Tag Archives: karma yoga

Traditional versus Neo-Advaita

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This will be a multi-part post, triggered in part by Ramesam’s recent post ‘Liberation is Disembodiment’, following which I promised a separate post. First of all, I will repost an article on the subject from advaita.org.uk, with which readers may not be familiar. Secondly, I will post an article on the subject that I apparently wrote in 2006 but do not seem ever to have published. Finally, I will add a new section and make a radical suggestion (as promised in my comment).

The word ‘neo’ means ‘new’ so that ‘Neo-Advaita’ is an impossibility. Advaita means ‘not two’, referring to the non-dual reality that always was, is and will be – unchanging because change would necessarily be from one thing into another, which would be contradictory. There cannot, therefore, be an ‘old’ and a ‘new’ Advaita, only the one truth.

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Eight Upanishads (Topic-wise) Part 24

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Part 23

Chapter 6 JnAna and MokshA

6-5   Katha Upanishad

6-5-33 Katha 2.3.7 to 2.3.11                                                                                              A refined mind is needed for Self-knowledge. Refining is gradual. The mountaineers gradually go from base to base as they climb higher so that they get used to the rarified atmosphere. From the grossest state, the mind cannot comprehend the subtle AtmA. Therefore, the withdrawal takes place one step at a time. It is Arundati Darsana method. The principle is that the controller is subtler and more powerful than the controlled. The steps in sequence are: – Withdraw from the world and identify with the body. Then withdraw from the body and identify with the sense organs. Withdraw from the sense organs and identify with the mind; the latter is subtler and more powerful and therefore controls the former. The intellect is subtler than the mind. The mind represents the doubting faculty. The intellect rationally analyses and removes the doubt. Therefore, the intellect is stronger than the mind. Now expand the mind by identifying with Hiranyagarbha, the total intellect by understanding that the individual does not exist separate from the total. Beyond Hiranyagarbha is the cosmic causal body which is unmanifest.

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Eight Upanishads (Topic-wise) Part 8

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Part 7

Part 9

5 Preparation

5-3-1 Kaivalya 1 to 4

Sage Asvalanya is a qualified student and he approaches Brahmaji, a qualified teacher, to teach him Brahma-vidyA which is beyond mAyA. It is pursued by noble persons as it destroys all the evils. The Upanishadic message is that both the student and the teacher should be qualified. A student should have four-fold qualifications by practicing karma yoga and upasana yoga. The teacher should have not only knowledge of Brahman, he should be established in Brahman and should possess communication skills. Established in Brahman means his life should conform to Brahm-vidyA. Communication skills are important because Brahman is not an object of knowledge in any conventional sense and is non-communicable and it requires special skills to teach. He should belong to a lineage of teachers and teach what he has learned from his teacher. He is prohibited from imparting a new teaching.

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Bhagavad Gita (Topic-wise) Pt 20

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Part 19

Part 21

6 Moksha
6-1 Preparation
6-2 Jnana, Jnani, and Jnana-Phala
6-2-6 Action, inaction, non-action 4(16 to 18), 18 (13 to 15) 6-2-6-1

 4(16 to 18) Sri Krishna says that even sages are deluded about the nature of action, non-action, and inaction and offers to explain them so that upon knowing them, one is freed from the bondage of karma and samsara. An inquiry is important as people suffer from vague ideas about them. Action refers to action prescribed by scriptures. Non-action means prohibited action, i.e., not sanctioned by scriptures. Inaction is being idle. It is a cardinal mistake to think that the true nature of a person does any action and that it reaps the fruits of action.

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Bhagavad Gita (Topic-wise) Pt 12

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Part11

6 Moksha
6-1 Preparation
6-1-1 Preparatory Knowledge
6-1-2 Preparatory Action
6-1-2-6 Rituals

6-1-2-7 Self-effort 3(33,34), 6 (5 to 7)
Inherent nature, i.e., nature one is born with, and self-effort are two important factors in human life. Nature is an aggregate of impressions of virtue, vice, etc. acquired in past lives and which become manifest in the current life. 3(33) says that all creatures behave according to their nature. If this is so, there would be doubt about the purpose of scriptural teaching in the absence of personal effort. To dispel it, it is said in 3(34) that a person engaged in scriptures should not come under the influence of love and hatred despite his nature impelling otherwise. When he controls love and hatred with the help of their opposites, then he is in sync with scriptural teachings, and he is not solely led by his nature.

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Q.496 Karma and subtle body

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1. If upon the death of a jivan-mukta person, the subtle body dissolves and the person does not have go through the cycle of birth and death, this would imply that my sole motivation for attaining enlightenment should be the liberation of the subtle body that resides inside this gross body (since that is what suffers from one birth to another). Does this not in some way refute the idea of realising myself as the supreme consciousness bliss?

2. How is it that law of karma stops to act only on an enlightened being when in essence we are all liberated from the beginning?

3. On living while following the path of karma yoga, how do I decide what actually is the right thing to do in one’s life assuming I don’t have any desires? What Arjuna did in those days was the traditional work assigned to kshatriyas but in present day, since there is no acceptance of the traditional caste system, how do I come to decide what I should do? As a karma yogi has no desires, does all for the Lord, but the problem is coming to know what is to be done and that too, without any desire or attachment. What occupation should be taken or should one retire as a monk?

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Vedanta the Solution – Part 17

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VEDĀNTA the solution to our fundamental problem by D. Venugopal

Part 17 addresses the changes in lifestyle needed to enable us to become successful seekers. These include fasting, silence, breath control, prayer, karma yoga and renunciation.

There is a complete Contents List, to which links are added as each new part appears.

Karma Cubed – Three Views of Karma

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Quoting from S.N. Sastri’s Terms and Concepts in Vedanta:

“The word ‘karma’ is used in two different senses in vedAnta:

(1) the results of actions performed, in the form of merit and demerit (puNya and pApa), which produce their effects later on, usually in another birth, and

(2) the action itself, whether secular or religious.”

After reading Swami Narayana Muni Prasad’s superb booklet “Karma and Reincarnation” I would like to point to a third sense in which the word karma can and needs to be understood, especially for advanced students of Advaita.

karmaKarma as puNya and pApa

At some point every seeker comes across the concept of karma in this sense. If he follows Western Advaita he may dismiss the concept as something altogether irrelevant or, if he is not yet an advaitin, he may subscribe to the Western version of karma as an assignment for this lifetime (see http://advaita-academy.org/blogs/Sitara.ashx?Y=2011&M=June) which, if successfully absolved, will produce the kind of life that everyone is wishing for: safe, pleasant and ethical. Continue reading →

Q. 353 – Witness to the boredom

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Q: I have a problem with the boredom of everyday life. Nothing seems to satisfy me. I just find it so difficult to be just here in the moment and be content with that. You say: go through life and work etc, but as a witness to it all.

Am I living in moment as I should? Should I give all my attention to each action, so that the ego is absent or should I just be the witness of everything every action on a moment to moment basis?

Maybe if I understand how to live in the moment better and had some clarification, that would help me stay present and focused on just living. My mind lives in the future.

(Note: I have reworded the question slightly but some of the replies quote from the original question. Apologies for any confusion!)

Answers are provided by: Sitara, Ted, Ramesam, Martin and Dennis. Continue reading →