Re: Bhakti in Advaita
Originally Posted by
ale84
Hello, I'm doing japa to Lord Ganesha.
I'm chanting the mantra "Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha" 108 times.
My question is: how should I view Lord Ganesha? What is Ganesha from the advaitic point of view?
Should I consider him as Nirguna Brahman? Or as Ishvara/cosmic mind? Or as an aspect of Ishvara?
Does he control the law of karma?
If He can remove material and spiritual obstacles, then He must have some attributes.
Or should I view him as a symbol to focus my mind on the Absolute?
Thanks.
Namaste,
"Bhakti" literally means, "division". So as you can see, if you are sincere enough, Advaita and Bhakti don't go together very well.
With time, mental maturity, one overgrows philosophies. Ganesha will, however, be still there.
There is, in the final sum, nothing to choose between the so called "form" and the so called "formless".
KT
Things to remember:
1. Life = yajña
2. Depth of Āstika knowledge is directly proportional
to the richness of Sanskrit it is written in
3. Āstika = Bhārata ("east") / Ārya ("west")
4. Varṇa = tripartite division of Vedic polity
5. r = c. x²
where,
r = realisation
constant c = intelligence
variable x = bhakti
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