[Advaita-l] Eternal Loka

[rajaramvenk at gmail.com]

The disciple below displays basic lack of sraddha in sastras which describe  chandraloka etc. as vyayavahara satyam. He doesn't even know the difference between material worlds  (chandra, indra etc.) and spiritual worlds (vaikuntha, kailasa etc.). He probably doesn't know or accept Sankara's view of krama mukti. For such a person who doubts the validity of the sastras, Ramana's teaching is perhaps relevant to such a person as no one can doubt one's own existence. 

My question is from the point of view of one who accepts sastras as valid. Is there an eternal loka (vaikuntha, kailasa) in the vyavahara realm as per advaita tradition? 
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-----Original Message-----
From: sriram nagaraj <sriram_photon at yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 07:08:43 
To: rajaramvenk at gmail.com<rajaramvenk at gmail.com>; A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>; A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Reply-To: sriram nagaraj <sriram_photon at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Eternal Loka

Dear List Members,

Here is a related reply of a similar question by Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi:

Question: people talk of Vaikuntha, Kailasa, Indraloka, Chandraloka
(the Hindu heavens). Do they really exist?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Certainly. You can rest assured that they all
exist. There also a swami like me will be found seated on a couch and disciples will also
be seated around him. They will ask something and he will say something in reply.
Everything will be more or less like this. What of that? If one sees Chandraloka, one will
ask for Indraloka, and after Indraloka, Vaikuntha and after Vaikuntha, Kailasa and so on,
and the mind goes on wandering. Where is shanti (peace)? If shanti is required, the only
correct method of securing it is by self-enquiry. Through self-enquiry Self-realisation is
possible. If one realises the Self, one can see all these worlds within one’s Self.
The source of everything is one’s own Self, and if one realises the Self, one will
not find anything different from the Self. Then these questions will not arise. There may
or may not be a Vaikuntha or a Kailasa but it is a fact that you are here, isn’t it?
How are you here? Where are you? After you know about these things, you can think of all
those worlds.

Regards,

 
Sriram Nagaraj

--The inner Light illuminates our minds--




________________________________
 From: "rajaramvenk at gmail.com" <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 8:41 AM
Subject: [Advaita-l] Eternal Loka
 

Hare Krishna. Does advaita admit of an eternal loka - vaikuntha or kailasa - within vyavahara? If so, have any advaita acharya talked about it? Please give me references. 
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