[Advaita-l] Questions regarding Advaita Vedanta.

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 12:44 PM, krishna koundinya <cosmonautkk at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> http://nitaai.net/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1670
>
> 2) This is even more disturbing..After reading this I felt like I have
> done great Dosha against my guru Adi Shankara. I need clarification on
> these..
>     These verses are found in Padma Purana.
>
> svakarmarUpaMtyAjyatvamatraivapratipaadhyate || Pa Pur 6.236.8 ||
>
>
In this (doctrine) only the giving up of one's
> own duties is expounded. (padma puraaNa, uttara-khaNDa, 236.8)
>

Can anyone point out where in Advaita 'the giving up of one's
own duties' is 'expounded' ?.

Here is just one sample from Shankaracharya's bhashya:

सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषमपि  न त्यजेत् । (Bhagavadgita 18.48)

//सहजस्य कर्मणः = स्वधर्माख्यस्य परित्यागेन, परधर्मानुष्ठानेऽपि दोषान्नैव
मुच्यते, ...तस्मान्न त्यजेदितर्थः । //

//18.48 Kaunteya, O son of Kunti; na tyajet, one should not give
up;-what?-the karma, duty; sahajam, to which one is born, which devolves
from the very birth; api, even though; it be sadosam, faulty, consisting as
it is of the three gunas. Hi, for; sarva-arambhah, all undertakings
(-whatever are begun are arambhah, i.e. 'all actions', according to the
context-), being constituted by the three gunas (-here, the fact of being
constituted by the three gunas is the cause-); are avrtah, surrounded;
dosena, with evil; iva, as;; agnih, fire; is dhumena, with smoke, which
comes into being concurrently.One does not get freed from evil by giving up
the duty to which one is born -  called one's own duty (svadharma) -, even
though (he may be) fulfilling somebody else's duty. Another's duty, too, is
fraught with fear. The meaning is: Since action cannot be totally given up
by an unelightened person, therefore he should not relinquish it.//

The gist of Shankara's bhashyam quoted above is:  one's own duty should not
be relinquished. This is the meaning of the first line of the shloka taught
by the Lord.

Is then the Padmapurana 'definition' conforming to Advaita as taught by
Shankaracharya?

Regards,
subrahmanian.v

>
>
> sarvakarmaparibhraShTairvaidharmmatvaMtaduchyate |
> | Pa Pur 6.236.9 ||
>
> And that is said to be religiousness by those who have fallen from all
> duties.