[Advaita-l] Pitrupaksha questions.

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 8:32 PM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Suffice it to say that if one is truly a jnAnI (i.e. a vedAnta-vijnAna
> suniScitArtha), then
> one does not need to even perform a funeral (forget about the annual
> SrAddha) for a departed
> parent and one does not need to engage purohita-s to do these rituals and
> one does not need to
> exhibit either ill-will or good-will towards them.
>
>
> Regards,
> Vidyasankar
>

I have known a householder Jnani who would not hesitate to skip the
performance of the shrAddha of his parents.  He was quite indifferent though
on occasions he did perform.  This 'erratic' behaviour Shankaracharya has
been sensitive to point out in the GitAbhAShya that I quoted recently: //
...or for the sake of avoiding the censure of the shiShTas the householder
Jnani would continue to engage in the ordained duties//
[कर्मण्यभिप्रवृत्तोऽपि].  The 'abhi' prefix makes Shankara go to this
extent: the householder Jnani is very actively engaged in works.

On an occasion Sri Abhinava VidyAtirtha Swamiji made a public comment
referring to Sri.D.S.Subbaramaiya, a venerable Jnani, the author of the two
volume English book on Sri Dakshinamurti.  He was a brahmacharin, in his
seventies.  He was seated in the audience when the Acharya made this remark
in Kannada: // Our Sri Subbaramaiya is not in need of performing the sandhya
vandanam.  Yet he performs it devoutly, most regularly.  For, the tendency
of those in the house is this: 'When the elders themselves are not
performing the sandhya, etc. why should we?' and they would never care to
perform them.  In order to be a model for others he himself does not miss it
on any occasion.//

One is reminded of the 'yadyadAcharati shreShThaH tattadevetaro janaH. sa
yatpramANam kurute lokastadanuvartate' of the Gita 3.21. [ Sunil ji, you
have a point].

Regards,
subrahmanian.v