[Advaita-l] Karma yoga: the kinder, softer preparation for self-inquiry and surrender

[H S Chandramouli]

Dear Venkat,

Reg  << My understanding is that for Ramana, like Sankara, knowledge /
understanding is the primary path. Knowledge in the sense that you are not
the body-mind and the world is not real.  Thereafter to understand and
constantly apply neti, neti - discarding all thoughts - in order to focus
on the ‘I’-thought, and thereby realise for yourself that it is not
substantial >>,

Realizing for oneself that the ‘I’ thought is not substantial??  That is
where I think the problem lies. The ‘I’ thought is a composite, of THE
Substantial namely *Chaitanya* or *Consciousness* and the ‘not substantial’
namely the mind or thought. The two are inextricably intertwined and
referred to as the *hrudayagranthi*. It is the fundamental adhyAsa on which
successive adhyAsas/superimpositions like sense organs/body/world etc are
overlaid. For Realization, even the way Sri Maharshi conceieves it, it is
necessary to separate the two in the ‘I’ and discard the inert part as ‘not
substantial’ , leaving the Conscious portion alone as The Substantial. (For
the sake of clarity I have not paid much attention to exactness in
language, just take the spirit of the idea). Maybe by effort the subsequent
overlaid ahyAsas/superimpositions  can be discarded through neti neti
principle because they are all essentially due to inert entities. But such
is not the case with the ‘I’ principle. It involves a mixup of inert and
Conscious principles which together is experienced as a Conscious principle
itself. Without the assistance of Shruti , apart from supplementary things,
it is impossible to separate the two and discard the inert portion alone as
‘not substantial’. That is the position of Advaita as advanced by Sri
Bhagavatpada.
 Regards

On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 10:06 PM Ven Balakrishnan <ventzu at yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

> Dear HS Chandramouli
>
> My understanding is that for Ramana, like Sankara, knowledge /
> understanding is the primary path.  Knowledge in the sense that you are not
> the body-mind and the world is not real.  Thereafter to understand and
> constantly apply neti, neti - discarding all thoughts - in order to focus
> on the ‘I’-thought, and thereby realise for yourself that it is not
> substantial.
>
> So there are stories of where 2 people were arguing in the ashram kitchen,
> and then suddenly spotted Bhagavan watching them and they became
> embarrassed; the story goes that he told them not to feel shy, but to use
> the opportunity to see the ego in all its strength.  Similarly, he said,
> whenever a desire arises look to find the one that has the desire.
>
> With respect to the two DSV theories, I’m not sure they are that
> different, and in any event it is a provisional step, on the way to ajata
> vada.  So probably don’t get distracted by the nuances of one or the other.
>
> Best wishes,
> venkat
>
>
>