Guest guest Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 {Note to the Moderators: This was posted by me last night and i do not find it on the Home Page. Hence, i am posting it again. If there is any repitition, kindly excuse me for the same. Thanks.} Srigurubhyo NamaH THE ROLE OF KARMA IN ATMAJNANA SAADHANA In the Vedanta, karma as an end in itself is denounced. It is only a person who has transcended the karma-created dharma, artha and kama goals that is fit to take up the sadhana for Moksha. This is because of the logical conclusion that effects generated out of karma are finite, not ever-lasting, and fraught with defects like admixture with pain. It is given only to the wise person who recognises these shortcomings of karma-generated fruits and musters the strength to grow beyond these comfort-seeking needs to become the eligible candidate for Jnana sadhana. For, only such a one can successfully undertake the sadhana for moksha with a tranquil mind. Conversely, a mind that clings to the creature comforts that the material world offers will find it impossible to yoke itself to the exercises involved in securing Atma Jnanam. The Veda purva kaanda, the portion dealing with karma, however, is not totally irrelevant for the seeker of Self-knowledge. The Brihardarnyaka Upanishad says: tametam vedAnuvachanena braAhmaNaa vividiShanti; yajnena dAnena tapasA anaashakena.(IV.iv.22) (That Esoteric wisdom is sought to be known by those seekers who have practised the veda-enjoined sacrifices, giving gifts and austerities like fasting) This means that these practices, when adopted with no material gain (of the here or the hereafter) in view, but with devotion as a matter of fulfilling a duty, will bring about the necessary conditions in the mental make-up of the person that are conducive to seeking Atman Knowledge. The Bhagavadgita (xviii.5) stresses the importance of these three: yajna, daana and tapas as purificatory practices. The Bhaamatii (1.1.1), an authoritative gloss on the Acharya's Brahmasutra bhashya, while discussing the role of karma in Atmajnana Saadhana, gives an eight-step process in which scripturally ordained duties bring about the necessary conditions for Self-Knowledge: 1.nityakarmAnuShThaanaat dharmotpAdaH - By practicing the obligatory duties ordained in the scriptures, dharma is generated. 'Dharma', though difficult to translate, means in this context, merit. It is the peculiar mental make-up containing favourable tendencies that are inimical to the unrefined (crude) tendencies that are present in the mind. 2.tataH pApmA nivartate – The greatest impediment to have even the inclination to seeking Self-knowledge is the presence of sinful tendencies in the mind. This is due to the practice of deliberately seeking pleasurable objects over several past births. As this tendency reigns strong, the person is led to seek only these and does not get the inclination to seek the Highest, Knowledge. By the generating of dharma in the manner of the first step, the paapam, sin, is eliminated to the extent that they no longer pose an impediment to seek Knowledge. There is a saying: 'dharmeNa paapam apanudati' = by dharma a person eradicates sin. 'sa hi anitya-ashuchi-duHkharUpe samsAre nitya-shuchi-sukha-khyAtilakShaNena viparyAsena chittasattvam malinayati – That, (the sinful tendencies), creates a distorted vision of looking upon the world that is by nature ephemeral, impure, miserable as eternal, pure and pleasurable. The mind-stuff of a person is rendered sullied by this distorted vision. 3..tataH pApanivRittau, pratyakShopapatti-pravRittidvaara-apAvaraNe sati, pratyakShopattibhyAm samsArasya anitya-ashuchi-duHkharUpatAm apratyUham avabuddhyate – What had prevented the person from having a correct (ephemeral, etc.) vision of the world is the sinful tendency of the mind. Now that such a mental set up has been cleansed by dharma, the door to have a clear vision of the world is opened. By pratyaksha, direct knowledge and upapatti, inference, he comes to see the world as ephemeral, impure and fraught with sorrow. What a sea change!! That is the power of dharma. That very same person who viewed the world as a source of unending pleasure now starts seeing the truth of the objective world. 4.tato'sya asmin anabhiratisamjnam vairAgyam upajAyate - Thereafter, in him, a dispassion characterised by absence of attachment to the worldly objects is generated. We can see how practice of scripturally-ordained duties with devotion, as karma yoga, brings about vairagyam, through dharma and eradication of sins and proper vision of the objective world. What started as ignorance and a problem of emotion, has now been tackled at the emotion-level of bhakti-coupled practice of karma and later at the level of the intellect, by acquiring the right understanding of the nature of the world. 5.tataH tajjihAsaa upaavartate – Then, upon the onset of dispassion, vairaagyam, he develops an attitude of deep distaste for the worldly objects, both here and hereafter. The VivekachUDaamaNi describes vairaagyam as 'distaste akin to one's attitude towards a crow's droppings. The word 'jihAsaa' is explained as 'hAtum icchA' that is 'an attitude of rejecting outright', finding them to be detestable. 6. tato haanopaayam paryeShate – Thereafter he seeks the means, upaaya, to give up the world. 7. paryeShamANashcha AtmatattvajnAnam asya upaayaH iti tat jijnAsate - This seeking of the means constitutes the understanding that 'gaining Self-knowledge is the means to 'give up the world'. Thus determining, he seeks to Know the True nature of the Atman, the Self. 8.tataH shravaNAdikrameNa tat jAnAti – Thereafter, he adopts the means of shravana, studying the scriptures for a length of time under the guidance of a qualified teacher with a view to determining their purport, manana, settling the doubts as to their purport by ratiocination and nididhyaasana, meditating intensely upon the intellectually understood truth with a view to gaining the actual Experience of the Truth. By going through this three-fold exercise, he Knows the Self. The Bhaamati concludes: iti ArAdupakArakatvam tattvajnAnotpAdam prati chitta-sattva-shuddhyA karmaNAm yuktam. Thus is established the role of karma as a mediate (indirect) cause to the gaining of Self-knowledge through effecting chittashuddi, mental purity. The Bhamatii quotes the Bhagavadgita verse: For the wise, who seeks to attain yoga of meditation, or the equanimity of mind, Karma-yoga is said to be the means. For the one who has attained yoga, the equanimity becomes the means of Self-realization. A person is said to have attained yogic perfection when he or she has no desire for sensual pleasures, or attachment to the fruits of work, and has renounced all personal selfish motives. (6.03-04). Note: The above was inspired by an article in Sanskrit entitled 'Chittasya shuddhaye karma' penned by VedabhAShyaratnam Vidwan R.Krishnamurti Sastrigal, Chennai. He was formerly the Principal of Sanskrit College, Chennai. Sri Sastrigal is a front-ranking scholar of Advaita Vedanta. Incidentally, our member Sri Vaidyanathan had posted a report of a discourse of Sri Sastrigal excerpted from The Hindu recently. The BhaamatI quotes were given with a view to enable the interested members to have the benefit of reading the original. Humble pranams to all seekers, subbu Om Tat Sat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 advaitin, "subrahmanian_v" <subrahmanian_v wrote: > > Srigurubhyo NamaH > > THE ROLE OF KARMA IN ATMAJNANA SAADHANA > > The BhaamatI quotes were given with a view to enable the interested > members to have the benefit of reading the original. Thank you, Subbu-ji. The transliterated text is available at: http://tinyurl.com/j4hru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 advaitin, "advaitins" <advaitins wrote: > > > Thank you, Subbu-ji. The transliterated text is available at: > > http://tinyurl.com/j4hru Namaste Sunder ji, Thank you for the above response. Some days ago you had provided me this following link which contains the BhaamatI transliteration. I avoided copying from it as it contains special fonts that would appear odd when posted on the List. http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gret_ree.htm#Vedanta Badarayana: Brahmasutra, with Vacaspatimisra's Bhamati [subcomm. on Samkara's Brahmasutrabhasya] (input by members of the Sansknet Project) Adhyaya 1 Adhyaya 2 Adhyaya 3 Adhyaya 4 File(s) in CSX | UTF-8 encoding For alternative version (without sutras) see s.v. Vacaspatimisra. Regards, subbu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 advaitin, "subrahmanian_v" <subrahmanian_v wrote: > this following link which contains the BhaamatI transliteration. I > avoided copying from it as it contains special fonts that would appear > odd when posted on the List. > > http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gret_ree.htm#Vedanta Namaste Subbu-ji, There are two font converter utilities (freeware) available, which could be tried : http://www.granthamandira.org/convertor.php http://www.sanskritweb.net/koko/index.htm Regards, Sunder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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