Tradition

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

Sorry for the late response i've been busy with other things.

On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, Pannirselvam Kanagaratnam wrote:

> Namaste.
>         If there is something Adharmic about Swami Vivekananda's and
> Paramahansa Yogananada's behaviour, I would like to know what it is. Right
> now I am trying to live up to their standards and I am curious to know
> what it is that they have neglected or performed wrongly.
>

I could fill megabytes with all I think is wrong with the modern sects but
apart from not wanting to bore all the other readers of the list I don't
want to waste time on bad-mouthing them.  I will say however that most of
these groups and their leaders are intellectual lightweights and not good
guides for the honest student.  (For one sorry example look up the New
York branch of the RK mission at http://ny.yahoo.com .  They are listed
under Buddhism!)  With just a little more effort you can do much better.
Why go for brass when you can have gold?

> I have not neglected my tradition. In fact I am trying to get established
> in the ethical culture and I also perform the rituals, i.e. applying
> sacred ash & kumkuma (this has attracted a lot of stares and queries. Is
> it the same in your place too or is it just in Kansas?),

Well I work in New York which has much higher weirdness threshold than
your average place :-) Seriously, I always wear a tilak and a rudraksha
mala and my hair is short enough that my shikha is clearly visible.  Even
though I work in the staid environment of Wall Street I have never had any
problems.  Sure, people ask about that "red dot" but all you have to do is
politely explain it to them.   You don't need to give big philosophical
discourses either.  "This is what we do when we pray in the morning." is
what I usually say and that's good enough.

> feeding the
> animals, birds, etc. All these I picked up from my parents and my
> Paramguru's book "All About Hinduism"  has helped me to understand why we
> do these things.  It is in the language department that I am an extremely
> slow learner. You are right, after my studies I should go learn under a
> qualified teacher.
>

Well, I wish you the best of luck.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas [jaldhar at braincells.com]   And the men .-_|\ who hold
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"Witty quote" - Dead Guy   /\/\/\ _ _ ___ _  _ Amboy       v      McQ!