New member introduction: shrI Subhanu Saxena

[Anand Hudli]

Jaldhar wrote:
>I was remarking to Subhanu that it is a duty to study ones own >shakha.
>But whether it is better to study the "wrong" Veda rather than no >Veda
I
>don't know.  Let's hope we don't need to make such choices.

 You are right. "svAdhyAya" is really the study of one's own Veda.
 But there is nothing wrong in studying other Vedas as well. In fact,
 we often hear of titles and surnames such as "dvivedI", one who knows
 two vedas, "trivedI", one who knows three Vedas, etc.

 The general feeling is that one must study one's own Veda first
 and then the others, if possible. In a way, studying one's own veda
 is mandatory but studying others is not if there are difficulties.
 In these modern days, most of the brahmins that I know of perform
 only the nitya karmas regularly.  Fortunately, these nitya karmas,
 such as sandhyA, are learned according to one's own veda and finding
 a brahmin to teach them is not nearly as hard as finding someone
 who can teach the entire veda.

 To learn a significant portion of a veda is not easy outside India.
 The usual method is that the boy is sent to a pAThashAla to be
 trained in the Vedas or he is trained by the father or by some priest
 that the family knows. While this works well in India, it is hard to
 follow outside India because of the obvious shortage/lack of Vedic
 pAThashAlas and qualified priests. So, I guess, one makes the best
 of the situation by learning whatever is taught. After all, as the
 legend goes, there was only one big Veda before Veda vyAsa, the great
 compiler. He is the one who is credited with dividing the big Veda
 into R^ig, Yajus, sAma, and atharva and entrusting different sages
 with their propagation.

 As an aside, I found from my teacher that there are some Shukla Yajur
 vedins belonging to the kANva shAkhA in Tamil Nadu. So it seems that
 the characterization of shukla/krishna Yajur Veda as being restricted
 to North/South India may not be entirely correct.

 Anand






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>From  Wed Aug 12 15:35:19 1998
Message-Id: <WED.12.AUG.1998.153519.0400.>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 15:35:19 -0400
Reply-To: chandran at INTSERVER.econ.ag.gov
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at ECON.AG.GOV>
Subject: Re: A post from shrI sadananda (fwd)
Comments: To: Advaita List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>,
        "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:
>
> Rather than deal with yet another dizzingly abstract argument against a
> simple statement let me ask you Mr. Ramchandran some questions.
>
> This Idh, did  you or did you not slaughter a goat and offer it to Allah.
> Being a great friend of all religions you know this is a pillar of Islam
> right?  What does your answer to this question say about your respect (or
> lack thereof) for Islam and Muslims.
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

Greetings Jaldhar:

I have never said that everything in every religion is great!  I only
argued that we have the option to look for what is good.  The rose plant
that gives the beautiful flowers also contains thorns.  We have to be
careful in our choice of action.  It is upto us to enjoy the beauty and
aroma of the flower or get the misery from the thorns.  I do have some
good friends from Islam, Chirstianity, Judism, Sikhism, Bhuddishm and
Jainism.  An Advaitin can develop an attitude to see Divinity in every
human beings and this is what I learnt from my grandmother who
practiced  the Vedic Traditions in her day to day life.

I had a series of E-mail correspondence with with a Catholic Christian -
Jerzy Tarasiuk, Professor of Physics from Prague on Idol Worship.  These
communications were posted at soc.religion.hindu newsgroup. He had
serious doubts about why we Hindus worship Idols.  After a series of
exchanges, he was able to appreciate the symbolism behind the Idol
worship. I had a similar exchange with an Indian Muslim who lives in
Orlando. I learnt a lot during these exchanges about their religion and
I found them both sincere in their pursuit of Truth. I do not agree
everything what they have said and also I do not expect them to accept
everthing what I wrote in support of Idol worship. Pitfalls are plenty
in every religion and every religion also can teach us to lead a more
disciplined and purposeful life.

You did rightly pointed out "That kind of samadrishti is commendable but
only if accompanied by Viveka" That is an excellent observation.  I
always admire your scholarship and your keen interest in our religion
and philosophy. You have made some excellent points on the subject of
"Karma and Sanyasa"  in your previous postings.  I am glad to see
youngsters including you, Giri, Rama, Ravi, Karthik and others taking
immense interest in promoting the cause of Advaita and our scriptures.
Please continue your good postings and we have a lot to learn from you
and others.

regards,

Ram Chandran
Burke, VA



--
Ram Chandran
Burke, VA