Is acquisition the road to happiness?

[Guest guest]

Is acquisition the road to happiness?

 

We acquire a new house or a new car and are thrilled. We receive a

gift and are thrilled. We inherit money, a car or a house and are

thrilled. We win a lottery and are thrilled. Why does acquisition

thrill the heart? Does it momentarily soothen our deep rooted fears

and insecurities, our inadequacies and anxieties? Is the need for

acquisition a symptom of rather than a remedy for the disease of

fear and anxiety, inadequacy and insecurity? In our quest for

security and thirst for acquisition, are we merely fuelling our greed

and increasing our anxiety?

 

 

 

Anxiety can exist for the acquisition of what we see ourselves as

lacking. Having acquired what we desire, anxiety can then center

around a fear of losing what we have. Both the lack and the presence

of possessions can fuel anxiety. Anxiety , then, seems to be a state

of mind and related to the manner in which we see ourselves and our

lives. It seems to arise from our relationship with people and

environment, our relationship with property and possessions. How we

see and relate, how we understand and manage seems to be the key to

our own happiness and fulfillment. The accumulation of possessions is

not the panacea for all ills although it may seem so. Accumulation

based on greed may signal the beginning of problems and the break-up

of relationships.

 

 

 

How can we distinguish between a necessary augmentation of our

material resources and senseless accumulation that fuels anxiety and

greed? The source of our desires can be need or greed.

While the former can be life enhancing, the latter may imply a

poverty of vision and thinking that is in inverse proportion to our

accumulation and acquisition. The first question that one has to ask

oneself at every step of the journey of life is : Is my decision

based on need or greed? The mind can be elusive and deceptive in its

responses. It may be easy to rationalize and explain greed in terms

of need. Therefore, what is of the essence is not the need to explain

to and convince others but the need to arrive at clarity and

conviction in one's own mind. Does our decision or need to acquire

stem from a specific requirement of our daily lives or a vague, all

consuming desire for more? This seems to be a key question in

deciding whether need or greed is dictating our drive for acquisition.

 

 

 

If acquisition of money, of assets, of position, power and status is

a fortress that protects us, who or what is the invisible enemy that

we are being protected from? Is it anyone other than ourselves?

If we are our own worst enemies, how can accumulation and acquisition

protect us? Rather, we are likely to be trapped in a fortress of our

own making. A magnificent skyscraper which feeds our illusions of

glory can become a source of terror and a trap when it crashes or

catches fire. Similarly, our painstakingly acquired and cunningly

accumulated possessions can become the source of our greatest fears

and anxieties. Is'nt it ironic that what is sought as a source of

security can actually cause worry and sleepless nights? Such is the

nature of acquisition motivated by greed

 

 

Since illusions have the power to thrill us and deceive us with a

false sense of security and fulfillment that soon evaporates to

create its opposite, we must be watchful of ourselves and our

acquisitive instincts. To lead a meaningful life with a clearly

perceived sense of meaning and direction, we must clearly distinguish

between need and greed. This is to be done ourselves, to live happier

lives with greater peace of mind, not to explain to and convince

another of our lack of greed. The need to convince another arises as

a form of self justification, an exercise of the ego in building and

protecting a self image. In reality, decisions based on need are

appropriate and life enhancing while those based on greed may ruin

our peace of mind and our relationships. It is towards this end that

each of us must examine and investigate our drive for acquisition.

 

 

If one's drive for acquisition is motivated by fear, insecurity,

greed and comparison with others, the quest for fulfillment may be

never ending. One might live in constant discontent and despair.

Contentment and peace of mind are the greatest riches we can

possess. These are treasures that can enrich our lives till our last

breath. All we need to do is to free ourselves from the shackles of

illusions that accumulation and acquisition are an antidote to our

fear and insecurity. In a direct perception free from misconceptions

and illusions, we shall find the contentment and peace of mind that

will enrich our lives beyond measure.

 

 

2002 Ashok Gollerkeri

 

 

AshokGollerkeriWritesToYou

 

ashok_gollerkeri

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

Ashok Gollerkeri writes:

 

.......How can we distinguish between a necessary augmentation of

our material resources and senseless accumulation that fuels anxiety

and greed? The source of our desires can be need or greed.......

 

---------------------------

 

Whether it is need or greed will depend on the mental level of the

person concerned. What is spiritually wrong is not the acquisition

itself but the thought and feeling that `I am the acquirer'. It is

this feeling of `possession' that is condemned strongly by all our

spiritual guides. The Lord Himself describes this feeling of

possession and acquisition in beautiful poetry in the Gita in

Chapter XVI: slokas 12 to 19 (Aurobindo's paraphrase):

Bound by a hundred ties of hope, given to lust and anger, they

strive to obtain, by questionable means, hoards of wealth for

sensual enjoyments. Their only thoughts run like these: `This has

been gained by me today'; `this desire I shall fulfill'; `I have

this now'; `I shall get also that wealth'; `I have slain this

enemy'; `And others also I shall destroy'; `I am the Lord' ; `I am

the enjoyer, the perfect, the powerful, the happy one'; `Who else is

equal to me?'. Thus they are deluded by ignorance. Many a fancy

bewilders them. They get entangled in the snare of their own

delusion, become addicted to the gratification of lust and fall into

a foul hell. Self-conceited, stubborn, filled with pride and drunk

with wealth, they perform rituals only in name, out of ostentation,

contrary to scriptural injunctions. Given to egotism, power,

haughtiness, lust and anger, these malicious people hate Me in their

own bodies, and in those of others. I hurl these evil-doers, worst

among men of the world, for ever into the wombs of demons.

 

Lord Krishna uses the concept of `aparigraha' at several places (VI-

10; VIII-53 – `parigraha to be avoided') in the Gita to denote one

of the most important positive qualities to be adopted by a

spiritual seeker. `aparigraha' does not mean `non-acquisition' ; it

means more than that. It means: `non-feeling of acquisition or

possession'. The thought that I am the possessor is wrong; whether

it is a needy possession or greedy possession. When we buy a house

(for our needs!) the thought has to be `Oh God! You have given me

this house to keep in trust for my spiritual pursuit. Help me God,

to keep it so'. This may look like a tall order and also funny to

think of everything as the Gift of God. But that is exactly what

that great soul who was born on this day of Christmas also said, not

once, but repeatedly!

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

[Guest guest]

> it is a needy possession or greedy possession. When we buy a house

> (for our needs!) the thought has to be `Oh God! You have given me

> this house to keep in trust for my spiritual pursuit. Help me God,

> to keep it so'. This may look like a tall order and also funny to

> think of everything as the Gift of God. But that is exactly what

> that great soul who was born on this day of Christmas also said,

not

> once, but repeatedly!

 

-----

I agree with Profvk-ji and Ashok-ji...

 

My need may be a greed to others ... loving the pocession is joy..

hating them is sorrow...those above are cause of attachment, both

love and hate, joy and sorrow are equal in magnitude but opposite in

sign. For a person attached to it the knowledge, intellect etc.,

influences the freewill which controls his futuristic actions.

 

Unattaching from them removes the pressure on the freewill (ahangara)

which can continue on its evolutionary path.

 

How to unattach, one way is to trancend that stage....or spiritually

mature as ramachandra-ji says....evolve -as i like to put it...

(sadhaka stage )

 

The other way is to create a faith or beleif that God did it.

(Bhaktha stage )

 

Both are ok, but which can withstand the test of time ????.....

 

Pranams to advaitins for providing a venue for evolution to

continue...

 

V.Srinivasan

[Guest guest]

How to unattach, one way is to trancend that stage....or spiritually

mature as ramachandra-ji says....evolve -as i like to put it...

(sadhaka stage )

 

The other way is to create a faith or beleif that God did it.

(Bhaktha stage )

 

Both are ok, but which can withstand the test of time ????.....

 

Pranams to advaitins for providing a venue for evolution to

continue...

 

V.Srinivasan

 

 

Namaste

Prof.VK ans Srnivasanji have raised a thought provoking issue of greed vs

need. One can make a serious attempt to think that whatever one has is not

achieved by him but is a gift from God. Alternatively, one can try to develop an

attitude of detachment to one's acquisitions. What beginners like me want to

know is how does any of these two paths reflect in my day to day behavior in

this world which we call Maya. Please enlighten me.

Shanti

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Let me repost an article which was posted few years back with the

title: The Key to Happiness - (this is a speech that I delivered in

toastmasters club)

 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

 

Ram Chandran

===============

Happiness is the universal aim of life. Happiness depends on the

modes that dominate our nature. When we were kids, we thought that we

could buy happiness in the toy stores. Now we are grown up kids and

we seek wealth, power and pride to get our happiness. We focus our

attention on illusionary happiness through material objects. The more

illusionary happiness we get, we are eager to venture for more!

Nevertheless, at the end, we get to a decisive point and reach the

dead end street of pain and misery. We fall into this vicious endless

loop of happiness and disappointment and forget our true nature! The

greatest obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness -

Fontanelle (1657-1757).

 

Our real problem is that we don't know what is true happiness? True

happiness is not a result from human action. Results are transitory

where as happiness is omnipresent and can neither be created nor be

destroyed. Understanding one's own SELF realizes true happiness. True

happiness is free from sufferings and disappointments! The key to

real happiness is within and we always look for the key in others'

pockets. True happiness is the human nature. True happiness requires

that we see our-self in all beings and all beings in our-self. The

key to true happiness is to keep positive thoughts within and throw

the negatives once for all. Any appearance of pain is an illusion

which will disappear and eternal joy and freedom will emerge and

sustain.

 

Ego is a hindrance to true happiness and it brings misery and

depression. A small story can illustrate this point. Once a soccer

ball complained to Swami Vivekananda that all were kicking in the

field and wants to be free! Vivekananda told the soccer ball that the

problem is the AIR and it should remove the air completely. When we

remove our ego, no one can kick or insult! We can liberate ourselves

from unpleasantness and misery by discarding EGO! The key to true

happiness is to abandon our EGO! Colton (1780-1832) points

out, "There is this difference between happiness and wisdom that he

that thinks himself the happiest man really is so; but he that thinks

himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool."

 

True happiness implies peace. Peace requires freedom from conflicts

and conflict arises with plurality. Subjective beliefs and notions of

the world cause plurality around us. Such notions will unplug our

mouth and plug our mind and ears! We start our conversation by

opening our mouth and closing our mind and ears. Such conversations

inevitably lead into intense arguments. The moment prejudice gets in,

patience evaporates, peace gets disturbed and conflict takes over! We

can remove plurality by freeing our mind from prejudiced notions. The

key to true happiness is to eliminate subjective beliefs and

perceptions on others. Happiness will enter when we open our eyes,

ears and mind.

 

True happiness will sustain if we accept the world as it is. We can

enjoy the world and realize true happiness if we prepare to change

our attitude. Mahatma Gandhi once said that we are the only change

that we wish to see in the world. The key to true happiness always

comes when we change our attitude to life. We can save our-self from

many hard falls by refraining from jumping to conclusions. Anyone who

thinks he knows all the answers, isn't quite up-to-date on questions.

A minute of keeping our mouth closed is worth an hour of explanation.

The problem that most of us face is not the presence of mind, but

only the absence of thought. Ann Landers points out that no one is

ever completely worthless; they can always serve as a bad example.

Goethe (1749-1832) once said: "We are never deceived; we deceive

ourselves." The Upanishads outline the following beautiful path for

our daily life: "Life is a bridge, enjoy while crossing but don't try

to build a castle on it." The quotation from Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804-1864) beautifully summarizes happiness: "Happiness is as a

butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which

if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

[Guest guest]

Pranaam to All

Hare Krishna

 

A beautiful discourse by Swamy Rama Thirtha is very much relevant to this

subject I think. Pls. go through this.

 

http://www.ramatirtha.org/vol1/happiness.htm

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

This issue directly relates to the last synonym of sat-chit-ananda,

i.e. ananda - usually translated as bliss. Ananda is really

happiness or fullness resulting from wantlessness and complete self-

adequacy.

 

We acquire things because we consider ourselves deficient or

insufficient. So, as long as there is a feeling of insufficiency,

the urge to acquire and be secure will last. Whether it is a greedy

urge or legitimate urge depends on the degree of insufficiency or

inadequacy, which again is a factor governed by the degree of

enlightenment.

 

When the understanding that our real nature is Fullness without any

need or scope for additions or subtractions occurs through logical

contemplation, the wanting nature slowly gives way to lasting

Happiness. As Ramji pointed out in his talk, this is when we

spontaneously say the prayer:

 

"God! Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the

difference."

 

This Happiness with capital "H" is different from the usual happiness

experienced with acquisitions. Temporary happiness is the opposite of

discomfort, sorrow or grief and does not have an existence apart from

or independent of its opposites, while capitalized Happiness, it

being our real nature, is timeless and inexhaustible.

 

It is not acquisitions alone that give us transient happiness.

Often, removal of things and getting rid of acquisitions can also

give relief and happiness as things that are dear today can become

harrowing problems tomorrow. There was this guy who fought physical

and court battles to win the hands of his beloved and, after ten

years of conjugal bliss, raised his hands to the heavens and

exclaimed "Good riddance!" when the same sweet lady eloped with her

paramour.

 

Pranams.

 

Madathil Nair

[Guest guest]

Hari OM!,

 

Blessed Ones,

 

Your friends multiply, People will feel a sense of belongingness to

you, Since there is no attachment, and sincerely thinking that

everything is given by HIM! there will not be any difficulty in life.

 

All the people will feel that you are a part of them. It cannot be

explained it should be experienced! We all have in mind, that what

will "I" get if I live the life as prescribed by Sastras, if we live

that life only, we know that what are the benefits.

 

Finally this craving for the benefits also should be stopped....

Without Bhakti there is no Jnana, Without Jnana Bhakti alone will not

help also. it should be balanced.

 

With Love & OM!

 

Krishna Prasad

 

 

--- Shanti <shanti wrote:

>

>

> How to unattach, one way is to trancend that stage....or

> spiritually

> mature as ramachandra-ji says....evolve -as i like to put it...

> (sadhaka stage )

>

> The other way is to create a faith or beleif that God did it.

> (Bhaktha stage )

>

> Both are ok, but which can withstand the test of time ????.....

>

> Pranams to advaitins for providing a venue for evolution to

> continue...

>

> V.Srinivasan

>

>

> Namaste

> Prof.VK ans Srnivasanji have raised a thought provoking issue of

> greed vs need. One can make a serious attempt to think that

> whatever one has is not achieved by him but is a gift from God.

> Alternatively, one can try to develop an attitude of detachment to

> one's acquisitions. What beginners like me want to know is how does

> any of these two paths reflect in my day to day behavior in this

> world which we call Maya. Please enlighten me.

> Shanti

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

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[Guest guest]

advaitin, "V.Srinivasan <test0001@u...>"

<test0001@u...> wrote:

> How to unattach, one way is to trancend that stage....or

spiritually

> mature as ramachandra-ji says....evolve -as i like to put it...

> (sadhaka stage )

>

> The other way is to create a faith or beleif that God did it.

> (Bhaktha stage )

>

> Both are ok, but which can withstand the test of time ????.....

>

My 2 cents -

 

The very nature of the mind is outgoing and attaching to things, the

best way to be non-attached is to lose the mind and go to the source

of the mind (vichAra) as BhagavAn RamaNa says. This is no easy matter

for all.

The other way that I think can work is to try to attach to a higher

goal or a principle, so you can detach yourself from the lower

transitory ones. An ishTa devata or a favourite dhyAna shloka can be

a good starting point. Initially, attempt has to be made to divert

the mind from the objects to your principle, but with Grace and

practice, it can become second nature.

 

Savithri

[Guest guest]

Namaste to all,

 

The game plan, as i understood from the discussion, to move forward

is...

 

....applying initial heavy thrust (or a detaching force) for a period

of time brings about temporary (quantum) seperation of ones self from

the attractions of the objects (strong force). This can be achieved

by (as said by Savithri-ji) a favourite dhyAna shloka with deep

worship and prayers (bhakthi). During that period one can propell

forward with the help of Jnana (sadhana) acquired from various Gurus

(scriptural, role models, sacsatsangs ...) -- as said by Krishna

Prasad-ji.

 

If Jnana is not there, the temporary detachment brought out of

Bhakthi is not utilized to move forward and the sadhaka forever

remains a bhaktha. On the other hand sadhaka specializing on the

theories (science or vedanta) ie., just Jnana (guidance materials)

alone goes nowhere. He or she may end up being great writers,

preachers etc.,

 

Engineering bhakthi with jnana is the ultimate sadhana .....which

leads to a (evolves) real state of perennial detachment as envisaged

by Ramachandra-ji and nair-ji.

 

 

Pranams to all,

V.Srinivasan

[Guest guest]

Namaste Srinivasan-Ji.

 

I liked your way of presentation. I can see the scientist

impatiently thrusting his head.

 

Although I am sure you know it very well, with reference to the

concuding paragraph of your post, may I say that true jnAna and true

bhakti are the two sides of the same coin and go hand in hand? There

is, therefore, no external engineering required to bring them

together. The one is not without the other. They can be called

synonyms.

 

Pranams.

 

Madathil Nair

_______________

 

advaitin, "V.Srinivasan <test0001@u...>"

<test0001@u...> wrote:

> Engineering bhakthi with jnana is the ultimate sadhana .....which

> leads to a (evolves) real state of perennial detachment......

[Guest guest]

Namaskar,

"Without Bhakti there is no Jnana, Without Jnana Bhakti alone will not

help also. it should be balanced."

Why can there be no Jnana without Bakthi ? Or in the other case, bakthi without

Jnana which is fruitless ?

Let us take a person, who has never heard of God ( or one who does not like any

of the explanations ) and lives a perfect life of detachment. He sits and thinks

constantly about all this evolution and what his role is. He eventually finds

the answers by himself. Isn't that Jnana without Bakthi ? Can we not say that J.

Krishnamurti was a living example to this ?

Let us consider a second person who doesn't want to listen to any kind of

explanation on God , but loves the God he worships above all and nothing else.

He attains the supreme state this way. Isn't this possible ...bakthi without

Jnana ? In fact, I think this happens more often in our world among many

uneducated masses.

Om Tat Sat

Guru Venkat

 

Krishna Prasad <rkrishp99 wrote:Hari OM!,

 

Blessed Ones,

 

Your friends multiply, People will feel a sense of belongingness to

you, Since there is no attachment, and sincerely thinking that

everything is given by HIM! there will not be any difficulty in life.

 

All the people will feel that you are a part of them. It cannot be

explained it should be experienced! We all have in mind, that what

will "I" get if I live the life as prescribed by Sastras, if we live

that life only, we know that what are the benefits.

 

Finally this craving for the benefits also should be stopped....

Without Bhakti there is no Jnana, Without Jnana Bhakti alone will not

help also. it should be balanced.

 

With Love & OM!

 

Krishna Prasad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hari OM!

 

Blessed Guru Venkatji,

 

Bhakthi is the attitude of the mind, Jnana is the attitude of

Intellect both flow towards the Lord.

 

All spiritual disciplines are to help the mind for meditation,

 

For the Body there is Karma Yoga. ie You do your work with all

actions dedicated to the Lord.

 

For the emotional mind there is Bhakthi Yoga. ie You give love to the

Lord, and only HE can give the love in equal measure.

 

For the Intellect there is Jnana Yoga, ie You study and inquire into

the scriptual ideas, there is not even one question that the

intellect can ask that Advaita Vedanta cannot answer, it covers all

possiblities, Intellect is finally blasted beyond logical thinking!

 

In the path of Bhakthi, when you have the attitude "I surrender all

to HIM " the Lord comes down to You.

 

In the Path of Knowledge (Jnana) You attempt to reach the Lord with

the understanding that "I will do it myselfI'll go to HIM is the

attitude. But this coming up and going down is all the same. if You

are moving closer to the Lord, The Lord is coming relatively closer

to You.

 

There are two faces in the Bhakthi. One is Love and the other is

Knowledge. Not everybody will be having Both."Bhakthi with the right

knowledge is the Best one.

 

We need to know why we have Bhakthi towards GOD. We can have devotion

or Bhakthi towards GOD, just because we are suffering and all along

difficulties in life.

 

We can also have Bhakthi towards GOD because he is "SUPREME"

Omnipresent, Sarva Saktha, full of knowledge and Bliss etc...

 

Having Devotion with right knowledge of GOD is the Best one, and

having maximum results. The other devotion is blind devotion, blind

faith, It will not be a concrete one and may get disturbed at any

time. But still it will have some result.

 

With Love & OM!

 

Krishna Prasad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--- Guru Venkat <v_vedanti wrote:

>

> Namaskar,

> "Without Bhakti there is no Jnana, Without Jnana Bhakti alone will

> not

> help also. it should be balanced."

> Why can there be no Jnana without Bakthi ? Or in the other case,

> bakthi without Jnana which is fruitless ?

> Let us take a person, who has never heard of God ( or one who does

> not like any of the explanations ) and lives a perfect life of

> detachment. He sits and thinks constantly about all this evolution

> and what his role is. He eventually finds the answers by himself.

> Isn't that Jnana without Bakthi ? Can we not say that J.

> Krishnamurti was a living example to this ?

> Let us consider a second person who doesn't want to listen to any

> kind of explanation on God , but loves the God he worships above

> all and nothing else. He attains the supreme state this way. Isn't

> this possible ...bakthi without Jnana ? In fact, I think this

> happens more often in our world among many uneducated masses.

> Om Tat Sat

> Guru Venkat

>

> Krishna Prasad <rkrishp99 wrote:Hari OM!,

>

> Blessed Ones,

>

> Your friends multiply, People will feel a sense of belongingness to

> you, Since there is no attachment, and sincerely thinking that

> everything is given by HIM! there will not be any difficulty in

> life.

>

> All the people will feel that you are a part of them. It cannot be

> explained it should be experienced! We all have in mind, that what

> will "I" get if I live the life as prescribed by Sastras, if we

> live

> that life only, we know that what are the benefits.

>

> Finally this craving for the benefits also should be stopped....

> Without Bhakti there is no Jnana, Without Jnana Bhakti alone will

> not

> help also. it should be balanced.

>

> With Love & OM!

>

> Krishna Prasad

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

True jnAna is knowing that one is all. Since one really loves

onself, with such jnAna, one is spontaneously in love with all. That

love is true bhakti - seeing oneself in everything and being in love

with everything or, in other words, knowing that everything is the

Lord and one oneself is also the Lord - the love in which nothing is

expected in return. Then how can jnAna be apart from bhakti?

 

In the case of one who has not risen to the above level, there is

still relative jnAna. Let us take the case of primitive man. He

found himself helpless against the elements of nature and surmised

that there is a power above him. That was jnAna relative to his

state. From that jnAna, fear of God arose, which is bhakti relative

to his level of understanding. Here also, as at every level above,

upto realizing that one is all, it will be seen that knowledge and

bhakti are inseparable.

 

Pranams.

 

Madathil Nair

[Guest guest]

Namaste Everyone!

 

The celebration of Christmas is an expression of true love for others

and with true wisdom, we can recognize the unity in diversity. Any

Karma conducted with true bhakti and true wisdom transforms into

Karma Yoga - and such a Karma Yogi becomes the Sthitaprajna (person

with the Stable Mind). In other words, karma yoga is impossible

without true bhakti and true jnAnam.

 

The on going Gita Satsangh discussions of chapter 9 implicitly

describes the unity of Karma-Jnana-Bhakti beautifully. The Lord is

the SELF that includes every being in the universe and loving the

Lord implies loving everyone. The recogniztion of this TRUTH is jnAna

and our services to the Lord (to all being of the universe) becomes

our true expression of our Bhakti!

 

The classfication of Yoga as Karma, Bhakti and Jnana is an elementary

tool for early basic understanding and in appearance they look

different. With spiritual maturity, we will be able to recognize the

unity of these Yogas.

 

It is also important that the term 'yoga' in Gita is not a reference

to an exercise (physical or mental. Here is an explanation given by

Swami Dayananda Saraswati: "Yoga-sastra means karma-yoga-sastra which

includes all discipliens, values, religious rituals, prayers and son

on. Performing duties is Yoga. When it talks about karma to be done

with bhakti, it is all karma-yoga. When Gita talks about sannyasa

yoga, it is a reference to janana yoga. Because sannyasa is a means,

it is yoga. Sannyasa as an end is brahma-vidya."

 

In otherwords, Yoga-sastra is brahma-vidya and the rest of the Gita

Satsangh will be focusing on this subject matter.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair

<madathilnair>" <madathilnair> wrote:

> Namaste.

>

> True jnAna is knowing that one is all. Since one really loves

> onself, with such jnAna, one is spontaneously in love with all.

That

> love is true bhakti - seeing oneself in everything and being in

love

> with everything or, in other words, knowing that everything is the

> Lord and one oneself is also the Lord - the love in which nothing

is