[Note on recent discussions] Brahmavidyavilasa ..

[Guest guest]

... shrIkAraNaparachidrUpAyai namaH ..

 

Respected devotees/members,

 

Some of the recent postings on this list are not in keeping with the

spirit of devotion/love towards/for parAmbA. Other lists might be more

suitable for polemic discussion rather than . While discussions

[that are in line with list guidelines, please see below] are welcome,

arguments are not.

 

When posting, please keep in mind the list guidelines, some of which

are posted below:

-

Postings sent to the group should discuss only devotional works and

related items. Works posted should be in line with shruti, smRti and

puraaNa.

 

Members of the group should be polite, respectful and courteous to each

other during the discussions, especially when errors in understanding

the text is pointed out.

-

 

Please avoid being (or even being perceived as) disrespectful for

orthodox sampradAyA-s/maThA-s. This is not a claim to superiority or

exclusivity of orthodox tradition/maThA-s on upAsana-krama etc., but to

maintain list focus. Please keep this mind while posting. Please recall

that the " consonance " of this list with teachings of shankara maThA-s

has been expressly mentioned in the list-FAQ as follows:

 

 

When in doubt, our basic guideline is, what will accepted by shringeri

or kaa~nchi maTha-s is acceptable to .

--

 

Finally, I also wish to point out as a matter of fact that as regards

devotion/knowledge etc, i am adhamaadhamaH, and sincerely apologize if

this post has hurt any of your feelings, that is *not* my intention.

Please do not take this post personally. If it has hurt you, i

apologize again and again.

 

I request you all to continue posting with love to shrImAtA as your

guiding motive.

 

shR^ingArarasama~njarIM mangaLadAyinIM gaurIM namAmi kAmAkshIM

 

with praNaaMs at the feet of devotees of parAmbA

[Guest guest]

Dear Sridhar,

 

it is hoped that this quotation from Sri Aurobindo

would word a few thoughts some of us might have as

observers of this intelligent, interesting, informing

and at the same time some what rumbustious exchange:

 

Quoted form Sri Aurobindo's 'Synthesis of yoga':

 

There exists in India a remarkable Yogic system, which

is in its nature synthetical and starts from a great

central principle of nature; but it is a yoga apart,

not a synthesis of other schools. This system is the

way of the tantra. Tantra has fallen into discredit

with those who are not tantrics, especially owing to

the development of its left-hand path, the Vamamarga,

which, not content with exceeding the duality of

virtue and sin, seemed to make a method of

self-indulgence.

 

Tantra, however, was founded upon ideas, which were at

least partially true. Even its twofold division into

the right-hand and left-hand paths started from a

profound perception. In the ancient symbolic sense of

the words 'Dakshina' and 'Vama', it was the

distinction between the way of Knowledge and the way

of Ananda—Nature in man liberating itself through

power and practice of its own energies, elements and

potentialities either by right discrimination or by

joyous acceptance. But both paths led to a deformation

of symbols and a fall.

 

If, however, we leave aside the actual practices and

seek the central principle, we find, first, that

tantra expressly differentiates itself from the Vedic

methods of yoga. In a sense, all the other schools are

Vedantic in their principle; their force is in

knowledge—if not through discernment by the intellect

then through the knowledge of the heart expressed in

love and faith, or a knowledge in the will expressed

through action. In all, the lord of the yoga is

purusha, the conscious soul that knows, observes,

attracts, governs.

 

But tantra is governed by prakriti, the nature-soul,

the energy, the will-in-power in the universe. It was

by learning and applying the intimate secrets of this

will-in-Power that the tantric yogin pursued the aims

of his discipline—mastery, perfection, liberation,

beatitude. Instead of drawing back from manifested

nature and its difficulties, he confronted them,

seized and conquered. But in the end, as is the

general tendency of prakriti, tantric yoga largely

lost its principle in its machinery and became a thing

of formulae and occult mechanism.

 

Tantra works with one side of the truth, the worship

of the energy, the shakti, as the sole effective

force. Vedanta is the other extreme. Here, shakti is

perceived as the power of illusion and liberation lies

in the search for the silent, inactive purusha. But in

the integral conception, the conscious soul is the

lord, the nature-soul is his executive Energy. Purusha

is of the nature of sat, conscious self-existence pure

and infinite; shakti or prakriti is of the nature of

chit—it is power of the purusha's self-conscious

existence, pure and infinite. The relation of the two

exists between the poles of rest and action. When the

energy is absorbed in the bliss of conscious

self-existence, there is rest; when the purusha pours

itself out in the action of its energy, there is

action, creation and the enjoyment or ananda of

becoming. But if ananda is the creator of all

becoming, its method is tapas or force of the

purusha's consciousness dwelling upon its own infinite

potentiality in existence. This produces real ideas or

vijnana which, proceeding from an omniscient

self-existence, have the surety of their own

fulfillment and contain in themselves the nature and

law of their own becoming in the terms of mind, life

and matter. The eventual omnipotence of tapas and the

infallible fulfillment of the Idea are the very

foundation of all yoga.

 

The movement of nature is twofold: divine and

undivine. The distinction is only for practical

purposes since there is nothing that is not divine.

The undivine nature, that which we are and must remain

so long as the faith in us is not changed, acts

through limitation and ignorance and culminates in the

life of the ego; but the divine nature acts by

unification and knowledge, and culminates in life

divine. The passage from the lower to the higher may

effect itself by the transformation of the lower and

its elevation to the higher nature. It is this that

must be the aim of an integral yoga.

 

 

 

 

 

 

--- sWseshagiri <s_seshagiri wrote:

 

> .. shrIkAraNaparachidrUpAyai namaH ..

>

> Respected devotees/members,

>

> Some of the recent postings on this list are not in

> keeping with the

> spirit of devotion/love towards/for parAmbA. Other

> lists might be more

> suitable for polemic discussion rather than .

> While discussions

> [that are in line with list guidelines, please see

> below] are welcome,

> arguments are not.

>

> When posting, please keep in mind the list

> guidelines, some of which

> are posted below:

>

-

> Postings sent to the group should discuss only

> devotional works and

> related items. Works posted should be in line with

> shruti, smRti and

> puraaNa.

>

> Members of the group should be polite, respectful

> and courteous to each

> other during the discussions, especially when errors

> in understanding

> the text is pointed out.

>

-

>

> Please avoid being (or even being perceived as)

> disrespectful for

> orthodox sampradAyA-s/maThA-s. This is not a claim

> to superiority or

> exclusivity of orthodox tradition/maThA-s on

> upAsana-krama etc., but to

> maintain list focus. Please keep this mind while

> posting. Please recall

> that the " consonance " of this list with teachings of

> shankara maThA-s

> has been expressly mentioned in the list-FAQ as

> follows:

>

>

 

> When in doubt, our basic guideline is, what will

> accepted by shringeri

> or kaa~nchi maTha-s is acceptable to .

>

--

>

> Finally, I also wish to point out as a matter of

> fact that as regards

> devotion/knowledge etc, i am adhamaadhamaH, and

> sincerely apologize if

> this post has hurt any of your feelings, that is

> *not* my intention.

> Please do not take this post personally. If it has

> hurt you, i

> apologize again and again.

>

> I request you all to continue posting with love to

> shrImAtA as your

> guiding motive.

>

> shR^ingArarasama~njarIM mangaLadAyinIM gaurIM namAmi

> kAmAkshIM

>

> with praNaaMs at the feet of devotees of parAmbA

>

>