[Advaita-l] Proper worship in Shankara's tradtion

[Viswanathan]

Respectful sri Subramanyanji,

You are right in saying "The devotee starts identifying with the deity and
loses the sense of difference". Thats what my guruji says when you follow
Bhakthi marga... But even there , there shudn't be multiplicity.  you choose
one Ishta deivatha and stick to it.

Where as when you choose Jnana marga, you keep questioning and start
traversing within you rather looking out. When you go deeper you
automatically and conciously give up your " ahankar'. when that ahankar
dissappears the mind also dissappears and you start seeing that' self' in
everyone and everyone in you. I feel this is the state of " Aham Bhramasmi".
Than the universal love flowers within you and thats  the ultimate bhakthi
towards the Bhraman.

According to me what is generally known as bhakthi is the statring point,
where the seekers surrenders himself , without realising anything. But when
the surrender becomes total, the real Jnana he attains and thereby reaching
the  state of  'Aham Bhramasmi"

Incase of Jnana marga he conciously reaches that state (the path of
Shankara/ Ashtawakra) , whereas he moves to that state unconciously in
Bhakthi marga (case of Meera/ saint thaygaraja).

Bhakhmarga is simple and great path.But , unfortunately many stop in the
middle and without surrender and make the the whole scene a hypocratic
drama. Likewise in otherpath too people with halfbaked theoritical knowledge
start lecturing about vedantha only to boast thier egos. Either way if you
go thru completely, ends with dropping of mind / ego and ultimate
realisation.

This being my understandings, I wonder why to have five or ten devatahas,
ritualistic form of worships, etc...

( Being from orthodax Bhramin family,seen all these ritualistic practices
from closer point, aswell, seen and discussed these with realised
Gnanis too)

Hope I am trying to make my point clear and certainly free to correct myself
if I am wrong.

Pranams

Viswanath


----- Original Message -----
From: "harish subramanian" <athibuddhi at yahoo.com>
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta"
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 5:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Proper worship in Shankara's tradtion


Viswanathan,

I am not in agreement with you.

The devotee starts identifying with the deity and
loses the sense of difference.

Parabrahman manifests in the physical world as
entities real to the context of physical world(even
though this place may be illusionary).

The role of god(this concept will only cease to exist,
when there is perfect understanding of oneself) in
understanding of oneself is significant and important.
Pardon me if I might sound like a follower of Vishita
advaita. But even shankara's writings are  centered
around devotion , which will lead to knowledge.(Pardon
my ignoranc , if this is not the case).

Any way, I am sure you too would be appreciating the
role of Bhakti.

But let us say for instance, if I worship alcohol, and
if I start adoring this and start taking it regularly,
I loose control over myself and in due time, my
spiritual accomplishments would become void. Further
more this religion would make me commit acts which can
actually bring down my spiritual nature and take me to
a lower plane.

I am pretty sure the learned people here, will respect
this idea, that the procedure of worship must be
systematic and proper, for the unregulated mind to
establish control.


 For the brahmagnani, this question does not arise.


Regards,
Subramanian V.



--- Viswanathan <viswanathann at al-hassan.com> wrote:

> Respectful sir,
>
> These worships of gods  whether five or ten  ... do
> they  really matter!!!
> when we go deep in advaitha path....(may be to start
> with yes...)
> but ultimately...just drop everything and start
> looking into you...
>
> letus try to travel towards " aham Bhramasmi"...."
> Tat vam asi"
>
> I am not against worshipping...but truth is "
> nirvihakara"...so how come
> worshipping sai / jesus/ buddha could be harmful??
> (its true that they wont
> help either)
>
> pardon me if I am wrong....
>
> Viswanathan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "harish subramanian" <athibuddhi at yahoo.com>
> To: <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 11:45 AM
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Proper worship in Shankara's
> tradtion
>
>
> What is the position of Adi Shankaracharya on
> worship
>     of different Gods (other than the five priciple
> gods
>     of panchayatana worship)?
>     Though it is acceptable to worship any of the
>     different gods(Ultimately,all worship leads to
> the
>     lotus feet of Vishnu). I think it is not correct
> to
>     worship any Non Vedic deity as it may lead to
> delay or
>     even reversal of spiritual progress.
>     For instance , reverence of sai baba or Jesus
> may
> be
>     okay, but to worship them as God may be harmful
> or
>     even disastrous.
>     Can anyone provide me Information on texts that
> teach
>     panchayatana (according to vaidik tradition)
> form
> of
>     worship properly.
>     There are some  clarifications in this regard
>     1. There is a story of Shankara stopping the
> worship
>     of Yama. Can I know the context surrounding
> this?
>     2. What is Shankara's position on worship of
> Skanda.
>
>
>     He is not included on the original set of five
> gods.
>     3. What is Shankara's opinion on worship of
> Buddha. I
>     am aware of the differnces in the two sects.But
> what
>     is the position of Shankara.
>
>     Regards,
>     Subramanian V.
>
>
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