Varna and one more

[ken knight]

Namaste Jaldhar, Sada and others on this thread,
Thank you for your extensive statements even if this
is an old thread it is very relevant to some friends
of mine at the moment. Jaldhar wrote:
> It maybe
> that nowadays, many people don't fulfill their
> Dharmic obligations.  So
> what?  Let's be part of the group that do.  It is
> such people who will
> usher in the next satyayuga.
It is only the gunah that act and the belief that the
people will usher in the satyayuga could...not
necessarily will...introduce an attachment to action
that will divide or be divisive.  It all depends if we
understand the viewpoint as the one who sees the
snake, the rope or the ropeness of all ropes.
Later yJaldhar also wrote:
>The Shrutis contain no magic
> that can bring you
> any closer to mukti, your goal.  It is only correct
> behavior and thinking
> which can do that.
The key word is 'closer'. There can be no 'close' or
'nearness' to that which is everywhere. The Isha
Upanishad is clear on this as is much else. Shankara
is also very clear on the place of action and words
(thoughts) and that they 'fall away from the Self.
>If you know you are not supposed
> to study Shruti (and
> I think you do) then how does "want" enter into the
> picture?
Sorry. 'Want' is a bad word.  Sada has written an
extensive reply to your main point here and I would
like to illustrate how in this lifetime, there has
been some impulse that took 'me', a child born of a
handicapped father who could only earn a living by
sweeping factory floors, to sit at the feet of Sufi
masters and  one of India's greatest saints of the
Twentieth Century. This is not said as a claim for 'my
ego' but to illustrate that some forces (qualities)
act to fulfil some underlying desire in the flow of
Maya.  It is these that force/attract one to the study
of only the finest writings.  The aim is not, for me
at least, moksha or Self realization or a bit of real
estate in heaven but to play the required part in the
play of the creation which ultimately means to serve.
This takes us back to the point that you correctly
made as to the 'ushering in of the next Satayuga.
Finally may I offer some of the words from the Sankara
Dig Vijaya when Shankara's followers order the hunter
and his dogs to get out of the way:
'To whom are your words addressed, O learned Sir?  To
the body which comes from the same source and performs
the same functions in the case of both a Brahmana and
an outcaste?  Or to the Atman, the witnessing
consciousness, which too is the same in all,
unaffected by anything that is of the body?  How do
such differences as: 'This is a Brahmana and this is
an outcaste' arise in non-dual experience. O revered
teacher! Is the sun shanged in the least by its being
reflected in a liquor pot or in the the Holy
Ganga?.....Wonderful indeed is the magic of the Great
Magician which infatuates the ignorant and the learned
alike.'
I am sure that you know how Shankara replies and then
he ends with his hymn:
'I am Thy Servant when I am conscious of myself as the
body.  I am Thy Part, O Three-eyed one, when the
awareness of Jiva dawns on me. And when Atman
consciousness becomes established, I recognise myself
as one with Thee. Such indeed is the teaching of all
scriptures.  By realising which all the dullness of
ignorance within and without is eradicated; to contain
Which there is no receptacle; to burnish Which there
is no grinding stone; to excavate Which there is no
mine; to attain Which the all-renouncing monks make
great efforts in solitude....to That Being, the crest
jewel of all the Sastras, my salutations!  The Sastra
is of no use unless it is accompanied by the teacher's
grace.  Grace is useless unless it generates
'awakening'; and 'awakening' is purposeless unless it
gives the knowledge of the Supreme Truth.  To that
Supreme Truth, who is not different from myself and
who fill the understanding with wondrous rapture, my
salutations.'
Thank you for helping me to these words once again,
Ken Knight

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