[Advaita-l] ’upAsana' and 'bhakti'

[sriram]

Dear Sri Ravishankar
My view is Upasana seeks worldly objectives -and mainly by 
artharthies.Upasana slowly will elevate the upasaka to be  a Bhakthiman in 
which stage he will come to realise that these worldly pleasures and assets 
are meaningless .Taking refuge in the deity/self only will lead to 
liberation meaning no more births/samsara.So upasana is also a step in the 
Bhakthi marg.R.Krishnamoorthy.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ravisankar Mayavaram" <abhayambika at gmail.com>
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" 
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 5:20 AM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] ’upAsana' and 'bhakti'


> On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com>
>>
>>
>>
>> This is exactly my thought too. Let us start with Shankara's definition 
>> of
>> upAsana:
>>
>> "upAsanaM nAma samAnapratyayapravAhakaraNam" (sUtra bhAShya 4.1.7)
>>
>> Making similar ideas flow continuously is called upAsana.
>>
>> Bhakti also involves this "making similar ideas flow continuously",
>
> This definition of bhakti as flow of similar ideas, allows bhakti to
> be even "parama dveSha ruupaa".  Can any flow of similar ideas be
> called bhakti? Or  it has to be something like "sva svaruupa
> anusandhana"  or something that has the form of prema?
>
>>
>> personal God may not involve these. For example, there is the shrI
>> Yantra, there is a
>> particular procedure of worshipping it, and there is a specific
>> mantra, the ShoDashAkSharI or the PanchadashAkSharI. But Bhakti to a
>> personal God is just emotional outbursts and lot of singing and
>> dancing.
>> However, I would ask: what is purpose of these Yantras, tantras, and
>> mantras? They serve the purpose of, again, making similar ideas flow
>> continuously.
>
> Not necessarily. They can be done with the desire for a specific phala
> as a goal. In that sense, a mantra, tantra, yantra prayoga can be
> done accurately but without "prema" as (bhakti as parama prema
> ruupaa).  They need not accompany or have the purpose of having flow
> of similar ideas as it goal or even a by product. Depending on the
> prayoga, performer may not  even desire for mental or physical
> proximity with the devata. I think such prayogas are karma and not
> upAsana.    Both upAsana and bhakti do not come under the category of
> karma.
>
> My 2c.
> Ravi
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