Guest guest Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 Dear sirs, I have no desire to become a scholar. I was wondering if you could please advise me on the most vital or core text/s in your opinions that I absolutely need to understand to have a reasonable intellectual grounding for my practice. Is there one simple thing to live by? Is it necessary to spend this entire life wading through mountains of written material. warm regards, Dot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 PraNams - No. There is no need to study mountains of intellectual materials. All you need is a simple faith that Lord is every where, that all religions proclaim. If you have unwavering faith in that statement - you will then see the Lord everywhere, since you cannot miss Him, as He is everywhere and in everything you see. Otherthan that faith, nothing else is needed - since in that very seeing you will see there is nothing other than the Lord - the 'you' in you also dissolve to become the Lord that is everywhere. No more seeking or no more studying mountains of materials. But do you have that faith that Lord is everywhere? If you do not have it, then study the scriptures to get that faith. It is as simple as that. Hari Om! Sadananda --- advaitarules <advaitarules wrote: > Dear sirs, > > I have no desire to become a scholar. > > I was wondering if you could please advise me on the > most vital or > core text/s in your opinions that I absolutely need > to understand to > have a reasonable intellectual grounding for my > practice. > > Is there one simple thing to live by? > > Is it necessary to spend this entire life wading > through mountains of > written material. > > warm regards, > Dot. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 Pranams There are two aspects to this - one is what is the minimum necessary and another is what is beneficial. If there was one scriptural text that is both comprehensive and complete, it would have to be the Bhagawad Gita - I doubt you would find much if any difference of opinion on this. Everything from values, to meditation, to bhakti/upasana, to dharma, karma and karmayoga, and most importantly, jnana is systematically and elaborately dissected and discussed. Even after a number of readings, there is always something new to learn from it, something that makes more sense this time around, similar to a jigsaw puzzle, where you may have seen a particular piece a hundred times before and overlooked its place each time, but now when some other pieces are in place, its significance becomes crystal clear to you. The only word of caution would be to make sure you learn it from a advaitic master, from someone who stays true to Bhagwan Adi Shankara's sampradaya - and i say this is because the Gita like many other texts has many non-advaitic (mis)interpretations and even in an advaitic sense there are many commentaries which may colour it in different hues and it is easy to get lost in the myriad interpretations - frequently extrapolative - given to it. At the same time, what I would like to point out is that reading mountains of written material is not for scholarship - it is very much what you call " my practice " . The two components of practice or sadhana involve preparation of the mind and assimilation of the teaching. For the latter one is advised shravanam and mananam and nidhidhyasanam. For the 1st two, a repeated and fairly systematic reading of ALL the major texts, both in their original as well as commentaries, while not Essential is certainly Extremely helpful. This is because the subject matter is subtle, very very subtle - one moment it seems to be clear - the next moment - maybe not so clear. Each Upanishad approaches this in a different way, gives its own beautiful perspective. Certain phrases, certain explanations, certain dialogues capture your imagination - those particular moments then become powerful tools which help in internalizing the conceptual framework of the teachings later during periods of meditative contemplation. And understanding of the Upanishads without the benevolent Bhashyas of our Beloved BhashykArA Sankara can never be complete. His multitude of other works esp. Upadesha Sahasri, are also very much essential to read because it helps the intellect by developing a more structured and systematic methodology to help grasp the very same concepts that may perhaps be more abtrusely laid out in the Upanishads. And in this process, having a Guru is indispensible as well. In the process, known doubts get quickly resolved of course but unknown doubts which do come up persistently also over time get resolved. I do not think any serious jijnasu pursues reading a lot of advaitic literature either as a pastime or with the intention of becoming a scholar, but the goal is primarily to soak the intellect in different expressions of the same truths. Humble pranams, Hari OM Shri Gurubhyoh namah Shyam advaitarules <advaitarules wrote: Dear sirs, I have no desire to become a scholar. I was wondering if you could please advise me on the most vital or core text/s in your opinions that I absolutely need to understand to have a reasonable intellectual grounding for my practice. Is there one simple thing to live by? Is it necessary to spend this entire life wading through mountains of written material. warm regards, Dot. Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2007 Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 advaitin , " advaitarules " <advaitarules wrote: > > Dear sirs, > > I have no desire to become a scholar. > > I was wondering if you could please advise me on the most vital or > core text/s in your opinions that I absolutely need to understand to > have a reasonable intellectual grounding for my practice. > > Is there one simple thing to live by? > > Is it necessary to spend this entire life wading through mountains of > written material. > > warm regards, > Dot. > Namaste: If advaita has to rule (as per your TAG - ID " advaitarules " ) all that needs to happen is to be able to remove the " dot " on the " i " . Once that " dot " (the ah.nkaara) gets removed then the same } " i " becomes the Capital " I " . This way you do have to study any scriptures to realize " aham brahmaasmi " . Just some thing to think about ! Best wishes, Dr. Yadu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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