[Advaita-l] Ritual Purity, Svadhyaya, and Commute

[Raghav Kumar]

Pranams
There is a verse to the effect that the values and attitude natural to a
jnAnI should be deliberately cultivated by the sAdhaka. I wonder if anyone
knows the original verse conveying this idea.

In line with this one could reason that gitA 5.9 talks of this.

नैव किञ्चित्करोमीति
युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् ।
पश्यञ्शृण्वन्स्पृशञ्जिघ्र—
न्नश्नन्गच्छन्स्वपञ्श्वसन् ॥ ८ ॥

प्रलपन् विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि ।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ॥ ९ ॥

My paraphrase -
I do not do anything - thus thinks the yuktaH or karma yogI who by
purification of mind becomes a knower of the Truth - while he is operating
any of the jnAnendriya-s like eyes, ears etc., or the karmendriya-s like
the organs of speech, evacuation, hands etc. He regards the indriya-s to be
functioning on their respective objects.
भाष्यम् <javascript:void(0);>

नैव किञ्चित् करोमीति युक्तः समाहितः सन् मन्येत चिन्तयेत्, तत्त्ववित् आत्मनो
याथात्म्यं तत्त्वं वेत्तीति तत्त्ववित् परमार्थदर्शीत्यर्थः ॥

Although the bhAShya does not explicitly mention that the above is to be
deliberately practised by a sAdhaka, the guDArtha dIpikA of SrI madhusUdana
sarasvatI svAminaH highlights the fact that the words yuktaH or karma yogI
and tattvavit or jnAnI are in sAmAnAdhikaraNyaM. So its not wrong to say
that the above attitude is part of nidhidhyAsana sAdhana during the sadhana
phase and it becomes effortless for the jnAnI. The above gita5.9 shloka as
being representative of nidhidhyAsanam was said by Sri Venkatraghavanji
also, as per my understanding of his words.

Although it sounds awkward to effectively say nidhidhyAsanam is to be
practised at all times even during visarjana-kriya (evacuation) it is
nevertheless valid !

So by kaimUtika nyaya, any jnana sadhana can certainly be practised on a
daily commute to work.

I am reminded of the verse of sri vidyAraNya that just as a person
suffering from a compulsive eating disorder has an insatiable hunger and
will be eating incessantly, even so is the incessant 'dwelling upon the
Self' (nidhidhyAsanam) by the sAdhaka without any regard for when or how
long. (Until the hunger of self-ignorance is removed by the food of
self-knowledge)

Om
​​
Pranams,

Restrictions apply to yogic kriyA-s. We were advised not to mediitate in
public. After certain years, some of us were told not to even use public
swimming pool, avoid crowds and Mumbal Local trains, as there is lots of
stress and negative energies. There are lots of people around you and you
do not know if they are sick or have negative energy. When prANamaya
kosha-s get in contact with others, energies are exchanged. While
meditating in group, weaker ones are benefited, but stronger ones are on a
losing side. This is because, like water, energy flows from higher level to
lower grosser level.

As I understand, it is for this reason that prANAyama, and energy based
meditations and kriyA-s are to be avoided in public and are to be practiced
among like-minded people. However, japa is different. Here there is no
focus on any prANa shakti. It is simple japa. japa calms mind, removes
worldly thoughts. Infact japa helps you to stay connected with God
day-n-night. It should be practiced at any time, in any place, except that
you are urinating, etc. Even while bathing people chant mantra-s.

japa is not any process, not any energy based kriyA. Also have faith in God
that it is in him that you are surrendering. Ishvara is the creator of this
universe and if I am surrendering to him, what can disturb me, what
negativity can touch me? - we should have such a faith. Remove fear. We
must be God loving people and not God fearing people.

All the muhurat-s, good and bad are to be accounted seriously when you wish
to do something. But if you wish to withdraw yourself from the world, then
you do not need a muhurata. Yes we are all under the influence of mAyA and
prakriti. So we do have to take good and bad places into account. But we
should aim to rise above. When less options are available, we must make
good use of time.

OM

Sujal Upadhyay

"To disconnect from the self and to become Aware of anything else is
nothing but unhappiness" - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi

He who has faith has all
He who lacks faith, lacks all
It is the faith int he name of lord that works wonders
FAITH IS LIFE, DOUBT IS DEATH - Sri Ramakrishna

On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 12:48 PM, Sujal Upadhyay <sujal.u at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear,
>
> If you have faith in God, then why think negatively that you will miss
> station. I never did so. while chanting during riding bike, I have not met
> accident. Have faith.
>
> Reading in a pure place is always good, but what if there is no such
> option?
>
> OM
>
> Sujal Upadhyay
>
> "To disconnect from the self and to become Aware of anything else is
> nothing but unhappiness" - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi
>
> He who has faith has all
> He who lacks faith, lacks all
> It is the faith int he name of lord that works wonders
> FAITH IS LIFE, DOUBT IS DEATH - Sri Ramakrishna
>
> On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 12:44 PM, Srirudra via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Dear
>> As per Gita the place for meditation should be neat and tidy.Suchow
>> dese......reads the stanza 11of chapter6.If you are to contemplate then
you
>> should go by this stanza and the previous one.But for reciting slokas
which
>> you had committed to memory and to investigate the exact purport of the
>> sloka it can be done anywhere even when you are bathing,walking,traveling
>> .Sometimes you may skip a station or a stop.Nevermind.Shows your
>> involvement.
>> R.Krishnamoorthy.
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> > On 09-Sep-2016, at 11:16 AM, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > Shankara has said in the Brahma sutra bhashya that deśa, kāla, etc.
>> niyama
>> > is a must for karma (rituals) only and not for Brahma anusandhānam.
>> >
>> > vs
>> >
>> > On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 1:16 AM, Shashi via Advaita-l <
>> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hello All,
>> >>
>> >> I have a question about ritual purity
>> >> and Svadhyaya.
>> >>
>> >> I recently got a translation of
>> >> Sri Madhusudana Sarasvati's
>> >> Gudartha Dipika which I am excited to study.
>> >>
>> >> However my commute to work is a good two hours in total on the train.
>> >>
>> >> I thought I could
>> >> study on the train -
>> >> this is when I have the most
>> >> time that until now I typically spend
>> >> the least effectively
>> >> but I doubt whether that's a
>> >> pure enough environment to
>> >> study.
>> >>
>> >> What are your thoughts
>> >> on Svadhyaya conducted
>> >> outside a sanctified place
>> >> like a puja room or temple.
>> >> and inside a place like a train?
>> >> If it's ok, what does one need
>> >> to do to be ritually pure enough
>> >> to study it there?
>> >>
>> >> Shashi
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Sent from my iPhone
>> >> _______________________________________________
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