Greetings

[Guest guest]

namaste everyone,

 

the real and unreal have given way to practice finally and i do see

quite some enthusiasm here (i just got some time to glance at some

messages) although i did not hv enough time to go thru the first post

on this (btw, was it by greg? good topic chosen) i'll make just a

passing comment on the topic.

 

practice is not any particular action. there is a counterarguement

asking if it is inaction then..... but it cannot be classified as that

either. one has to "do" it to know what it is. it is as confounding as

brahman is.

 

as sankara put it - sadhana, sadhya and the sadhaka are not different.

hence the practice in itself is verily brahman.

 

the term 'practice' refers more to AcharaNa than to karma. the

AcharaNa is born out of right cognition of the self - this is practice!

 

as far as bhakti is concerned, i fail to understand, how ppl say it is

different from jnana? bhakti without jnana is blind faith and jnana

cannot arise without bhakti. if u ask how, i hope everyone knows the

three pillars of bhakti (shraddhA, anucharaNA and maitrI). and all

those on the path of jnana shud be reminded of the four heads of

brahma (ananta maitrI, ananta muditA, ananta karuNA and ananta

upekShA) - the marks of a jnana yogi. if one knows them well, how will

he see the distinction?

 

when radhika told uddhava "prem hi ISvar hai, prem hi vidya. prem hi

gItA saar hai.", uddhava was puzzled as to what gItA was!!! he

realized, he had gone back to avidya since he had the ego of a being a

jnani. it was the moment of truth for uddhava, who instantly became

enlightened. amusing - the lord sent uddhava to drive some sense into

the gopikas, who ended up driving sense into uddhava!

 

(pls don't ask me the source - i think the bhAgavatam has it, but i

read it in some hindi text book, when i was a schoolboy)

 

btw, while my predisposition is towards jnana, i hv always enjoyed the

nectar of bhakti, and continue to do so.

 

-Balaji

 

PS: i'm back to India. i'm sorry dadiji, i got no time to c emails

while in dallas. so i cudn't call u. i wud hv loved to talk to u. next

time i come that way, i'll surely get in touch.

 

Note for group: I'll be very busy even now. But may write during

weekends.