[Advaita-l] SAstra vAsana

[venkata subramanian]

The Question of Prasad Balasubramanian is in my view,
a very good one; deserves a deep thought.  

Jaldhar, could you please try again with another
answer, in the same standard of your quoting the moon
sitting on the branches...sometime before.


--- "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:
> In all the excitement of recent days this question
> got overlooked.
> 
> On Mon, 9 Jun 2003, Prasad Balasubramanian wrote:
> 
> > namasthe,
> >
> >   I've a question on Sastra vAsana - the
> attachment to studying
> > scriptures.
> >
> > In jIvan mukthi vivEka, Acharya
> 
> Just in case anyone doesn't know, Jivanamuktiviveka
> is a composition of
> Swami Vidyaranya not Shankaracharya.
> 
> > says that
> > it is not possible to study all the Sastras
> > and the more we learn, it becomes only a burden.
> > He gives examples of Rishi durvAsA and others who
> want to
> > gain knowledge in more and more
> > fields but are made to know that this gaining
> > of knowledge in various domains only becomes a
> burden
> > and will not help in realizing the brahman.
> > Acharya says that one who aims at realizing
> brahman
> > should remove this SAstra vAsanA completely.
> >
> 
> If one thinks that by accumulating facts, one will
> know more about Brahman
> then it is futile because Brahman is not something
> that can be measured
> with a ruler or viewed through a microscope or
> something.  But shastras do
> have a useful negative effect. By understanding
> maya, one can neutralize
> and defeat it.  Then the eternally existent
> knowledge of Brahman is
> unlocked.
> 
> > But simulataneously, many Acharyas preach
> > that learning should be continuous and
> > should go on until the last moment as
> > any kind of knowledge gained will not go
> > unused. They as well preach that if the
> > knowledge gained in this janma goes unused,
> > it will certainly be useful in the forth
> > coming janmas.
> >
> 
> But if one gets mukti there are no future janmas! So
> this advice must be
> for a different class of people than the mumukshu.
> 
> >  Both these seem to be contradictory. When
> > and how does one come to the conclusion that
> > one is done with his studying the SAstras.
> > Though one is in the path of realizing brahman,
> > how long should he be studying SAstras and when
> > does he put an end to it ?
> >
> 
> How did you know to stop crawling and start walking?
>  Probably one day you
> just did it. And now it is perfectly possible to get
> on your hands and
> knees but if I hadn't brought it up, it would never
> have occurred to you.
> As long has one has doubts one has to do whatever it
> takes to remove them.
> But for a jnani there are no more doubts.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> It's a girl! See the pictures -
> http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/
> _______________________________________________
> want to unsubscribe or change your options? See:
>
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
> Need assistance? Contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org


=====
Thanks & Regards,
Venkat.

Sadgurubhyo Namah.

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com