A moment please !!!

[Giri]

On Wed, 12 Feb 1997, egodust wrote:

> Please take heart.  Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Yogananda, Ananda Mayee Ma,
> the sage of Arunachala, among many others, made it quite clear that meeting
> stringent standards regarding provisional, cultural, sectarian, racial, as
> well as gender- and caste-oriented factors as prerequisites to the sadhana
> for Brahmajnana, is a critical misrepresentation.  All that's required is
> a sincere desire or, as you say, thirst for knowledge (mumukshutva) to search
> for the sathya [that lies within].

        Of course !! Not many on this list or even in India will say
otherwise. Bhagavad gita makes it explicitly clear that everyone can reach
Him also. What people will differ on, however is that recitation of vedic
mantras is restricted to only certain people (this is based on dharma
sastras (smriti), and not on shruti, afaik). SO WHAT ? jnana is not
attained just by reciting vedic mantras alone. What is required either
atma vichara or sharanagati to Ishvara. Neither can be attained by book
knowledge alone. There are many scholars who can recite the upanishhad-s
but are attached to the world and then, there are a few like Shri Ramana
Maharshi who are not educated traditionally in vedanta but speak vedantic
truths like no other.
        What is required for common people (like most of us) is
earnestness, doing your duty (dharma) without expectation of fruit leading
to purification of the mind, atma vichara and/or sharanagati to Ishvara.
        krama-mukti can be "attained" by ANYONE irrespective of caste,
gender, race or whatever. I really doubt whether anyone on this list will
say otherwise.

Namaste.