Questioning in Sadhana, etc.

[Guest guest]

Subuji wrote:

The Lord said in the Gita: Tad viddhi pranipaatena pari prasnena

 

sevayaa…Endeavour to know (the Truth) by resorting to obeisance,

 

questioning and service. The Seers will bestow that Knowledge on

 

you. Now there are two types that questioning can take: 1.

 

Questioning with a view to understanding 2. Questioning with a view

 

to attacking. In the former, the aspirant asks questions to understand

 

correctly the teaching offered by the Acharya of his sampradaya.

 

There is the foregone Shraddha here that the Guru's words are true

 

and only my understanding of the words is what is lacking. When

 

questioning is done with this attitude, the compassionate Guru will

 

make the aspirant understand by even adopting a thousand methods.

 

But in the latter type, the questioning is done not with a view to

 

understanding the teaching but solely directed at questioning the very

 

wisdom of the Teacher. Evidently, this type will have absolutely no

 

Shraddha, namaskara buddhi and seva bhaava towards the

teacher, the teaching and the sampradaya. The place for these in

 

sadhana is to tell us that unless these essential elements are present,

 

the exalted teaching will never percolate into the being of the aspirant.

 

A case in point is the questioning of the Avasthaatraya viveka. An

 

aspirant may not be able to understand the method involved in the

 

viveka and might question to understand the same. But the

 

questioning of the very place of, the need for the avasthatraya viveka

 

and its plausibility in the teaching methodology is something

 

dangerous.

 

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Namaste All Advaitins,

There is a third sort of questioner which is not taken

account of namely the one that although not

having shraddha is seeking understanding of

the position on some point or other. Is it being

suggested that all explanations whatever require

shraddha? Hardly because no one of the members

is claiming to be an enlightened sage. So in fact their

explanations are no more than private opinions

as to the meaning of some point and contestable

for that reason. What they read with shraddha

leads to an understanding that reflects the level

of their developement. This understanding is

different because people are different. Are

we not here on this list as coach said 'to raise

one another's game'.

 

Observations in the spirit of rational

discourse welcome,

Best Wishes,

Michael.

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair"

<madathilnair wrote:

>

> Namaste Michaelji.

>

> I believe I am writing this in the spirit of rational discourse.

> > ___________________

>

>

> advaitin, ombhurbhuva <ombhurbhuva@> wrote:

> >

> >

> > There is a third sort of questioner which is not taken

> > account of namely the one that although not

> > having shraddha is seeking understanding of

> > the position on some point or other.

 

Namaste,

 

This is well-illustrated in the parable of Indra & Virochana

seeking answers from Prajapati (Chandogya Upanishad):

 

http://www.yogicpath.com/articlefiles/tradtexts/upanishads/Upa11Web.p

df

 

OR

 

http://tinyurl.com/8wt6s

 

AND http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/chhand/ch_4d.html

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder