Spiritual Progress

[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

As a follow up, I would like to add the following verse , also from the
Viveka ChUdAmani, in regard to Sri. jaldhar`s statement, questioning
the necessity for a God in attainment of Moksha.

Verse 149 from the VivekaChUdAmani:
 Not by misiles, not by arrows, not by wind, nor by fire, nor even by
crores of prescribed karmas can this bondage be destroyed, except by the
great sharp and attractive sword of discrimination OBTAINED BY THE
GRACE OF PARAMESHWARA.

 Sri Shankara has made it amply clear to any one who may have a doubt
that the Grace of the Ultimate Lord is essential for the attainment
of Moksha.

Vaidya.

>From  Mon Jan  5 16:25:46 1998
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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 16:25:46 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
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Subject: Re: SELF
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chelluri.n.rao at usace.army.mil writes:

> Let me paint you a picture!   I have lot of debts, I have a daughter
> to be educated and married and I have a son who needs guidance.
> If I leave all these responsibilities and devote 100% to Brahman,
> people would say I am irresponsible, a coward.

> I have two alternatives.

> 1. Ignore the world, forget responsibilities and GO
> 2. Stay and discharge responsibilities.

Shri Nageswar:

Namakar and Happy New Year!

According to Advaita Viewpoint, when the Lord says, shed your dharma, HE
does not mean renouncing our actions (Karma). We have to do our duties,
but we must do the duties in a spirit of detachment.  In fact, we must
surrender the doer-ship itself to God, then by the Grace of God, our
actions become Dharmic ones.  When we conduct our duties in a spirit of
detachment, we can free our mind from external and internal judgement.
I fully agree with Steve's answer which has a profound message.  Take
full responsibilities to the duties and detach completely from the
Outcome!  Usually, we never devote 100% to Brahman and consequently we
become arrogant and irresponsible.

An example is appropriate to clarify your confusion.  Let us try to
recollect the basic rules of driving a bicycle.  First, we have to look
straight and do not pay any attention to our back and sides.  Second, we
have to hold the handlebar firm and keep moving by constantly peddling
using both the feet.  Most important,  we need to detach our MIND from
worries about falling down!  During the initial stages of our learning
to drive the bicycle, our MIND is very active and we seek both physical
and psychological support.  My elder brother was always behind my bike
holding the seat, running and shouting the rules.  At appropriate times
he released his hold without me knowing to build my confidence.   After
a while I started driving my bike without physical and psychological
support!  I had no more worries about falling down or getting into
serious accidents!  Nevertheless, this positive attitude has greatly
helped me to keep the MIND temporarily inactive to drive the bicycle.  I
do understand that any time that I ride my bike, I have no guarantee to
prevent any unforeseen accident.  The moment that I decide to ride the
bike,  I have to accept the outcome.

When we say that we devote 100% to Brahman literally mean that we take
complete responsibility to the roles that we play in our life.   We seek
the grace of God to remind us that "Ananda" is nothing more than
developing the Positive Mental Frame Work to complete our DUTIES.  The
great saints and seers have explained the Grace of God using monkey and
cat theories.  According to Markata-nyaya (monkey theory), the human
effort is an essential factor in obtaining salvation.  The young monkey
has to exert itself and cling to its mother while being carried to its
destination.  According to the Maarjaara-nyaya (cat theory), we don't
have to try, just surrender our-self to God as the baby cat that totally
surrender to its mother.   The baby cat and baby monkey begin their life
differently, but they have to cope up with their adult life on their own
without outside HELP!

We have the only one alternative to stay and discharge our
responsibilities without evaluating the OUTCOME.  This is possible only
by devoting our-self 100% to Brahman by ignoring the World.  The ^ÑWorld'
is the creation of the mind and we should practice ignoring the Illusive
World.  Devoting 100% to Brahman implies that we have realized the
message of the Upanishads:  "Life is a bridge, we can enjoy while
crossing, but we can't build a CASTLE!" Unfortunately, most of the time
we assume that we know the TRUTH. In addition, we also attempt to define
the TRUTH according to our CONVENIENCE and try to explain the TRUTH
using our own definitions. All such thought processes expand the World
of Illusions which seeds Confusion and the Mind engages into endless
loop with Diversions and Divisions.

Ram Chandran
Burke, VA.