The Vedas

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Chandran, Nanda (NBC) wrote:

> I've a few questions on this too. Where exactly does truth begin and end?
> Recently I'd a serious argument with an American who thinks the Aryan
> invasion theory in India is true. I brought out all the traditional
> arguments and when I'd finally cornered him, he'd the audacity to say that
> all this doesn't really matter as all this is in the realm of Maya and what
> really matters is realizing Brahman!
>

It's sad to say but much of the modern fascination with Vedanta stems from
people who think it's an excuse for not thinking straight.  This is a
reflection on them not Vedanta though.


> I don't really agree with this, for if we don't observe truth at all levels,
> however basic, how can we ever hope to reach the supreme truth?

We can't.

> For the sake
> of preserving amity and the equality and secularism etc can the Truth be
> ignored?

True peace can only come from the truth.  One only has to look at the
wreckage of socialism to see what havoc people can do with good
intentions.

> This is one of the minor, but important points which has troubled
> me always.

It should be troubling.  Truth is a word that gets bandied about a lot on
this list so it behooves us to look into the meaning of truth before
proceeding further.  Epistemology is one of the major preoccupations of
the Advaita Acharyas.

> Sometime back I'd asked the knowledgeable to respond
to the
> validity of a scripture like Manusmriti being treated as a valid source of
> knowledge, but that message didn't elicit any response.
>
> Shouldn't we clear this up?

I don't recall that question.  What do you want to know?

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>