Thank You

[Parisi & Watson]

-----Original Message-----
From: Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy at MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA>
To: ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG
<ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Monday, July 26, 1999 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: Thank You


>I have followed the discussion on consciousness. I was away from the List
>for the past few weeks, and as I got back, I was able to read all the
>postings on this thread sequentially at the same time. This gave me a
>better perspective of the pro- and counter- arguments.
>
>I feel sorry that Robert has found vedAnta unconvincing. May be, what
>he found unconvincing are the dogmatic arguments put forward on this
>List in favour of the vedAs. If Robert had got into a discussion with
>a true follower of vedAnta, he would see the wisdom contained in the
>upanishads; and would further see how effortlessly, vedAnta (upanishads)
>explain the Truth. He would also see how it is immaterial whether vedAs
>ALONE contain the truth or not. A perfect understanding of vedAs make one
>become vedA, the Knowledge, in which case, this argument whether the
>vedAs are the ultimate or not, is irrelevant.


I agree with you, but my questions about the ultimate authority of the Vedas
are also accompanied by grave doubts about the central tenets of the
Upanishads themselves, which I believe are a miracle of clarity and
simplicity, as you say. My doubts center around the question of whether
_any_ experience or state of consciousness can serve as support for
metaphysical or super-sensual claims. Unfortunately my main point got lost
in the shuffle over the Vedas. But as I stated, I fear that this
disagreement may lie at such a fundamental level that discussion will be
fruitless. Or maybe it isn't fruitless and I just allowed myself to be
sidetracked. It's hard to say...

Robert.