Re: [Advaita-l] HAPPINESS LIES IN THE ELIMINATION OF EGO

[Prashant Parikh]

HariH om,

That would seem to be an erroneous conclusion. Firstly I don't believe the goal of Vedanta is to seek happiness by any stretch. It is to eliminate the fundamental human problem of taking oneself to be a limited entity, through the attainment of self knowledge, operating the shAstra as a shabda pramana, and unfolded by a sampradayavit. The outcome here isn't happiness, which is always in degrees (happy, very happy, ecstatic etc are but modes of the antahkarana), but freedom through the dissociation with upAdhis, and the sarvatma buddhi that accompanies the rise of knowledge.

Furthermore the ahankara doesn't need to be eliminated to attain mukti. It needs to be sublated. The ahankara that identified with the upadhi would then identify with satyam jnanam anantam brahma. The distinction between badhita and abadhita ahankara essentially. 

The above views are held valid per the sampradaya, and even by Pujya Swami Dayananda ji (who was Sw. Sukhabodhananda ji's teacher). 

Corporate Vedanta or, if I may say bluntly, the watering down of Vedanta for "accessibility and ease" often gives the notion of learning. And yes, no doubt some qualities are cultivated, such as humility, shraddha, bhakti etc toward the Guru and teachings, which will give "relative happiness", but the jnana tends to be in virodh to the actual teaching and may become a major impediment to the pursuit.

HariH om 

On Tue, May 24, 2022, 10:56 PM KAMESWARARAO MULA via Advaita-l <adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

Dear Members,                          Yesterday speaking tree article speaks about some thing benefits after the elimination of EGO by swami Sukhabodhananda. Swamiji was an excellent vedanta vorator & conducts spiritual classes at various levels across the globe. His excellent Book on " Oh! Mind Relax Please" is one of its kind and it is a treasure from most of his work. He puts the essence of the vedanta in simple terms so that even a common man (aam admi) can easily assimilate the contents.      Towards a Question of a Disciple on " Where does True Happiness Lies"?. Swamiji replied like this: 
One shouldn't look for the happiness in the external world  and in the world of objects (which can give the objective of Life). He has found pleasure in the materialistic world and one should differentiate between Happiness & Pleasure. 
Pleasure is something give by the sense organs (panchendriya's) where as Happiness lies within and it is not known to the human naked eye unless you cut your own ego.
Vidya is not collecting the information going to a college & getting a degree. It can be obtained only by " SUSHRUSHA" to a GURU. Man has looked for the happiness outside and found the pleasure and believes both are same. In reality, they are not, Different completely in all aspects.
To Look within means, look inside the body, look inside the mind, look inside the feelings. When some one starts looking within , he can fins some empty space within the mind, within the body, within the feelings, which is can sometimes be termed as Freedom (although none has that). The beyond ness in the inner space is not limited to body, mind, emotions & feelings.
In the Deep Sleep (Turiya), no one feel body, mind, feelings , but still feels a joy of Happiness. 
Misery is the Result of EGO, and EGO's existence only in misery.
If you have misery (there by the birth of EGO) and one can never get Happiness. Misery can exsists in all states effortlessly. 
EGO can be defines as " An arrogant self which is proud of its achievements". EGO can be eliminated by cultivating HUMILITY.  Joy comes in HUMBLENESS, In True Joy, EGO can'T exsists. 
We are Imprisioned by our own EGO and bounded in that cage. Since we have ego, we can'T grow spiritually, Ego is like a Rock which will not allow the Human plant going into the deep roots in the Ground. Understanding that EGO is like a grave and one shouldn't live in a grave and it is not a safe place to live.
But EGO has its own energy: One has to Transform this energy into JOY, HAPPINESS, HUMILITY & HUMBLNESS Which can give LOVE leads to HAPPINESS.
Prostrations to the lotus feet of Swami Sri Sukhabodhananda for his wondefull expression of vedantic interpretation in simple terms.
Sri Guru Padaravindarpana Mastu
Kameswara


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[Praveen R. Bhat]

Namaste Prashantji,

On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 6:25 PM Prashant Parikh <prashan...@gmail.com> wrote:

That would seem to be an erroneous conclusion. Firstly I don't believe the goal of Vedanta is to seek happiness by any stretch...

The above views are held valid per the sampradaya, 

The (orthodox) sampradAya view of mokSha, the end goal of all pursuits, is Atyantika-duHkha-nivRtti, niratishaya-sukha-prApti. Upanishad says bhUmA vai sukham, na-alpe sukham asti. viShayasukha is to be shunned, but svarUpAnanda cannot even be avoided! A jIvanmukta's antaHkaraNa being shuddha cannot but reflect svarUpAnanda. IMO, everything else can likely spiral down into jnAnAbhAsa!

gurupAdukAbhyAm,
--Praveen R. Bhat

/* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know That, owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */

[Prashant Parikh]

Namaste Praveen ji,

Agreed :) The distinction I'm making is the means (elimination of ahankara) seems incongruent on two levels. First the proposal that the ahankara can at all be eliminated (it can be shaved down, but not made void) through cultivation of daivi sampatti without alluding to jnana. Second is the notion that it will lead to unimpeded sukham, such as in samadhi where the ajnani's ahankara may be resolved but upon awakening we may still find ourselves battered by the angst of life. The sukham arising from the prerequisite chitta shuddhi, in a mind where jnana is established, is not subject to such reversals.

But indeed, to your point, for all intents and purposes, a mind rendered wholly pure would only be half a step removed from jnana nishtha. My contention is about the general framework of ahankara requiring elimination. 
The issue with the original summation of Sukhabodhananda's words is that it does not make a case for jnana prapti and may at best provide only a partial framework for a sadhaka truly seeking dukha nivritti / sukh prapti. 

Namaste,
Prashant

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