[Advaita-l] Roadmap Vedanta study

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

PraNams 

Study of Vedanta is required to understand the truth. After that the Study of Vedanta helps to abide in the knowledge. So do not through the books of Vedanta. Nidhidhyaasna is not necessarily sitting in one place and mediate. That is helpful for those who can do.

One has to understand and ABIDE in that knowledge which Bhagavan Ramana calls it as dRiDaiva niShTaa. Even after understanding one does not abide in the knowledge because of the mind has not been fully purified - there are lingering vaasanas that need to eliminated. For that only meditation on the teaching is prescribed by the scriptures. One should abide in the knowledge whether one is closing his eyes or not. 

Hari Om!
Sadananda





--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 7/2/15, Vivek via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Roadmap Vedanta study
 To: "RAMESH RAMANAN" <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk>
 Cc: "Advaita List" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 Date: Thursday, July 2, 2015, 1:17 AM
 
 Dear Ramesh,
 
 Thanks for the nice reply. I
 agree with what you say but also feel like once vedanta is
 really grasped it’s good to keep a daily study of the
 scriptures for refreshment and inspiration. 
 
 I’m going to have a look at
 the books of Ramana you mentioned.
 
 Vivek
 
 PS:
 still hoping for more replies in regard to study order :)
 
 
 > On Jul
 2, 2015, at 9:27 AM, RAMESH RAMANAN <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk>
 wrote:
 > 
 > Dear Sri
 Vivekji,
 > 
 >
 Pranams,
 > 
 > Sri
 Ramana Maharishi never used to encourage people who wanted
 to go on endlessly. The upanishads also says that after
 having grasped the essentials one should throw away books
 like blades of grass or straw. Kunju Swami , a disciple of
 Sri Ramana wanted to learn Vedanta from someone outside the
 Ashram. He sought Sri Ramana's permission for the same.
 Sri Ramana said: "Today, Vedanta, then Nyaya, then
 Tarka and then something else. What books did I read? Read
 yourself. If you can abide in your natural state, everything
 will come of its own accord. You are the treasure-house of
 knowledge. There is no need to go out and seek knowledge
 from printed books. Just abiding in one's natural state
 without any interruption is sufficient and it is the most
 excellent task on hand. The time available is limited and
 one should not fritter/waste it in reading too many books,
 if your goal is self-realization.
 > 
 > The sage Bharadwaja. (disciple of Sage
 Vasishta) was excessively fond of reading all the Vedas and
 so, he got a boon to live for 300 long years practising
 Brahmacharya. To Teach him a lesson on the futility of
 excessive reading, Indra came in the shape of a crow or
 something and started lifting all the drops of water from
 the ocean to try it (It is impossible). When Bharadwaja saw
 this and remarked that the crow was being foolish, Indra
 came in his original form and told him that it was much
 better than reading too much of the Vedas. He also lifted
 some handfuls of a mountain and showed to Bharadwaja and
 told him that after living for 300 long years, Bharadwaja
 had managed to grasp only that much of the Vedas. Then,
 Bharadwaja realized that abidance in the natural state was
 the goal and nothing else should interfere with it. So, he
 gave up his addiction to book-reading. Sri Ramana says that
 a heavily read man becomes arrogant and is no better than a
 donkey carrying too much luggage. He also said that a
 heavily read man has too many families in his mind (in the
 form of books) and will mistake heavy reading as a
 substitute for genuine spiritual practice, whiich will be a
 total tragedy and waste of precious human birth, the sole
 purpose of which should be the attainment of and abidance in
 one's natural state WITHOUT any interruption whatsoever
 at the earliest. 
 > 
 >
 But if your goal is only to achieve scholasticism and to
 participate in philosophic discussion related competitions
 and debates, it would be nice to have a thorough knowledge
 of the various doctrines, dogmas, creeds etc. But then, you
 will have to excel in advaita, dvaita, vishishtadvaita and
 all other schools like Tarka, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Meemamsa,
 Shaareeraka etc. To learn all these, you may be required to
 master Sanskrit, as most critical texts are in Sanskrit. It
 is for you to decide what you want to do with your life and
 I am nobody to advise you on that. 
 > 
 > In my view, The following books relating
 to the teachings of Sri Ramana 1) Who am I 2) Self-enquiry
 3) The Path of Sri Ramana (two volumes) and 4) Essence of
 Enquiry (This has been published by Ramana Maharshi Centre
 for Learning, Bangalore and is not available online- RMCL
 website: www.ramanacentre.org, email: office at ramanacentre.org,
 phone: 080-2351-2369, 080-23514930) 5) Sri Ramana Gita 6)
 Upadesa Saram 7) Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi and 8)
 Sat-darshanam are more than enough for one to grasp all the
 spiritual truths and abide in one's natural state.
 Almost all of these books are available freely online in
 Adobe Acrobat pdf format and you need not shell out
 excessive sums of money to grasp the spiritual truths.
 > 
 > Pranams once again,
 
 > 
 > Regards, Ramesh
 Ramanan.
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > On Thursday, 2 July
 2015, 7:08, Vivek via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 wrote:
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > Hari Om,
 > 
 > Greetings to all.
 
 > 
 > Since I started
 my study in Vedanta I learned a lot of things and am
 grateful and feel blessed to thread this path. 
 > 
 > One thing I always
 enjoyed doing is mapping things out, getting a solid
 understanding on the complete picture. 
 >
 
 > I'd like to get a general idea as
 what should be studied (in a whole lifetime) and in what
 order to mastery of the vedantic texts for the goal of Self
 Realization. 
 > 
 >
 Starting with Prakarana Granthas, then moving on to the
 Prasthana Traya and then more advanced works and different
 commentaries. 
 > 
 > I
 like to make a clear and full roadmap to mastery and also
 hope it might inspire others  to have a clear direction as
 in what order to proceed. 
 > 
 > I know this is a personal journey for
 everyone but I'd like to create a general road map. 
 > 
 > So far it's this
 what I've come up with
 > 
 > Tattva Bodha
 >
 Vivekachudamani
 > ---
 > Prasthana Traya (moolam)
 > Prasthana Traya (Shankara Bhasya)
 > ---
 > Pancadasi 
 > ---
 > Anubhuti
 Prakasha
 > 
 > I
 encourage all that feel compelled to add your version of
 this list so that we can come to and excellent roadmap.
 Maybe more commentaries on Prasthana Traya could be added to
 this list?
 > 
 > Thanks
 for your contribution,
 > Vivek
 > 
 > 
 > 
 >
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