[Advaita-l] Commentary on Ramana's Forty Verses

[Vinodh]

Namaskaram

The recommendation according to the Vaidhika Dharma, which is what Shankara
and others have propounded, is meant for persons of varying levels of
spiritual maturity and advises one to perform one’s karma (according to
their own dharma) with bhakthi (Ishwara-arpana-bhava) in whatever
varnashrama one is in to develop the qualifications required for jnana
(discrimination between permanent and temporary, dispassion for the
temporary, six-fold qualities of mind control etc., and desire for
liberation) and finally renounce all karma to achieve jnana through the
teaching of a guru (a realized one).

There are several exceptions to this general recommendation like Janaka and
others who did not follow the path of renunciation and *seemingly*
continued to lead their non-renunciate lives even after attaining jnana.
>From their point of view, they have completely absolved themselves of
doership and enjoyership and the continuance is a *mere illusion *that is
sustained because of prarabdha karma.

However, such exceptions must not serve as the recommendation to the
general population lest it mislead them into confusing the two distinct
aspects of the two paths of pravritti (involvement in activities) and
nivritti (become uninvolved in activities). One path (pravritti) requires
the person to assume doership and adhyAropa (superimposition) of the Self
on non-Self and vice-versa, which is necessary for performing actions and
experiencing the results. The other (nivritti) requires actively absolving
oneself of the sense of being the doer and the experiencer, which leads to
the removal of the superimposition and eventually to jnana. For a jnani who
has already removed this superimposition, no rule of this empirical world
can be said to apply. A jnani only *appears* to continue in this empirical
world for loka-sangraha (continuity/consistensy of this empirical world).

In fact, if one were to truly follow the words of the Upanishads and the
teachings of the Jnanis, there is noone who is *really* in samsara and
noone who is *really* being liberated after following a certain path. Did
the snake ever exist for it to disappear? It was only a rope all along...

Om tat sat
🙏

On Fri 18. Jun 2021 at 03:25, Ven Balakrishnan via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> The question is not whether a householder can realise the Self or not.  It
> is whether post-realisation, there will be any involvement.  Muruganar was
> married, he realised the Self, and thereafter he quit the world, as is
> clear from his commentary.  Arthur Osborne (realised or not) was married,
> but lived a simple austere life with his family in Tiruvannamalai.
>
> As noted previously, it is mental renunciation which is what is required;
> but that mental is likely to manifest as physical; some level of withdrawal
> from the world.
>
>
> > On 17 Jun 2021, at 21:38, Akilesh Ayyar via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > Another unequivocal Ramana quote. Let's not do Bhagavan the disservice of
> > suggesting he's lying to his disciple in response to a direct question:
> >
> > D: Can a married man realise the Self?
> > M: Certainly. Married or unmarried, a man can realise the Self; because
> > That is here and now. If it were not
> > so, but attainable by some effort at some time, and if it were new and
> had
> > to be acquired, it would not be worth pursuit. Because, what is not
> natural
> > is not permanent either. But what I say is that the Self is here and now,
> > and alone.
> >
> > (Maharishi's Gospel, Book 1, Chapter 1)
> > ᐧ
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