[Advaita-l] Doubts on karma, future births, etc.

[balagopal ramakrishnan]

>>>Jnana eliminating karma only means that the Jnani realizes that he wasnever a kartA-bhoktA at any point of time: past, present and future.  Thus,
the elimination or exhausting of karma is not any process in time.  It is
just a knowledge that one is Brahman the akartA-abhoktA.

Subbu Ji has put it rightly. It's the gross misconception that with 'jnanam' everything has to be 'physically known' like the count of balance 'karmas' ( prarabdha). This is because we look at it from the secular / transactional (vyavaharic) sphere where knowledge about any 'things' means 'knowing it' ( those 'things'). Since this 'jnanam'is not a 'thing', this way of 'knowing' doesn't work. One way to understand is that it is the 'eye' of the eye, 'ear' of the ear, 'mind' of the mind, 'food' of the food.. With a little practice one can get to understand (intellectually) that it is the very 'thing' because of which all these are happening. Since it is complete it doesn't have to 'do'/ 'want'/ 'possess' anything. This process of understanding can effectively happen only by the study of the scriptures from a 'sampradayic' 'guru' and grace of iswara. 

Regards

Balagopal



On Tuesday, 31 December 2013 2:30 PM, Sujal Upadhyay <sujal.u at gmail.com> wrote:
 
Namaste,

If there is both abhyAsa and vairAgya, then after the initial phase of
vishAda, one will experience peace within. Nature will also change, but may
go unnoticed. You may realize this when others comment on the change. I say
that the change may go unnoticed because the change is so natural and
gradual that you barely notice.

VairAgya is Ananda, as it is absence of desires (in mind). Less the
dissatisfied desires more is the peace within. Also sattva Guna increases
and other guNa-s decrease with progress. For traditional POV, you may read
21 milestones mentioned in Gita chapter 16 and 17. they are barometer of
our spiritual progress.


OM

Sujal Upadhyay

"To disconnect from the self and to become Aware of anything else is
nothing but unhappiness" - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi

He who has faith has all
He who lacks faith, lacks all
It is the faith int he name of lord that works wonders
FAITH IS LIFE, DOUBT IS DEATH - Sri Ramakrishna


On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 1:44 PM, Nithin Sridhar <sridhar.nithin at gmail.com>wrote:

> If I understand you correctly, your basic Q is regarding the evaluation of
> the progress. Well, you cannot evaluate in terms of how many karmas are
> left over or how many karmas have been burned.
>
> Instead, you can evaluate based on Internal changes. The scriptures speak
> about 6 internal enemies- anger, lust etc Now, how do you control the mind
> in situations that often result in anger, fear, attachment or too much
> attraction etc. These can be judged by yourself.
>
> Example, a person who gets angry at the drop of the hat, may slowly through
> Sadhana and effort control his mind and his anger. Eventually he may slowly
> master his mind not to get angry at all. Similarly, people become too much
> pleased with good things and become pained at encountering obstacles. But,
> by sadhana, slowly one can develop state of Stitahprajna neither being
> elated with praise nor being painted at criticism.
>
> These are the tools for self evaluation. The very first step of spiritual
> progress lies in Purifying of the mind and destruction of internal
> weakness. And, any Sadhana would help in this direction.
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 12:27 PM, Suresh <mayavaadi at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Thanks, friends.
> >
> >
> > I understand that only Jnana can eliminate all karma - not disputing
> that.
> > But I am wondering how we will know whether the karma is getting
> > eliminated? I am talking about evaluating ourselves, not judging others.
> > How will I know for certain that Jnana is destroying my karma, and that
> > there is nothing else i need to do?
> >
> > I am a little confused as to how we assess progress - do we simply assume
> > that because we're advaitins (and therefore have right knowledge), karma
> > will be eliminated sooner or later? Or do we assess our behavior,
> thoughts,
> > and come to conclusions?
> >
> >
> > Suresh
> >
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