[Advaita-l] Nitya Karma question

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

Namaste Sri Lalitaalaalitah,

I don't see any fundamental distinction between what you are saying and what
I wrote earlier, except that your responses do not show adequate
appreciation of the context in which I gave those laukika examples.

For instance:

2011/10/4 श्रीमल्ललितालालितः
<< Police officer can't work 24 hours and he surely doesn't. So, are you
going to punish him for every minute ? Definitely not.>>

This is exactly what I said. A punishment can arise only where there is a
duty (which was not performed). The police officer does not have 24 hour
duty. He can only be punished for dereliction of his assigned duty.

Also,

<< As saMnyAsI are not bound to do karma, so non-performance itself doesn't
exist in their case.>>

This is exactly what I am saying.

<< Only those, who are adhikArI of karma and don't perform, can be said to
be non-performing.>>

It really boils down to the sense in which one uses the term "abhAva".

The concept of "abhAvAt bhAvotpatti doSha" may seem very simple and
straightforward but a little reflection will reveal that bhAva and abhAva
can be very elusive concepts. I don't have the time for a detailed
discussion here but you may want to reflect on why the advaitin-s recognize
anupalabdhi as a separate pramANa and then compare that with what is said in
the taittirIya bhAShya introduction on the issue of pratyavAya.

Lastly, I am quite aware that pUrva mImAMsaka-s and advaitin-s have somewhat
different views on the precise status of nityakarma. While the former
emphasize pratyavAya on account of non-performance, the latter emphasize
durita kShaya and chitta shuddhi on account of performance. That is a
different point which I am not denying, but it still does not take away from
the need to understand the context of the bhAShya-s and extreme care in
application of the concepts of bhAva and abhAva.