Vairagya-ananda is an oxymoron. Not quite. It is not uncommon that men with few possessions are happier than those with more possessions.
One of the impurities of the mind is that it is a wandering mind. A wandering mind may not enjoy even if the content is enjoyable. Controlling it is an important spiritual discipline. Arjuna says (BG 6.34) that it is very difficult to control the mind, as difficult as to control the wind. He expects a reply from Sri Krishna who while concurring with Arjuna (like a good teacher) gives a remedy (6.35) that the mind can be controlled by practice and dispassion (vairagya). Dispassion is one of the four qualifications for Jnana yoga. Continue reading
Bhagavad Gita (Topic-wise) Part 5
5 Bandha
5-1 Introduction
Bondage is the English equivalent of Bandha. Bondage is by way of suffering and conflicts in life. There are two types of suffering: physical and mental. For physical suffering like disease and old age, medical science provides treatment. Vedanta is not concerned about physical suffering. It is about mental suffering. They are in the form of sorrow, grief, jealousy, likes and dislikes, general dissatisfaction, and disenchantment in life. In the case of the loss of a close family member, there is an emotional setback and suffering. Heavy loss in business shakes a person and he suffers mentally. Vedanta is an answer to such suffering.
Bhagavad Gita (Topic-wise) Part 4
4-4 Viswarupa darshan (Yoga of cosmic vision) 11 (1 to 55)
In chapter 10, Sri Krishna has narrated divine manifestations. Arjuna says that by hearing divine teachings including the origin and dissolution of the universe, his delusion has gone, and that he wishes to directly see the cosmic form of Isvara, if it is possible. Sri Krishna accepts the request but says that it is not possible to see the cosmic form with ordinary eyes. He provides special eyes, i.e., eyes of knowledge for this purpose. Sri Krishna mentions 12 Adityas, 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras, two Asvins and 49 Maruts divided into seven groups and many wonders not seen before. The entire Universe of moving and the non-moving are in His body. The cosmic form is described in detail.
Q.535 Transmigrating Soul
Q: On your website it seems that, in the ‘Question and Answer’ section, it implies that there is an individual soul going from body to body. But in this interview from your same site Ramesh Baleskar explains how that is not the case:
http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/teachers/interview_balsekar3.htm
Could you please help clarify the truth?
A: Glad you find the site useful. I presume you know that I hardly ever change the advaita.org.uk site these days. All of the new material goes to https://www.advaita-vision.org/ and has done for the past 10+ (?) years.
The ‘truth’ of Advaita is that there is only Brahman. ‘Everything’ is Brahman. ‘You’ are Brahman. And, pedantically, that is all you can really say. But of course simply telling someone that is unlikely to enlighten them! Accordingly, there are lots of ‘prakriyā-s’ (ways of explaining things, stories, techniques etc.) to help seekers move their understanding in the right direction. Traditional Advaita has many of these, proven over several thousand years to be helpful in explaining things. For example, karma and reincarnation are fundamental to these. The jīva is ‘trapped’ in saṃsāra – the eternal round of birth and death – until Self-knowledge dawns and saṃsāra is ended. But this is only a prakriyā. In reality, there is only Brahman. There has never been any creation and no one has ever been born, let alone re-born.
Continue readingBhgavad Gita (Topic-wise) Part 3
4 Isvara
4-1 Avatara 4(1 to 9,14)
Though the main theme of the Gita is jnana yoga, Sri Krishna introduces the topic of Avatara, which is a unique concept in Vedic tradition. He wants to say, nay to remind Arjuna that He is an incarnation (Avatara) of God and has descended on earth to impart the (Vedic) teaching, which is very ancient, as old as creation. The teaching is eternal and cannot be out of date. In the process, He describes the history of the teaching. It was imparted to Lord Sun who gave it to Manu who taught it to Ikshavaku. It is kshatriya tradition different from Brahmin tradition. Sri Krishna and Arjuna are kshatriyas. The royal sages possessed the knowledge handed down from generation to generation. Due to the long passage of time, it was lost in the world. He is giving this teaching to Arjuna as he is a friend and a devotee and through him, this highest and secret teaching will be revived because the purpose of Avatara is to protect the teaching and the humanity. When Arjuna queries that Sri Krishna’s birth is much after the sun, it is clarified that as an Avatara He has many births, and He knows all the births whereas a human being does not know. His birth is different from a human birth. Continue reading
Free Will and Choice in the Dualistic World
S&T is a creature of S and T!
In the absence of S and T, S&T gets asphyxiated; S&T doesn’t survive.
Perhaps, you have already guessed S&T stands for Science and Technology; S and T are Space and Time.
Science and Scientists work where Space, Time and Substance (material) exist out there facilitating an observation. Their entire edifice is based on causal relatonships – a prior cause, p1, giving raise to an effect, p2, over a time interval. The mAdhyamika Buddhist philosophy also is based on this principle. A given effect in the present is said to result from summation of all the antecedent causes. The cause-effect relationship invokes “Mind space,” when there is no tangible physical space present,
But what happens if Space and Time are merely “unreal or imaginary”? Can causal relationships exist without a mind? Continue reading
Bhagavad Gita (Topic-wise) Part 2
3 Jagat 2(28), 7(4 to 7), 8(3,4,17 to 19), 9(7 to 10), 13(6,7,26), 14(3,4), 15(1 to 3)
3-1: 2(28)
Sri Krishna has talked about different facets of creation at various places in BG. Some are contextual. For example, when Arjuna does not want to fight to kill the enemies who are his relatives, Sri Krishna says in 2(28) that creation is cyclical and there is no death. At the end of one cycle, it becomes unmanifest, rests in Brahm in potential form, and is manifested in the next cycle due to the maya power of Brahm. This process continues. There is no beginning, there is no end. A jiva is a part of creation and undergoes a similar process. Death of a jiva is followed by rebirth and so on. A clear understanding of the cyclical nature of birth and death has a sobering effect on the prospect of death.
Bhagavad Gita (Topic-wise) Part 1
Table of contents- Annexure at the end Part 2
Introduction
Bhagavad Gita (Gita, in short) has an important place in Advaita Vedanta teaching. It is one of the Trai-Prasthanas, the other two are Upanishads and Brahma-sutra. Trai means three and Prasthana means to go. It is held that to know the truth one must take recourse to the said three scriptures. Upanishad is Sruti (revealed) Prasthana, Gita is Smriti (remembered) Prasthana and Brahma-sutra is logic (Nyay) Prasthana. Brahma-sutra provides the logical foundation for Upanishadic teachings.
Gita is the teaching imparted by Sri Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Mahabharata. It was occasioned because Arjuna declined to fight as he was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow by the prospect of fighting his own family members including revered Bhisma and Acharya Drona. The first chapter of Gita is titled Arjuna Vishad (Melancholy of Arjuna). Chapters 2 to 17 are the Vedantic teaching given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna. Gita does not have independent teaching. It is based on the Upanishads. It is said figuratively that the Upanishad is a cow, Gita is the milk and Sri Krishna is the milkman. 18 chapters of Gita are chapters 23 to 40 of Bhisma Parva of Mahabharat. Parva means book. The title Bhisma Parva relates to the period of battle when Bhisma was the commander of the Kaurava army. Bhisma Parva is followed by Drone Parva and so on. Sanjay, the charioteer of Dhritarashtra, blessed by sage Vyasa with divine eyesight narrates the battle scenes to Dhritarashtra. Sri Krishna delivers Gita teachings to Arjun on the first day of the 18-day battle of Mahabharat. Continue reading
Q.534 Purpose and Meaning
Q: Advaita Vedanta has caused me two persistent difficulties. Firstly its argument that we are dependent upon Brahman, yet Brahman has no dependence; secondly that since we cannot know Brahman, only be It.
The questions concerning the meaning of life and why we are here will find no answer, beyond the speculative in vyavahAra. It’s just that statements such as these come across as rather negative, divisive and, particularly, dismissive. This is not what I expected from ‘not two’!
But, undeterred, and mindful that Advaita advises that its own teachings must eventually be left behind, I’ve moved towards a more all-inclusive perspective…. (I hope). You, Sir, seem perfectly at ease with the notion of ‘no choice’; and you present a flawless case for its validity, with which I can only concur. However, actually facing it is terrifying. Fortunately, familiarity offers a happier and unshakable strength in the ‘surrender’, although this is not an on/off situation – more a ‘work in progress’ lasting a lifetime.
So my question (if you’re still awake) is: where is ‘enjoying the journey’; joie de vivre; ‘experience’ as the key to unlock the understanding we seek? If living it can assist so well in making sense of it, why does Shankara always want to go the long way round?
Continue readingQ.533 Value of practice
Q: Do you know of any effective (tried and true) praxis methods for Advaita? Meditations, contemplations, visualizations, prayers, mantras, hymns, and so on. Particularly methods that nurture the understanding of the mahavakyas. I’ve been meditating daily and I’m open to different approaches.
I suppose I might do okay with reading, rereading, fathoming, and contemplating the mahavakyas, one by one. But if there are already good praxis methods out there, I’d love to give them a try.
A: The ‘problem’ is Self-ignorance and the ONLY remedy for this is Self-knowledge, which comes from scriptures, ideally interpreted/explained by a qualified teacher.
Having said that, the only value of any practice is to enable the above or enhance the ability of the mind/intellect to do the above. sādhana catuṣṭaya sampatti tells you what practices are of value. But practicing to the extent that you are able to still the mind at will and give all your attention to what is front of you, dropping desires etc., is of no value (as far as Advaita is concerned) unless you give that attention to scriptures/teacher.
You do that in the form of shravaṇa-manana and then go away and regurgitate-reassimilate that until it is fully accepted. ‘Doing’ of any sort, such as learning shruti by heart, singing mantras, trekking to the Himalyas etc. is not going to achieve anything.