Guest guest Posted June 16, 2000 Report Share Posted June 16, 2000 Dear bhagavathas, I have a question regarding slokha 37 of chapter 4 of Bhagavad gita,where Lord Krishna talks about the purifying effect of the Knowledge of the self and he says : yathaidhamsi samiddho 'gnir bhasmasat kurute 'rjuna jnanagnih sarva-karmani bhasmasat kurute tatha Meaning : Just as a well kindled or blazing fire reduces firewood to ashes,so does the fire of knowledge(i.e knowledge of self in the present context) nullifies all karma. Question: Logically speaking "Knowledge can nullify ignorance as it is opposed to knowledge".But "Karma, is understood as result or fruits of our past deeds".Then How can knowledge or gnana nullify karma,which is not opposed to the same?.At best,knowledge can enlighten us about our true nature,but how can it destroy our karmas?. I request the learned members of the list to clarify my doubt. Sri krishnaarpanamasthu Suresh B.N. Send instant messages with Messenger. http://im./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2000 Report Share Posted June 20, 2000 Hi Suresh, I was waiting for the learned members of our list to respond, but seeing as they haven't, I will venture a response. You asked: > Dear bhagavathas, > I have a question regarding slokha 37 of > chapter 4 of Bhagavad gita,where Lord Krishna talks about the > purifying effect of the Knowledge of the self and he says : > > yathaidhamsi samiddho 'gnir > bhasmasat kurute 'rjuna > jnanagnih sarva-karmani > bhasmasat kurute tatha > > Meaning : Just as a well kindled or blazing fire reduces > firewood to ashes,so does the fire of knowledge(i.e knowledge > of self in the present context) nullifies all karma. > > Question: Logically speaking "Knowledge can nullify ignorance > as it is opposed to knowledge".But "Karma, is understood as > result or fruits of our past deeds".Then How can knowledge or > gnana nullify karma,which is not opposed to the same?.At > best,knowledge can enlighten us about our true nature,but how > can it destroy our karmas?. I think the key here is to understand what 'karma' means in this context. If one acts in accordance with his true nature and in accordance to the dictate of shastra, God is favorably disposed to him and blesses him. If one acts in a manner contrary to one's nature and shastra, God is infavorably disposed and punishes him. Such blessings are expressed in the jIva as various states of consciousness, conferred by God upon the jIva in accordance with his actions and attitudes. The dawning of the true knowledge the self, i.e., Atma-avalOkana or self-vision, implies a change in the state of consciousness of the individual. Since karma expresses itself as a "dent" as it were in this consciousness, Atma-jnAna is definitely opposed to it and can destroy the *effect* of the karma, which I believe is what is mentioned here. This is what I can gather from the context, and from my reading of Sri S.M. Srinivasa Chari's "Fundamentals of Visistadvaita", pp. 360-66. All errors are mine. aDiyEn mani rAmAnuja dAsan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2000 Report Share Posted June 21, 2000 Dear Bhagavathas, Many thanks to Sri.peggy,Sri.Keshavan Ramanuja and Sri.Mani vardarajan for clarifying my doubt on slokha 37 of chapter 4 of the Bhagavad gita. For the benefit of all the members of the list,i write down the following conclusion resulting from the answers given by the bhagavathas mentioned above:- Self Knowledge nullifies all the karmas of an individual by removing the root cause for the experience or further creation of karmas,which is the "Identification of the non-self or body with the self".Such a state happens during the direct vision of the self.Infact an application of the Intellectual understanding of the self in our daily life helps us to maintain our tranquility with respect to desirable or undesirable events and also prevents us from committing further errors or karmas. But,such an realisation is effected by an Individual's efforts in the right direction and by the grace of the Lord,who gives the fruits of an Individual's karma. In fact the Lord himself has mentioned this in the Gita in slokha 61 of chapter 2,where he gives the solution for getting over the cyclic dependency of control over the senses and vision of self or the cyclic dependency of Karma and Ignorance.Another slokha 27 of chapter 14 also supports this. More information on the same is welcomed. Sri Krishnaarpanamasthu B.N.Suresh --- Mani Varadarajan <mani wrote: > > Hi Suresh, > > I was waiting for the learned members of our list to > respond, but seeing as they haven't, I will venture > a > response. > > You asked: > > Dear bhagavathas, > > I have a question regarding > slokha 37 of > > chapter 4 of Bhagavad gita,where Lord Krishna > talks about the > > purifying effect of the Knowledge of the self and > he says : > > > > yathaidhamsi samiddho 'gnir > > bhasmasat kurute 'rjuna > > jnanagnih sarva-karmani > > bhasmasat kurute tatha > > > > Meaning : Just as a well kindled or blazing fire > reduces > > firewood to ashes,so does the fire of > knowledge(i.e knowledge > > of self in the present context) nullifies all > karma. > > > > Question: Logically speaking "Knowledge can > nullify ignorance > > as it is opposed to knowledge".But "Karma, is > understood as > > result or fruits of our past deeds".Then How can > knowledge or > > gnana nullify karma,which is not opposed to the > same?.At > > best,knowledge can enlighten us about our true > nature,but how > > can it destroy our karmas?. > > I think the key here is to understand what 'karma' > means in this > context. If one acts in accordance with his true > nature and > in accordance to the dictate of shastra, God is > favorably disposed > to him and blesses him. If one acts in a manner > contrary > to one's nature and shastra, God is infavorably > disposed and > punishes him. Such blessings are expressed in the > jIva > as various states of consciousness, conferred by God > upon > the jIva in accordance with his actions and > attitudes. > > The dawning of the true knowledge the self, i.e., > Atma-avalOkana > or self-vision, implies a change in the state of > consciousness of the > individual. Since karma expresses itself as a > "dent" as it were > in this consciousness, Atma-jnAna is definitely > opposed to it > and can destroy the *effect* of the karma, which I > believe is > what is mentioned here. > > This is what I can gather from the context, and from > my reading > of Sri S.M. Srinivasa Chari's "Fundamentals of > Visistadvaita", pp. > 360-66. All errors are mind. > > aDiyEn > mani rAmAnuja dAsan > > > Send instant messages with Messenger. http://im./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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