[Advaita-l] dedication fruits of an action to Lord

[Shyam]

PranAms Narayan-ji

Dedicating the fruits of an action to the Lord is
nothing but developing prasada-buddhi. There is a
subtle difference between this and ishwara-arpana
buddhi - and Bhagwan Krishna talks about this in Ch 12

abhyase 'py asamartho 'si mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmani kurvan siddhim avapsyasi
athaitad apy asakto 'si kartum mad-yogam asritah
sarva-karma-phala-tyagam tatah kuru yatatmavan


I have previously written about this on my blog
http://poornamadam.blogspot.com/2007/09/ch-12-levels-of-devotion-pt1.html

Perhaps it may be useful in understanding.

Furthermore remember the Lord we are talking about is
not someone out there far away but verily your own
self, the Atman.
It is you, the Ego, that harbors a notion of
do-ership, which brings it with it notions of gain and
loss, happiness and sorrow.

Aham karta, aham sukhi now, aham dukhi later, etc. are
all notions borne of avidyA.
Being under the sway of this avidyA, equanimity of
mind is not possible, and without equanimity no
spiritual progress can take place. As Bhagwan says
"Samatvam yoga uchyate" - the only yoga is equanimity,
an ever-pleasant non-reacting mind is the pinnacle of
spiritual sadhana and is the gateway to mokshA.

With prasada-buddhi I dont allow my mind to vaccillate
between extremes of sorrow and joy, hope and
disappointment. It is not about denying a feeling of
happiness when something good happens or denying my
minds natural sense of loss, but understanding that
this happiness this mind feels is nothing but a
prasada from the Lord, and this sadness that it feel
is also nothing but his own prasada. 
Thus developing prada-buddhi is the first baby-step
towards this ultimate goal of samatvam.

Hari OM
Shr Gurubhyoh namah
Shyam


--- narayan iyer <z1e1b1r1a at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> Pranams,
> 
> Would someone explain what exactly is meant by
> dedicating the fruits of an action to the Lord?  It
> looks easy enough to understand, but exactly what it
> is?
> 
> For eg. I perform an action with prayers to the
> Lord.  (a) The action suceeds.  I am slightly elated
> (though I should not, I think).  I thank the Lord. 
> Is it (the dedication of fruits) over?
> 
> (b) I fail in the mission.  I pray to God to make me
> more capable in future endeavours.  I am slightly
> disappointed, not much though.  Is the dedication
> over?
> 
> regards
> 
> narayan
> 
> 
>       
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