The Vedas

[sadananda]

Sri Jaldhar H. Vyas, for  your information and others who may not know who
H. H. Swami Dayananda Saraswati is :

H.H. Swami Dayananda Saraswati that  Mantralaura refers to as her guru is
not that swami from Arya Samaj. This Dayananda Saraswati was molded and
brought up under Chinmaya Mission under my guru H.H. Swami Chinmayanandaji.
He was one of the few that started the Chinmaya Mission in Madras after the
very first JNyana Yagna of Swami Chinmayanandaji in Madras in early
fifties.  He was the first editor of Tyagi, a vedantic jounal published
from Madras and Bangalore by Chinmaya Mission,  and was the Acharya of the
Sandeepanay Sadhanaalaya of Bombay where Brahmacharies of Chinmaya Mission
are being trained, and was the Acharya of Sandeepany in Piercy CA when
Chinmaya Mission West started their First Brahmachari course in USA.  In
Seventies and Eighties, I had organized many of Swami Dayanandaji lectures
and camps here, and I learned a lot from his teachings.  He left the
Chinmaya Mission in eighties and formed his own PeeTam, Arshya Vidyaa
PeeTam, in PA and conducts regular classes and discourses.  Since he left
the mission, I do not personally associate with him, but I respect what he
teaches.

He is outright advaitic scholar as well as a scholar of Sanskrit, and
provides a clear understanding of the import of the shastraas. He is better
authority of the scriptures than you and I, put together.

I donot know about Arya Samaj teachers, but Chinmaya Mission trains all
students in the Advaitic Philosophy.

About your other comments about women and foreigners, Sri Ram Chandran has
adequately addressed.

There is a famous saying:
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is simple, teach him.
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool, leave him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep, wake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise, follow him.


Hari Om!
Sadananda


>I do freely admit to being prejudiced against the Arya Samaj however.
>>From what I know of their beliefs they are despicable heretics.  But
>should by some chance new information come to light I'm prepare to revise
>even that opinion in a minute.  Intellectual honesty demands it.
>--
>Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>


K. Sadananda
Code 6323
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington D.C. 20375
Voice (202)767-2117
Fax:(202)767-2623

>From  Wed Jan  7 08:01:25 1998
Message-Id: <WED.7.JAN.1998.080125.0500.>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 08:01:25 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: none
Subject: Re: The Vedas
Comments: To: Advaita List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM> writes

> ............   I do freely admit to being prejudiced against the
> Arya Samaj however.  From what I know of their beliefs
> they are despicable heretics.  But should by some chance
> new information come to light I'm prepare to revise even
> that opinion in a minute.  Intellectual honesty demands it.

Namaskar and A Happy New Year,

Please note that Advaita List is a spiritual forum with the sole purpose
of removing "Avidya" to gain Vidya.  Prejudice only seeds Avidya.  TRUTH
is not what we hear, see, touch, taste, smell or think.  Truth is the
resultant of negation of LIES and Prejudice is the Biggest Lie.  We have
two options: The first is to make our judgement based on incomplete
information and the second is to gather all facts and make the
judgement.  The first approach is the cause for prejudice.  The second
approach is "Brahmaiva Satyam."  Let me quote from a beautiful saying in
Tamil.  "Kannal Kandathum Poi, Kathal Kettathum Poi and Theera
Visarippathu Mei."  It means that all that we see and hear are only
lies.  Truth can be revealed only after series of enquiries.   In our
daily life such practice of Truth seeking can enhance our life and can
help us to become better persons. The reason that we are in this forum
is just to seek the TRUTH and remove prejudice from our mind.

Please note that I admire your knowledge of Sanskrit and scholarship in
Vedic scriptures.  I value your contributions and I believe that writing
without prejudicial judgements on others is possible for all of us.
Please note that  Swami Dhayananda Saraswati that Sister Mantralaura
refers to is the head of the Arsha Vidya Gurukul near New Jersey and has
no connection to Arya Samaj.  When we spill the grains, we can pick them
back without any damage but when we spill the words, We can't take them
back.

Ram Chandran
Burke, VA.

>From  Wed Jan  7 08:26:58 1998
Message-Id: <WED.7.JAN.1998.082658.0500.>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 08:26:58 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: none
Subject: Re: Bhagavad kr^pa (grace of God)
Comments: To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

FOOTPRINTS
        One night a man had a dream.  He dreamed he was walking along
the beach with the Lord.  Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one
belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.
        When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked
back at the footprints in the sand.  He notice that many times along the
path of his life there was only one set of footprints.  He also noticed
that it happened at the very saddest times in his life.
        This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that one I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all
the way.  But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in
my life, there is only one set of footprints.   I don't understand why
when
I needed you most you would leave me."
        The lord replied. "My son, my precious child, I love you and
would never leave you.  During your times of trial and suffering, when
you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried
you."
--  Author Unknown

>From  Wed Jan  7 08:35:56 1998
Message-Id: <WED.7.JAN.1998.083556.0500.>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 08:35:56 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: none
Subject: Re: The Vedas
Comments: To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

sadananda wrote:
> ....   There is a famous saying:
> He who knows not and knows that he knows not is simple, teach him.
> He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool, leave him.
> He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep, wake him.
> He who knows and knows that he knows is wise, follow him.
>
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda

Namaskar Sadananda:

I enjoy your beautiful reply and let me add the following additional
sayings:

We can save our-self from many hard falls by refraining from jumping to
conclusions.
Anyone who thinks he knows all the answers, isn't quite up-to-date on
questions.
A minute of keeping our mouth closed is worth an hour of explanation.
The problem that most of us face is not presence of mind, but absence of
thought.

Thanks again,
Ram Chandran
Burke, VA