Advaitic Living

October 21, 2006

Namaste all

Ravi-ji, Your question whether Vedanta and particularly advaita with its

concepts of nirguna brahman and mAyA are relevant to our daily living,

is a legitimate question. I supplement Shyam-ji's and Subbuji's

wonderful answers below with my own understanding of the Gita.

Of course I am mostly borrowing my own writing from my book on "Live

Happily the Gita Way, an advaitic approach". And I am sure I must have

written these ideas on this list more than once, though I am not able to

pinpoint the exact post.

The most important foundational concept of the Gita is Equanimity.

Equanimity with respect to what happens to you and equanimity with

respect to the objects and beings in the Universe around you.

The second important foundational concept of the Gita is the transience

of everything. The technical way of saying this is everything is mAyA.

These two concepts are the factors which, according to the Gita, impinge

on our daily living. The answer is 'Advaitic Living'. What is advaitic

living? That is the Gita.

One way of looking at it quickly is to concentrate on one of the key

shlokas, namely Shloka 27 of chapter 9.

The shloka number 27 is a key shloka. It is a spiritual recipe for daily

living, that includes the secular living also. In fact the shloka

contains the essence of the entire Gita. My monumental example of why

this is so is my father whom I observed for around 25 years(1931-1956)

of my life and saw him live this advaitic living right before my eyes:

"Whatever you do, whatever you consume or experience, whatever you offer

to deities (through Fire or otherwise), whatever you give away or

renounce, whatever you perform (with or without an end in view) -- do

all this in dedication to Me" - says the Lord.

I have said elsewhere that Shloka No.55 of Ch. 11 contains, as per the

commentary of Sankara himself, the essence of the entire Gita. We shall

see below the parallelism of the two shlokas.

Shloka No.55 of 11th chapter says: " Be engaged in actions dedicated to

Me, Have Me as your ultimate goal, Devote your whole to Me, Avoid all

attachment, Develop an attitude of 'No Hate' to any being - He (who

behaves this way) will reach Me".

WHATEVER YOU DO, - 'yat karoShi' - DO IT IN DEDICATION TO HIM. In other

words all your engagement in actions must be in dedication to Him. This

is karma yoga. 'I am not the doer' is the ideal attitude to which we

should move gradually and steadily by doing every action as a 'yajna' in

dedication.

WHATEVER YOU CONSUME OR EXPERIENCE, - 'yad-ashnAsi' - DEDICATE IT TO

HIM. In other words there is nothing that you experience for yourself.

Whether it is joy or sorrow, whether you enjoy or suffer, it is all His.

It is not only His will but also His experience, not yours, because He

is in you and there is nothing else in you. This is the meaning of being

devoted wholly to Him and still living a life. This is the life of

bhakti. 'yad ashnAsi, tat kuruShva mad-arpaNaM' (shloka 9-27) therefore

is what 'mad-bhaktaH' of 11-55 means. This is bhakti yoga; and more, it

is advaita-bhakti. This is what leads us on to the 'I am not the

experiencer'-attitude, the attitude of an ideal advaitin.

WHATEVER YOU OFFER TO DEITIES - 'yaj-juhoShi' - THROUGH FIRE OR

OTHERWISE, DEDICATE IT TO HIM. This implies, there is no other object

for your worship, reverence or care. He is the goal; He is the refuge.

That is what the Lord says by the words 'mat-paramaH' in Shloka 11-55.

This is the Surrender theory of the Gita.

WHATEVER YOU PERFORM - 'yat tapasyasi' - WITH OR WITHOUT AN END IN

VIEW, DEDICATE IT TO HIM. This performance is tapas; meaning, enduring

the 'shrama' (effort or 'pain') while performing. Doing something for

the sake of some noble cause or someone whom you revere, is tapas. Even

ordinary acts of a difficult daily commuting is also a tapas, if you

adopt the attitude of dedication to the cause that motivates you to

undertake the journey. All this has to be dedicated to Him, because if

you have no end in view, that is already a dedication, and if you have

an end in view, dedication to Him means you are not attached to that end

in view. Thus the whole process is a sAdhanA (practice) for detachment.

This is the 'sanga-varjitaH' of Shloka 11-55. This is the yoga-sAdhanA

or the control of the senses. That is surely one of the five major

teachings of the Gita.

WHATEVER YOU GIVE AWAY OR RENOUNCE, - 'yad-dadAsi' - DEDICATE IT AS

WELL AS THE ACTION, TO HIM. Because nothing belongs to you, really.

Everything belongs to Him. Even when you are giving or renouncing, you

are renouncing what you think you have, but in reality you do not have.

Nothing belongs to you or to anybody. This is the combination of the

fundamental idea of equanimity and also of the idea that everything is

transient, i.e., mAyA. Therefore there is no reason to bear even an iota

of ill-will to anybody, even when you feel, in the worldly sense, that

the other person is possessing what you think must be, or should have

been, in your possession. Love every one; and more importantly, hate

no one. This is the attitude of equanimity - 'samadR^iShTi' - that is

the hallmark-teaching of the Gita. It requires you to renounce every

feeling of ill-will. The Lord describes it in Shloka 11-55 as

'nirvairas-sarva-bhUteShu'. This equanimity is also mentioned

repeatedly in the Gita as 'brahma-bhAva' or 'brahma-samsparshaM', the

attitude of seeing everything and every one as brahman, the Supreme.

Thus all the five major teachings of the Gita, and these are the five

components of advaitic living. namely, (i) doing one's actions in

dedication to God and developing the 'na aham kartA'-attitude, (ii)

advaita-bhakti, that concurrently develops the

'na-aham-bhoktA'-attitude, (iii) the surrender of even one's will to

God, (iv) control of the senses through a discipline of dispassion and

(v) brahma-bhAva or the attitude of seeing Him in everything and

everything in Him -- all these, are contained in this single shloka,

shloka No.27 of Chapter 9 as also in the single shloka, shloka No.55 of

Chapter 11.

Just by carefully translating all these five to our daily living, as

explained above, we would be marching on the path of advaitic living.

And as I told you, I saw my father do it. "na anyaH panthA ayanAya

vidyate" -- There is no other path for salvation!

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

October 22, 2006

Thank you shyamji, subbuji and profvkji for your kind

replies,

I will be reading what you have to say few times

slowly till the gist seeps in.

shyamji,

The gain in perspective is true. It does seem to never

disappoint in support, even if one were to put it

aside now and then. So in that sense there seems to be

a certain destiny, even in soo a small way, to know,

even if it is little, even it is just dry knowledge.

But, on the other hand, the perspective seems

primarily of

- mere collation of dry knowledge than experience of

it,

- the knowledge being of external nature and not of

internal introspection,

- where even observation of existence of life and

nature should evoke wonder or questioning and no

longer doesnt

- because the habit of inquiry has been replaced by

passive hoarding of knowledge

Sadhana then seems to be a dry intellectual exercise

however sincere the attempts might be. How does one

start to resuscitate the habit of true introspecion

and reflection or if need be, cultivate it anew?

It seems to me that Jnana is more than knowledge.

There is something that is missing in the equation.

Maybe it is as subuji and profvkji say, maybe it is

egoloess arpana.

I am interested in learning the difference. Learning

the difference seems to be important to get the right

perspective, leading one to become disinterested

vis-a-vis becoming detached.

In yoga vashista or in ashtavakra gita, the audience

is of the illustrious nature of Sri Rama and King

Janaka. Can one find in the texts where the audience

is not so illustrious and already advanced in the

abidance in the self? Arjuna may be Nara and not be

maybe of the same calibre but he is no ordinary mortal

either. Blessed with profound faith in and with the

companionship of Krishna, a mind capable of single

minded concentration as his archery legends prove ..

So I see a danger of becoming disinterested but not

necessarily detached. It seems to me that being

disinterested is still action while detached is of the

nature of inaction; hasnt it been said, a person who

idles and apparently in inaction is full of action

while a rishi even in the midst of action is of the

nature of detachment and hence inaction.

In BGita, Sri Krishna does say that man does not

become actionless by abstaining from activity nor does

he rise to perfection by outwardly renunciation nor

can anyone remain actionless even for a moment.

subbuji and profvkji,

Your mails are full of inspiration. Though simplicity

itself, samarpana to the One, demands egoless

surrender which to put it mildly is hard.

I have noticed several times, knowledge which was

silent before, suddenly becomes pertinent and

revealing. It would seem as if one were moving in

circles most of the time. The knowledge is constant

but probably the seeker was not qualified enough.

Pranams,

Ravi

________

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October 23, 2006

Pranams Veena-ji

Thank you for your kind words.

Thanks to Subbu-ji and Prof-ji as well.

My pranams to my Guru Sw.Paramarthananda-ji whose

words I try to reflect upon to the best of my limited

capacity.

My thanks to Ravi-ji for starting this thread, and I

am hopeful more experienced and learned members, in

this group, in addition to Subbuji and Prof-ji, pick

up on this thread.

I am very happy to see an example in you of someone

trying to "live the Gita" and my pranams to you for

this commendable effort - this after all is the most

difficult part and also the most important. Blesses

and rare indeed are those whose committment to the

cause finds expression in the way they lead their

everyday lives.

Respected Murthy-ji has raised the issue of what is

"advaitic living" and Ravi-ji has already followedup

with a wonderful post, and I shall try to address them

in another post, hopefully soon.

In this post I would like to share my understanding on

your question -

_______________________

--- Veena Nair <nairvee > wrote:

I understand that the goal of life is to achieve that

oneness with God and only then will this 'perrennial

source of unease' be calmed. But the first part, that

Vedanta gives us a perspective of our place in the

world-- does that mean that when I arrive at the

conclusion that knowing God is the aim of my life

and I need to do everything possible in that

direction, then I have found my place in the world? So

then a measure of the value of my actions is how much

closer to or further away an action takes me from that

goal. Would that be a right perspective for an

advaithic living? Would you suggest some other sloka

which might throw more light on this aspect?I'll be

very grateful.

_

Your comments are valid.

Identifying Ishwara as my Supreme Goal is the key

words of your comments.

Vedantic study helps me find my place in the world in

a three ways.

First of all, wherever I am today, and whatever I have

today, is exactly as it should have been. Why? Because

Ishwara's laws are perfect, Her srshti is perfect. So

my diffuclties, my handicaps, the issues i have to

endure, the relationships I have to fulfill, - all of

these are just the way they were meant to be - it is

not someone else's fault - it is Ishwara's gift to me

in the form of the fruit of my own actions - it is

Ishwara prasada. And what do we do with the prasada in

the temple - we touch it to our eyes - why? because my

eyes are what are most sacred to me and this prasada

is as sacred to me as well. Thus I embrace my lot in

life, not with any frustration, not with reluctance,

not with fatalistically, but with a pleasant cheerful

attitude. I become a noncomplaining person. A

prasadabuddhi leads to a prashanatachittam. And a

pleasant cheerful noncondemning mind is both a result

of vedanta as well as a must for further development

in vedanta. That Vedantic study is an impossibility

without a cheerful attitude has been stressed time and

again by Bhagwan Shankara. And this attitude can only

come when I completely accept my place in the world,

my lot, as being Her precious gift to me.

The second way i understand my place in the world is

as Her instrument, Her servant, Her son or daughter.

Whatever I do, is for Her sake alone. Srshti requires

roles to be fulfilled by everyone - the Sun-deity has

to shine incessantly for billions of years, mother

Earth has to give nourishment to everyone for billions

of years. Similairly I too i have an infintesmally

small role to play as Her instrument. And in this my

role is no different than a coalminer or the President

of the country or anyone else for that matter. We all

are instruments - and Her's is the orchestra. So i

need to play my notes carefully, with dedication, with

effort, with devotion. So what I do at home, at work,

as a parent, a son or daughter or daughter-in-law, a

worker, a boss, a teacher - all this is now very very

meaningful -because the reason for me to do it is not

for the sake of doing the work itself, but it is an

act dedicated to the Supreme Mother. ".....Yad yad

karma karomi tad tad akhilam shambo tavaradhanam." or

"....karomi yad yad sakalam parasmai narayanayeti

samarpayami"

The third Way I find my place in the world is by

recognizing my goal - oneness with my source, my

Supreme Mother. Swami Dayananda-ji used to give this

example - suppose i draw a line on the paper and i

want to be make it smaller without erasing it - i

simply draw a line thats longer next to it!

Identifying my real Goal then is that longer line I

draw next to artha/kama/dharma. The latter do have a

limited importance but my Ultimate purpose is other

than them. There are multiple detours along the way

but the destination is very clear. Then I can relax. I

am no longer going in circles. My mind is hence at

ease even in the face of a sea of troubles.

As you rightly said, then, everything I think/ I say/

I do becomes significant - because - for me, it can

really mean only two things - either that

thought/word/act will lead me to Her or away from Her,

and I have the full freedom to decide which way I go.

This ability to recognize this freedom is a wonderful

thing - because it transforms me - previously i would

react, now i act.

To understand this let us take an example of someone

who has hurt me or been cruel or unfair to me. There

is justifiable anger, justifiable remorse, justifiable

hatred in my mind.

Well, now that my goal is clear, all those

"justifiable" s HAVE to be made "nonjustifiable"s and

all that anger/hatred has to go. There is no choice in

this matter. Swami Paramarthananda-ji would smilingly

add one more caveat here - he would say -OK, I will

not bear any hatred towards that person, but Swamiji

can I at least bear hatred towards his actions - the

answer is a resounding "No"

Yes - that person was vicious, scheming, vile, and his

or her actions were loathsome, what he or she did was

unjustified, was evil, cruel, etc etc. BUT the poison

is in MY mind. It remains and will remain in my mind.

I may block it from my conscious thought, but it still

lingers bottledup in my inner mind. The enemy is not

that person, but my negative emotions. And it is a

grave enemy - how grave - spend 30minutes trying to

focus on Ishwara - and these bottled up emotions will

come to the surface and take my mind on a wonderful

rollercoaster of a ride - upasana is then a distant

dream!..Hence with effort, akin to removing a bad

inkspot on my dress, i have to rub off these emotions

from my mind - i have to learn to forgive and forget.

Without this goal, this purpose, in mind, it is never

going to be easy for me to do this. After all we are

all humans and these emotions are natural to us. But

we cannot hope to gain entry into Her palace with

stained clothes. So everyday I stay on the alert - am

I seeing any negativity build up in me towards anyone

or anything. Do I harbour illwill in my mind towards

anyone - either in the present or the past - inspite

of the gravest misdoins on their part?? If so, then I

need to clean them off my mind...three things again

are important here - do it cheerfully, do it

nonjudgementally, and do it without any sense of

frustration that they (these emotions) occurred to

begin with.

Chapter 12 of the Gita has an entire section that

talks about which devotee is most dear to the Lord,

and each of those shlokas in that section serve as

pointers to which aspects of our personality we need

to patiently re-align to make ourselves dearer to

Ishwara.

Chapter 13 also lists the quallities I need to

inculcate within me to have any hope of attaining

Jnanam and more importantly Jnananishta.

If there be one shloka in the Gita that best

articulates this entire meesage, it is the one for

which Bhagwan Shankara has this to say in way of

introduction in his commentary -

Adhunaa sarvasya Geetashastrasya saarabhootah artha

nishreyasaartha anushtheyatvena Samucchitya Uchyate:

Now is stated the essential import of the entire

science of the Gita aimed at liberation and summarized

for practice!

It is of course the shloka that Prof-ji alluded to

Sloka 11.55

Matkarmakrnmatparamo Madbhaktah Sangavarjitah

Nirvairah Sarvabhooteshu Yah sa Maameti Paandavah

Whoso does My works, Makes me His supreme goal, become

my Devotee, Rid of all attachments, Free from malice

towards all beings, will come to Me.

- Does my works - understands himself to be My

instrument

- Makes me His supreme goal - knows what his ultimate

goal is, has a purpose now in his life, knows his

place in this world

- becomes my Devotee - becomes an accepting person,

has a prasadabuddhi

- rid of all attachments - develops vairagya, having

identified with viveka Me as his only goal

- free from malice towards all beings - most important

and perhaps also the most difficult part of this list!

- comes to Me - attains selfknowledge, which destroys

once and for all his sense of separation from Me - the

Supreme Self.

No wonder this shloka finds such a "pride of place" in

Bhagwan Shankara's commentary.

The Goal has been made clear, the roadmap has been

clearly identified, what is left is for us to exercise

our free will and march forward courageously and

cheerfully.

May Ishwara bless us all in our efforts.

Hari OM

Shri Gurubhyo namah

Shyam

>

> Thanks and warm Diwali wishes to all members.

> Om Namo Narayanaya.

> Veena.

October 25, 2006

Dear Ravi-ji

Pranams

Thank you for your response.

I think there are two important issues you have beautifully outlined

in your response.

a. how does one diffentiate disinterest from detachment?

b. is there more to the pursuit of knowlege than a dry intellectual

exercise?

I will try to dwell on the first point.

On the surface there may only seem to be a fine line between the

disinterest and detachment or dispassion.

Look more closely and understood, this is certainly not the case

Disinterest is passive, it is an emotional and intellectual

insensitivity to happenings around you, an unconcerned listless attitude.

Detachment is active, it is a calm, stoic mental attitude of

imperturbation, with a foundation of a tranquil equipoise.

The former often stems from a sense of disgruntlement with life's

little pricks and pins, and represents a resentful resignation to

one's fate with a dejected outlook to life. It is a victory of tamas.

The latter is an truimphant march of the good in me over the inert,

over the passive, of sattva over tamas. Detachment stems from

maturity, from an intellignet outlook to life and from a sense of

purpose in life.

Dispassion is prevented from becoming disinterest by devotion.

When I look at myself as a instrument of Ishwara, then I need to walk

that walk. I need to be the best I can be in whatever roles Ishwara

has called me to play.

Let us take a role of a parent.

One approach is "all this is mithya - son, spouse, job, etc. Afterall

has it not been said "yaavatpavano nivasati dehe, taavatprichchhati

kushalam gehe, gatavati vaayau dehaapaaye, bhaaryaa bibhyati

tasminkaaye" When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly

about his welfare. But when the soul departs from the body, even his

wife runs away in fear of the corpse."

So why should I toil on their behalf. Why should I worry about what

their lot in life is going to be. Why should I care whether my son or

daughter are well-set? This is all in the realm of samsara and a

vedantin, they are a hindrance to my progress, sadhana, etc.

This approach is based on a wrong understanding of vedanta.

The approach the Gita teaches is

You are an instrument of the Lord. You have not yet developed the

emotional and intellectual maturity to leave all this and go the

forest and contemplate. You may be in quietitude but your mind will

surely be in turmoil. So for now do your duty, your dharma. Thus

Bhagwan Krishna says in the 18th chapter, verse 45 - "Sve sve karmany

abhiratah samsiddhim labhate narah sva-karma-niratah siddhim yatha

vindati tat shrnu" - "Hear from me how by doing one's duties (in a

spirit of karmayoga) a man becomes perfect, becomes realized"

And he follows by saying "Yatah pravrttir bhutanam yena sarvam idam

tatam sva-karmana tam abhyarcya siddhim vindati manavah" By a devout

dedication of ones works to Ishwara a man can attain the perfection"

And further "siddhim prapto yatha brahma tathapnoti nibodha me

samasenaiva kaunteya nistha jnanasya ya para" Such a perfected man

then surely attains jnananishta which constitutes the Supreme Goal.

By doing your duty alone you will attain perfection - not by shirking

it. And do it not with frustration, with dejection, with disinterest.

Do it with cheer, with fortitude, with your whole body and soul, with

love. Why? It is an offering to Ishwara. Something you do for your

boss to gain his favour you do with a good amount of interest.

Something you do for your father or mother you do it with even greater

interest. How about something you are going to do for Ishwara, your

Absolute Mother, your Mother in and through all your janmas - how much

more passion, how much more wholehearted interest you should have for

that??

If this be the attitude then every mundane thing in our lives suddenly

is transformed into a very meaningful act. Arjuna had to kill his

beloved Pitamaha - but it was an act of devout dedication. Arjuna dd

not kill Bhishma, he was an instrument of the Lord in establishing dharma.

Similarly my duties towards my family are to be undertaken not because

"I" am taking care of "my" son or daughter, but because My Supreme

Ishwara has entrusted me with their welfare. And I cannot let him

down. "My" job is not being done for "my" sake, but this job is being

done by me is done as my humble offering to Ishwara.

Then at the end of the day, how my family turns out, how my job or

business turns our, etc are no longer of tremendous concern for me -

they are not a barometer reflecting my performance - I have done my

best - what happens will happen as it was supposed to - the ball is in

Ishwara's court - I know, without an iota of doubt, that what I did

was to the best of my ability, the very ability that Ishwara alone has

endowed me with. Then alone can i say "What will be will be". That is

dispassionate detachment. And thus it is very different from disinterest.

Hari OM

Shri Gurubhyo namah

Shyam

advaitin, Ravi Ande <ravicande wrote:

>

> I am interested in learning the difference. Learning

> the difference seems to be important to get the right

> perspective, leading one to become disinterested

> vis-a-vis becoming detached.

> So I see a danger of becoming disinterested but not

> necessarily detached. It seems to me that being

> disinterested is still action while detached is of the

> nature of inaction;

> Pranams,

> Ravi

October 28, 2006

Pranam Shyam-ji,

Thanks for your response. You have, I think, finely pointed out the difference between disinterest from detachment. I am looking at doing a deeper study of the Bhgavad Gita. Prof VK-ji's mail has also been inspirational.

Regards,

Ravi

shyam_md <shyam_md >

advaitin

Wednesday, 25 October, 2006 10:47:19 PM

Re: Advaitic Living