Guest guest Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Namasthe rajendranji I cannot imagine a disciple literally sitting next to a Guru... oh! my god! no!. The body should follow the norms of tradition and sit respectfully in front and benefit from the munificent ( the 'muni' in munificient is interesting) gaze of the guru. I believe encouraging 'Upasana' means encouraging to 'sit near' in mental terms or in terms of seeking to get the perspective from Guru's point as he sees everything. Your reference to Dakshinamurthy provokes another thought. I used to forever agonise about which direction I should face while saying prayers, sleeping etc ( was typically told to avoid north). Now North and South are fine with me as the former was favored by Dakshinamurthi's disciples and the latter by Dakshinamurthi. East and West are fine in terms of what we are told to do traditionally. Ipso Facto all directions are fine for any good purpose. The reality debate is a tough one to follow at many points. confirms my view that there are points when logic and reasoning should yield and attempts should be strengthened aiming at the experience of unity through Sadhana. One was slightly disturbed to note the occasional tendency with some to choose some as favorites and find fault obliquely with others in this satsangh - hope it'll all change or drop with the light of knowledge shining through more and more. Let me stop quickly before my rambling gets the better of me. Many namaskarams to all Sridhar advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair" <madathilnair> wrote: > > Namaste Sridharji. > In fact, we have been unpardonably forgetting values these last few > days and chasing Reality not reaching anywhere at all! > > Yet, I would love to know how you would relate Swamiji's explanation > with the classic vision of Lord DakshiNAmUrthy facing south and His > disciples sitting facing Him on the north. > > PraNAms. > > Madathil Nair > _________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Namaste Sridharji: There is a relating story about the saint poet Avvayar regarding direction. Once Avvayar was lyind down sleeping inside the temple and her legs were facing the altar. A devotee at the temple was rather angry and shouted at the saint for keeping the legs in front of the deity. Avvayar with smiles told the devotee that the Lord is in all the directions (beyond space and time) and see Him in every direction all the time. Can you tell me which direction that the Lord is not present? The devotee felt ashamed and fell on her feet for her forgiveness. This story certainly supports all directions are good for any purpose. Last year, I was checking with the temple priest on the suitability of conducting my son's marriage on a Saturday. The temple priest jokingly replied saying that all "holidays" are "holy days!" He was quite right that we have to accomodate the conveniences of all those who want to attend the marriage and Saturday/Sunday is more preferable than a weekday. In otherwords, everything is in our mind and we allow our mind to get agitated by bringing irrelevant customs and traditions that are not applicable for modern day living conditions. The Tamil Grammarian beautifully states that "There can be no errors if we get rid of old grammarian rules and replacing them with new rules - Pazhayana Kazhithalum pudyiana pukuthalam Vazhuvizhai." In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna gives the transitory nature of our life (the experience of the birth and death of our body) in verse 19 of chapter 2. Spiritual seekers should be very flexible in their understanding of "directions, rules, laws" and they should adopt to all such changes by 'changing themselves.' Last year Sri Swami Pratyagbodhananda in a discourse observed that mental agitation is mostly due to our resistance to face the reality or facts of life! He is absolutely right, and if we contemplate on the "Truth behind his observation," we will be able to recognize that we are the creator of our own agitation! Most of the time instead, we try to accuse others (wife, children, friends, foes, etc.) for our agitations! Warmest regards, Ram Chandran advaitin, "asridhar19" <asridhar19> wrote: > > > Your reference to Dakshinamurthy provokes another thought. > I used to forever agonise about which direction I should face while > saying prayers, sleeping etc ( was typically told to avoid north). > Now North and South are fine with me as the former was favored by > Dakshinamurthi's disciples and the latter by Dakshinamurthi. East and > West are fine in terms of what we are told to do traditionally. Ipso > Facto all directions are fine for any good purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Sri Ram-ji! Of late your posts are full of neat little anecdotes and quaint stories and i am enjoying your sense of humor as well ! specially that joke anout 'non- brahmans' ( NAAN BRAHMANS ) smiles! Naan yaar ? is shri Ramana's stock phrase in his ATMA VICHAARA - direct enquiry method. Naan Brahman- I AM BRAHMAN- I liked your referencing the Avvaiyaar story . Dr.YADU-JI may be able to tell a similar sTory from Saint Namadeva's life. Dr. Yadu-ji, you seem to be quite an expert on upanishads and vedas .. i wish i were in Orlando to attend your sri suktham lecture!!! but, call it superstition or what - i remember my grandma telling us not to ever sleep facing the 'southward' direction- she always told us that south is the direction of Yama - the lord of death! and i do not recall but in Mahabharata when Bhisma pitamaha was ready to die he asked Arjuna to prepare a bed of arrows and lied down facing south!!! please, correct me , i may be wrong! Sri Ram-ji, believe it or not , in recent times , VAASTU SHASTRA has become very popular in India and many people are remodelling their homes based on Vaatu Shastra... in fact, my sister-in-law herself spent lakhs of rupees remodelling her house on the advice of a vaastu shastra expert!! He told her that many of the problems in her house was due to the fact that the Kitchen was facing the wrong direction!!! to read about the 'directions' and their importance, go to http://www.urday.com/vaastu.htm - 27k - Cached on another note, Lord Dakshinamurthy is depicted as sitting under the Banyan tree facing South- South is the direction of Yama, lord of death - it is believed Lord Dakshinamurthy removes the fear of Death- i am sure there is the metaphysical meaning- the fear of ego death!!! the worst fear a man has is losing his 'ego' !!! anyway, i am glad you shared about your experiences regarding your son's marriage- right now, we are faced with so many decisions- regarding my daughter's wedding- whether to follow the North INdian customs or our south indian customs .... etc... my head is spinning... i will settle for any bliss , believe me , at this point!!! love and regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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