Shiva and Advaita - What's the connection?

[Guest guest]

Hi Sundeep,

 

Just like the world has lot of different types of civilizations,

there are different levels of spiritual needs of a person based on

where he has evolved spiritually. Based on this, one's karma and

dharma differ since the purpose of human life is to finally evolve to

god or godliness.

 

When it comes to Dvaita or duality, man perceives god as different

from oneself.

 

When it comes to Advaita or non-duality, man perceives god as himself.

 

Irrespective of whether or not we would agree with any particular

view, it is true that we all have a basic temperament.

 

The temperament with most people is to perceive differences. The

differences include those based on race, religion, language, etc. at

the higher level, then to group, family at the next level, and within

that, to perceive differences on education, income, abilities, and so

on. At this level, man is subject or prone to lots of mistakes due to

thoughts formed on the basis of the perceptions of the mind, which is

used to seeing differences. So man at this level becomes the

candidate for Dvaita or Duality, where god is "different" from

oneself, and the dharma to be followed at this stage is one of being

responsible to the family (spouse and children) first, then being

responsible to god (serving elders, charity, and contributing to the

society) and finally being responsible for oneself (pursuing

education, profession and all efforts made for one's betterment and

self-gratification). When a person contributes at satisfactory levels

to these three major responsibilities, then the mind gradually starts

getting tired of performing these duties which is when the man feels

that such differences do not hold much meaning, and which is when man

feels very close to god and starts to feel the non-differentiation

between himself (Atman) and god.

 

Hence Advaita becomes the next and final level after following Dvaita

to ascend to god. At this level, the mind does not see the

difference. Men seem the same across cultures, religions, races,

families, groups, education/income levels, etc and also the mind

perceives man to be equal to any other living being due to lack of

differentiation. At this advanced level, since the mind of free of

proneness to mistakes due to the lack of perceiving differences,

doing actions/dharma that are prescribed when the mind was earlier

seeing differences (such as doing the 3 types of responsibilities)

will not serve any good for the free atman to evolve further. Hence

at this stage, the only mode for final emancipation is when the atman

is realized by practices such as deep yoga or penance, when the

Kundalini shakti arises and activates the other chakras of the body,

such as the way ancient yogis and Sanyasis are stated to reach.

 

Shiva represents Advaita since Siva is a great Yogi. Vishnu

represents Dvaita as Vishnu represents love, which is the basis of

the successful performance of the 3 major responsibilities as a

duality based mind.

 

After following Dvaita, Advaita should be finally practised, or else,

it is not possible to realize the Atman fully, which is the same as

attaining complete Moksha.

 

There are statements in the story of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa that

he adviced certain other worshippers of Kali and Siddhas to quit

Dvaita based worship and start following Advaita based penance to

realize Atman, since they were already spiritually evolved enough for

following Dvaita.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

With best regards,

 

Jayashree

 

vedic astrology, "vedicastrostudent"

<vedicastrostudent> wrote:

> On a completely different note from my other posts, I have been

> recently been trying to understand if there is a connection between

> Shiva and the Advaita theory. From what I know, the Advaita theory

> was given (or lucidly interpreted from the Upanishads perhaps) by

Adi

> Sankaracharya, and he is regarded as an incarnation of Shiva. In my

> limited understanding, Advaita is the theory of non-duality - that

> the sensory world is nothing but an illusion and that the reality

is

> that everything is Brahman. Without provoking people into

unnecessary

> conflict on the personality or impersonality of the final truth, I

> still want to know: How can an incarnation of a God expound a

theory

> which takes away from the God himself. It seems to me that Advaita

> implies that even the images of God (Shiva included) are an

illusion,

> no? Or am I misunderstanding something? And in general why (if at

> all) is Shiva seemingly and however indirectly connected to

Advaita?

> And from an astrological point of view, does Shiva yoga (Sun & Ketu

> in trines to Lagna or AK) imply similar tendencies in a person

(i.e.

> toward Advaita or the search for the fundamental truth?).. Please

> elaborate..

>

> Thank you and hope I didnt offend anyone by making illogical

> connections,

>

> Sundeep

[Guest guest]

Very helpful, thank you. Can you please also answer the astrological

question: Does Shiva Yoga (Sun and Ketu in trines to Lagna or AK)

mean the pursuit of an Advaitic path then?

 

 

Thank you again,

 

Sundeep

 

 

vedic astrology, "Jayashree"

<jayashree_ravi@m...> wrote:

> Hi Sundeep,

>

> Just like the world has lot of different types of civilizations,

> there are different levels of spiritual needs of a person based on

> where he has evolved spiritually. Based on this, one's karma and

> dharma differ since the purpose of human life is to finally evolve

to

> god or godliness.

>

> When it comes to Dvaita or duality, man perceives god as different

> from oneself.

>

> When it comes to Advaita or non-duality, man perceives god as

himself.

>

> Irrespective of whether or not we would agree with any particular

> view, it is true that we all have a basic temperament.

>

> The temperament with most people is to perceive differences. The

> differences include those based on race, religion, language, etc.

at

> the higher level, then to group, family at the next level, and

within

> that, to perceive differences on education, income, abilities, and

so

> on. At this level, man is subject or prone to lots of mistakes due

to

> thoughts formed on the basis of the perceptions of the mind, which

is

> used to seeing differences. So man at this level becomes the

> candidate for Dvaita or Duality, where god is "different" from

> oneself, and the dharma to be followed at this stage is one of

being

> responsible to the family (spouse and children) first, then being

> responsible to god (serving elders, charity, and contributing to

the

> society) and finally being responsible for oneself (pursuing

> education, profession and all efforts made for one's betterment and

> self-gratification). When a person contributes at satisfactory

levels

> to these three major responsibilities, then the mind gradually

starts

> getting tired of performing these duties which is when the man

feels

> that such differences do not hold much meaning, and which is when

man

> feels very close to god and starts to feel the non-differentiation

> between himself (Atman) and god.

>

> Hence Advaita becomes the next and final level after following

Dvaita

> to ascend to god. At this level, the mind does not see the

> difference. Men seem the same across cultures, religions, races,

> families, groups, education/income levels, etc and also the mind

> perceives man to be equal to any other living being due to lack of

> differentiation. At this advanced level, since the mind of free of

> proneness to mistakes due to the lack of perceiving differences,

> doing actions/dharma that are prescribed when the mind was earlier

> seeing differences (such as doing the 3 types of responsibilities)

> will not serve any good for the free atman to evolve further. Hence

> at this stage, the only mode for final emancipation is when the

atman

> is realized by practices such as deep yoga or penance, when the

> Kundalini shakti arises and activates the other chakras of the

body,

> such as the way ancient yogis and Sanyasis are stated to reach.

>

> Shiva represents Advaita since Siva is a great Yogi. Vishnu

> represents Dvaita as Vishnu represents love, which is the basis of

> the successful performance of the 3 major responsibilities as a

> duality based mind.

>

> After following Dvaita, Advaita should be finally practised, or

else,

> it is not possible to realize the Atman fully, which is the same as

> attaining complete Moksha.

>

> There are statements in the story of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

that

> he adviced certain other worshippers of Kali and Siddhas to quit

> Dvaita based worship and start following Advaita based penance to

> realize Atman, since they were already spiritually evolved enough

for

> following Dvaita.

>

> Hope this is helpful.

>

> With best regards,

>

> Jayashree

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Sundeep,

 

> Very helpful, thank you. Can you please also answer the

astrological

> question: Does Shiva Yoga (Sun and Ketu in trines to Lagna or AK)

> mean the pursuit of an Advaitic path then?

>

> Thank you again,

>

> Sundeep

 

No.

 

Counter-example: Look at Srila Prabhupada. He had Sun and Ketu

together in a trine from lagna and paka lagna and in 7th from AK. He

was not an Advaitin.

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha

[Guest guest]

Hi Sundeep,

 

I'm sorry, I don't know about Shiva Yoga.

 

With best regards,

 

Jayashree

 

vedic astrology, "vedicastrostudent"

<vedicastrostudent> wrote:

> Very helpful, thank you. Can you please also answer the

astrological

> question: Does Shiva Yoga (Sun and Ketu in trines to Lagna or AK)

> mean the pursuit of an Advaitic path then?

>

>

> Thank you again,

>

> Sundeep

>

>

> vedic astrology, "Jayashree"

> <jayashree_ravi@m...> wrote:

> > Hi Sundeep,

> >

> > Just like the world has lot of different types of civilizations,

> > there are different levels of spiritual needs of a person based

on

> > where he has evolved spiritually. Based on this, one's karma and

> > dharma differ since the purpose of human life is to finally

evolve

> to

> > god or godliness.

> >

> > When it comes to Dvaita or duality, man perceives god as

different

> > from oneself.

> >

> > When it comes to Advaita or non-duality, man perceives god as

> himself.

> >

> > Irrespective of whether or not we would agree with any particular

> > view, it is true that we all have a basic temperament.

> >

> > The temperament with most people is to perceive differences. The

> > differences include those based on race, religion, language, etc.

> at

> > the higher level, then to group, family at the next level, and

> within

> > that, to perceive differences on education, income, abilities,

and

> so

> > on. At this level, man is subject or prone to lots of mistakes

due

> to

> > thoughts formed on the basis of the perceptions of the mind,

which

> is

> > used to seeing differences. So man at this level becomes the

> > candidate for Dvaita or Duality, where god is "different" from

> > oneself, and the dharma to be followed at this stage is one of

> being

> > responsible to the family (spouse and children) first, then being

> > responsible to god (serving elders, charity, and contributing to

> the

> > society) and finally being responsible for oneself (pursuing

> > education, profession and all efforts made for one's betterment

and

> > self-gratification). When a person contributes at satisfactory

> levels

> > to these three major responsibilities, then the mind gradually

> starts

> > getting tired of performing these duties which is when the man

> feels

> > that such differences do not hold much meaning, and which is when

> man

> > feels very close to god and starts to feel the non-

differentiation

> > between himself (Atman) and god.

> >

> > Hence Advaita becomes the next and final level after following

> Dvaita

> > to ascend to god. At this level, the mind does not see the

> > difference. Men seem the same across cultures, religions, races,

> > families, groups, education/income levels, etc and also the mind

> > perceives man to be equal to any other living being due to lack

of

> > differentiation. At this advanced level, since the mind of free

of

> > proneness to mistakes due to the lack of perceiving differences,

> > doing actions/dharma that are prescribed when the mind was

earlier

> > seeing differences (such as doing the 3 types of

responsibilities)

> > will not serve any good for the free atman to evolve further.

Hence

> > at this stage, the only mode for final emancipation is when the

> atman

> > is realized by practices such as deep yoga or penance, when the

> > Kundalini shakti arises and activates the other chakras of the

> body,

> > such as the way ancient yogis and Sanyasis are stated to reach.

> >

> > Shiva represents Advaita since Siva is a great Yogi. Vishnu

> > represents Dvaita as Vishnu represents love, which is the basis

of

> > the successful performance of the 3 major responsibilities as a

> > duality based mind.

> >

> > After following Dvaita, Advaita should be finally practised, or

> else,

> > it is not possible to realize the Atman fully, which is the same

as

> > attaining complete Moksha.

> >

> > There are statements in the story of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

> that

> > he adviced certain other worshippers of Kali and Siddhas to quit

> > Dvaita based worship and start following Advaita based penance to

> > realize Atman, since they were already spiritually evolved enough

> for

> > following Dvaita.

> >

> > Hope this is helpful.

> >

> > With best regards,

> >

> > Jayashree

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sir,

 

Well, I am not sure. It should be possible. It should be based on

lagna and AK in vimsamsa (chart of spiritual progress). I have some

thoughts, but haven't verified them with real charts. If you have

15 charts of people with Advaita inclinatiojn, 15 charts of people

with Dwaita inclination and 15 charts of people with Visishtadwaita

inclination, please send the charts to me. I may be able to give

you the rules based on vimsamsa.

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha

 

> Om Namo Narayanayaa

> Sri Raghavendraaya Namah

> Sri Guruve Namha

>

> Dear Sirs

>

> There is nothing astrological to say that one is Dwaiti or

Advaiti.Dwaita path,Advaita Path,Vishishta Advaita path are various

schools of panthic thoughts.Sri Ramanuja propogated

vishishtaadvaita, Sri Shankaracharya propoagated advaita and Sri

Raghavendra propagated Dwaita philosophy.

>

> "Aakashath Pathitam Thoyam Sagaram Prati Gachati "

> regards

> Ananthakrishnan Parthasarathy

> short name ; Ananth

> pvr108 <pvr@c...> wrote:

> Dear Sundeep,

>

> > Very helpful, thank you. Can you please also answer the

> astrological

> > question: Does Shiva Yoga (Sun and Ketu in trines to Lagna or

AK)

> > mean the pursuit of an Advaitic path then?

> >

> > Thank you again,

> >

> > Sundeep

>

> No.

>

> Counter-example: Look at Srila Prabhupada. He had Sun and Ketu

> together in a trine from lagna and paka lagna and in 7th from AK.

He

> was not an Advaitin.

>

> May Jupiter's light shine on us,

> Narasimha