[Advaita-l] Re: Advaita-l Digest, Vol 29, Issue 28

[Krishnarao Lanka]

sriparasukhanandanadha

D/September 29, 2005

Sub: - Importance of sannyAsa for study of VedAnta

Priya bandhujanAh.

Please excuse me for interfering amidst into the discussion. In this
connection, I wish to say, according to my knowledge goes, there are no
restrictions for any one to acquire any kind of knowledge. But for every
thing there are some conditions and norms. You will not allow your child,
who is just a student of elementary education, leaving his class books and
trying to read your physiology, anatomy, nuclear physics or the Apastambha
grihya sUtrAs.

It is because they are not essential for him at this stage. In the same way,
certain rules are there to know about the brahma vidya also.

 VyrAgya is a condition of several types, which arise out of vexation, due
to sufferings like prasUti vyrAgya (at the time of delivery) in females,
smaSAna vyrAgya when some beloved person dies, purAna vyrAgya when hearing
the discourses about Atma, paramAtma etc., from an expert orator,

Or kArana vyrAgya when ones own children and his wife disown him and not
hearing or following his commands. The real vyrAgya is quite different from
all these.

 The real virAgi becomes a sannyAsi. SannyAsa in other words was equalized
to death. There is a saying that we should never invite sannyAsa nor the
death. Also we should not be afraid of these both and try to escape from
them too. After taking sannyAsa, he will not have the choice to come back
again in to the grihasthAShram, or perform any karma kAnda. In fact the
presence of a sannyAsi is almost similar to a prEtatma. Many people do not
allow him to stay inside of their houses. Therefore our elders are always
discouraging us to take up sannyAsa AShram. One has to undergo so many tests
before he obtains permission for the sannyAsa diixa. We samsAriis should not
develop any idea which may create vyrAgya in our minds.

 We must have some knowledge and a trained mind associated with practices in
the guidance of some qualified and learned elder, to enter into any
philosophical books. There are so many purAnAs, dharma SAstras, etc., to
read before reading vyrAgya creating books. The guru will train your mind to
understand about vEdAnta. Those books should educate you towards GyAna, but
not the transitory vyrAgya.

 Wise people do no advise to read Bhagavadgiita also, (though it is widely
popularized by a sect of people) because it belongs to samhArakrama.

That book is intended for sannyAsis; and it is useful to pArAyan when any
person in the family dies. The result after Srikrishna taught it to Arjuna,
caused for the death of eighteen akShohinis of human beings. It is better to
read sundarAkAnda of rAmAyana which is in the srishtikramam. After tracing
out the jaganmAta, all the vAnarAs could enter into the Madhuvana and could
drink the nectar there with joy and pomp. It is also better to read durga
saptasati which is in the sThiti kramam, where it is described as after the
death of Sumbh and niSumbha, "tatah prasannamakhilam hatE tasmin durAtmani |
jagat swAsthya

matiivApa nirmalan chABhavannaBhah || and also the apsarAs danced with
myrth, the Sun glowed more brighter, the winds passed pleasantly,

"jajjwalu schAgnayah SAntAh Santa digjanita swanAh ||. The dEvi herself gave
so many promises to protect us from all the calamities and hardships. ( of
course this also needs some training to start reading the book )

 In summary , what I wish to say is, first of all seek a qualified and wise
guru. He will tell you what are to be learnt first and what next. You are no
doubt fully entitled to read all the upnishads, brahma sUtrAs,
Bhagavadgiita, and also all the vEdas under the guidance of a guru
irrespective of your caste etc., Our way of education is kramavidya. It is
power packed with systematic sounds which will certainly endow us all
required benefits if properly used; and also cause disasters if they are
misused.

 Sriparasukhanandanadha.

    ======================================================

On 9/28/05, advaita-l-request at lists.advaita-vedanta.org <
advaita-l-request at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Importance of sannyAsa for study of VedAnta
> (Ravisankar Mayavaram)
> 2. Re: Importance of sannyAsa for study of VedAnta
> (bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com)
> 3. Tattwa Bodha (Sridhar Babu)
> 4. New member introduction: Bimal Mohanty (Jaldhar H. Vyas)
> 5. Re: Tattwa Bodha (Shyam Venkataraman)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 12:19:28 -0500
> From: Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Importance of sannyAsa for study of VedAnta
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID: <fb261999050927101927b135aa at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Kartik,
>
> For all practical purposes, you can assume that the BG series
> regulations are withdrawn. Only thing is we have not formally made a
> posting announcing this. So do not worry about this.
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ravi
>
>
>
>
> On 9/27/05, S Jayanarayanan <sjayana at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I would not have posted this second time had it not been for the
> > fact that a lot of people posted twice on non-BG topics
> > yesterday.
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:10:29 +0530
> From: bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Importance of sannyAsa for study of VedAnta
> To: Sanjay Srivastava <sksrivastava68 at gmail.com>, A discussion group
> for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID: <OF0784762A.A696F9CF-ON6525708A.002F501B at in.abb.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> praNAms Sri Sanjay Srivastava prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
> SS prabhuji:
>
> Some AchAryas actually hold this view. I remember visiting devAnanda
> swami of uttar kashi in my college days and he maintained that study
> of vedAnta by gruhasthas would give them pApa.
>
> bhaskar :
>
> Do our smruti texts / dharma shAstra-s say like this prabhuji?? or is it
> swamiji's individual opinion?? Why I am asking this is, as you know, being
> a dvija, it is mandatory to study sva-shAkha vEda...In vEda-s, we have
> saMhita, brAhmaNa & AraNyaka portions, one has to study all these three
> parts to complete the sva-shAkhA vEdAdhyayana..upanishads/vEdAnta normally
> comes in the AraNyaka portion..if the vEdAntAdhyayana is prohibited for
> gruhasthAshrami-s, we would have left out that portion of
> vEda-s...Moreover, in saMhitA-s also we have few upanishads (for exp.
> IshAvAsya ) but traditionally we are studying it all together. Nowhere,
> atleast AFAIK, shAstra-s tell us vEdAnta studies is pApa kArya for
> gruhasTha-s. Ofcourse, we know that vEdAdhyayana should be completed in
> brahmacharyAshrama itself...but those who have not done these studies in
> pUrvAshrama (brahmacharya) can do so being a house-holder under the
> guidance of shrOtrIya guru. Neither we can wait for the next janma to go
> back to brahmacharyAshrama nor immediately take saNyAsa to shirk from the
> family responsibilities to study vEdAnta is it not prabhuji?? What I am
> trying to say here is *mumukshatva* is the key here, no matter where you
> are, with all intensity we can straightaway start our brahmajignAsa.
>
> SS prabhuji:
>
> He would discourage his gruhastha students from coming to his vedAnta
> classes that typically started at 3:00 AM in the morning and were finished
> by sunrise.The
> only exception he made was for Gita which he taught in the evenings and
> considered appropriate for everyone.
>
> bhaskar :
>
> but in gIta also we do have shruti maNtra-s is it not?? you can find the
> kaTOpanishat maNtra-s in gIta...can we accept it for studies since it is
> appearing in a smruti text??
>
>
> SS prabhuji:
>
> Late paramAchArya of Kanchi and previous shringeri AchArya held that
> the study of vedanta by gruhasthas would at best give them some punya
> but not brahma-jnAna. Apparently, there are others who do not take
> such charitable view.
>
> bhaskar :
>
> shankara says in sUtra bhAshya that brahma jnAni can be there in both
> saNyAsa as well as gAruhastyAshrama. He may be a emperor like Janaka, he
> may be a gruhastha-maharshi like yAgnAvalkya, he may be a avadhUta like
> shuka/ashtAvakra/dakshiNAmurthy, he may be a sanyAsi like our
> bhagavadpAda,
> he may be a boy like nachikEta, he may be a shUdra like
> vidhura/dharmavyAdha, he may be a avatAra puruSha like rAma/krishna or he
> may be a *anAshrami* like ramaNa maharshi..so I dont think brahma jnAna
> specifically meant for saNyAsi-s.
>
> SS prabhuji:
>
> And therefore later AchAryas such as Swami Vidyaranya had to clarify
> that even a brahma-jnAni cannot be a jivanmukta unless he takes up
> sannyAsa.
>
> bhaskar :
>
> kindly pardon me I am not able to get the difference between brahma jnAni
> &
> jIvan mukta..prabhuji do you mean to say here brahma jnAni is inferior to
> jIvan mukta?? Further, I donot know why should brahma jnAni bother about
> taking up formal saNyAsa when he realized that he is akatru, abhoktru at
> any point of time ??
>
> praNAms onceagain
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:33:43 +0530 (IST)
> From: "Sridhar Babu" <sridhar at amritapuri.amrita.edu>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Tattwa Bodha
> To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> Message-ID:
> <11999.203.197.150.196.1127912623.squirrel at mail.amrita.ac.in>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
> || Aum Sri Gurubhyo Namah ||
>
> Dear Members
>
> I was encouraged by one of the Eminent Swamijis whom I met to clarify
> doubts on Bhagavad Gita. He first referred me Tattwa Bodha of Sri
> Sankaracharya to be read and and then to understand the intricasies.
>
> Can someone help me on the subjest ...???
>
> --
> Sripada Renu
> Sridhar Babu
> Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavanthu
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> This email was sent using Amrita Mail.
> "Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham [Deemed University] - Amritapuri Campus"
> http://amritapuri.amrita.edu
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:18:26 -0400 (EDT)
> From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] New member introduction: Bimal Mohanty
> To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.63.0509280917240.29055 at localhost.localdomain>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> Name Sri Bimal Mohanty
> Age - 68
> India
>
> Spearheads the movement Spiritual Approach to Life. Please visit website
> www.ahwan.org <http://www.ahwan.org>. Based on lectures by Sri Bimal
> Mohanty on sanatan
> philosophy, the website with monthly updates, prepares life to be lived in
> the spiritual way- the way life is meant to be lived.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:16:06 -0500
> From: Shyam Venkataraman <shyam.venkataraman at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Tattwa Bodha
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID: <cb03c61805092808162918c26a at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Dear Sridhar Babu,
> Pranams.
> There is a series of 16 excellent lectures on "Tattvabodha" by Swami
> Paramarthananda available on the internet. You can listen to them at the
> website http://www.yogamalika.org. After you enter the website, go to the
> link "Listening Room" and then audio-english. These lectures will be under
> the title "Introduction to Vedanta".
> Hari Om
> Shyam Venkataraman
>
>
> On 9/28/05, Sridhar Babu <sridhar at amritapuri.amrita.edu> wrote:
> >
> > || Aum Sri Gurubhyo Namah ||
> >
> > Dear Members
> >
> > I was encouraged by one of the Eminent Swamijis whom I met to clarify
> > doubts on Bhagavad Gita. He first referred me Tattwa Bodha of Sri
> > Sankaracharya to be read and and then to understand the intricasies.
> >
> > Can someone help me on the subjest ...???
> >
> > --
> > Sripada Renu
> > Sridhar Babu
> > Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavanthu
> >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
> > This email was sent using Amrita Mail.
> > "Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham [Deemed University] - Amritapuri Campus"
> > http://amritapuri.amrita.edu
> >
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> ------------------------------
>
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> End of Advaita-l Digest, Vol 29, Issue 28
> *****************************************
>



--
Krishnarao Lanka