[Advaita-l] moxa-sAdhanA

[Ananta Bhagwat]

Dear Makwana-ji,
praNama

1/ madhusUdana advises nAma-japa to start with. May be one can do community work out-side family and friends' circle every week as a 'routine'. The idea is to engage in any activity which is useful to others but we do not get any material benefits out of it. This need not be a full time activity. We all can remember Tolstoy story that a man needs a very small place at the end (so greed is no good). The basic aim is citta-Suddhi. No inflated ego, lust, greed, one up man ship etc. Also, pravruttI or sahaja svabhava, and saMskAra also play a role there.

2/ I am already sounding like a guru, but I repeat what I told some one earlier; I don't think I am qualified to be even as a student. So, we can all share our thoughts rather than giving upadeSa.

3/ But are you really interested in moxa - that nirguNa and permanent state where you visit every night in your deep sleep? If yes, then you can find your own start-up method of nishkAma karma.

Regards
ananta


----- Original Message ----
From: Krunal Makwana <makwanakb at googlemail.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:43:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] moxa-sAdhanA

Jai Sri Krsna,

All Glories to Madhusudana Sarawati!

However for normal samsari's, there seems to be a fundamental flaw in the
first verse. Please don't get me wrong, MS has written crème de la crème
bhashya on BG but........

How can one perform self-less karma from the very on-set? To me there seems
to be pre-requisites which need to be ticked, before self-less karma can
even commence, don't you think? And if there are what are they?

To stop kamya karmas and avoid nishiddha karma seems more palatable at the
onset but not nish kaama karma straight away.

Please could you clarify this for me.

Kind regards,

Krunal
-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of Ananta
Bhagwat
Sent: 19 May 2008 19:52
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: [Advaita-l] moxa-sAdhanA

SrI madhusUdana sarasvatI in his invocation of gItA-bhAshya specifies
following steps of sAdhanA towards Liberation:

1/ Performance of self-less work (nishkAma karma) rejecting kAmya-karma and
avoiding nishiddha karma
2/ nishkAma karma should be performed till mind becomes fit for
'discrimination between permanent & transient' (viveka)
3/ Gradually follows detachment (vairAgya) by yatamAna (efforts), vyatireka
(exclusion of vAsanA), ekendriya (concentration), and vaSIkAra (complete
mind control).
4/ This vairAgya is stabilized through shat-saMpatti (shama, dama, uparati,
titiksha, SraddhA, samAdhAna) leading to mumukshatva (longing for moxa). One
then should approach the teacher for further instructions.
5/ Under the  instructions of guru one should undertake SravaNa (hearing and
understanding the vedAnta). Here whole of uttara- mImAMsA is covered.
6/ A  mature student develops nididhyAsa (profound meditation). The whole of
ashtAnga yoga (yama, niyama, Asana, prANAyAma, pratyAhAra, dhAraNA, dhyAna,
samAdhi) is taught for this purpose.
7/ Thereafter the mahAvAkyA-s can be heard; the shravaNa of mahAvAkyA-s
eradicates the nescience (avidyA) and tattva-jnAna arises.
8/ This jnAna burns the sancita karma; and AgAmIni karma do not accrue.
9/ Even after that prArabdha karma and vAsanA remain. These are exhausted
and eliminated through saMyama (dhAraNa, dhyAna and samAdhi learnt in step
6/.
10/ samAdhi sAdhanA is followed by mano-nASa (elimination of
mind-fluctuations) and vAsanA-kshaya (dissipation of past impressions).
11/ The triad of tattva-jnAna, mano-nASa, and vAsanA-kshaya firms up the
jIvana-mukti.
12/ sAdhaka who practices savikalpa and 2-stage nirvikalpa samAdhi is known
as jIvan-mukta or sthita-prajna.
The third stage of nirvikalpa samAdhi is permanent (videhamukti).

(a) I can see two important mile-stones; one: to be a qualified student by
acquiring sAdhana-catushtaya (viveka, vairAgya, shat-saMpatti, and
mumukshatva) and two: to realize Knowledge as jIvan-mukta or sthita-prajna.
(b) madhusUdana says whole of yoga scripture gets its purpose fulfilled in
this sAdhanA. 

ananta


      
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