Vedanta and intellect (was Re: Some Vedic sacrifices of this century)

[Vidya Kaushik]

This is from my limited understanding.  Clarifications welcome.
As pointed out by Vidya Sundaresan, dedicating all one's actions to the Lord
is a discipline intended to free the mind from reactions to the desired or
undesired results.  A sense of 'I' as the doer (willer, thinker, chooser) or
one who dedicates still exists and karmaphala continues to accrue.
[Side: My experience has been that after a while one's sense of doership
comes under enquiry as to what choices are really there in action if one's
nature and ability to think and choose as well as the proclivity towards
certain kinds of action itself comes from the Lord.]

In a mind that is prepared by sufficient enquiry, discipline and desire to
know, the knowledge of the Self as being not identified with (but not
separate from) the doer or the individual 'I' starts to become clearer.  In
one for whom this knowledge is well-established, there is no individual to
whom a sense of doership can be assigned -- he can be called a 'sarva-karma
sannyasi'.  A sense of doership does not exist for the actions that he seems
to perform.  From our point of view we would see him as the apparent doer of
whatever he does.  A good example of this is a Teacher who is a realized
person, who to others is the agent of the action of teaching.  To himself
(even saying himself is misleading) doership is non-existent because of
knowledge.  Other realized persons may (as perceived by us) perform karmas
for 'loka-sangraha' even maybe nitya and naimittika karma as an example to
others although he is not enjoined to do so.
There probably are clearer ways of presenting the above vision.  Regards,
-vidya(shankar) kaushik


>From: Ravisankar Mayavaram <miinalochanii at YAHOO.COM>

>
>--- Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> > I find that this distinction is often lost sight of in many modern
> > discussions. Sankaracarya's gItAbhAshya remains the classic
> > exposition on
> > what it means to offer nishkAmya karma to the Lord, and how it
> > differs from
> > the ultimate realization.
> >
>Dear Vidya,
>
>When you have time, can you elobarate on it?  Also, if the rewards
>continue to accrue even after dedicating it to God, will not the cycle
>of karma go on and on. Especially with respect to nitya and naimittika
>karma-s, one is in a fix! It can not be abandoned and if doing it comes
>after you (even after offering the fruits to God), indeed one is in a
>quandary. May be then sannyAsa is the only way out!

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