Dear All,
I am extremely sorry for not being able to keep pace with your questions. But as soon as I am getting some free time, I am trying to fulfill it as a part of my responsibility.
Raja- How much external pleasure in life is important?
My answer: As much as you like.
Snehal-How do I evaluate the concept of heaven and hell?
My answer:They do exist in our minds if we want. I don't attach any value as such.
Rita- What is ultimate satisfaction?
My answer: The end of desire to get that satisfaction.
Linda: Have you come across Sankhya philosophy?
My answer: Yes. And there are some good things there. Advaita generally negates the fundamental concept of Sankhya philosophy.
Aneesh: Can there ever be an end of duality?
My answer: It cant, till you as a perceiver exist. Stop being you, thats the end of it.
Well there are many more questions, and I am all at sea about how to answer them all. But I must take this opportunity to thank you all for showing such patience. I am myself not in the best frame of my mind, due to excessive work load. Still the common point which I could see in those questions was about how to live a really free life? Forgive me for some personal questions and requests. If possible I would answer them personally.
So let me address the topic which I think would answer many more questions.
What are the joys of this world? So many sense enjoyments; beautiful things to see, beautiful things to hear, beautiful things to taste, beautiful things to smell, beautiful things to touch--------these are the attractions of the world. Everybody runs after these attractions. Nobody is free from this longing for the objects of the world. If thats the case, you are unfit for knowing the ultimate truth(Brahman), you should not even talk about the word.
External things dont exist atall, really. That is the whole point. They are scintillating apparitions, shadows, deceiving colours and sounds----therefore they do not exist. Asking pleasure from a non existant things is the worst defects one can discover in one's own mind. Why not have the longing for the pleasures in heaven? God is enjoying there; I will like to go to heaven; wonderful, wonderful, wonderful joy! Gods in heaven dont eat; they have no hunger; they don't want anything; they are satisfied with themselves. Oh that joy is wonderful for me. Let me go!---this desire also should be abandoned. Because the joys of heaven are only rarefied forms of sense pleasures, that desire should also go. The joys of this world and the joys of other worlds also must be rejected completely, by discriminative understanding.
Once you have this understanding, you are ready for Brahman. But the mind gets harassed by hearing so many contrary things. This man is telling that, that man is telling this---what am I to make out of all these? You go to so many places, read so many scriptures and so many philosophies. They are upsetting the mind. More the bombardment of information, more confusion it is. So better follow the one single point of truth, rather try figuring out different ways to reach there.
We will go down further deep into these questions in subsequent posts.
With lots of love and respect for one and all.