[Advaita-l] Are actions essentially meaningless?

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

Even in dualistic traditions such as gaudiya vaishnavam, action is not
required to please god to earn his grace. Only bhakti is required and it is
not a result of action. It is nitya siddha svarupa shakti of Jiva. this
svarupa shakti in the Jiva is non- if fervent from the internal potency or
heading shakti of Bhagavan. They perform action only to have this Bhakti
shakti manifest in the mind ( Manogati ).

Even an advaitin has to perform Bhagavad Bhakti - not mechanically but with
genuine enthusiasm from within the heart - if he should experience bliss.
Otherwise, his mind will suffer the effects of prarabda karma. Of course,
he can take recourse to karma, yoga etc. but that will be of interest only
if he has not attained bhagavad bhakti ruci.

On Friday, December 21, 2012, Suresh wrote:

> Friends,
>
> In dualistic traditions, actions are necessary to please god, to earn his
> grace. But in our tradition, we are already Brahman, so it is not like we
> need this or that action to take us there. We are already that.
>
> In this context, are actions simply a way for the deluded jiva to kill
> time (until he leaves the body at death and merges with Brahman)? Kind of
> like a prisoner keeping himself occupied until he becomes a free man.
>
> Regards,
> Suresh
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