Guest guest Posted April 19, 2000 Report Share Posted April 19, 2000 Greetings Advaitins: The practical aspects of Karma Yoga can be understood from the following news report from Washington Post. The statement by Janet Reno, the Attorney General spells out Karma Yoga in western style! Reno correctly points out her action is likely bring uncertain results but it has to be undertaken irrespective of whether she gets appreciation or denounciation. The statement of Abraham Lincoln is quite remarkable. The bottom line of spirituality is 'character' and unselfish service is an embodiment of character and personality! Ram Chandran ============================ "I'm trying to do it the right way; I don't know whether I will be right, but I am dead set and determined to do it the right way, the safest way, the least violent way, and the soonest way I possibly can under the law," Reno said. "If the end brings me out right, what people said about me won't make any difference. And if the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels saying I was right won't make any difference. And that's Abraham Lincoln, and I think that's the best advice for us all in these circumstances." By David A. Vise Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 19, 2000; 1:00 PM (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ =========================================== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 24, 2000 Report Share Posted April 24, 2000 Extract from the book “yoga,enlightment and perfection of His Holiness Sri Abinava Vidyatheerta Mahaswamigal of Sringeri”- published by Sri Vidyatheertha foundation Chennai 600004 A person had the practice of performing puja to God and offering Him fruits and other eatables. After his worship, he used to partake of an offered fruit as God’s prasada. An agnostic friend of his mockingly told him, “Your practice of performing naivedya is silly. The fruit that you place before your God remains exactly at the same spot where it was kept. It undergoes no physical change either. Further, it is not the God you worship but you who consumes it.” The devotee responded with a smile, “I submit a fruit to God with the firm conviction that, in keeping with His statement in the Bhagavad-Gita, He will accept it. Having received it, He is free to do whatever He pleases with it. Since He is omnipotent, He is perfectly capable of making it vanish or leaving it behind in its entirety after having consumed it. I believe that it is He who leaves behind the fruit for me after partaking of it in a humanly-inconceivable way. As far as I am concerned, what I consume after naivedya is the remnant of what God has eaten. “Recently, when your political leader came to your town, you and numerous others received him and offered him garlands. He certainly did not and could not wear all of them. He then gave you one of the garlands to them and the crowd cheered. It is possible that a supporter got back the very garland that he had given, Just because your leader does not retain the garlands presented to him, you people do not abstain from the practice of garlanding him; you derive joy in honouring him and do not tell him what he should do with the garlands that you give him. Why then are you uncomfortable with my sincerely offering God fruits and feeling happy? When your leader can return a garland to you, why should God not be free to give me back the submitted fruits with his blessings? A karma-yogin, in fact, offers to God not just eatables but all his thoughts, words and deeds. A man had two servants. One of them was particular about eulogising his employer but not in executing his master’s instructions. The other sincerely carried out the tasks assigned to him; he also held his master in high esteem. The employer obviously preferred the second servant to the first. A devotee who, like the second servant, sincerely performs the duties ordained for him by God and specified in the scriptures and, further, does so in a spirit of dedication, pleases God greatly and receives His grace in abundance. By the Lord’s grace, his mind becomes very pure. In due course, he realises the Truth and gets liberated. A woman doted on her young son and took great care of him. One day, she woke up with an intense headache, fever and nausea. Nevertheless, she attended to the child’s morning requirements without any laxity. That day, she found the rice prepared by her to be slightly overcooked. Promptly, she started to cook some more. Her husband noticed this and told her, “You are sick and in pain. Whey do you want to strain yourself? The rice that is ready is quite eatable.” “I want to give my son only the kind of rice that he is used to and likes. As for the overcooked rice, I shall consume it,” replied the wife. Out of deep love for her child, the women did her very best for him. Likewise, a karma-yogin, by virtue of his devotion to God, performs his duties to the very best of his ability and refrains from adharma. Two students appeared for an examination. In spite of having prepared well, they fared badly because the questions were very tough and some of them fell outside the scope of the prescribed syllabus. One of them, who did not practise karma-yoga, became highly dejected because of his inept performance. When he went home and sat down to prepare for the next day’s subject, his mind kept reverting to that day’s question paper. His worry greatly hampered his preparation. The other boy, being a practitioner of karma-yoga, did not experience the least anxiety. This is because, in the examination hall itself, he had dedicated his performance and its fruit to God. After returning home, undisturbed by worry, he focused his attention on the next day’s subject. On the following day, the first boy became flabbergasted on encountering a tough question. The karma-yogin read the question carefully and answered it to the best of his ability without getting perturbed in the least. It is hardly surprising that the first boy secured a lower rank than his friend. This example shows that the efficiency of a karma-yogin exceeds that of a person who acts with a longing for the fruits of his actions. The Lord has declared in the Bhagavad-Gita, “Perform your prescribed duties, for action is superior to inaction. Moreover, even the maintenance of your body will not be possible through inaction. Man becomes bound by all his actions except those done by him of the sake of God, without being attacked… By performing his duty without attachment, a person attains liberation (through the purification of his mind).” Venkateswaran. Ram Chandran [ramvchandran] Thursday, April 20, 2000 12:43 AM Advaitin List Some reflections from Karma Yoga Greetings Advaitins: The practical aspects of Karma Yoga can be understood from the following news report from Washington Post. The statement by Janet Reno, the Attorney General spells out Karma Yoga in western style! Reno correctly points out her action is likely bring uncertain results but it has to be undertaken irrespective of whether she gets appreciation or denounciation. The statement of Abraham Lincoln is quite remarkable. The bottom line of spirituality is 'character' and unselfish service is an embodiment of character and personality! Ram Chandran ============================ "I'm trying to do it the right way; I don't know whether I will be right, but I am dead set and determined to do it the right way, the safest way, the least violent way, and the soonest way I possibly can under the law," Reno said. "If the end brings me out right, what people said about me won't make any difference. And if the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels saying I was right won't make any difference. And that's Abraham Lincoln, and I think that's the best advice for us all in these circumstances." By David A. Vise Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 19, 2000; 1:00 PM (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ =========================================== ------ Avoid the lines and visit avis.com for quick and easy online reservations. Enjoy a compact car nationwide for only $29 a day! Click here for more details. http://click./1/3011/3/_/489436/_/956171602/ ------ Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other contact, Email to <advaitins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 25, 2000 Report Share Posted April 25, 2000 Hari Om Venkateshji: Thanks for sharing the beautiful commentary from Singeri Swamigal. Our symbolical offering of food and fruits to God is to remind us that everything that we possess is His Gift. God is manifested as fruits and foods and also in human form to eat them! Everything that we eat, see, touch and think is always He including the eater, seer, toucer and thinker is also He! The agnostic questions His presence is also He! In addition, the cycle of changes of form - fruits into waste and waste into fruits and other similar changes are also part of His manifestation. The puja procedure of nivadya and Prasad is a constant reminder that life is a cycle of birth and death (in appearance!) and there was never beginning nor there will ever be an end to this cycle. Finally, it is good that whatever goodies that we produce before Him is returned back to us. This is the reason more people take more fruits to the temple with the gurantee that they will be returned back! If it was otherwise, the temple doors would have been closed longtime back. Many times, we go and stand before Him and spell out all our frustrations and the silent listerner accepts all our evil words, anger, hatred, etc., and keeps them within Him! They were never returned back and we have thank Him for keeping us cool and peace! regards, Ram Chandran --- Dr S Venkateswaran <svenkat wrote: > > A person had the practice of performing puja to God > and offering Him fruits > and other eatables. After his worship, he used to > partake of an offered > fruit as God’s prasada. An agnostic friend of his > mockingly told him, “Your > practice of performing naivedya is silly. The fruit > that you place before > your God remains exactly at the same spot where it > was kept. It undergoes no > physical change either. Further, it is not the God > you worship but you who > consumes it.” === Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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