New Member Introduction: Taina Kilpiainen

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, S. V. Subrahmanian wrote:

> Shri Jaldharji, please permit me to express a different opinion here.  I
> have seen your earlier postings - you are very erudite and worthy of
> respect.  Please pardon me for saying differently, for with my current state
> of maturity I feel this way (maybe I am wrong, but I feel so):

I am not at all offended that you are expressing your honest
feelings.  This is preferable to keeping silent.  I am however going to
explain to you why you are wrong :-)

>
> Smt. Taina, I do not recommend doing spiritual practices with a view to
> attaining liberation in some distant birth or after accumulating lots of
> merits or slowly progressing.  Undue haste is to be avoided true, but there
> should be any slack in the intensity of effort.
>
> What helps most in Sadhana is not the exact choice of the Sadhana, but in
> the sincerity and intensity.  We should undertake the quest with the spirit
> of knowing here and now, not in a distant future.   When Siddharta the
> prince went to the Bodhi tree he said to himself:
>
> Beneath this banyan bough
> I take this sacred vow:
> Let derma(skin), bones, body dissolve,
> Until the mystery of life I solve
> >From beneath this tree,
> I shall never be free.
>
> He emerged out as Buddha.  Sri Ramakrishna also said that unless one yearns
> for God as much as the fish would yearn for water when it has been removed
> from it, one cannot hope to attain God.  Like the watchmen wait for dawn, or
> the deaf to hear a song, or a deer that pants for water, yearn for God, that
> alone can bestow His Grace.
>
> Krishna's promise is for people inspite of the above, not instead of the
> above.  It cannot be used by people to slowly phase out their Sadhana over
> many births, in a cleverly planned way.
>

The Vasishtasangrah has a beautiful metaphor of a deer caught in
quicksand.  When it realizes its predicament, its impulse is to kick and
struggle.  But the more it flails about the deeper it sinks.  If it could
remain still, there would be a chance to pull itself out.

Yes mumukshutva (the desire for mukti) is very important but how to go
about fulfilling that desire is indeed a matter of "clever planning."  A
young person may decide to become wealthy.  But if he goes to university
and gets trained in some proession, he may face hardship for a while but
he is more likely to achieve his goal than if he just rushes out and gets
the first job he can find.  If a seeker is aware that he/she is lacking
information and means to achieve their goals than it is most prudent for
them to tread carefully and methodically.  What's the rush?  There is all
the time in the world!

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

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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