[Advaita-l] Questions on the blessed Isa Upanishad

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

On Fri, 27 Nov 2020, Shrinivas Gadkari via Advaita-l wrote:

> Consider two real life situations:
>
> Case 1: Mr. A buys an expensive luxury Car.
> Case 2: Mr. B who is an acquaintance of Mr. A, buys an expensive luxury Car.
>
> In a worldly sense, from view point of Mr. A, in Case 1, the luxury Car
> "belongs" to him, and in case 2, the luxury Car "belongs" to Mr. B.
>
> The practical advice of "tena tyaktena bhunjIthA" to Mr. A, in Case 2, is:
> Feel genuinely happy for Mr. B, without coveting Mr. B's the luxury Car.
> As far as the Happiness is concerned Mr. A's experience is similar to Case 1.
> So there is both "tyAga - non covetousness", and "bhunjIthA - experience
> of happiness" involved in the suggested (noble) practical advice.

Yes I agree.  In Brhadaranyakopanishad II.4.1.5 Maharshi Yajnavalkya 
explains to his wife that even basic human attachments such as love of a 
wife for her husband are due to and grounded in love of atma.  So it 
the hallmark of a  sadhaka is that he can truly feel joy in the joys of others.


>
> On a related note, "tena tyaktena bhunjIthA" was very much integrated in 
> the Indian way of life till sometime ago (and also in other cultures around the 
> world). However, it is fast being replaced by its very opposite.
>

There have been sociological studies which note that heavy users of social 
media on the Internet tend to be have more negative emotions such as 
depression or jealousy than the average person.  It is because Facebook, 
Instagram etc, present a distorted picture of the true state of other 
peoples lives.  Some look at this and think "everyone has more or is 
happier than me" and this breeds resentment.  Of course it is not the only
reason but I do believe this is one of the main reasons that modern man 
feels more discontent than his ancestors despite having more material 
wealth than they could have dreamed of.  Dharma gives a much needed 
correction to distorted perspectives.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>