[Advaita-l] Are actions essentially meaningless?

श्रीमल्ललितालालितः lalitaalaalitah at lalitaalaalitah.com
Tue Dec 25 07:48:03 CST 2012


*श्रीमल्ललितालालितः
*www.lalitaalaalitah.com


On Tue, Dec 25, 2012 at 3:50 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> prArabdha
> karma is more powerful than that paramArtha jnAna
>

See here words of shrI-vidyAraNya :
प्रारब्धं कर्म्म यथा तत्त्वज्ञानात्प्रबलं तथा तस्मादपि कर्म्मणो योगाभ्यासः
प्रबलोऽस्तु ।

Here he accepts that prArabdha is stronger than GYAna and hence is able to
maintain body of GYAnI in order to be destroyed by enjoyment of its results.

Result of prArabdha is pleasure and pain. And whether that occurs as a
result of niShiddha AcharaNa is or not is the question. In other words,
does prArabdha make one do karma or it causes pain and pleasure on its own ?

As refraining from niShiddha karma is needed to avoid adharma which is
accepted as an obstacle, it appears that niShiddha AcharaNa is not accepted
in GYAnI.

In view of jIvanmuktikAra and vArttikakAra, GYAnaniShThA results in moxa,
as is said by shruti :
ब्रह्मसंस्थोऽमृतत्वमेति.
So, mere GYAna(even aparoxa one, which is fickle or without niShThA) is not
enough to give moxa(from avidyA and kAma, etc.). If a person enjoys doing
niShiddha karma, he is not a GYAnI, is to be accepted(at least he is not
possessed of such GYAna which is capable to destroying aha~NkAra). So,
AchArya-s say :
देहात्मज्ञानवज्ज्ञानं देहात्मज्ञानबाधकम् ।
आत्मन्येव भवेद्यस्य स नेच्छन्नपि मुच्यते ॥



 as it has the capacity
> to drag the jnAni to koopa of rAga-dvesha, occasionally if not regularly
> !!??
>

If a person is doing niShiddha karma with aha~NkAra, he has no GYAna(which
gives moxa).


>  Finally, all these observations boils down to one fundamental question :
> Whether prArabdha causes 'mere' continuation of the jnAni's body (which is
> anyway hardly an issue for the jnAni as he is realized that he was/is/will
> be always ashareeri only) after realization OR this prArabha/avidyAlesha
> can influence the jnAni (or jnAni's mind to be precise)  occasionally to
> do the activity that is not worthy to follow??
>

Mere GYAna is not able to handle prArabdha. It needs niShThA. The GYAna
which is cause of moxa is the one assisted by niShThA and that doesn't
allow niShiddhAcharaNa.


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