PLACE OF PRACTICE IN ADVAITA VEDANTA

[Guest guest]

Namaste, all

 

The following have been prescribed through five verses (“Sadhana Panchakam”), by

Adi Shankara Acharya as Spiritual Sadhana (Practice): (I hope there is no

controversy about the authorship of this small treatise). (From the Notes I have

kept):

 

Verse 1:

 

One should:

 

-study the Vedas daily.

 

-perform properly the duty (Karma) of daily and occasional nature as prescribed

by the Vedas.

 

-Through such performance of Karma, worship the Lord.

 

-renounce the thoughts in the matter of desire prompted activities.

 

-shake away, (one should free oneself from) the hoards of sins (in the bosom),

 

-examine in the worldly pleasure and find defects in them,

 

-develop the desire (to seek the ) for Self.

 

-go away from one’s house quickly, i.e. as quickly as possible.

 

Verse 2:

 

One should:

 

-have the company of pious men (satsang),

 

-practice firm devotion to the Lord,

 

-practice calmness (of the mind) etc.

 

-give up thoroughly desire prompted action as quickly as possible,

 

-approach a pious learned man, who is established in Brahman,

 

-serve his sandals, i.e. one should serve him.

 

-repeat continuously the one letter word “OM” representing Brahman,

 

-listen attentively to the main teachings of the Sruti, i.e. the Upanishads,

such as “Though Art That”

 

Verse 3:

 

One should:

 

-reflect upon the import of the Unanishadic statements such as “Thou Art That”

 

-take refuge or resort to firmly, in the views of the Upanishads,

 

-keep away or not indulge in perverse arguments (useless discussions),

 

-follow the logic (tarka) as accepted by the Vedas,

 

-consider firmly in his mind that “I am Brahman” again and again,

 

-give up pride,

 

-drop the notion of “I” in the body,

 

-avoid arguments with wise men,

 

Verse 4:

 

One should:

 

-get cured the disease called hunger, by taking the food as medicine in the form

of alms daily,

 

-should not beg for rather desire for delicious food,

 

-be content with whatever is got as ordained by the Lord,

 

-endure cold and heat etc. i.e. the pairs of opposites,

 

-should not utter wasteful talks,

 

-practice/desire indifference,

 

-avoid carefully people’s kindness (friendship) as well as cruelty.

 

Verse 5:

 

-sit happily in solitude,

 

-concentrate the mind on the supreme Lord,

 

-realize the all-pervading self,

 

-should, thus, see this world as falsified in that (vision of the Self)

 

-should conquer the deeds of the past,

 

-should not, through wisdom, cling to future actions,

 

-should exhaust the fruits of past actions (Prarabdha) here

 

-should abide, remain, as the Supreme Braham Itself.

 

Hari Om

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Since we still seem to be a bit short on practical examples (and I haven't

been much help here!), I thought I would share the following beautiful story

with you. It was posted to the Philist back in 1996 so there are bound to be

some who have never seen it. I tried to track the author but found no

references. If anyone knows who he is, please let me know and I'll ask him

if I can put the story up on my website. (If not, I might do it anyway and

hope for someone else to tell me who he is.) It is an example of karma yoga

in action.

 

*****

It had been raining for the entire week we'd been in Auroville - located on

the southeastern coast of India. This wouldn't have been so bad - despite

the gray patina of mold covering my canvas shaving kit - if my rain gear

were not locked in the rear center box on my bike, the key to which was lost

with my fanny pack a week earlier. I very much wanted to explore the area,

but each morning I faced the same dilemma: I could take my bike in search of

a locksmith, but then I'd be riding in the rain - which I hate - without

rain gear - which is worse. So I spent each day huddling under blankets in

my cottage room at New Creation settlement, reading philosophy books

borrowed from Ravi.

 

One morning I woke up with a great idea. I went out to the bike - which was

parked under an overhang out of the rain - and unbolted the box from the

frame. I carried the box and an umbrella around the settlement, asking if

anyone knew a good locksmith. No one knew of one anywhere in Auroville, but

several people said there was one in the open market in Pondicherry, a few

kilometers south.

 

I went by taxi from New Creation into Pondicherry, and just to confirm, I

asked the driver, "Locksmith? Pondi?" After repeating these words several

times with different emphasis - communication in India often feels like

opening a combination lock with only some of the numbers - the driver

replied, "Pondilocksmith?"

 

"Yes yes!" I answered.

 

"Main market you will find." That settled it. We drove in silence and parked

near the market. The driver escorted me barefoot in the drizzle through

winding alleys past small stalls selling fruit, flower garlands, pots &

pans, raw meat, cosmetics, neat conical piles of colorful ground spices -

everything you could possible want - for who would be so foolish as to want

what is not available in the main market?

 

I kept my eye out for a sign saying "Locksmith" - which I assumed would be

hanging above one of the larger stalls, given the number of people who knew

of the establishment. When the driver stopped and stood before a wet,

bedraggled beggar sitting in the mud beneath a leaky three-foot square of

thatch, I assumed he was pausing to offer a few paisa and accumulate a

little merit. He just kept standing there however. I looked at him, and he

nodded his head towards the beggar. Does he want me to give a few paisa? I

looked down at the beggar - and did a doubletake as I realized that the

filthy debris surrounding him was actually a set of rusty, mud-covered

tools - and locks of every description: padlocks, bicycle locks, door

locks - all as wet and rusty as the tools. The can I thought was his begging

bowl was filled with rusty keys, not coins, and a tiny rivulet of water was

falling from the thatch directly into the can, and out through a hole in the

side.

 

The locksmith's hands were a blur, hammering on a bicycle lock, flipping it

this way and that - then oiling, screwing, testing - and abruptly handing it

to a man standing over him, who quickly handed him a coin and slippedback

into the crowd with his lock, good as new. I realized that several of the

people I thought were just milling around were actually queued up for

service, locks in hand; some were quite wet and had apparently been standing

there awhile.

 

My driver leaned over and mumbled something in the locksmith's ear. The

locksmith looked at me with cool, rheumy eyes, water dripping off his

short-cropped gray-black hair onto his dark sunken cheeks. I knew he didn't

speak any English, so I just handed him my bike box, which he set on the

ground in front of him with the lock pointed up. He stared at it carefully,

like he had never seen one before. "Swell," I thought, and glanced at the

crowd - the queue I had just bypassed completely. Everyone was staring at

the locksmith like he was a chess master about to begin a game.

 

The locksmith leaned over his can of keys - redirecting the rivulet of water

down his naked neck - and began rooting through it. I briefly considered

trying to convey to him that this box was an expensive motorcycle accessory,

and that there was no chance that any of his rusty old keys would fit, but I

decided it was less trouble to just let him fail. With a hint of a smile, he

pulled out a key, but sure enough it didn't fit at all. He immediately began

hammering on the key - both sides in order to flatten it. I noticed that

what I had thought was a muddy rock in front of him was actually an anvil.

He tried the key again and this time it went in a little, but the whole

approach was so half-assed that again I felt the urge to interrupt, to take

my box and leave right then, lest he damage the lock. Before I could,

however, the locksmith pulled out a chisel and began hammering a straight

groove the length of one side of the key. It took just a few seconds, and

this time to my great surprise when he tried the key it went all the way

into the lock smoothly, though it refused to turn. He removed the key again

and leaned close to the lock, staring deeply into the keyhole for several

seconds with one eye.

 

He looked up suddenly and barked a command in Tamil at a boy standing quite

close. The boy jumped back and I realized he'd been blocking the man's

light. The locksmith peered into the keyhole again for several seconds, then

took the key and placed it in a rusty vise off to his right - which I hadn't

even noticed before. He ran his left thumb along the edge of the key until

he came to some invisible point, where he then made a notch with a wet,

rusty file. He slid his thumb to another point and made a second notch. Then

he pulled the key from the vise, slipped it into the lock, turned it and

opened my box.

 

The locksmith looked at me coolly, with no hint of smugness - though he must

have sensed my earlier doubts. I was in shock. I kept shaking my head,

saying, "I don't believe it." What I had witnessed was such high-level

mastery of a craft that it seemed like a miracle - all the more so for

having occurred in the mud right in front of me. I'd seen things before that

I couldn't explain - the way Crazy George heated that boulder with only his

hands for instance [uPCOMING DISPATCH] - but this was more impressive. The

locksmith had cultivated his enormous talent not to impress people, but to

help them - and this impressed me most of all.

 

As I stared into his eyes, I heard myself saying "thank-you" over and over.

My gratitude wasn't about the box or the rain gear - both of which I could

have replaced without even feeling it financially - but for a gift much more

subtle and profound. Staring at the man I first thought a beggar, sitting

half-naked in the mud, I now saw a light burning in his eyes - and smiled as

I realized what he was - an arahat of locks, polishing his soul by

perfecting his craft, and performing karma yoga - the yoga of service to

others. As I gushed my gratitude, a slight smile appeared on his face. It

was not pride - this man was beyond the need for praise - but pleasure that

he had solved my problem.

 

The driver leaned over and said, "Now you pay him 10 rupees." I wanted to

pay much more, but had to be careful not to insult him - as if this were

just a job to him! - so I set a 10-rupee note and a 2-rupee coin on his

anvil, took my box and backed away from him - considered the respectful way

to withdraw from the presence of a master. The locksmith scooped the money

into a hidden fold of his dhoti, nodded once in my direction, then turned

immediately to the next customer in line, who handed him a fat, black

padlock.

 

As I worked my way back through the narrow, winding aisles of the market,

clutching my box to my chest, I had only to glance at the key in the lock,

glistening with raindrops, to remember that anything is possible with

practice and faith.

 

Lou Hawthorne, 1996 , All Rights

Reserved -

-------

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Dennis Waite" <dwaite@a...> wrote:

> I tried to track the author but found no

> references. If anyone knows who he is, please let me know and I'll

ask him

> if I can put the story up on my website.

 

Namaste Dennis,

 

http://www.hellsbuddhas.com/Pages/HBWeb.D.112596.html

 

Writer/Producer/Director - Lou Hawthorne

"God's Own Locksmith"

by Lou Hawthorne

11/25/96

 

http://www.hellsbuddhas.com/Pages/HBWeb.LH.html

 

Hell's Buddhas Overview

 

 

Every now and then an event comes along that is so interesting, so

unusual, so weird that it immediately engages the imagination and

stimulates the desire to know more. Such an event occured between July

and December of 1996 - and will happen again in 1999 - when an

international, primarily thirty-something group of spiritual pilgrims

joined together for a five-month circumnavigation of the Indian

Continent, riding nothing but classic motorcycles, for the stated

purpose of "promoting peace, communal harmony, love and understanding."

[Guest guest]

Great story, Dennis!

 

Here's an impractical idea: go to the back of the queue. All the

author's literary sensitivity, and he didn't think of the wet, tired

people entitled to service!

 

I guess that my reaction falls under the earlier reference to being

intolerant of intolerance or something of that ilk.

 

But, really, the story was beautiful, and I'll share it with others--but

without my addendum.

 

Bob

 

Dennis Waite wrote:

 

I realized that several of the

> people I thought were just milling around were actually queued up for

> service, locks in hand; some were quite wet and had apparently been standing

> there awhile.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the reference Sunderji - should have known that all I had to do

was ask you!

 

Yes, Bob, I too noticed that insensitivity to the others in the queue but

then I suppose the point of the story was the spiritual practice of the

locksmith rather than the lack of consideration of the writer. I forgave him

that for his service in telling us about it!

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

> and , Nair-ji , is this paro-dharma ( the greatest good of the

> greatest number ) not the eternal Dharma?

>

> You are right, we NEED not travel all the way to ETHIOPIA to help the

> famine stricken victims there or go to Hurricane hit Florida to help

> with the relief efforts there etc .... but does not our conscience

> tell us that we can help the less-fortunate all over the Globe

> sitting right where we are by arousing 'collective consciousness'?

> Prayer certainly helps, no doubt! But, i am talking about 'higher'

> things.... "paropakaram idham shariram" - this body is meant for the

> service of others! Jana seva -Janardhana seva -SERVING THE PEOPLE IS

> SERVING THE LORD? where does "Adwaita" fit in this scheme of things?

>

> In his address at the Rameswaram Temple on "Real Worship", Swami

> Vivekananda, on his return from the West in 1897, rightly exhorted

 

Namaste Adishakthiji and All

My understanding on this subject that has vexed me ( why am i not into

social service and taking care of the world's problems or atleast

problems nearer home). Hence this desire to share my thoughts.

The understanding I get from my readings - Sri Ramakrishna Parahmasa

would say perhaps , to serve the world you need commandment -it is not

easy. If one becomes a fit equipment for the play of divine force

then taking care of needy, addressing the world's problem etc. can

happen. Preparatory for that would be Sadhana - which will also

involve selfless service in whatever scale one can do currently?

 

Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi would probably ask me to find out who I am.

Know yourself first and then you can think of helping the world.

Possibly, as the BMI equipment becomes purer with disengagement from

the wrong identification,divinity may decide to put it to use in the

fields of seva for all of humanity and so on.

Many namaskarams to all

Sridhar

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sridhar-ji!

 

You write ...

 

( Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi would probably ask me to find out who I am.

Know yourself first and then you can think of helping the world.

Possibly, as the BMI equipment becomes purer with disengagement from

the wrong identification,divinity may decide to put it to use in the

fields of seva for all of humanity and so on. )

 

Sir, please allow me to share what our beloved Shri Ramana Bhgwan

himself says on Nishkamya Karma yoga ...

 

 

" Till you reach the state of jnana and thus wake out of this maya,

you must do social service by relieving suffering whenever you see

it. But even then you must do it, as we are told, without ahamkara,

i.e., without the sense "I am the doer," but feeling. "I am the

Lord's tool." Similarly one must not be conceited, "I am helping a

man below me. He needs help. I am in a position to help. I am

superior and he inferior." But you must help the man as a means of

worshipping God in that man. All such service too is for the Self,

not for anybody else. You are not helping anybody else, but only

yourself "

 

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi - from 'Day by Day with Bhagavan'

 

Sir, have you heard Of Thiruvannamalai charities - They run many

charitable hospitals , schools for the poor , etc...etc...

 

Ponder on this Religion of Gandhi-ji

 

"My creed is service of God and therefore of humanity. "

 

Love and regards

[Guest guest]

respected advaitins,

this locksmith will be born in

the next janma , with his consciousness set at one of

the higher chakras, , much higher than those who are

now born at very high" levels".

a.v.krshnan.

 

 

 

=== message truncated ===

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste Dennisji:

 

The story that you posted recently was indeed beautiful and I wanted

to reply back but couldn't get time to do it. Sorry for a delayed

reply.

 

It was a well-documented account of the contrasting attitudes of a

spiritual person (locksmith) and a materialistic person with

spiritual aspirations. The locksmith (yogi) cared less on his

materialistic possessions and focused more on selfless service to the

people around him. It seems that the locksmith derived happiness by

making everyone around him peaceful and happy! In other words he

demonstrates that those who reveal their `true human nature don't pay

attention to how others judge them.

 

In contrast, the writer judges the people and surroundings of

Auroville by using an inapplicable yardstick. I am not surprised to

see his insensitivity to others in the queue. Just like you, I am

willing to overlook his insensitivity to others in the queue but I am

very puzzled by his hasty comments on the workmanship of the

locksmith!

 

In the end, it seems that the writer gets a momentary glimpse of

enlightenment through the shining eyes of the locksmith. I believe

that the two weeks stay at Auroville did lots of good to Lou

Hawthrone. Probably, he felt ashamed and wanted to educate others on

the importance of the practice of Karma Yoga for spiritual awakening

through this article.

 

I follow your footsteps and forgive him for his service in telling

us about it! Also through this article, he has made a confession and

consequently deserves forgiveness!!

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

 

advaitin, "Dennis Waite" <dwaite@a...> wrote:

> Yes, Bob, I too noticed that insensitivity to the others in the

queue but

> then I suppose the point of the story was the spiritual practice of

the

> locksmith rather than the lack of consideration of the writer. I

forgave him

> that for his service in telling us about it!

>

> Best wishes,

>

> Dennis