New member introduction: Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat

[S. V. Subrahmanian]

Shri Raviji,

True.  I agree with what you have said.

Let me make one attempt to elaborate.  If you still find my argument faulty,
I will apologize and withdraw.

Infact I too joined the course, but had to give it up [after attending one
of their convocations in LA] after knowing that they will not give Kriya
initiation if one does not accept Sri Yogananda as their SadGuru.  I have
great respects for him, anyway.

[I am not able to look into the archive currently as I am getting a message
that the database is currently offline.  So I will try to recollect the
context in which I wrote and try to reply].

It is true that Sri PY had god-visions prior to meeting Sri Y.  Infact PY is
supposed to have been sent by the Rishis (or Babaji, I forget) for
re-establishing the Kriya Yoga technique.  So his behaving like a sAdhaka
was also part of his sojourn on earth.  So looking at him as a sAdhaka, even
though he had god-visions prior to visiting Sri Y, his final consummation
was only at the "guidance" of Sri Y.

The point I was trying to make was that a beginner reading this episode
where Sri Y. after giving him samAdhi woke him up to do daily labours should
not just focus on the fact that a Guru would pop up in our lives and grant
us visions and experiences just like that, which is a fanciful imagination.
That such blessings are also followed by the great Teachers, with a lesson
on integrating their teachings and the sAdhakas experiences into the mundane
life should not be forgotten.  The second half could be excruciating.

When one looks only at the first half namely blessing, one tends take such
events lightly.  They forget the preparedness of the disciple for such an
experience.  On the other hand, when Gurus out of compassion grant such
"candies" ahead of time, they also make sure subsequently that enough is
extracted from the disciple to make him worthy of what has been given.  Sri
Y and Sri PY were good examples of perfect Guru-shishya relationship.  Both
were enlightened and both were playing their respective roles during their
sojourn on earth.

As far as the reason as to why I added "maybe to give him an idea":  Sri PY
was sent to earth to spread Kriya technique.  Sri Y, knowing the worthiness
of his disciple had given him the blessing of the experience.  But
subsequently withheld it from Sri PY for he had a mission to accomplish.
But to be able to communicate to people with authenticity he had "show" him
as it were, "the final consummation".

But I used the incident only to highlight the wrong lesson (the easy part)
that can be taken from such incidents and conclude about not having to do
much from our side ie., we too can misunderstand teachings which are
genuine, and hence become slack [ I was writing on some ways in which
students can also go wrong in making the whole sAdhana look trivial].

I await your feed-back.  If the explanation is still incorrect, I will write
a separate mail to withdraw what I said.  Thanks for highlighting.

> --- "S. V. Subrahmanian" <svskotra at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > Shri Bhagavat wrote:
> >
>
> >
> > [Eg., When Sri Yukteswar Giri was teaching P. Yogananda, he once
> > blessed him
> > with a samAdhi-experience (maybe to give him an idea), but after some
> > time
> > rudely woke him from that bliss, and asked him to sweep the floor and
> > clean
> > the balcony!]
>
> Context of this quote is not correct. Paramahansa Yogananda (PY), even
> before meeting Yukteshwar had meditated a lot. For instance, Master
> Mahasaya (M of Gospel of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) in chapter 9
> intercedes for him and gives a vision of parashakti and also gives him
> a samadhi experience. Besides, PY gets also a vision of krishna before
> he meets his guru.
>
> What his guru is trying to teach here that he should be balanced.
> Because swami yogananda is God-intoxicated from childhood, he neglected
> many things like his studies.  His guru taught him the importance of
> carrying on the worldy mission as well. It was because of Swami
> Yukteshwar giri, Yogananda completed his Bachelor's degree (he was more
> or less forced to) and also he started his yogoda sat sangha. So PY was
> not a new student or something like that when he met his guru. In fact,
> babaji promises yukteshwar to send a great one to spread the gospel of
> raja yoga.  For the same reason, kanchi periyava shrii shrii
> chandrasekharendra saraswathy, in one of his quotes on PY, says that
> "Such a great soul comes to earth only rarely, when there is a great
> need among men". That one sentence from periyava convinced me to take
> the three year course offered by SRF/YSS. More than yoga, his teachings
> lighted the lamp of devotion in my heart. I am eternally grateful for
> that.
>
>
> Ravi
>
>
>
>
>
>
> =====
> ambaaL daasan
> Ravi
> sharaNaagata raxakii nivEyani
>    sadaa ninnu nammiti miinaaxii
> http://www.ambaa.org/
>
> __________________________________________________
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> --
> bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam
>
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--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Sun Sep 10 01:51:20 2000
Message-Id: <SUN.10.SEP.2000.015120.0200.ADVAITAL at LISTS.ADVAITAVEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:51:20 +0200
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
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To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: Surjit Dixit <surjit at LCTN.U-NANCY.FR>
Subject: Re: [advaitin] Notes on Brahmasuutra - IIIa
Comments: To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
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<html>
Dear Shri Sadanandaji and others:
<br>Namaskars. I really feel indebted to you all for making this such an
informative and educative
<br>mailing list. Although I have been silent on this list most of the
while, I have been making
<br>an effort to understand the discussions that go on in this list and
am also reading the notes on
<br>Brahmasuutra.  As a beginner and someone who is getting involved
in such a study for the
<br>first time, I feel the speed of the dispatch of notes has been follow
able, esp after this slowdown
<br>I have now sort of got off the lag but i realise I could do better
only with more reading and
<br>contemplation, and devotion to accept and imbibe the teachings.
<br>I have not been able to follow the notes right on the screen (esp with
the need to contemplate)
<br>and so have opted to get myself a  printout. So the size has not
bothered me, actually I find the
<br>stretch and continuity more helpful since often we find answers to
the questions coming up as
<br>we move further with the reading and thoughts.
<p>The ongoing thread on "advaita as a way of life" has been very informative
and I have been able
<br>to find idea/concepts answering some of the doubts i had developed 
reading BS notes about being
<br>able to recognise a situation where we are out of the adhyaasa of "i
am a samsaari". In the case of
<br>the rope and snake we very well know and recognise both in the right
environment, but
<br>when it comes to distinguishing between the samsaari and Bhraaman nature
of the self, we really
<br>do not have much personal knowledge of the Bhraaman while there is
all the puurva puurva adhyaasa
<br>of the samsaari. I understand/presume faith in the Vedanta's along
with a devoted path along the lines
<br>of sAdhana catuShTayam, manaman and nidhydhyAsanam are the solution
to this.<i></i>
<p><i>3.4. Role of adhyaasa in Vedanta:</i>
<br><i>Similar to the case of rope-snake case,  when a person says
'aham samsaarii'</i>
<br><i>- 'I am a samsaarii',  Shankaraachaarya says here too there
is a 'saamaanya</i>
<br><i>amsha' and 'visheshha amsha'.  "I am' in the above statement
is the</i>
<br><i>saamaanya amsha, which refers to 'a conscious being' - conscious</i>
<br><i>corresponding to 'chit' and 'being' corresponding to 'sat'. It is
anaavR^ita</i>
<br><i>amsha or uncovered part and is also 'satya amsha', part that is
real.</i>
<p>How is the 'saamaanya amsha', 'I am' we refer to here to be seen/ recognised
and how is this
<br>different from what is 'aahamkaar'. Is this the part that we call consciousness,
the one which
<br>tells me I should not do something since its wrong although I
(driven by my mind) would have
<br>liked to do it. there is also intelligence which plays a role in these
thoughts apart from the mind
<br>and consciousness. I would be thankful for any comments that can put
these apart and highlight
<br>the saamaanya amsha of 'I am'.
<p>Coming out of the Rope/Snake -> Ananda Bhramma/ Samsari analogy, I am
curious and wonder
<br>what an Advaitins response would be to a real situation where there
is partial darkness and a
<br>rope/snake lying in front of him. I intend no pun with this question
and am only curious to know
<br>how an advatin would think.
<p>I once again thank you all for your time and affectionate interest to
uplift.
<br>With best regards,
<br>Surjit
<br> </html>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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