[Advaita-l] Advaita practice (fwd)

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

other members are also welcome to share their methods of practice.
(Hopefully, I am not sounding rude by asking such an open question).

The reason why I am asking this is because I want to find a suitable and
consistent method to practice advaita (jNAna-yoga).


praNAms Sri lakshminArAyaNa prabhuji
Hare Krishna

You've really asked very apt & pertinent question prabhuji...Yes, how to
implement the tenets of advaita in our day to day life??  how to
internalize the intellectual understanding of theory of advaita?? or in
short, how can I be a practical vEdAnti??   Our scriptures time & again
repeatedly  say, you are THAT (tattvamasi), everything is brahman (sarvaM
khalvidaM brahma), I am brahma (ahaM brahmAsmi), duhkeshu anudvigna manAh,
sukhEshu vigata spruhaha, tulya nidAstu tIrmouni saNtushtO yEna kEna chit,
sukha duHke samEkrutvA, labhAlabou jayAjaou.. etc. etc.  That is fine but
whether  these shruti/smruti declarations meant only for intellectual
understanding  or for intuitive realization??  Even after hearing these
verdicts thousand times from various sources (through gurUpadEsha, through
books, through E-mail discussions etc.) , frankly, I am not able to
comprehend the niceties of these statements!!  I am still that old
materialist with just some *addtional information* on vEdAnta in
mind...that's it...With an *extra bolster* in the name of *vyAvahArika* I
do behave like any other normal/ordinary materialistic  human being
does/reacts in most of the practical life circumstances...If I spent
emotionally enraged hours with my boss just for the sake of  some
percentage hike in my CTC,  if I myself engaged in a trifle quarrel on some
domestic issue with my wife, my emotional outburst if my car is hit  by
someone, my sad feeling  if I lose my chess, badminton, cricket game etc.
etc. in these testing situations,   I donot  want to see/analyze those
incidents/loses with the *knowledge* of advaita jnAna...My answer/reaction
is readily available here and my ready made justifying clarification to the
*normal* behaviour of mine would be " see my friend,  this is vyavahAra, we
have to be like that only...nothing wrong in that... you see I cannot see
my boss & my wife as myself, in sport, you have to be aggressive & you
should feel for the result otherwise dedication & determination will not
come to you, though you know other vehicle driver's hit is not deliberate
but an accident, you should teach him a lesson for his reckless driving so
that he will not commit that same mistake onceagain  etc. etc....My false
ego does not ready to accept the damages caused to my advaita sAdhana in
these situations & started giving all sorts of *smart* answers, polished in
vEdAntic two tier cushion i.e. pAramArtic & vyAvahArik :-))   I really
doubt is this  the right way of handling things in our life??  how many
times we are simply *pretending*  that we are vEdAntins with hypocritical
answers like above??  how serious,  we are, atleast in *gradual
implementation* of advaitic sAdhana in our lives?? how seriously &
attentively we are *listening to our gurUpadEsha* with an intention of
implementation of those teachings in our practical life?? If we introspect
ourselves with these questions, the answer that we get is not so
encouraging (atleast in my case) ....  For that matter, when it comes to
vEdAntic topic itself, you might have seen how passionately we were holding
our *own* dogmas*  & argued endlessly :-)) So, Prabhuji, if you are asking
my  guidance for practical way of living in vEdAnta...kindly pardon me, I
am not of that much help to you in this regard.  Because,  I myself
struggling in that endeavour.  I hope,  other learned prabhuji-s,  who are
more practical vEdAntins and not mere information bank,  would answer your
questions suitably with some practical suggestions.  Sri Vidya prabhuji has
already  shared his view points, you can take his words. That is the only
thing I can unhesitatingly suggest you prabhuji because I always take his
words as *gurUpadEsha*...

Sorry onceagain, for coming out with more questions without any  answer...

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar