[Advaita-l] (no subject)

[Nithin Sridhar]

I do not think, there is any way to determine how much Karmas are left.
Hence, the past karmas are called as "adrisha". It is for this reason that,
scriptures speak of developing qualities like viveka, vairagya etc as a
pointers of spiritual progress. Because, for attaining Jnana it is not
necessary that all past Karmas are burned, but the dawn of Jnana burns away
all past and future karmas. Hence, by constant Sadhana and living life by
Dharma one burns away the blocking karmas that block spiritual progress and
help us attain the qualities like Nishkaama dasha etc.

Regarding someone remaining same even after sadhana for 20 years. There may
be many reasons. It may be as you have stated that he has yet to go a long
way. It may also be because, for some reason there is no external
indications though here are internal changes. It may be also because, the
practice has been mechanical without "devotion". It may be also because,
the sadhana have been done for some other purpose and not for spiritual
progress. But, the key is patience and devotion.

Regarding your Q about the availability of the Guru, it is my humble
opinion that, it is often the Guru who chooses the Shishya and not
otherwise. When you are ready Divine mother will bring the Guru to you or
take you to him. So, you need no worry about it. Lord Shiva Dakshinamurthy
is the first Guru, the Guru of all. If anyone does not have physical Guru,
he may always take Shiva as his Guru and practice Sadhana. And Shiva will
guide any such person.

-Nithin


On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 2:08 PM, Srikanta Narayanaswami <
srikanta.narayanaswami at yahoo.com> wrote:

> > Namaste,
> >
> > I am aware of the basics - that we all come into this world with some
> karma to work through. We may also accumulate more karma, so we must
> perform our duties in such a way that we dont - nishkama karma. Point is,
> Karma should be eliminated completely for us to realize our true nature and
> NOT take birth again.
> >
> > My doubt is, How do we know that our karmas are being exhausted? Is
> there any tangible hint, or must we simply assume this? If a person still
> has greed or anger issues, lust etc., is it safe to assume that he has a
> long way to go, many more births? So we observe our own behavior and then
> conclude as to how much karma we have left?
> >
> > I am confused about this because there are many people who do sadhana
> for years but they remain the same (insofar as character or behavior is
> concerned) even after, say, 20 years. Does this mean their karmas are not
> being eliminated by their sadhana - meaning their sadhana is faulty - or
> does it mean these things cannot be empirically observed (and therefore no
> solid conclusion can be drawn)?
> >
> > Any insights?
> >
> > Suresh
> Our upanishada are clear on this point.The Mundaka upanishad says:
> Pareekshya locan karmachitan nirveda mayath Brahmanah,nasti akrtam kritena
> tena vijnanartham sa Gurureva abhigacccheth shrotiyam Brahma nishtam??
>
> The above Mundaka sruthi clearly indicates that one has to see the results
> gained by one,s Karmas and come near a Guru who is a Brahma nishta.It is
> very difficult to get a Guru these times who is a Shrotriya and also a
> Brahmasnishta.Then what is one to do?The only way is to introspect our own
> Self.If we done wrongly,we have to correct ourself.Not to repeat it
> again.This is the only yardstick left for us.
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