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Giridhar giridhar at CHEMENG.IISC.ERNET.IN
Sun Aug 2 21:55:49 CDT 1998


namaste Prashant:

Thanks for your response.

>"ashram", or even a residence). So you can't just live without material
>ambitions, unless one is a sannyAsi.  But then we are not talking about

        Therefore, it seems, you do not agree with the theory that one can
keep on striving for having a house, a/c car and so on.. blame it on
prarabdha and claim to have mentally renounced the same and say that
he is striving to become a jnani ?

>such great people. Also I am not talking about jnAnis like
>BhagvAn RAmana here who have *no* ambition but about people like us. For

Thank you for the above statement. There seems to have been some
misinterpretation. My reason for quoting the newspaper article was that
most of the NRIs (and the rest also) have material ambitions. And as
long as there are material ambitions, one can not be a jnani. Glad that
you agree with that. My only comment was a few of us seem to
believe that one can mentally renounce and be a jnani. While it is true, the
_majority_ can not let go of the material and claim to have mentally
renounced the same !


>Please realise that for an average  Indian, economically well-off means
>making both ends meet. It is rather unfortunate that learning to live with

        I am sure that all of us realize that for an average Indian, striving for
moksha means nothing. As Kanchi periyava often used to remark, less
than 1% of people sincerely strive for moksha. The problem is when one
starts claiming that one is striving for moksha to the greatest effort
but is instead nursing material ambitions.

                The basis reason of difference (and the subsequent argument) seems
to be because you think I am talking about an average Indian. No, I am
talking about a person striving to be  a jnani. For him, material ambitions
should mean nothing. If you agree, well and good. If not, we will agree
to disagree. That's all.



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