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Re: Question.

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bindinganavale suresh • June 21, 2000 


Dear Bhagavathas,
                 Many thanks to Sri.peggy,Sri.Keshavan
Ramanuja and Sri.Mani vardarajan for clarifying my
doubt on slokha 37 of chapter 4 of the Bhagavad gita.

For the benefit of all the members of the list,i write
down the following conclusion resulting from the
answers given by the bhagavathas mentioned above:-

Self Knowledge nullifies all the karmas of an
individual by removing the root cause for the
experience or further creation of karmas,which is the
"Identification of the non-self or body with the
self".Such a state happens during the direct vision of
the self.Infact an application of the Intellectual
understanding of the self in our daily life helps us
to maintain our tranquility with respect to desirable
or undesirable events and also prevents us from
committing further errors or karmas.
But,such an realisation is effected by an Individual's
efforts in the right direction and by the grace of the
Lord,who gives the fruits of an Individual's karma.

In fact the Lord himself has mentioned this in the
Gita
in slokha 61 of chapter 2,where he gives the solution 
for getting over the cyclic dependency of control over
the senses and vision of self or the cyclic dependency
of Karma and Ignorance.Another slokha 27 of chapter 14
also supports this.   

More information on the same is welcomed.
Sri Krishnaarpanamasthu
B.N.Suresh

--- Mani Varadarajan 
wrote:
> 
> Hi Suresh,
> 
> I was waiting for the learned members of our list to
> respond, but seeing as they haven't, I will venture
> a
> response.
> 
> You asked:
> > Dear bhagavathas,
> >                  I have a question regarding
> slokha 37 of
> > chapter 4 of Bhagavad gita,where Lord Krishna
> talks about the
> > purifying effect of the Knowledge of the self and
> he says :
> > 
> >        yathaidhamsi samiddho 'gnir 
> >        bhasmasat kurute 'rjuna 
> >        jnanagnih sarva-karmani 
> >        bhasmasat kurute tatha
> > 
> > Meaning : Just as a well kindled or blazing fire
> reduces
> > firewood to ashes,so does the fire of
> knowledge(i.e knowledge
> > of self in the present context) nullifies all
> karma.
> > 
> > Question: Logically speaking "Knowledge can
> nullify ignorance
> > as it is opposed to knowledge".But "Karma, is
> understood as
> > result or fruits of our past deeds".Then How can
> knowledge or
> > gnana nullify karma,which is not opposed to the
> same?.At
> > best,knowledge can enlighten us about our true
> nature,but how
> > can it destroy our karmas?.
> 
> I think the key here is to understand what 'karma'
> means in this
> context.  If one acts in accordance with his true
> nature and
> in accordance to the dictate of shastra, God is
> favorably disposed
> to him and blesses him. If one acts in a manner
> contrary
> to one's nature and shastra, God is infavorably
> disposed and
> punishes him.  Such blessings are expressed in the
> jIva
> as various states of consciousness, conferred by God
> upon
> the jIva in accordance with his actions and
> attitudes. 
> 
> The dawning of the true knowledge the self, i.e.,
> Atma-avalOkana
> or self-vision, implies a change in the state of
> consciousness of the
> individual.  Since karma expresses itself as a
> "dent" as it were
> in this consciousness, Atma-jnAna is definitely
> opposed to it 
> and can destroy the *effect* of the karma, which I
> believe is
> what is mentioned here.
> 
> This is what I can gather from the context, and from
> my reading
> of Sri S.M. Srinivasa Chari's "Fundamentals of
> Visistadvaita", pp.
> 360-66. All errors are mind.
> 
> aDiyEn
> mani rAmAnuja dAsan
> 
>  
> 


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