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Mundakopanishad with bhAShya
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श्रीगुरुभ्यो नमः। Namaste.
(This may be forwarded as felt appropriate till 15th April 2020)
मुण्डकोपनिषद्भाष्य will be taught यथाशक्ति online via FreeConferenceCall or Zoom in Kannada-Havigannada and maybe some English mix by Praveen R. Bhat, from 1130-1230hrs IST daily, except Thursday and maybe some other days, starting this Friday, 17th April 2020. The course is free; donations are welcome, but only from gRhasthas or those earning.
From prior experiences, following are the strict eligibilty criteria:
--First and foremost, ability to attend the live pATha daily at given timings with saucha, not via recordings and without multitasking!
--Average Sanskrit knowhow and, obviously, Kannada with some dialect mix with an interest in mokSha-shAstra that is not academic.
--nityasandhyA at least once; in the case of a woman, if married, the husband or if unmarried, the father should be doing nityasandhyA. In other words, "I am spiritual, not religious" requests will be ignored. :-)
--shraddhA in the shruti and advaita-sampradAya.
--Studied at least basic Vedanta such as tattvabodha/ vedAntasAra from the sampradAya. Self-learning through books doesn't count.
Those interested may kindly send their request to join the pATha with their full name and responding to all the above terms by mentioning how they are placed w.r.t. each of the five terms in the comment with their email id or Whatsapp phone number.
PS: Adding your gotra, vedashAkhA and pravara would be beneficial.
धन्योस्मि। गुरुपादुकाभ्याम्।
Sanskrit tuitions
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After much thought and ignoring suggestions, finally I started teaching Sanskrit for tuition. Sanskrit is neither something that masses care to learn, much less pay for it. Although I don't feel good that I have to charge for to teach Sanskrit vyAkarana which is a vedAMga, its Apaddharma for me now! I advertised at two places and got a couple of students:
Some of my earlier or current Sanskrit and/ or Vedanta students have been kind enough to leave me a review on the former. Many thanks to them, though its exaggerated. :-)
I'll also start posting recordings of my classes and completed courses here with an irritating request to donate. :-)
gurupAdukAbhyAm
I'll also start posting recordings of my classes and completed courses here with an irritating request to donate. :-)
gurupAdukAbhyAm
Thoughts 116
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११६. किं साधनं कः साध्यः एतयोः विवेकः नैव दृश्यते लोके। साध्यप्राप्तये परधर्ममपि नैकः स्वीकरोति, स्वधर्मं त्यक्त्वापि, तस्मिन्नेव परधर्मे वसति, साध्यं विस्मरति। साधनं कदापि दुष्पूरं भाति, तथैव तत्र भगवता श्रीकृष्णेन कामः महाशनः अनल इत्युक्तम्। एषः कामः सर्वं अश्नाति तर्हि अलं न विद्यते अस्येति। जीविकां साधनत्वेन न पश्यन् साध्यमिव पश्यति सर्वः। कुतो मोक्षः।
श्रीगुरुभ्यो नमः।
Thoughts 115
Thoughts 115: The child who keeps yelling and crying in a nightmare and refuses to wake up, when woken up by the loving mother who is awake, continues to yell, cry and suffer. The mother can only hope that she manifests in the nightmare to bring her child out. What else can Shruti do!
Do you have brahmajnAna?
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There was a question to the effect so: you have studied prasthAnatraya and are involved in tarka with technical words, but why is it that you are not a brahmajnAnI?
It is a valid question, if it really was a question, and I shall answer it in the context of anyone, as my personal issue is useless to anyone. However, I may also be considered as falling within the following if it helps. The journey to brahmajnAna begins with mumukShutva, which is not possible without a good amount of chittashuddhi, which assumes viveka-driven vairAgya and shaTsampatti. However, wanting mokSha also, meaning mokSha among other things, brings neither this nor that! It is this type of mumukShutva that most of the people that we know have, which is technically not that at all. We are unwilling to work hard on our chitta at the cost of our jobs/businesses/livelihoods, fame, possessions, luxurious lifestyles, etc. We have all sorts of excuses for not doing our nityakarma, why-- most of us don't even know our nityakarma, let alone do it. Many others among us entered late into it and do what we can. Then we pick simpler options that will bring chittashuddhi such as tIrthayAtra which may be more of sightseeing than anything else, temple visits, dAna, etc. We are more comfortable with this approach than have shraddhA in a guru and do gurusevA, as we have more-or-less concluded that "there are no real gurus" today, or less likely "I am unfit to find a guru", or its impractical in this day, or whatever.
With all that going on, we also come across several books with translations, blogs, mailing lists, groups, online classes, recordings, and some nearby satsanga to bring us jnAna! It is this jnAna that we think is theoretical and needs practice, not the jnAna that comes out of systematic study under a guru. With either of these, there is also possibility of jnAnotpatti that feels so real sometimes, and I am not talking that under emotional unrest, that we think "this is it", but as Sw. Paramarthanandaji says, it lasts only till we wear our footwear after satsanga! This is the reason we end up thinking that brahmajnAna is very difficult and worse yet, brahmajnAna doesn't mean mukti but "I need brahmAnubhava". However, the fact is to the contrary: the indulgence in the world like before takes away that "feeling" which was undoubtedly not different from experience. To avoid this, Bhagavatpadacharya has said that a person who wants mokSha should give up everything lock, stock and barrel at the very glimpse of that non-dual reality, or that mithyAtva-feeling towards the world. Rarely does anyone do so today. Those who want to are unable to, due to their prabala-prArabdha presenting obstacles at every moment taking away decades till the time is ripe! This prArabdha manifests as family dependencies, health problems, kuNDali issues, etc; take your pick! So what is left is a balancing act trying to do what you can for continuing chittashuddhi, shravaNa and manana. The main reason for prArabdha to bring in hurdles is that the vAsanas are ready to manifest as obstacles and sannyAsa is a strict no as per shAstras when this happens. One is lacking chittashuddhi as one has been a gatecrasher to the shravaNa-party! At this stage, taking to japa, pUja, yajna, and/ or upAsana, and avoiding indulgence of any kind is called for. This can continue lifelong and may lead to videhamukti if the person has knowledge free from all doubts. However, jivanmukti, meaning Ananda, is not possible without sannyAsa or at the very least, solitude. If not at the stage of shravaNa, sannyAsa is called for at the stage of nididhyAsa. A person who is unable to take sannyAsa is held back by a similar prArabdha that denies shravaNa in the first place. Now then, what hope is there? A person doing continuous shravaNa giving up indulgence along with desires, and going along with prArabdha without opposing it, is either led to sannyAsa in time or is sure to get videhamukti on the fall of the body.
In other words, brahmajnAna is not that difficult, but niShThA is extremely difficult because it needs a lot of sAdhana that is skipped before jnAna, making dropping-off everything difficult! (An ideal adhikArI is a kRtopAsti). And then people start questioning brahmajnAna itself and so on goes saMsAra, be it hunting for more jnAna or anubhava.
gurupAdukAbhyAm
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