brahman by birth or guna and karma

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

> From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vidya at CCO.CALTECH.EDU>

> Of course, but the point is that the responses given by Yudhishthira can
> hardly be said to be Buddhist-influenced.

One could say that those passages themselves show Buddhist influence but
I'm not making that argument.  There is ample evidence within the astika
tradition for this view if you understand it as meaning an ideal Brahman is
whatever.  However the format of the quote from the vajrasuchika upanishad
seemed reminiscent to me of the Buddhist Dharmapada.

Still this is all speculation.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas [jaldhar at braincells.com]   And the men .-_|\ who hold
Consolidated Braincells Inc.                          /     \
http://www.braincells.com/jaldhar/ -)~~~~~~~~  Perth->*.--._/  o-
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>From  Fri Nov 22 07:33:37 1996
Message-Id: <FRI.22.NOV.1996.073337.GMT.>
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 07:33:37 GMT
Reply-To: kstuart at mail.telis.org
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ken Stuart <kstuart at MAIL.TELIS.ORG>
Subject: Re: CELIBACY
Comments: To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <199611220407.XAA06254 at cancerous.braincells.com>
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Hello,

On Fri, 22 Nov 1996 11:07:25 -0500, "Jaldhar H. Vyas"
<jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM> wrote:

>> Celibacy is definitely encouraged by most great teachers and gurus.
>>
>> However, it is quite difficult in the modern world.
>>
>
>Guess what.  Celibacy and the other things Vedanta requires of you have
>_always_ been difficult.  There was no golden age.  Even in "the good old
>days" the pressure on people to become entangled in samsara was great.  In
>fact I think it is easier now that people are no longer in danger of
>starvation, pestilence etc.
>
>> My own personal experience is that I've made some attempts to be
>> celibate for awhile at home, but it didn't really work out.   Whereas
>> when I stay at an ashram, it is not a problem because it is setup to
>> facilitate that.
>>
>
>If this is the case, the answer is clear-cut.  You shouldn't be attempting
>to practice Vedanta.  There is nothing wrong with this, you are in no way
>bad or abnormal.  But rather than end up in a situation where you are
>neither in the world nor out of it satisfying the dictates of neither the
>karma marga nor the jnana marga, follow the path the shastras have set for
>samsaric people and try again when you're ready.

Thanks for the advice, but I think I will stick to the path that my
guru has set out for me....


Namaskar,

Ken

kstuart at mail.telis.org
http://www.zynet.com/~castlerx/kstuart/KSphilosophy.html