ePrarthana

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 2 Jun 2000, S. V. Subrahmanian wrote:

> What is the view of the net-members about this cyber-prArthanA ?  Can any
> good come out of sending some money to some pundit in some remote temple and
> hoping that salvation will drop on our lap ?  Is not personal effort more
> important ?
>

The view of our sages is that karma can be done for various mundane
reasons and there is nothing wrong with that per se.  However it is rather
short-sighted because no matter what is done, punya will eventually
dissipate.  Indra is known as Shatakratu because by the performance of 100
Ashwamedha Yajnas, he reached the exalted position of Deva Raja.  There is
a story in the Puranas that one day Vishnu Bhagawan came to visit Him in
the quise of a mendicant and was received haughtily.  Bhagawan pointed out
a line of ants passing by the base of the throne and explained that once
each of these ants had been Indra and after exhausting the fruits of their
punya without realization, they had fallen all the way back to this lowly
condition.

So a wise person will not act for gain but only out of duty as a sacrifice
to Bhagawan and will as soon as they are able work for mukti.

> Without any attempts at "chitta shuddhi" can Shiva pooja be of any use ???
> Even though Shiva pooja can cause circumstances for "chitta shuddhi", does
> it not take personal effort to remove the dross of vasanAs, as opposed to
> sending money to some temple for pooja.
>
> I guess, by doing so, we are just pacifying our own agitated minds that we
> have done something good in the direction of amelioration of the problems.
>

Sending money takes effort too doesn't it?  I guess it depends on the
state of mind of the person sending it.  If they do it out of a sense of
duty and sacrifice than it can do good.  If they think "By selfless
service to the Lord, I can calm my agitated mind" then it is also good.
But If they think "Somebody is taking care of things so I don't have to
care anymore" then it is not going to help them at all.

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

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.