[Advaita-l] Advaita in Everyday life

[S Venkatraman]

Wonderful mail Kathirasan. Regards,

Venkat

Sent from my iPhone

> On 20-Aug-2018, at 10:34 AM, K Kathirasan via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
> Namaste,
> 
> I admired your response because it is something that resonates with the advaita vedanta tradition. I would also urge you to reframe what you have said from the standpoint of sadhana (vyavahara) and sadhya (paramartha) for greater clarity. Perhaps in everyday life it is the sadhana of shravana, manana and nididhyasana that is relevant. I found that all that you have stated can easily be categorised within that framework. 
> 
> Kathirasan K
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On 18 Aug 2018, at 9:00 PM, Ryan Armstrong via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> 
>> नमस्ते Murali ji
>> 
>> I would like to propose an answer by saying "There is no advaita in
>> everyday life!"
>> 
>> This idea arose when pondering your question in the following way:
>> If advaita is something that I am practising, then is it advaita?
>> 
>> In the final verse of tattvopadeSa it states nAdvaita guruNA saha - there
>> is no advaita with guru
>> And this is seen in that if there is "guru" there must be "student" and
>> thus duality.
>> BUT
>> the same verse begins bhAvAdvaita sadA kuryet - one ought to always foster
>> the advaita bhAva
>> 
>> When turned inwards, practising cintana, advaita is evident.
>> It is also evident as "not a thing in creation" rather self-illuminating
>> once mind is at rest - that is, the mind cannot go to it.
>> 
>> During daily life one cannot resort to dhyAnam or cintana at any time - and
>> neither should one if a householder.
>> So how does the sadA apply?
>> This seems to be answered in Chapter 3 of Bhagavat Gita - the liberation is
>> through the action, offering it as a sacrifice to the Supreme.
>> And to do that, mind, body - the entire aggregate needs to be at rest in
>> the present.
>> This is service, devotion and when practised to its fullness will dissolve
>> the division between service, servant and the beloved.
>> 
>> And if experience has taught anything it is this:
>> I am only truly happy when there is not a single thought for myself in the
>> mind.
>> And the only way this is achieved is to devote the action to the Beloved
>> before, during and after its performance never allowing the attention to
>> move from the immanent present.
>> 
>> So perhaps ...
>> There is no advaita in everyday life - everyday life is in advaita.
>> 
>> Best Wishes
>> Ryan
>> 
>> On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 at 16:52, Murali k via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear members,
>>> 
>>> How do you practice Advaita in everyday life?
>>> 
>>> An example of this would be asking the question "who woke up?' as soon as
>>> one is awake in the morning. (Robert Adams).
>>> 
>>> It would be helpful if Sadhaks can share hints/tips that they practice to
>>> assimilate the teachings.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Murali
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Regards
>> 
>> Ryan Armstrong
>> +27 82 852 7787
>> ryanarm at gmail.com
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