Spiritual Progress

[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

Namaste:
 I would like to point out a few points here in regard to
Sri. Jaldhar`s analysis as seen below.

On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:

> > Spiritual progress
> >
> > The Vedas which are God's revelations have given to posterity the concepts
> > of one God, one world and one humanity.
>
> This is open to debate.

 I do not see any point in the original article that is debatable.
I see it quite clearly that Vedas are Divine revelations.
I also see that Vedas speak of a Sinlge Godhood and they have not been
given selectively. they have been given to all of humanity.

> >  The Rishis who took to propagate
> > them by transmission through direct teaching were eager to share their
> > profound thoughts with fellow human beings.
>
> With their fellow Brahmans.  This is something that makes a lot of people
> uncomfortable but nevertheless it is true.

 Before we go further and see that the last statement is false, think about
the fact that the Great Vishwamitra was not even a Brahmana !! He was a
Raja Rishi, a Kshatriya, who by intenance penance achieved 'that by which
every thing else is known'.
 The Rishis were not in any way partial in their transmission of knowledge.
I think Sri. Jaldhar has not taken the time to ponder on the fact that
the PAta ShAlAs of the Rishis were open to every one. Be they Princes or
poor, they were accorded the same treatment. They had to gather firewood
get alms for food and do the daily chores - all apart from learning the
Vedas. The Upanishads as well as the Puranas are full of stories which
show that Kings have befriended lay men in these schools. Lets read them
first and then pass judgements.
 More over, the famous Rishis were not famous for teaching the Vedas to
their "fellow Brahmins". Rishis like Vishwamitra were called Vishwamitra
for the reason that they were friends of the Universe (Vishwam=Universe and
Mitra = Friend) One does not get that title by teaching the Vedas to the
Brahmins alone.

> > Their wisdom forms the foundation of Hindu religion, the Rig Veda is full of
> > verses, the Yajur, of formulas, the Sama Veda of Riks in metrical forms. The
> > Atharva Veda contains chants and incantations.
> >
> > The sages were aware of the process of re-channelising mind's energy. They
> > had understood that the assistance of the mind is needed in all that one has
> > to do. They wanted to redirect its powers, Godward.
> >
>
> Mantras have a spiritual effect.  It's best to leave it at that.  A lot of
> this mind-energy channeling talk is just pseudoscience.

 What is the spiritual effect that Sri. Jaldhar refers here that is not
a conditioning of the mind. A mantra is by definition, a Conditioner of
the Mind. Hence the name Mantra !! Ignorance of the science of Mantra japas
is not justification enough to call it a pseudoscience.

[[ ... some excellent exposition deleted ...]]
>
> The use of the word God with all the connotations the English word carries
> may obscure the fact that various Mimamsaka and Vedantic schools have a
> range of opinions from completely theistic to somewhat agnostic.  For
> Advaita Vedantins God exists and is to be worshipped but Moksha itself is
> not something God can give.
>

  All Advaitins at least have to accept Sri AdiShankara as one the Greatest
Advaitin. Even Sri Shankara`s Viveka ChUdAmani in verses 494-5 speaks of
both a non-dual Brahman as well as being God Supreme. this is the sishyas
experience as experienced by him by the grace of the Holy Shankara.

494:
 I am non-dual Brahman whixh is without anything like it,
 the beginningless truth, beyond all imagined disticntions of 'thou', 'I',
'this' and 'that', of nature of uniform prmanent bliss and the supreme
truth.

495:
 I am Narayana; I am the slayer of naraka; I am the slayer of
TripurAsura; i am the supreme Purusa the Lord; I am the infinite
Intelligence; I am the witness of all; I am not subject to a higher ruler;
I am without sense of 'I' or of 'mine'.

 The very fact that both are stated in succesion is sufficeint to accept
the existence of an Ultimate God in relation to our present position of
Ignorance.
 The Purusha sooktam contains verses that say that prostration to the
All Powerful Purusha will enable attainment of Liberation.
Even sage Vyasa, after all he had accomplished, split the vedas into
four and all, was still not contended and did not feel total liberation.
He was able to attain that Total peace only after writing the Srimad
Bhagavatam. The efficacy of the Srimad Bhagavatam cannot be calculated.
There should be no doubt that there is a Supreme God who will enable the
devotee to attain Moksha.

Vaidya.