[Advaita-l] The essence of advaita

[prabha]

 PraNAms Sri Amuthanji,  and everyone else!


I agree with your view point. But my question is not how I shall gain
deliverance. Every religion has a prescription for that – most of them
(Dvaita, Christianity, Islam…) seem to say that we are NOT same as god and
we are sinful/suffering because made mistakes along the way (bad Karma,
disobeying god...), hence the only way is to blindly follow their prescribed
path.


I have been told that Advaita is different and gives you the most logical
answer to the difficult questions. And the question I am asking is too basic
to not have been asked before – how could the Atman which, in essence, is
the same infinite, impenetrable, unaffected, unassailable, all-knowing
Brahman be deluded into a miserable state? I am certain that this question
has been beaten to death by our great seers. The various responses on this
list gives me the impression that there is an answer, but it takes far more
scriptural knowledge than I have to appreciate it. So I will try to gain
that knowledge first.

This IS the most awesome list! I thank you all.



Hari OM!



Prabha

On 9/25/07, Amuthan <aparyap at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> namo nArAyaNAya!
>
> On 9/26/07, Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> > A simpler approach is trust in shruti. shruti states that ultimate
> > reality is non-dual brahman, but on a practical level we see duality
> > which is caused by so called avidya/mAyA.  shruti also affirms there
> > is a way out of it.  When try to explain and understand how this
> > non-dual brahman became all this dual stuff, we seem to get stuck. If
> > this non-dual brahman is beyond the grasp of one's mind, why should we
> > assume that somehow we will grasp how "that" became "this"? The
> > explanation that ties the ultimate non-duality to perceived duality
> > too is beyond the grasp of mind. Ultimately we progress only by
> > shraddha and it better not to get trapped in this. shraddhaavan
> > labhate jnAnam.
>
> this is a much better view. instead of wasting time trying to
> understand the ontological significance of mAyA, which is
> anirvacanIya, it is better to concentrate on knowing the Self.
>
> there is a huge difference between looking at advaita as a
> philosophical viewpoint and as a means to overcome birth and death.
> the former (the 'academic' view), while being of some importance in
> establishing the soundness of advaita over other darSana-s, is not of
> much help to someone who wants to put an end to suffering and
> ignorance. in the latter approach (that of a mumukshu), there is
> actually no necessity to worry about unnecessary questions like 'what
> is mAyA?', 'how can mAyA exist at all in brahman which is non-dual?'
> etc. such questions can at best be answered in terms of some analogy
> and since no analogy is perfect, there will be no end to doubts. one
> can exhaust a lifetime asking doubts and trying to rationalize avidyA,
> which is the essence of all irrationality; but that won't lead us
> anywhere. rather it is better to ask questions like 'i experience
> hunger, pain, fear, love, hatred etc... how the heck do i put an end
> to this?'. advaita is best understood only from a mumukshu's
> viewpoint; certainly not from a speculator's.
>
> in short, it is better to either plunge into svAtma vicAra or do
> nishkAma bhagavad bhakti instead of getting lost in what AcArya calls
> SabdajAlamahAraNyam.
>
> vAsudevaH sarvaM,
> aparyAptAmRtaH.
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>