Advaita 1001

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Ken Stuart wrote:

> Okay, the question now arises what exactly Shankara is referring to by
> "jnani" and "knower of the Self".
>
> The followers of Ramakrishna use "knower of the Self" to mean
> "self-realized".   And I've read messages in this mailing list that
> use "jnani" to mean "self-realized".
>
> If that is true, then one can make a strong case that Shankara is
> saying "Unless you're already realized, you need to do karma yoga".
>
>

Ramakrishna and his followers are hardly reliable guides to the teachings
of Vedanta.

Karma cannot be wished away.  In order to stop suffering from the effects
of karma one must stop doing it.  One who knows the self feels a
natural distaste for karma and gives it up.  Those that don't either
haven't completely grasped the truth or they are working out the
residue of karma from previous lives.  A householder can talk about
Vedanta.  Indeed many people have from King Janaka and Maharshi
Yagnavalkya to Mandana Mishra and Vachaspati Mishra and Appaya Dikshita
or for that matter any of the people on this list.  But without tyaga
there is no possibility of Moksha.

One who has not done this karma-tyaga commits papa by  ommiting the duties
assigned to him.  This would bring them even further away from their
ultimate goal.  Indeed nowhere to do read that Janak and the others
abandoned their duties.

Some may argue that renunciation of the fruits of action is enough to
achieve Moksha.  It isn't.  Actions still have effect even if one
disclaims responsibility for them.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas [jaldhar at braincells.com]  I will choose.-_|\ free will
Consolidated Braincells Inc.                          /     \
http://www.braincells.com/jaldhar/   -)==Perth=Amboy=>*.--._/  o-
"Witty quote" - Dead Guy                                   v      McQ!
>From ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU Wed Nov 13 22:48:56 1996
Message-Id: <WED.13.NOV.1996.224856.0800.ADVAITAL at TAMU.EDU>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 22:48:56 -0800
Reply-To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: "Ms. Aikya Param" <aikya at IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Thanks for Sources for  Upadesha Saram
Comments: To: Advaita List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>,
        Sanskrit Mailing List <sanskrit at cs.utah.edu>

Namaste MitraaNi,

DhanyavaaadaH for the many suggestions on
where to get printed texts of Upadesha Saaram.h
by Ramana Maharshi.

Mantra-Laura gets the prize for
telling me that my own guru has such a book out
My guru's book is from tapes from my course
in fact so anybody who has that one knows what I heard
about the text.  It was actually my second time through
is with Swamiji.  The first time was with an Indian audience
so the flavor was little different. (Curry instead of corn
chowder!)

It wonderful to know that there are so many versions
from so many organizations.  It's such a precious
little text.  It shows the siddhi of each kind of saadhana
so, if you need a corrective, it is like a guide for self-
healing.  But then it always stresses that knowledge
is the primary saadhana. Very helpful.

I appreciate all of your speedy help

Aikya