ADVAITA-L Digest - 9 Jan 1999 to 10 Jan 1999 (#1999-6)

[Giridhar]

At 12:06 PM 1/10/99 -0600, you wrote:

>For instance, the question "Will it help at the time of death?"
>can be restated to cultivate shraddha. This morning when my mind

                While this is true, one has to be careful in using such arguments.
We may not do a secular _duty_ because it is not useful to us during the
time of death !

                Bhagavan Ramana makes this point quite clear in couple of incidents.
I don't want to quote the entire incidents, but the gist is any dharmic
work done efficiently, with the full mind on the job, _and_ with
no desire for the fruits of the action (by nishhkama karma or due to
bhakti) is itself meditation which leads to chitta shuddhi.

                No one can avoid indulging in minimal secular activities,
i.e., eating or sleeping etc. But, as Shankara explains in
Saundryalaharii, even this can be done with ishvara-arpitam.
A lot depends on the attitude with which we do the work,
and not necessarily on the work per se.

AUM shaantiH

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