Guest guest Report post Posted February 12, 1999 sadananda [sada] Friday, February 12, 1999 9:27 AM advaitin Re: surrender in advaita >Please explain what is the place of surrender in an advaitin's search for >Self-knowledge. What should he surrender to? What shall prompt him to >surrender? > >with pranams >vijayakumar - Bhagavan Ramana describes this beautifully in Update Sara: ahami naashabaagyahamaham taayaa| spurati hRit swayam param puurNa sat|| When the false I falls(ego is surrendered), then in that place aham, aham - I am - I am - swayam spurati - spontaneously raises - This "I am" that raises is different from the previous "I am" (ego) with notions that I am this and that etc., since it is paramam - supreme (there is nothing beyond it); puurnam - Infinite without limitations since limitations belong to "this" and "that". and Sat swaruupam - nature of pure existence with no qualifications attached to "I am". Where does it raise - in ones own inner core of personality where "I am" (ego) currently raising along with notions that as I am body, mind or intellect etc. Hence here also the surrenderence of ego, the false notions about my self replaced by the true knowledge of my self - as the self in all and all are in myself - sarva bhuutasta maatmaanam sarva bhuutanica aatmani - What should he surrender to - Here surrenderence is not something surrendering to something - it is only negation process - neti - neti etc. I am not this not this since there is no object for surrenderence. Via negation one ascertains who one is. Realization of what I am searching for, I am searching with. Tat twam asi - neti neti is a part of inquiry of who I am not, by negating what I am not. What is left after all negations is the negator who is negating. and cannot negate oneself. That I am. The very inquiry is the surrenderence of the ego. As JK puts it; the very observation of ones conditioning releases one from his conditioning. Knowledge of who I am raises. In vishishhTaadvaita the knowledge of the Lord raises - there the Lord is different from me yet I am part of Him not independent of Him. The total is one - Creation is the grossification of the subtle existence. What shall prompt one to surrender - There is a famous sloka in the Mundaka Upanishad - pariiksha locaan karma chitaan brahmano nirvedamaayaa naasch kRitah kRitena tat viJNaanaartham sa guru mevaabhigachhet samit paaNiH strotriyam brahman nishTaam|| At some stage in life - a question arises - what is all this means? one is looking for happiness in all pursuits and one is unable to get an everlasting happiness from external involvement. By examining ones owns action- prompted results, one realizes that by doing action one cannot gain any everlasting happiness. That is the time, the scripture advisees the sadhak to approach a proper teacher to guide one self. One should approach a teacher with full of humility with an attitude of service - to that teacher who is fully established in the truth and who can come down and communicate this knowledge to the student. So what prompts one to surrender - a realization that all other means are not useful to secure what one is looking for - an eternal happiness. Hari Om! Sadananda Harsha: Beautiful and eloquent response from Sadananda Ji. Thank you. Will take the liberty to forward this portion. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted February 12, 1999 Um, Can you enlighten me to what an advaita is? thanks | Debora A. Orf | The earth was not given to us by our parents, | dorf01 | It was loaned to us by our children. | | --unknown | Programmer/Analyst | | SCCCLD | Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
