j~nAna and bhakti - kashcit dhIraH

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Gummuluru Murthy!

 

I read your erudite article carefully. And the story of

Nachiketas is undoubtedly one of the timeless stories of the

Upanishads.

 

Still, I wonder. Does this renunciation of the senses entail

asceticism? Or is there a gentle path, consisting more of sincere

surrender than harsh self-immolation?

 

I had a talk about this with Sri Ram during a Gita satsangh,

regarding a craving for cake (I am a lifelong sweet-tooth). He

seemed to say that the main point is not to let craving disturb the

mind. Eat a piece of cake when it is offered, and forget about it

the rest of the time! Seems like sensible advice to me.

 

At any rate, I do not think that renunciation of the senses

means being blind to the glory of God in the beauty of nature. I do

not think you mean this either! It's actually a rather subtle topic,

isn't it?

 

Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

On Fri, 16 May 2003, Benjamin Root wrote:

> [...]

>

> At any rate, I do not think that renunciation of the senses

> means being blind to the glory of God in the beauty of nature. I do

> not think you mean this either! It's actually a rather subtle topic,

> isn't it?

>

> Om!

> Benjamin

>

 

namaste

 

May be, I made it appear more complicated than what it should

be. I was trying to point out that investigation, jignAsa is

an essential part of our SELF-realization. In the first two

weeks of discussion, bhakti has been emphasized, not much being

said about the jignAsa, contemplative aspect. Upanishads and

shri shankara stress the contemplative aspect. I tried to use

the kaTha upanishad 2.i.1 to bring out that contemplative

aspect and to show that it is necessary to look inward

rather outward. I realize now that I might have done an

over-kill on that.

 

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

---