Suitability for Advaita

[Anand Natarajan]

          1) First of all I am not writing down ideas. I am only conveying whatever I have read.               You may be more well read then I am.
          2) I am talking of adavitic realization and not intellectual understanding . The two are               quite different. To understand advaita philosophy and to practise it are two different                            things.   I am talking of the latter.
          3) If we feel we are the body, then  we have not reached the stage of advaitic                            experience. Therefore we see multiplicity around us and hence I say this is dwaita.
              To put it simply ,Sri Ramana maharshi says "Now you think you are in the world ,
              Then (meaning after Jnana), you will see the world is in you ".
           4) Dwaita says the jiva can never become Brahman. Advaita also agrees on that.                There is no "becoming". You are that already. There is nothing but Brahman                              and  I am What I am is the the advaitic realization. Before this realization everything                 is still in the domain of multiplicity.

Regards.
               Anand


>Where did you get these ideas? That if one doesn't feel that he is not the spirit, he
>should practice dvaita so that he can "slowly" reach advaita ? dvaita philosophy says
>that jIvas, jada (insentinet matter) and Ishwara (Lord Vishnu) are eternally different
>from each other and that jIvas and jada are eternally dependent on Ishwara and there is
>taratamya (heirarchy) among jivas who are infinite in number. Advaita says that there is
>only one entity- Brahman and that this world of matter and multiple jIvas is mithya.
>
>FYI, Dvaita doesn't lead to advaita and a dvaitin doesn't mean one who identifies himself
>with the body. It is not my intention to advertise the dvaita site here but you may want
>to visit www.dvaita.org to get a *correct* understanding of dvaita philosophy or
>tattvavada as propounded by Sri Madhwacharya.
>
>Regards
>-Nataraj
>
>
>>



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--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Wed Dec  8 11:07:53 1999
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From: "Ravisankar S. Mayavaram" <msr at COMCO.COM>
Subject: saundaryalaharI - 6 (fwd)
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 08:38:19 -0330 (NST)
From: Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy at morgan.ucs.mun.ca>
To: ambaa-l at egroups.com
Subject: [ambaa-l] saundaryalaharI - 6



shrI lalitAyai namaH

dhanuH pauShpaM maurvI madhukaramayI pa~ncavishikhAH
vasantaH sAmanto malayamarudAyodhanarathaH
tathA.apyekaH sarvaM himagirisute kAmapi kR^ipAM
apA~NgAt.h te labdhvA jagadidamana~Ngo vijayate             6


himagirisute:  O daughter of the snow-clad mountain, shrI devI,
dhanuH:  the bow
pauShpaM:  made up of flowers (i.e., very soft)
maurvI:  the bow string
madhukaramayI:  made up of line of bees
pa~nca:  five (only)
vishikhAH:  arrows
sAmantaH:  ally
vasantaH:  vasanta (in time: spring season)
AyodhanarathaH:  the chariot used in the war
malayamarut.h:  breeze from the Malaya mountain (laden with
                     sandalwood fragrance)
tathA.api:  to do that way
ana~Ngah:  manmatha (also meaning without body, and without strength)
ekaH:  alone
te:  Your
apA~NgAt.h:  from the corner of the eye
kAM api:  some (inexpressible)
kR^ipAM:  compassion
labdhvA:  having got
idaM:  this
sarvaM jagat.h:  all world
vijayate: is victorious


O daughter of the snow-capped mountain;
manmatha, the God of love has only a bow made of flowers,
with its string comprised of a cluster of honeybees, and
has only five arrows. The spring season is his ally, which
is short in duration; his war chariot is the breeze from the
south. These equipment is frail and is not suitable for the
war. He is ana~Nga (body-less) and alone. Yet, he triumphs
over the entire jagat, having obtained Your favor through
Your side-glance.


Commentary

It was stated in the previous verse that the formless manmatha,
due to the grace of shrI devI (obtained through his upAsana),
is very successful in raising passions in the minds of even
the great sages. In this verse, it is described how the same
manmatha, ill-equipped as a warrior, is able to triumph over
the entire jagat, again with the grace of the side-glance of
shrI devI.

It is well known that manmatha was burnt to ashes by the fire
of shiva's third eye when manmatha tried to kindle passion in
shiva towards pArvati. In response to prayers by ratIdevI,
shrI devI restored manmatha back to life but without a body.

Hence manmatha is body-less. In his preparation for war, his bow
is made of flowers. Flowers are soft and get wilted just by touching.
Such a bow is not amenable for pulling and keeping under tension.
The bow-string is a line of honeybees. Honeybees do not touch each
other. Hence a group of honeybees do not have the property of a
string; and that too a bow-string. He has only five arrows and these
too are made of flowers (aravinda, ashoka, cUta, navamallika, and
nIlotpala) and these five are not at all sufficient to conquer
the world.

Manmatha's ally and mate in this war is the spring season which
lasts only for two months a year. Hence the ally is of doubtful
assistance and the ally is also not there for continuous consultation.
Manmatha's chariot in this war is the southern breeze. This is formless
and invisible, and does not blow all the time, and can hardly be used
as a chariot.

In addition to all these frail war equipment, manmatha is without a
body and cannot avail himself of even these frail equipment. But with
all these disabilities, and not-very-useful war equipment, manmatha is
still able to conquer the entire world. And manmatha is able to do this
because of the gracious blessing of shrI devI through Her side-glance.
That is, even the impossible can be achieved with the omnipotent grace
of shrI devI.

Manmatha is one of the celebrated devotees of shri devI (please see
commentary on verse 1 for listing of celebrated upAsakAs of shrI devI).
The manmatha or kAma vidya was revealed to manmatha by devI Herself in
response to his prolonged worship and meditattion. It is said that
shrI devI conferred on manmatha, parts of Her own bow and arrows.


Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
------------------------------------------------------------------------

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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