[Advaita-l] Advaita in Everyday life

[Ryan Armstrong]

Namaste Dear Kathirasanji

Thank you again for the questions.
Your point about shravanam, mananam and nididhyaasanam is quite correct.
And perhaps to answer Murali ji more directly:
When the sruti is taken inwards in this way it has the most profound effect
on the entire being.
So as a "practice of advaita in everyday life", this together with regular
dhyanam is it.

During the satsanga I attended, we practised cintana on the first few
verses of ईशोपनिषत्
And again it seems that "understanding" of the shastra is at the mananam
level and involves mind.
But with nididhyaasnam, this goes beyond understanding - to the boundary of
the mind beyond which one must simply surrender.
Then the force of the sound of the sruti "resonates" within and the
activities are "coloured" with a finer

There is much difficulty in writing about paramartha.
Many sentences have been written and erased, because the moment something
is written - the paramartha is ...something ... well it is not.
What can be stated from experience is that by regular practise of inward
attention in various ways, the inner sense of not-doing even while doing
remains.
And the answer to the question "Who am I" is found in selfless service -
the dedication of all action to Bhagavan.
In a different thread, sadhhana and sadhya were used to refer to categories
of scriptures.
As a sadhya type we have the Avadhuta Gita.
In 1.34 he states:
वेदा न लोका न सुरा न यज्ञा वर्णाश्रमो नैव कुलं न जातिः।
न धूममार्गो न च दीप्तिमार्गो ब्रह्मैकरूपं परमार्थतत्त्वम्॥३४॥
To see in this way and to be able to express it as Dattatreya does could be
from the standpoint of paramartha.
I do not have such vision.
But...it does resonate.
So during the "inner" practises this is seen, but during "daily life"...not
so easy...
And this comes back to Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 - action for the sake of
sacrifice to the Paramaatman.
For when this is performed, a loss of individuality is possible
For the focus can become so fully on the present moment that the only
knowledge required is the knowledge of that moment alone.
Not from mind, citta, memory store but only what is प्रत्यक्ष.
Whatever may arise in the citta and manifest as action is in accordance
with the need of the moment (e.g. typing in my case, slaughtering a few
million beings in Arjuna's)

Kind Regards
Ryan



On Mon, 20 Aug 2018 at 07:12, K Kathirasan via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> I admired your response because it is something that resonates with the
> advaita vedanta tradition. I would also urge you to reframe what you have
> said from the standpoint of sadhana (vyavahara) and sadhya (paramartha) for
> greater clarity. Perhaps in everyday life it is the sadhana of shravana,
> manana and nididhyasana that is relevant. I found that all that you have
> stated can easily be categorised within that framework.
>
> Kathirasan K
>
>
>
>
> > On 18 Aug 2018, at 9:00 PM, Ryan Armstrong via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > नमस्ते Murali ji
> >
> > I would like to propose an answer by saying "There is no advaita in
> > everyday life!"
> >
> > This idea arose when pondering your question in the following way:
> > If advaita is something that I am practising, then is it advaita?
> >
> > In the final verse of tattvopadeSa it states nAdvaita guruNA saha - there
> > is no advaita with guru
> > And this is seen in that if there is "guru" there must be "student" and
> > thus duality.
> > BUT
> > the same verse begins bhAvAdvaita sadA kuryet - one ought to always
> foster
> > the advaita bhAva
> >
> > When turned inwards, practising cintana, advaita is evident.
> > It is also evident as "not a thing in creation" rather self-illuminating
> > once mind is at rest - that is, the mind cannot go to it.
> >
> > During daily life one cannot resort to dhyAnam or cintana at any time -
> and
> > neither should one if a householder.
> > So how does the sadA apply?
> > This seems to be answered in Chapter 3 of Bhagavat Gita - the liberation
> is
> > through the action, offering it as a sacrifice to the Supreme.
> > And to do that, mind, body - the entire aggregate needs to be at rest in
> > the present.
> > This is service, devotion and when practised to its fullness will
> dissolve
> > the division between service, servant and the beloved.
> >
> > And if experience has taught anything it is this:
> > I am only truly happy when there is not a single thought for myself in
> the
> > mind.
> > And the only way this is achieved is to devote the action to the Beloved
> > before, during and after its performance never allowing the attention to
> > move from the immanent present.
> >
> > So perhaps ...
> > There is no advaita in everyday life - everyday life is in advaita.
> >
> > Best Wishes
> > Ryan
> >
> > On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 at 16:52, Murali k via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Dear members,
> >>
> >> How do you practice Advaita in everyday life?
> >>
> >> An example of this would be asking the question "who woke up?' as soon
> as
> >> one is awake in the morning. (Robert Adams).
> >>
> >> It would be helpful if Sadhaks can share hints/tips that they practice
> to
> >> assimilate the teachings.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Murali
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> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards
> >
> > Ryan Armstrong
> > +27 82 852 7787
> > ryanarm at gmail.com
> > _______________________________________________
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-- 
Regards

Ryan Armstrong
+27 82 852 7787
ryanarm at gmail.com