Fwd: Re: your mail

[Govind Rengarajan]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Prakash S R <sprakash at legacy.india.hp.com>
Subject: Re: your mail
To: grengar at hotmail.com (Govind Rengarajan)
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 11:48:53 IST
Cc: msr at isc.tamu.edu, sprakash at legacy.india.hp.com


Namaste,

I am Prakash SR working HPISO in Bangalore. I wanted to
learn more about Advaitam. Since I am not in a position
to read Advaitam myself (bcos of lack of required
background), I thought this list would help me
making more lightened.

--

Regards,
Prakash SR, CSY-Bangalore.
Ph. (080)-2251554 tn. 847-1208.



______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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>From ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU Fri Jan 29 09:19:15 1999
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 09:19:15 -0500
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: "Harsha (Dr. Harsh K. Luthar)" <hluthar at BRYANT.EDU>
Subject: Re: vivekachUdAmani
Comments: To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>, advaitin at onelist.com, HarshaSatsangh at onelist.com
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-----Original Message-----
From:   List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
[mailto:ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU] On Behalf Of Vaidya N. Sundaram
Sent:   Thursday, January 28, 1999 11:52 AM
To:     ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU
Subject:        vivekachUdAmani

38)
durvaarasa.nsaaradavaagnitaptaM
    dodhuuyamaanaM duradR^ishhTavaataiH .
bhiitaM prapannaM paripaahi mR^ityoH
    sharaNyamanyadyadahaM na jaane ..

 I am scorched by the inextinguishable forest fire of samsAra. I am
deeply affected (shaken) by the winds of misfortune. I am overcome
by intense fear. I fall at your feet. Save me from death. I have
none else in whom I can seek refuge.

 SamsAra itself is a forest fire which spreads in all directions.
It is in extinguishable except by the jn~aana springing from the
guru's upadesha. When the forest fire is aided by the wind, the
flames spread out and scorch in all directions. The winds here are
said to be duradrstavaataah, i.e., winds of misfortune. They are
unfavourable winds. dodhUyamaanam : trembling greatly again and
again. If the wind is favourable, it carries the person away from
the flames. If it is unfavourable, either it carries him into the
fire or blows the fire on him. It is with the idea that the man
suffering from the heat of the forest fire will be rescued from it
by the downpour of the nectar that reference is made in the
previous sloka to the raining of the amrta of the guru's compassion
by the expression atIkaarunyasudhaabhivrstyaa making it an
adjective of drstyaa and the whole being taken as a bahuvrIhi -
compound. Instead, it may also be taken as tatpurusa - compound.
drstyaa - by your glance, atIkArunyasudhaabhivrstyaa: by the down
pour of infinite compassion through it. the purport of the sisya's
appeal is : If I obtain Atmajn~Ana by your grace, death in the form
of the exit of the vital airs from my body will not happen to me".
The sruti also says: na tasya prAnA utkrAmanti atraiva
samavanIyante (Brh): His (Atmajn~Anin's) prAnas do not go away;
they disappear (acquire laya) here itself. That is, the man does
not die as ordinary people do by their vital airs going out of the
body at death.


                        Vaidya N. Sundaram

Harsha: Thank you for this gem. I will take the liberty to post on other
lists  and ask a question. In Yoga, they say that when Shakti Joins
Shiva at Sahasarara, this union results in liberation, and at death of the
body the Prana exits through the Sahasarara resulting in Maha Samadhi. The
exit through the Sahasarara is meant to be a sign of the final Mukti.
However, on the path of Jnana, the pranas do not exit but are absorbed into
the Heart that is the Self. How do we reconcile these two seemingly
divergent explanations?

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>From ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU Mon Feb  1 02:42:31 1999
Message-Id: <MON.1.FEB.1999.024231.0500.ADVAITAL at TAMU.EDU>
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 02:42:31 -0500
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM>
Subject: Vishnu Sahasranama Bhashya of Shankaracharya
Comments: To: advaita-l at tamu.edu
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The Vishnu Sahasranama is a stotra from the Mahabharata giving, as the
name suggests, 1000 names of Vishnu Bhagawan.  Shankaracharya based his
philosophy on the three foundations of the Upanishads, Brahmasutras, and
Bhagavadgita.  What is there about the Vishnusahasranama which merits its
inclusion in such exalted company?  It is said that while they were
staying in Kashi, Shankaracharya asked his students to pick a shastra for
him to explain and they chose this one.  For one thing it is not a 100%
fact this story is true (it is told of other works of Shankaracharya too.)
and even if it is, it just shifts the question along instead of answering
it.  Why did the shishyas (some of whom were learned scholars in their own
right) choose this of all works for explanation?

To understand this, let's look at this stotras' context in the Mahabharata.
Bhishma, the Elder of the Kuruvamsha has after great effort been defeated
by Arjuna.  However Bhishma has received a boon that he will be allowed to
pick his moment of death.  So he commands Arjuna to create for him a bed
of arrows on which he rests while waiting for the right time.  During this
period the Pandava Yudhishthira, the very embodiment of Dharma approaches
Bhishma and takes advantage of a final opportunity to learn from this
great man.  After patiently listening to his exposition of all the types
of Dharma, Yudhisdthira asks him six questions.

In my next post, I will give the six questions and Bhishmas answers to
them.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

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