[Advaita-l] Is morality necessary for liberation?

[Suresh]

Whether we call it dharma or morality, is it salvific? That's the main point of my topic. In my opinion, morality/dharma is not salvific. Knowledge/Jnana alone is salvific, nothing else is. They may have practical value - even eating and sleeping have practical uses - but they don't lead to liberation.




On Sunday, 26 January 2014 12:06 PM, Nithin Sridhar <sridhar.nithin at gmail.com> wrote:
 
Hinduism speaks in terms of Dharma and Adharma and not moral or immoral. And Dharma is very important. With Dharma Anushtana, there is no Chitta-Shuddhi and without Chitta Shuddhi, no Moksha.


-Nithin




On Sun, Jan 26, 2014 at 11:50 AM, Suresh <mayavaadi at yahoo.com> wrote:

Friends,
>
>First of all, this isn't a justification for immoral behavior.
>
>In most religions, especially creator-centered religions, morality is most important. Even if faith in god is stressed, it still requires the believer to be moral, or else god won't be pleased. This is the logic, basically. Suffice it to say that for theistic religions, morality is perhaps as important as faith.
>
>But advaita is unique in that God is all there is - everything else is a mere appearance. So morality cannot get you out of this samsara any more than morality can get you out of a dream. Only knowledge between real and unreal can. So morality, as far as I can see, has utilitarian value - the same value that 'dream water' has for a dreamer. But does it have any salvific value at all?
>
>Again, I am not attacking morality or moral people - but isn't it silly in the context of advaita to see morality as something mighty important? Knowledge alone is salvific - morality is simply useful for us to carry on at the worldly, vyavaharika level. But to obsess over moral codes, to constantly think in terms of dos and don'ts, rights and wrongs - isn't that unnecessary for an advaitin?
>
>Thanks,
>Suresh
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