Vedanta and intellect (was Re: Some Vedic sacrifices of this century)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 17 Dec 1999, Jagannathan Mahadevan wrote:

> Keith was right, advaita is not food for the intellect, again as we give
> validity to the intellect by chewing on it, we destroy the whole
> foundation of advaita..
> Jagan
>

But we give validity to the intellect every day in everything we do.  It
would be the height of hypocracy to let ignorance rule in matters of
religion when we would never allow it in any other sphere of of our lives.

Our acharyas have always stressed the importance of vivek--discrimination
between right and wrong, true and false--as the most importance of
virtues.  If we look at the Upanishads, we see even there there is debate
and questioning amongst the sages.  They rightfully warn us that
intellectual pursuits can blind instead of enlighten but unfortunately for
us poor humans the intellect is the only tool we have available.  So we
must use it and develop safeguards to try and prevent its misuse.  Because
the only alternative--to remain ignorant--is far, far worse.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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