Readiness for the study

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The following is the text from one part of my website Advaita Vedanta for

Today http://members.tripod.com/aikya/. This section gives the essence of

advaita vedanta in simple language.

 

This part refers to the qualfications for the study of advaita vedanta.

These are qualifications as traditionally understood. While some texts by

one or another scholar including several heads of maThs (called Shankara)

may have written about these, they preceded all those individuals back into

the ageless past of the traditional teaching.

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READY? by Aikya Param

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In the text VivekachUDAmaNi attributed to ShaN^kara it tells what makes a

person ready for this teaching:

 

vivekino viraktasya shamAdiguNashAlinaH |

mumukshoreva hi brahmajiGYAsAyojyatA matA ||17||

 

The one who is to be entrusted with knowledge of the infinite is considered

a discriminating dispassionate person, full of self-mastery, etc. and truly

desirous of freedom. (verse 17)

 

Discrimination is defined as the ability to tell the difference between the

eternal and noneternal.

Dispassion is disinterest in results of actions whether they might be

enjoyed in this life or afterward. Someone with this quality has figured out

that no action in this world can bring lasting happiness.

Mastery of the mind (shama), etc. includes:

shama - mastery of the mind.

dama - mastery over one’s senses and actions. In case one’s mastery of

the mind is not complete, at least

one must be able to choose not to act on thoughts and feelings.

uparati - taking care of one’s own duties.

titiksha - the ability to cheerfully endure the ups and downs of life

samAdhAnam - one-pinted concentration on the goal

shraddhA - confidence in the teacher, the teaching and one’s own ability

to fully understand and be blessed by both. Off all these, shraddhA is

considered the greatest. Anyone who has this confidence can develop all the

other qualities.

 

These are the qualities of a qualified student. Almost no one has all these

qualities. We appreciate them so we develop them more and more.

 

It is important to notice that these qualities do not include gender,

religion, nationality, caste or social class, race, formal education,

marital status, sexual orientation, health, or wealth.

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Aikya Param

Berkeley, CA

aikya

http://members.tripod.com/aikya/

 

Aikya Param

P.O. Box 4193

Berkeley, CA 94704-0193

Advaita Vedanta for Today (graphics)

http://members.tripod.com/aikya/

Advaita Vedanta for Today (text version)

http://members.xoom.com/aikya/aikya