyate stutirva!Mithya jnanameva hi sakshath ashubharupam!Kutonyasyath ashubhath mokshanam?nahi tamastamaso nivartakam bhavati!!
 
Also,BG.Bhashya 268.nanu karmani......till tathpraupasthapitam va vastvabhasam!!
 
And finally,Shankara states:Napi niyanam akaranath abhavath pratyavayabhavotpattih!"Na sato vidyate bhavah"(II.16)till 
svabhyupagama virodhasca nityam nisphalam karma itybhyupagamya mokshaphalaya iti bhruvatah!!
 
You must also study the Mundaka sruthi:Pareekshya lokan karmacitam nirvedamayath brahmano---The vedas stop here.The vedantha begins from here.
 
Shankara in his adhyasa bhashya says in his commentary on the BS1:"Athatho Brahmajijnasa",in his explanation of the word "athah"says that Vedantic enquiry can begin at any stage of a seeker.What is required is the Sadhana shatka sampatti.He doesnot say that karma khandha must precede Vedantic enquiry.This is the view of the mimamsakas in samuccaya vadins  like Ramanuja who says that one must continue karmas even after ones realization(vide:Sribhashya)
Since performance of 
shraddha also belongs to the karmakhandha,as per the above,one can continue his vedantic study after he "Vidivath"after reaching a Guru.The continuance of the performance of rituals aill cerainly entangle him in the maze of karma.Sarvakarma sanyasa is for 'Vividisha sanyasis"not for Gruhasthas.Iam not talking about that.Unless one sees the limitation of the karmakhandha and is a blockade for the realization of Jnana,one cannot escape from this whirlpool.
From the observation of Shankara states above,one will not become a "Karmabhrashta"
Finally the Moksha dharma as stated by shankara says:Nistrigunye pathi vicaratham ko vidhi?Ko nishedah?"
N.Srikanta.