Acharyas

Chelluri at AOL.COM Chelluri at AOL.COM
Tue Feb 17 20:18:10 CST 1998


                                        Brahmaiva Satyam

Acharyas attitude differs according to the time and places.

>From what I read and heard from Acharyas of past and present this is my
conclusion.   Next thing to know is WHY?   Do you know?

When asked a question the present day acharyani (I hope this is correct word)
told me that is dwapara yugam and this kali yugam.   I didnt get it.


                                                          nagy

>From  Wed Feb 18 07:47:24 1998
Message-Id: <WED.18.FEB.1998.074724.0500.>
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 07:47:24 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: Personal
Subject: radition, Truth - compatible???
Comments: To: Advaita List <Advaita-L at tamu.edu>
Comments: cc: Nanda.Chandran at NBC.COM
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"Chandran, Nanda (NBC)" <Nanda.Chandran at NBC.COM> writes
Subject:      T

Greetings Nanda:

Tradtion is a 'mean' and Truth is the 'end'.  Tradition is based on
beliefs (faith) and Truth is independent of beliefs. Truth is like the
mountain top and to reach the Truth, one can choose various means:
walking, riding on a horse, or flying on an helicopter. At the top of
the mountain, the path becomes irrelevant and the vision is the same for
all!
     Vedic Tradition (Sanatana Dharma) supports full freedom to the
followers and the religion was not institutionalized. Consequently,
there were neither religious institutions nor rigid rules.  Swami
Chinmayanda in his mission and vision statement declares:
" Though spirituality and religion should not be organized, it can be
unfolded; spiritual vitality can be unfolded within the heart of a human
being, only in perfect liberty and freedom. The world today has moved to
a situation wherein nothing can be done without organization. Even to
bless the society, to spread values of life, organization has become
very important and necessary. Organization is not in the Hindu
tradition. In Vedic days, such organizations were not there. So, if you
look for sanction of organized religion or the sanction of Vedic books,
you will find none. But as the number of people in the society
increased, the problems of the community multiplied, then religion could
no longer sustain the needs or answer the needs of
the community.

And thus the Puranic days came when religion first started conforming
itself as an organization, centered in the various temples in India. But
even at that time, there was only a minimum number of them--Badrinath,
Benaras, Rameshwaram and Dwarka. Then, five hundred years B.C.,
organization became more urgently needed and the first Hindu who brought
organization in the religion was Lord Buddha. Buddha had to organize his
team of workers, unified as bikus, through centers called Buddha Vihars.
Within another six or seven hundred years, Buddhism flourished and
decayed and became very decadent. And thus, the Indian spiritual
atmosphere became very chaotic. Hinduism also decayed. Buddhism also
decayed. Spiritual values decayed.

It was at that time that Adi Shankara appeared on the horizon and
brought about a certain amount of swift organization into Hinduism. More
and more temples were built and as temples became prominent in society,
they became the source of inspiration for the community. The temples
became the center from where spiritual ideas and thought were spread
into the community. But in time even these temples could no longer
inspire the members of the community and they also reached a
point of decadence."

When Sankara established the institutions, rigid rules became necessary
to protect the religious traditions and scriptures. The leaders of those
institutions including Chandrasekara Bharathi were obligated to stand by
the governing rules.  Rules and laws don't discriminate people according
to their spiritual maturity and there was a perfect understanding by the
spiritual leaders on the necessity of preservation of those rules. It is
no wonder why Ramana understood and supported the stand taken by
Chandrasekara Bharathi.

Finally, the compatiblity of tradition and Truth varies from person to
person according to the degree of their faith and conviction.  The
questions that you have raised are rather complex and I do not pretend
that I have either answered your questions or resolved all thes issues.

--
Ram Chandran
9374 Peter Roy Ct.
Burke, VA 22015
Ph: 703-912-5790

>From  Wed Feb 18 08:12:17 1998
Message-Id: <WED.18.FEB.1998.081217.0500.>
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 08:12:17 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: Personal
Subject: Acharyas
Comments: To: Advaita List <Advaita-L at tamu.edu>
Comments: cc: Chelluri at AOL.COM
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Chelluri at AOL.COM writes:

> Acharyas attitude differs according to the time and places........

Greetings Nagi:
Doctors' attitude differs and changes.
Economists' attitude differs and changes.
Teachers' attitude differes and changes.
Workers' attitude differes and changes.
Human attitude differs and changes.
Even attitude of twins differs and changes!
There is nothing peculiar about Acharyas.

Your statement about the Acharyas is just an expression of human
attitude and that changes according to time and place. We all expect the
world to change and forgetting the fundamental fact that it is we who
need to change! Human beings are special with the potential to bring and
propogate postive and negative sides of others. We can be better off by
stressing the positive aspects and forgetting the negative aspects. Is
it not true that Acharyas do agree on lots of things? Relatively, they
agree among them more than us. We always too eager to make quick
judgements on other's attitudes instead of changing our attitude.  What
is the reason for this pitfall? We either don't know or we don't have
means to explain. The statement "Kaliyuga"  is the represetation of a
time period of strange human behavior!

--
Ram Chandran
9374 Peter Roy Ct.
Burke, VA 22015
Ph: 703-912-5790

>From  Wed Feb 18 08:24:57 1998
Message-Id: <WED.18.FEB.1998.082457.0500.>
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 08:24:57 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: Personal
Subject: mAyA - illusion - unreal
Comments: To: Advaita List <Advaita-L at tamu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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mAyA - illusion - unreal

Brahman only knows Maayaa and Maayaa alone prevents knowing Brahman. The
world of Maayaa is real and the world of Brahaman is unreal. Life is
real as long as we live and becomes a "dream" with the realization of
Brahman.

--
Ram Chandran
9374 Peter Roy Ct.
Burke, VA 22015
Ph: 703-912-5790



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