[Advaita-l] Re: self knowledge

[Sanskrit Beginner]

namo namah:
(general prefix - I have done some random readings only, and am
trying to systematize it, and am engagin in discussion for that
only - thanks for your patience)
 I get the feeling for this series of posts that "ahamkAra" is
a bad thing. I am not sure it is all that bad. I mean, what if
can literally take ahamkAra as "I, the Doer" ? 
 If one cannot tell one self that "I am the doer" then there is
no sense of belonging, or "being" right? I mean, "I" have to
know that "I" have a meaning to myself. The easiest way to
assert it to myself, is to say "I do this" - what "I" actually
"do" probably is a different issue right? I could do something,
or say I exert some effort, for the purpose of liberation,
meaning daily prayers to cleanse the mind. And in that case, "I
am the doer" is not such a bad thing right?
 For example, the BG does say "you have right to do the action,
not for the result" - if I cannot tell myself that "I do", or I
am the doer, then BG would become meaningless. For Krishna
could have just said "don't even think you are doing it" - he
said, "do it, but know that the results are Mine" right?
 So, I don't think ahamkAra is such a bad thing. 

My 2cents worth.
DhanyavAdah:

> Of the four components that make antaHkaraNa, it is the
ahaMkAra  or "the
> sense of agency" that mixes up Atman and anAtman. This
ahaMkAra is avidya.
> manas, buddhi, and chitta are jaDa. But the words manas etc.
are often used
> interchangeably to denote all of antaHkaraNa.
> 
> Typically, the answer to the question "who is bound" is given
as "whoever is
> asking this question." One thing I found in advaita-vedAnta
is, if try to go
> quite deep into this matter you will have to always confront the
> "anirvachaniiya" aspect of avidya. How the ahaMkAra started
mixing up Atman
> with anAtman  will point only to anAdi avidya, which is
anirvachaniiya.
> 
> 
> My 2c.
> 
> Ravi
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: drganesh at vsnl.com [mailto:drganesh at vsnl.com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 12:51 PM
> > To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> > Subject: [Advaita-l] Re: self knowledge
> >
> >
> > How does 'budhi' have that independent ability to
> > superimpose ? Is it an independent entity to have its
> > way to cause superimposition ?
> >
> > Om Namo Narayanaya
> >
> > Srikrishna
> >
> >
> > Who needs atma gnanam?,surely not the self or atma,it is ever
> > free. It is only a ‘budhi’ that seeks liberation. Why does it
> > seek? Because it ‘feels bound’ due to avidya which is the cause
> > of adyasa. Even to come to this stage of enquiry one has to do
> > ‘lokan parikshya’ and understand that what he seeks is ‘nasthi
> > akrthah krthena’ and therefore ‘gurum eva abigacheth’ for
gnanam
> > as said in mundaka. This adyasa of ‘feeling bound’ goes once
> > avidya is removed and the antidote for avidya is vidya or
gnanam
> > alone. This gnanam has to take place in the same locus where
> > there is avidya-in the ahamkara ‘I’. Hence as Ramana says in
> > sad-darshanam- The existence of ahamkara is nonenquiry
alone. It
> > is not there at all and this so called ahamkara runs away once
> > you start enquiry or vichara and what remains is chaitanyam
alone
> > witout  even pramatha [knower]. FROM Sakshi’s standpoint, which
> > you seem to raise there is neither budhi nor avidya in
which case
> > there is no gnanam also as all these a
> > re mitya. This is beautifully said in nirvana astakam.
> > I hope I have explained your doubt.
> >
> > Dr S.GANESH
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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