Advaita terminology

[Venkatraman.Chandrasekaran at NOKIA.COM]

> 
> > Now coming to my understanding of "Jiva", it is the same 
> Atman with the
> > adjunct of Mind, and because of Superimposition with the 
> Mental sheeth, it
> > acquires "EGO"
> >
> Jaldhar Vyas wrote:
> Yes but again bear in mind one does not have to be embodied 
> to have ego.
> 

Sorry to interrupt this discussion with my own doubt:

Can you please elaborate on this? ie., how can ego exist
without embodiment. For that matter I could never understand
how the vAsanA-s transmigrate from body to body. This could be a 
stupid question. But please bear with me. This has been nagging
in my mind.

Thanks.
chandrasekaran.

>From  Mon Jan 21 21:35:31 2002
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From: Prasad Balasubramanian <besprasad at LYCOS.COM>
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Jaldhar H. Vyas Wrote:
<<Just as the Devas are maintained in svarga by our offerings, the
pitras are maintained by tarpana, and shraddha offered by their
descendents.>>
 How long they are maintained in the chandralokha ? Though one should do
pitru tharpaNam till the end of his life, whats the actual duration for which the fruit of tharpanam actually is taken by pitrus. Sri SV Subramanian has quoted things from the Swamiji's discourse that pitrus are not nourished by the piNdA given during doing the tharpaNam, which seems very meaningful. "IF" we know that the person who died (pitru) has attained moksha (If it can be known) Or that the Atma of pitru has taken next  Jenma, then in both the cases, though one has to do pitru tharpaNam without questioning it or commenting on it till one dies, it proves to be unnecessary.

 As well I've heard that always when a person dies, pitru who is the fourth generation ancestor,gets released. So always only three pitrus are maintained. Can someone elaborate on this ? I dont know whether its true and if so, do they get released to get the next Jenma or to go to some other Loka  ?  If thats the case, does their duration of waiting in the previous loka (what will they be doing when they are in that state - Someone please explain this too)  depends only on when the next pitru is joining them ?

As well, pitru's falling in punnAma naraka as they dont have a puthra (puthraH - punnAma narakAth thrAyathE ithi puthraH). If one is not able to give birth, is it not his fate ? In which case, how can one's falling into puNNAma naraka be justified ? Or whether the rule is applicable only to those who intentionally refrain from giving birth.

Jaldhar H. Vyas Wrote:

<<It is true that this poses a problem philosophically.  Why should the
action or inaction of another cause me to lose the fruits of my own
actions? >>
Exactly.pitrus have their own Karma cycle
and how does one pitru's descendants' doing tharpanam will influenze their pitruic  :-)  life .

 For a bramhachari who is stepping into the mission of
realizing the self, its very difficult to judge beforehand whether he would succeed or not in his present janma. Having realizing the self
as the aim of his life, Is marriage followed by a progeny a must for him ?
Though he might not want it. On one side there are lots of advices from our vEdic scriptures that one should try to come away from attachments etc, on the other hand we the most respected vAkYa "prajaYa hi manushyaH pUrnaH". Overall, its confusing as to what one should follow.
>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Tue Jan 22 00:38:32 2002
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From: Gregory Goode <goode at DPW.COM>
Subject: Re: New member introduction: Olivia Cattedra
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Ken,

Were you a member at some time of the School of Economic Philosophy in the U.K.?

--Greg

At 01:27 AM 1/21/02 -0800, ken knight wrote:
>> My own thesis was on Gaudapada, and I am most
>> concerned with the
>> introduction of bhakti elements in the Shankara's
>> teaching
>
>Namaste Olivia,
>
>I have been concerned also with the latter point.  I
>can only speak from a UK perspective but here the
>head-bound antics of philosophy here made advaita
>attractive inasmuch as the bhakti elements in the
>stotras of Shankara were unknown. I speak not just
>from the academic world but from general society where
>many groups arose in the 1960's that claimed to be
>teaching advaita. For some reason, about ten years
>ago, the idea appeared 'to find bhakti in advaita' and
>a path evolved and a particular experience stands out
>that lit this path.
> Now the false separation of 'heart' and 'mind' that
>has dominated much here in the UK can be addressed
>from its correct standpoint of unity.
>I wonder if your paper on Gaudapada was in English. If
>so is a copy available?  You could send it directly
>to:
>hilekn_98 at yahoo.com if you like rather than put
>attachments on to this site.
>
>Om sri ram
>Ken Knight
>
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