[Advaita-l] Question about karma yoga

Venkatraghavan S agnimile at gmail.com
Fri Aug 5 02:27:04 CDT 2016


Yes, गुणाः in the verse refers to the sense organs and गुणेषु refers to
sense objects. Krishna says that the enlightened ones know that all
interactions between indriyAs and objects (whether actions, knowledge or
experience) are only prakriti interacting with prakriti.

This also is the answer to the question raised by the first poster, how can
karma be performed without the feeling that I am the doer? Because it is
not I who is doing, it is the body, mind and sense organs.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On 5 Aug 2016 8:06 a.m., "Sujal Upadhyay via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> Next verse continues BG 3.28 'गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्त' 'guNA guNesu vartanta'
> means guNa-s act among themselves.
>
> ​Om​
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 8:20 AM, Ravi Kiran via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Namaste
> >
> > Even though the feeling that "I am the doer"  is experienced as real, it
> is
> > known through the study of scriptures ( shravanAdi advaita sAdhana) that
> > the feeling of  karta or bhokta is because of adhyAsa (on nirguna
> niShkriya
> > ekam eva advayam Atma) and is not ultimately real (paramArthika).
> >
> > It is told in Bhagavad Gita, that actions are done by the gunas .. (3.27)
> >
> > प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः।
> >
> > Hence, to attain this Atmaikatva or samyak jnAna, one resorts to study of
> > scriptures along with other preparatory ( sAdhana catushtaya sampatti) as
> > outlined in detail by Sujal Ji.
> >
> > ps: just sharing some thoughts ( not a scholar)..
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 4, 2016 at 8:13 PM, Shashi via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > Namaskara to all the learned people on this list. This is my first post
> > > here. I would appreciate it if someone would eliminate a doubt I have
> > about
> > > karma yoga. I am new to the intricacies of advaita, so I appreciate
> > > anyone's willingness to answer and their patience as well.
> > >
> > > My question is about the state of mind of the yogi. From what I
> > > understand, Karma yoga is  (1) the performance of ordained duties (2)
> > with
> > > no regard for the fruits and (3) without feeling that "I am the doer."
> > >
> > > I understand the first two elements atleast at a theoretical level.
> The
> > > third is what I have difficulty understanding. What does it feel like
> > when
> > > one feels he is not the doer of the action? For example, during
> > > sandhyavandana, when one offers Arghya, one can say "I am doing this
> > > because Shastra says so, to please Bhagavan, and I leave all results to
> > > him." But it's my mind with the intention, my mouth with the Gayatri,
> and
> > > my hands with the water that cause the action to be done right? How
> can I
> > > relinquish ownership?
> > >
> > > If the answer is that the mind and hands are ultimately maya and
> > > ultimately its Brahman who causes these actions, I get that, but that
> > still
> > > confuses me. To realize that fact completely and through anubhava
> itself
> > > Brahmajnana right? Then if one has not like realized Brahman like me.
> how
> > > is karma yoga possible?
> > >
> > >
> > > Thank you,
> > >  Shashi
> > >
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