[Advaita-l] Pitrupaksha questions

Srikanta Narayanaswami srikanta.narayanaswami at yahoo.com
Sat Oct 1 06:20:58 CDT 2011


I have known a householder Jnani who would not hesitate to skip the
performance of the shrAddha of his parents.  He was quite indifferent though
on occasions he did perform.  This 'erratic' behaviour Shankaracharya has
been sensitive to point out in the GitAbhAShya that I quoted recently: //
...or for the sake of avoiding the censure of the shiShTas the householder
Jnani would continue to engage in the ordained duties//
[कर्मण्यभिप्रवृत्तोऽपि].  The 'abhi' prefix makes Shankara go to this
extent: the householder Jnani is very actively engaged in works.

On an occasion Sri Abhinava VidyAtirtha Swamiji made a public comment
referring to Sri.D.S.Subbaramaiya, a venerable Jnani, the author of the two
volume English book on Sri Dakshinamurti.  He was a brahmacharin, in his
seventies.  He was seated in the audience when the Acharya made this remark
in Kannada: // Our Sri Subbaramaiya is not in need of performing the sandhya
vandanam.  Yet he performs it devoutly, most regularly.  For, the tendency
of those in the house is this: 'When the elders themselves are not
performing the sandhya, etc. why should we?' and they would never care to
perform them.  In order to be a model for others he himself does not miss it
on any occasion.//

One is reminded of the 'yadyadAcharati shreShThaH tattadevetaro janaH. sa
yatpramANam kurute lokastadanuvartate' of the Gita 3.21. [ Sunil ji, you
have a point].
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
No scripture,no acharya can prohibit a seeker not to be a 'Jnananishta".If he does so then he himself doesnot know about the place of Jnana in our vedic scriptures.As per your statement Sri D.S.Subbharamaih who is a Brahmacharin must perform the sandhyavandanam.There is surprise in that.He is not a householder.If he performs that in order to be an example to others to please them as well as the Swamiji,he can be called a "mithyachari"as said by the Bhagawan.
N.Srikanta


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