Shastra Dharma (was Re: Bumper stickers)

[Gregory Goode]

At 01:37 PM 7/16/97 -0500, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

>shrI sureshvarAchArya says in his naishhkarmya siddhi (paraphrased) "If
>a wise man can act whatever way he pleases, what is the difference
>between him and a dog?". He also says that the "good qualities"
>naturally occur in a sage and that he doesn't have to strive for it. It
>makes sense. To attain enlightenment one has to make the mind pure and
>the vAsana-s of such a person are pure. After enlightenment also the
>GYAni will continue the same way.
>
>But this is _not_ to say that a GYAni _cannot_ act in "atypical" ways.
>Why? shruti has explicitly said so. The jAbAla upanishhad (quoted by
>shrI sha.nkara) explicitly mentions this. H.H abhinava vidyAtIrtha
>mahAsvamigaL has also said the same thing, but has mentioned that such a
>person does _not_ have the adhikAra to _teach_ others, since the
>disciples will follow him by example. So, a person who seems to act in
>an adharmic way _may_ be enlightened. Hence the best course of action is
>not to criticize other's actions, but to act according to dharma as far
>as one is concerned. But in most cases someone who quotes shruti as an
>_excuse_ for some action of his, is probably a charlatan. The best thing
>would be to avoid them.


Thanks -- this makes a lot of sense.  I was wondering myself.
Is sureshvarAchArya's naishhkarmya siddhi something I can find in English?

--Greg