Guest guest Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hari Om With due respect to all, no body looks at you what you wear and what you are putting in your forehead. But we fear that others may feel that I am following the old culture and may not be treated well etc. etc. I work for a Dutch company in Nigeria and I wear everyday with all my dress like tie etc, I still put on the vibuti and Chandan and I do not even know any body even have noticed it. Rather it gives me a sense of satisfaction that I do not fear the environment in which I live. Probably it may not work in Saudi Arabia!!!. Also here, it is your choice, if you have chosen the place of work like Saudi, play the role like an actor and after the role play is over get back to your usual self. We have lot of kalpitam about ourself and act, it is all in our mind which is a non-real entity if we listen to more of Swami Paramaratananda's discourses esp. on Aparokshanabhuti - 15 Angas enumerated by Adi Sankara for a student who pursues the path of Bramha Jnanam. I fully agree with your view that the sacred marks are not part of the dressing code now a days esp when we adopt western culture like a woman wearing Jeans and they remove specifically the tikka in the forehead!!!. When you have decided to wear the western dress better to follow the dress code as per that culture. Nothing wrong and no intention to hurt the feelings of the devotees. No body compels us to adapt to the western culture, it is the individual who uses his free will for this. Let us play the role and get back to our normal self after the role is over. In His Seva Kalyan - putranm advaitin Friday, June 13, 2008 2:25 AM Re: Fear arises from a second entity Also, perhaps a good way to test our rooting in the fearlessness ofAdvaita is to wear the dresses and sacred marks as our grandfathers,in the streets of wherever you are. Can we revive our external customsas a practical statement of our philosophical fearlessness? Ichallenge anyone to do it first, everyday!! :-)thollmelukaalkizhuadvaitin , "putranm" <putranm wrote:>> Is a Jnani's state of fearlessness correlated to his/her physical> well-being? Typically most jnanis we hear about are established in> Brahmacharya and naturally observe a regulated life. Such restrictions> regarding the state of the body can be disturbed, say by force. Will> the fearlessness be lost in some sense?> > We do have the acharya's own example of taking up the body of the king> etc. But is this accepted as standard for jnanis, that no matter what> the condition of body or mind, they will still not lose sight of the> Truth? Again, if the mind is linked to the body, then it is liable to> external disturbance: does that preclude fear for jnani, or is the> fearlessness of jnani something different from normal fear, that even> when mind fears, there is awareness of truth?> > thollmelukaalkizhu> > > Sri Bhaskarji, if dvaita is bad and wife is dvaita and causing fear,> why get married? Apparently fear (or delusion) alone drives one to> marriage as well:-) [unless one is a true "do because the Shastra says> so" type]> > > advaitin , "S.N. Sastri" <sn.sastri@> wrote:> >> > In bRihadAraNyaka up. I. iv. 2 there is the famous statement:> dvitIyAd vai> > bhayam bhavati—Fear indeed arises from a second entity.> > > > In reality there is only brahman. It is avidya that projects> multiplicity> > and creates the appearance of different entities. It is only when a> person> > sees others as different from himself that fear, etc., arise. In this> > upanishadic statement the term 'fear' is representative of all> emotions such> > as desire, attachment, aversion, anger, jealousy, greed, etc. None> of these> > can arise when a person sees no other being different from himself.> > When a person realizes that the whole world is nothing but brahman,> he does> > not see any entity different from himself. Then no cause for fear or> any of> > the other emotions mentioned above exists. This is the meaning of this> > mantra- dvitIyAd vai bhayam bhavati.. A jnAni does not see anything,> living> > or non-living, different from himself. So he has no feelings such as> fear,> > aversion, attachment, etc., towards any other creature, whether> human being> > or wild animal or reptiles such as cobras, etc. This is what is> described in> > the upanishads as 'abhayam', fearlessness.> > > > br.up. IV. iv..25 says: brahman is indeed abhayam, free from fear.> He who> > knows it as his own Self becomes the fearless brahman.> > > > While commenting on this mantra, Shri Shankara describes the> different ways> > by which different persons attain enlightenment. He says: ----> > A person may be born with a pure body and organs as a result of merits> > acquired in past births. Such a person may well attain enlightenment> > without any teacher in the present birth.> > Another person may attain enlightenment through tapas as stated in the> > taitt. up. III. i.1.. Here tapas has been defined as 'concentration> of the> > mind and the senses'. By concentrated reflection vAruNi negatedthe five> > sheaths (koshas) one by one and realized the Self.> > Sometimes implicit faith in the teacher, who is himself a realized> soul, is> > the cause of enlightenment. Here Shri Shankara quotes thestatement, "He> > only knows who has a teacher" (Ch. 6.14.2) and some other upanishadic> > statements.> > > > In br. up. I. iv. 2 the word 'dvitIya' has been used in the senseof ' a> > second entity'. In the very next section, I. iv. 3, the very same word> > 'dvitIya' has been used in the sense of 'wife'. Obviously we cannot> apply> > this meaning to the sentence 'dvitIyad vai bhayam bhavati' in I. iv.> 2 and> > interpret it as ' Fear indeed arises from a wife'! This shows the> need for> > keeping in mind the context when interpreting the words of the> upanishads> > and the bhAshya.> > S.N.Sastri> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Yes, I did not intend the post to those in Saudi Arabia. Presumably the fear-factor is more due to self/body-consciousness than physical-harm or arrest. The point is there is a lot that this " going against society " can show us about our actual living of advaita, for this surrendering to the social norm (if our inner convictions suggest otherwise) is due to fear/dvaita. As I said, I think there is potential benefit for cultural-revival if we can do some sadhana of this type. And when we try, many underlying hidden layers of ignorance may reveal themselves. Culture is attributable to the many small dos and don'ts of manifest living. Small changes in our dresses, etc that you mention actually reveal a deep disconnect from the cultural base. The modes of thinking change due to improper guidance or association; hence our perspectives on our do's and don'ts become different from our ancestors, and we reevaluate and give up what seems unnecessary to our 'educated' perspective. However with many, this is still not a settled issue. As the Kanchi paramacharya said, many are wanting to follow the old ways and yet unable to for fear of public opinion, etc. That is the category of people who can put their philosophy to some daring tests. thollmelukaalkizhu advaitin , " nkalyan " <nkalyan wrote: > > Hari Om > > With due respect to all, no body looks at you what you wear and what you are putting in your forehead. But we fear that others may feel that I am following the old culture and may not be treated well etc. etc. I work for a Dutch company in Nigeria and I wear everyday with all my dress like tie etc, I still put on the vibuti and Chandan and I do not even know any body even have noticed it. Rather it gives me a sense of satisfaction that I do not fear the environment in which I live. > > I fully agree with your view that the sacred marks are not part of the dressing code now a days esp when we adopt western culture like a woman wearing Jeans and they remove specifically the tikka in the forehead!!!. When you have decided to wear the western dress better to follow the dress code as per that culture. Nothing wrong and no intention to hurt the feelings of the devotees. No body compels us to adapt to the western culture, it is the individual who uses his free will for this. > > Let us play the role and get back to our normal self after the role is over. > > In His Seva > > Kalyan > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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