[Advaita-l] Pitru Rina and progeny

[Bala Subrahmanyam P.]

Dear Sri Gerald Penn,

I think you meant Mundaka Up.1.2.3. and not Mandukya Up. Anyway Acharya
Samkara’s commentary on this refers to the 3 generations of ancestors and 3
generations of progeny which total to 7 generations if you include oneself.
But these are “SvAtmopakArA:” (ie., conferrers of benefit) if one performs
the Vaidika Karmas like Darsa etc in the proper way. If not, those
generations of people do not confer any benefit. This is the intended
meaning of the commentary (refer to Sitarama Sastri’s translation of the
commentary which is given below: “or, it may be construed to mean that the
three ancestors [the father, the grand-father and the great-grand-father]
and the three descendants [the son, tlie grandson and the great grandson]
connected by the offer of oblations do not confer any benefit on his soul
by virtue of the Agnihotra and the rest, performed as above stated.”)

Thus this quote refers only to a Karmi and not BrahmajnAnis. The point is
that the ordinary Jivas that are Karmis are not alone but mutually
dependant in their sojourn of evolution over several births and several
lokas (worlds like Bhu:, Bhuva: etc). They are inter-related and helping
each other in this (PindapradAnAdi-anugrahena)“by the offer of oblations”.

 This links up to Sri Shrinivas Gadkari’s and Sri Praveen Bhat’s discussion
and Sri Praveen Bhat’s Brhadaranyaka quote that Pitr loka is won by Karma.

Brahma JnAni’s case is in a separate class and I am guilty of answering
merely to your mention of Brahma JnAni w/o following the full discussion
from the beginning.

Regards,

P.Bala Subrahmanyam

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