Anant Sarma
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Anant Sarma
ParticipantYes mind is necessary for atma jnanam. It is with the mind that you get the knowledge, aham brahma asmi, I am Brahman. The guru gives the upadesha, tat tvam asi, that paramatma you are and that instruction must be understood by the student as I am that paramatma, Brahman. In order to understand all that, one requires a fit mind. That thought I am Brahman is also maintained in meditation and that is done in the mind. When that meditation is done constantly and for a long time, that thought gets subtler and subtler, thinner and thinner and finally the meditator merges with the meditated, Brahman. The thought disappears. At that stage the mind is not there, nor is it necessary.
ParticipantThe term antarayas is used in Patanjali Yoga shastra and also in Jainism. We should understand them in terms of those scriptures and try to correlate them to vedanta.
With that caveat, let me try to reconcile the terminology cited to vedanta. It has nothing to do with sancita, agami or prarabdha karma. The word karma has several meanings and in this context it is connected to karma phala and is the seed to eventually to be experienced and exhausted as papa and punya.
Another common meaning of the word karma is action. It is more in that sense the word antarayas karma is used. It has do with obstacles to any sadhana. As it relates to meditation Yoga sastra, nine types of such obstacles are discussed. In vedanta the obstacles to meditation are said to be laya, vikshepa, kashaya and rasasvada. In either case, it is not a physical karma, but a manasa, mental action. The nine types of antaryas karma are discussed as the four obstacles to meditation in vedanta. For further details refer to vedantic texts such as Mandukya Karika and Vedanta Sara.
ParticipantYour question is too broad. To respond adequately, would you please refer to which verse(s) in Atma Bodha prompted your question.
ParticipantUpanishads and for that matter the entire vedas are revelations to our Rishis. The knowledge that was revealed to them, they have shared for all of us to share. The shanti mantras are no exception. Moreover, the various prayers invoked in those mantras give us an insight into what type of preparations we as seekers should make to gain and be established in the knowledge.
ParticipantIt is just an idiomatic usage. Just like you have an altar in your puja room and you have your personal God placed in the altar and you do the puja offering flowers or naivedyam, here you offer your ego. It could be to your ista devata, to a higher ideal, to the ultimate Reality. When you surrender your ego in this manner, everything you do will be selfless action and such selfless action as a worship in this manner purifies your mind. This is the first part of definition of karma yoga. This is what is meant by giving up one’s ego at the altar of a higher authority.
ParticipantHari Om!
Q1: I do not know what you mean by Bhatta-Prabhakara because Bhatta and Prabhakara are two groups under mimamsaka.
The bhaṭṭa school says, the consciousness conditioned by the (individual) ignorance is the Self citing scripture such as “prajñā (consciousness conditioned by the individual ignorance) alone is the bliss sheath” (Māṇḍū U 5); because in deep sleep there is the knowledge and there is ignorance, and also because of experience such as ‘I do not know me’.
The prabhākara (school of mīmāmsa) and tārkika-s (nyāya and vaiśeṣika schools) say, the absence of knowledge (ajñāna, the ignorance) is the Self citing scripture such as “there is the bliss sheath that is the Self different and more internal (to the intellect)”, (Tai Up 2.5.1); also because ajñāna, the ignorance is the resolution place of the intellect and the others (all instruments), and also because of experience such as ‘I am ignorant’ and ‘I am an ignorant person’ and so on.
I have cited above paragraphs from Vedanta Sara. The Mandukya Karika is another reference that gives more clarity on these topics.
Q2: The stark contrast in Jaina school of philosophy says that atma, the Self are many. There is an atma in each jiva. They also say the size of that atma is the size of the body that embodies that atma.
April 11, 2024 at 7:23 pm in reply to: Which of the following statements is true? a. Before seeing the good qualities in others, we must find God in them. #623966ParticipantHari Om!
Please give me what the other choices are. There may be some truth from a particular standpoint in this choice, but one of the other choices may be a better choice.
ParticipantHari Om!
Any adhyaropa, superimposition followed by prayatna, effort that leads you what it really is will be called samvadi brahma.
To meet the definition of upasana, such a superimposition has to be sanctioned by shastra. The instances you have cited will meet that criterion.
I just want to remind you what Swamiji had emphasized, the upasana is a bhrama, but the paroksha knowledge is just fine.
ParticipantHari Om!
Both versions are fine. As you had noted, ओम् clearly spells out the way the word is pronounced. ॐ should not be read as Oom even though it looks like that. It is a shortened symbolic version and that is certainly acceptable.
It may be of interest to you that there are two versions in the way that people write ॐ in English. Some write it as Om to spell as it sounds. Others write it as Aum, to spell out very clearly the three letters that make up pranava or Onkara. You must know the pranava mantra is only ekakshara, monosyllable even though it is made of three letters. Therefore Om is the more appropriate usage.
To answer your question directly, both ओम् and ॐ are acceptable.
ParticipantSwami Ramakrishnananda
April 11, 2024 at 7:23 pm in reply to: On six steps to Liberation: practices to cultivate the passion for the Infinite #623976ParticipantHari Om!
Your basic question is: How do I cultivate this expansive passion for the Infinite (God)?
Many different methods are prescribed in the scriptures and by saints and sages. Our various religious practices have come about for this purpose only. The many puja-s that we do offer an opportunity for us to engage at the body level with the symbol of God. Kirtans and bhajans, japa are all avenues that are designed for this purpose only, but at the speech level. In Srimad Bhagavatam, the nava vidha bhakti is talked about. All these and other religious practices like pilgrimages etc., are all for cultivation bhakti for God. That gives us purity of mind and with the pure mind and focused mind one can embark upon pursuit of knowledge of the Self.
ParticipantHari Om!
Your first session will be on Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 7 am. You will be receiving an email with the Zoom link to joint the session very soon.
ParticipantHari Om!
Your conclusion in the last paragraph is correct. A little bit more of an explanation would help. The cidabhasa is the reflection of consciousness in the mind. When through logic as the Buddhist Sunya vada does or Vedantins through the scriptures corroborated by logic, negate all that to be mithya, the next deduction is whether the two systems of philosophy diverge. The Buddists say that having negated everything, there is nothing. The Vedantin says, the reflection is negated, but the original is still there. That original Consciousness is the all-pervading Reality that can never be negated.
Your example of glass of water or glass of air just muddies up the understanding. I am not able to see where you are going with the example.
ParticipantHari Om!
The way you have elaborated the example is what the sunya vadins think. That is applicable in the example because, the glass, water, air are all in the same of reality. That example cannot be extended to Consciousness, because, the world, mind, reflected consciousness are all of the lower order of reality whereas the original pure Consciousness is of the higher order, it is Absolutely Real! That is why even when everything is negated as mithya, Consciousness is satyam!
ParticipantHari Om!
In the situation you have described, you were not in the deep sleep state because your mind is still active. You were not in the dream state either because the activity of the mind were not mental impressions that are being projected. Therefore the only possibility is waking state only. You can say, it is a sleepy waking state.
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