[Advaita-l] Pitrupaksha questions,and the place of Jnana.

Srikanta Narayanaswami srikanta.narayanaswami at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 30 05:59:19 CDT 2011


Pranams

You write

> While discussing we must not forget that Sri
> shankara i his commentaries has also discussed the place of
> Jnana in our daily performances.


"place of Jnana in our daily performances"

What does this mean? Please explain.

Hari OM
Shyam
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I hope you are following the thread on the topic we are discussing.The discussion is on the performance of karmas,that is Kamya,nitya,naimittika karmas.As for as kamya karmas are concerned we may perform them and we may not perform them,it is left to the discretion of the peformer.As for the nitya karmas,there is the view that nitya karmas have to be performed,otherwise the non-performer will incur prayavaya,which is a dosha as per the purvameemamsaka point of view.The B.G brings this aspect in its Shloka'"Karmani aklarma yah pashyeth akarmani karma yah!
Sah Buddhiman manushyeshu sa yuktah krstna karmakrt!1
SriShankara Bhagawathpada after the examination of a vrttikara that it must be performed says that there is no pratyavaya incurred by its nonperformance.The question naturally arises as how this holds good.The question is not whether the performance or the non-performance brings realisation of Jnana.Since,this pertains to the Jnana yoga,it comes under the purview of Jnana.SriShankara Bhagawath pada also substantiates this.The question is will the mere performance is enough or should it be with the realisation by Jnana as set forth in the BG and Sri Shankara.
N.Srikanta.


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