dattaswami Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Lie in spirituality The mother tells a lie to the child while giving food that if it eats the food the moon will come down. Such lie is good since it is for the welfare of the child and cannot be considered as sinful. But the mother cannot use the same lie for her elder grown up son who has taken a Ph.d. degree in astronomy while serving the food. Shankara says that such traditional tricks, which are called as Arthavaadas meaning lies applied to achieve welfare in the case of ignorant people, fail if applied to realized souls. He says that a knife cuts successfully a vegetable but utterly fails in cutting a stone (Shilaaprayukta Kshuradivat….). The lie should be protected and applied in the case of ignorant person standing on the ground before climbing the first step. But the same lie should be revealed by spiritual knowledge (Jnana Yoga) in the case of the devotee standing on the first step forever. Therefore, Vedas preached the instrumental devotion through performing sacrifices (Yajnas) to the beginners and finally revealed the truth through Upanishats so that the instrumental devotion is transformed into goal-devotion. The meaning of Narayana is the statue in the temple for the beginners who stood on the ground. The real meaning of Narayana, which means the source of Knowledge (Nara = Knowledge and Ayana = source) i.e., the contemporary human incarnation preaching you the truth. The people on the first step should go to Satguru for further guidance to reach the second higher step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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