Nature of Consciousness

[Parisi & Watson]

-----Original Message-----
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
To: ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG
<ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Saturday, July 24, 1999 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: Nature of Consciousness


<snip>
>Whatever be the case, any system which agrees with the fundamental
>tenets I state above _is_ advaita vedAnta, as Jaldhar said. Any other
>system opposing these fundamental tenets, even in "a minor manner",
>are _not_ to be called advaita vedAnta. There cannot be any
>"congruence", one either agrees with what I said above or does not.
>There is no question of congruence here. This story of "different
>paths" leading to brahmaGYAna and so called "congruences" have been
>perpetrated by the followers of Ramakrishna on the public and have no
>place in advaita vedAnta.


Well, there we have it.  With one blow you have struck down the very thing
about Indian religion that has attracted so many people in the West. Instead
you return to the concept of authoritative and unquestionable revelation and
an absolute monopoly on Truth. I find this development very disillusioning.
If I were looking for that sort of absolutism, I could easily find it in the
right kind of conservative neighborhood church, synagogue, or mosque. They
also would insist, "But our Truth is the REAL Truth, the entire Truth, and
all those others are in error."

Robert.