[Advaita-l] Pitru Rina and progeny

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Namaste,

The intention behind action is more important than action itself. In case
of taking sanyAsa, the intention is to leave all kAmya karma (result
oriented karma with attitude of doership). The motivation behind sanyAsa is
to rise above karma kANDa (rites and rituals) and contemplate on Brahman
with abheda bhAvanA (non-dual approach).

Similarly, though chanting mantra OM is also a mental karma or kriyA, but
the intention is not to keep chanting. Intention is to calm down mind and
rise above OM, to transcend samsAra and experience non-dual samAdhi. The
teachings of sanyAsa or GYAna mArga (path of knowledge) is first to become
a witness. GYAna mArga of gItA begins with chapter 13. The very nature of
sAdhanA is to detach from anAtmA, while in any vedic ritual, this is not
the case. Vedic karma-s are for inner purification of all those who are in
it's vicinity including the performer.

So the path (of sanyAsa) is to chant a mantra or contemplate and then the
mantra or neti-neti continues by itself due to constant practice. One
becomes a witness of a mantra or neti-neti. This is moving from effort to
effortless. No effort can give GYAna. No amount of karma or kriyA can grant
moksha. So one has to move from effort to effortless. This is the path of
sanyAsa in advaita. All actions, be it physical, mental or any yogic
kriyA-s are carried out in such a way that one moves from karma to akarma
via becoming a witness. When one is an observer, one cannot act and vice
versa. Both cannot happen at a same time. Our consciousness cannot be
equally present in each state - as a witness and as a doer. It cannot be in
dream and waking at a same time. At times, only a pale shadow of other
state is experienced.

In advaita, staying rooted in brahman is the center of all actions.

Hence actions of any kind of karma kANDa, in my opinion cannot be compared
with an act, in this case sanyAsa, that is done to detach from anAtmA and
rise above karma and so it's fruits.

We have to always remember that it is the intention that decides the
direction or the path. One can chant God's name for super natural powers,
for bringing down healing and spiritual energies to whole humanity and for
moksha. Same God, same mantra, but intention decides the direction of
sAdhanA (meditation) and hence the result.

Hence knowing why we do it is important. Always try to find root cause and
the final destination as non-dual Brahman.

Regarding pitru-riNa, I had read in the book 'Hindu Dharma' that once every
15 days, a Brahmin has to do tarpaNa for last two ancestors. I am not very
good at karma kANDa, but Kanchi Paramacharya's words are treated with high
respect. Once a friend questioned me that we call our ancestors up to last
7 generations, but what if they have already taken birth in some place in
some body? What happens in such situation? I do not have an answer, but I
think, Kanchi Paramacharya may have considered this fact. Also he generally
quotes from scriptures, but as I told you, I am not good at karma kANDa.

OM

Sujal


On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 8:58 PM, Gerald Penn via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> ‎
> Mundaka, yes, of course.
>  I don't read brahmajnana into this passage either, although now that you
> mention it, I am uncertain whether taking sannyasa counts as a karma
> comparable to agnihotra that would involve these other generations. What do
> you think?
>  The commentary I was reading is not Shankara's. In addition to
> disagreeing about how many generations are involved (7 or 15), it also
> specifically mentions sharing in the (de)merit of agnihotra performance,
> not the conferral of such. So there does seem to be disagreement on this
> point as well.
>
> Thanks,
> Gerald
> ‎
>
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