Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam ?

Ravisankar Mayavaram msr at ISC.TAMU.EDU
Tue Mar 16 17:31:01 CST 1999


On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, nanda chandran wrote:

> century. It's originally supposed to have existed in some other place in
> Tamil Nadu (it's actually a pretty famous town in TN, but at this point
> it escapes me! Could somebody else can provide the name?).

 It was in kumbhakoNam (aka kuDandai).

Ravi

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>From  Tue Mar 16 18:24:04 1999
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 18:24:04 -0600
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To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Parisi & Watson <niche at AMERITECH.NET>
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Subject: Philosophical Views and Certain Knowledge
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I have a question that's not so much about the Advaita teachings
themselves as about our stance in relation to them. I hope it will still
be considered appropriate for the list.

When bringing up the ideas of Vedanta in contexts outside this mailing
list, I have occasionally been met with the response, "Have you
experienced this yourself, or are you just spouting the ideas of
others?" with the clear implication that it is presumptuous and
fraudulent to offer as true ideas that I have not verified in my own
experience. Even here in the list, I have seen the statement, "Those who
know do not speak, and those who speak do not know."

What is our most appropriate, humble, and above all honest stance in
this regard? If we didn't accept Advaita as at least plausible and
potentially true, then why would we even participate in the list? But,
on the other hand, where is the boundary line between accepting
something as hypothetically true in order to investigate it further and
seek direct verification, and dogmatically advocating ideas that to us
are merely second hand and largely unconfirmed? And as individuals, how
do we gain enough assurance of the truth of ideas that we have not yet
personally verified to justify spending a lifetime, or even several
lifetimes, in their pursuit? There must be some latitude in this regard,
since if only the end result can justify the entire endeavor, then how
would we ever
begin?

I hope no one is offended by the question, and I apologize to those who
are advanced enough that it has no relevance. But I may not be the only
one who wonders about it, and there is no better place that I know of
than this list to get a wise, balanced answer.

Robert.

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"bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam"
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