ADVAITA-L Digest - 19 Oct 1998 to 20 Oct 1998 (#1998-26)

[Giridhar]

namaste.

>Yes, indeed, it's the manIshA pa.ncakam if my memory serves me right.
>The dashashlokI, if I remember right, was sung by Sha.nkara when
>GovindabhagavatpAda, his guru asked who he was.

        Yes, in both the cases. The  aatmashhaTak / nirvaaNashhaTak  by
sha.nkaraachaarya has six verses and is available on the internet (jaguar)
with translation.


>Namaste ! Here is the "boring questioning Guy" again. I do not want to
>show any disrespect to anybody and  especially certainly not to a sAdhu,
>but can we really take the above mentioned svAmi seriously. We French

Much more seriously than a whole lot of scholars who publish books and
research
papers on Shankara etc. without practising what HE says. I am specifically
talking about certain professors in USA who call upanishads trash but continue
to publish about it.

>every Frenchman knows even approximately where the HimAlaya is. So, to
>read about an HimAlayan Academy (hello Plato !) in Hawai is rather

Can't I name my house 'Himalayas' if I live in the USA ? Then, you should
probably come down to India and close all those places that are called
'The California book store' 'The Tibetan house' etc. They have named it so
because they sell products from California and Tibet.  In this place,
teachings of Shiva are propagated and hence they have named it the
Himalayan academy.

>amusing. Of course it must be a pretty nice place to run an electronic
>ashram and to deliver daily telephone sermonnettes must be  rather
>comfortable and not to exhausting. In that perspective our discussions

        Hello ? Have you ever visited their ashram or met anyone from their
ashram to make such comments ? They DO NOT run an electronic
ashram. They have a regular ashram with several inmates who do intense
sadhana. In addition, they try to reach out to people thro' the electronic
media. Why do you think there is anything wrong in that ? Isn't it good
to have a Guru who can talk to you over the phone ?
                Swamiji comes in the tradition of Saivas and has a Guru who is
extremely well known in these parts of the world. Now, you may not
agree with what he has to say with regard to philosophy or ideas
pertaining to Shiva. That's fine, I don't agree with him completely either,
but that does not mean I don't respect him for the great he has done and
the work he continues to do to increase the bhakti we have towards Shiva.
Shouldn't anyone who increases our bhakti towards God be revered, irrespective
of the person being a child, householder or swamiji.
                If you ever managed ashram affairs for a day, you will know how
extremely exhausting it is for the body.

>as to reading or not the Sruti in translations seem somewhat archaïc.
>The "bad guy" stops his remarks here, fearing to be thrown out of the
>list.

One should not be afraid to question anyone or anything. Ramakrishna
paramhansa often used to say that the disciple should test the Guru
and be satisfied about the genuineness. But that does not mean
one can make arbitary remarks about someone else without even
knowing any facts. Feel free to discuss how he differs from traditional
advaita vedanta taught by Shankara and I will agree with you..but not
with wrong claims that he runs an electronic ashram.

AUM shaantiH

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