Fw: [Advaita-l] More on Paurusha

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 4 Dec 2006, Ramesh Krishnamurthy wrote:

> RK:
> **I am not implying that karma is the only obstacle to mukti. Rather,
> what I am saying is that if karma means only yaj~na, then sannyAsa
> (which in advaita is the renunciation of karma) should only mean the
> cessation of yaj~na, instead of renunciation of family ties, etc. This
> is obviously not the case.
>

Unfortunately there are many wouldbe Vedantins who think that giving up 
"ritualism" but not their fancy car, hose etc. is some kind of 
achievement.

> SSN:
>> >  Illusion is a widely used translation of MithyA, and I am not even
> sure it is a lazy translation.
>
> RK:
> **IMO, it is a lazy translation. In fact, I would say that it is a
> translation that has promoted serious misunderstandings of the system
> of advaita-vedAnta. The world does not disappear for the mukta. He
> still eats, sleeps and talks. But he sees everything as being
> non-different from brahman.
>

The problem is that the word illusion implies a perceptual problem but 
mithyatva is primararily an ontological problem which just happens to 
manifest sometimes as a perceptual problem.  In other words while it is 
important to ask "what is real and what is unreal?", the question that 
should be asked is, "What is true and what is false?"



> Apart from the bR^ihat YV and the laghu YV, there is a also a 230
> verse text called the YV-sAra, which has been translated into English
> by one Swami Sureshananda and published by Ramanashramam. This text is
> available online, and it is easy to see that it teaches nothing but
> advaita.

There's one more: laghu yoga vasishta sara sangraha by Swami Jnanananda 
Bharati in 1698 shlokas. It is published along with an English translation 
by Samata Books as "The Essence of Yogavasishta.
(http:///www.samatabooks.com/BookDetails.asp?Language=2&Books=8)

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>