Practical Vedanta

[Madhavan Srinivasan]

On Mon, 17 May 1999, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote


>So people care.  How lovely.  What on earth have all the caring, practical
>reformers actually done for anyone besides tell us how willing to accept
>pains they are?  For the past 200 years socialist do-goodery has been the
>political agenda of Hindu reformers.  Far from any progress they are the
>ones keeping India backward.  I saw this on my last trip there.  Every
>single area of life where free enterprise rules is uptodate, efficient,
>and well-run.  Even in out of the way places like Rajkot, our home town,
>many aspects of life compare favorably with the West.  But every service
>run by the government is hideously unfriendly and inefficient.  It is the
>very people that everyone claims to care so much about who suffer because
>of this.
>
>Everywhere people are given a choice, they choose crass, materialistic,
>uncaring capitalism.  Because it delivers results not slogans.

I don't know why u r analysing the features of private sector and
government? Did i mention anything about that in my mail?
So finally whats ur point:
It is a safe and good thing to learn sanskrit , do pooja , analysing the
features of jeevan muktha,brahmam and consider everything else (ie concern
about castism,religious riots,poor and downtrodden) as the perception of
mind(maya).

> > This is a pure escapism. We people settled in our lives and comfortably
> > discussing vedanta in the net. There are people who are struggling for
>their
> > day to day life. But you are advising that forget about other poor
>people
> > and solve your problem first.
>
>And you are not even doing that much.

How did u know that? Are u thinking that u r the only person who is thinking
and discussing advaita? Since i am following practical advaita, i didn't
involve in the previous discussions(about theoritical advaita). I was also
thinking about  brahmam, jeevan muktha concepts. Finally i  decided to live
practical vedanta. Now i don't want to think about brahmam, jeevan muktha
concepts. I want to think about the remedies of problems in this world.
(Particularly in India.)
(I read upanishads,yoga vasishta,bhagvad gita etc., and did booja in my
house daily. But now i want to study about cause of castism,
untouchability,religious problems,etc., and want to do my part to eradicate
them.)

>I can. If there is ever a conflict between my job and my Dharma, I'll give
>up the job instantly.  But in the mean time, yes I'd like a bigger salary
>too.  Why not?  What's wrong with being comfortable?

I didn't tell that being comfortable is a wrong thing. My question was:
"Can you place greater emphasis on teachings of jnani
than to keep your job safe, to get good hike in your salary, to get good
comfortables etc.?"
Earning more money and so helping more people is a good thing only.

>You are not the first person, to lament the supposed flaws of >traditional
>Hinduism.  Our history is littered with the wreckage of "reformist"
>movements. Either they rejoined the status quo or they disappeared.
>Sanatana Dharma has survived, because thank God, it is not
>"spiritual"--not 100%.  It is concerned with all the things important to
>Humans of which both the spiritual and the material are components.  The
>Vedic teaching is very simple.

I think u've to change the above statement from

"Hinduism is concerned with all the things important to
Humans of which both the spiritual and the material are components."

to

"It is concerned with all the things important to
Brahmins of which both the spiritual and the material are components."

Castism and Untouchability are the major flaws of traditional Hinduism. If
anybody who is willing to do his part to remove these flaws will not
destruct Hinduism unless Hinduism is only based on castism. Have u ever
think of bad effects of Untouchability?
If u r a bachelor r u ready to  marry a dalit(untouchable) girl to do ur
part to  eradicate untouchability?


<The person who is enamored of this
>world--whether for selfish or noble reasons--must follow the appropriate
>injunctions and prohibiions of the Vedas which cover Dharma, Artha, and
>Kama.  One who has realized the futility of these pursuits should take
>sannyasa and seek Moksha.  You cannot blame the sannyasi for not being
>interested inyour petty concerns any more than I can blame you for not
>being interested in the size of my salary.

If eradicating the evils like castism,untouchability etc are not important
concerns for a person(particularly indian) then i am sure that he will not
attain mukthi in this life.


>With all due respect what is your point of view worth if it not backed by
>deep understanding?  History has shown what happens when people of little
>knowledge start trying to eradicate things.

Its a known fact that if castism and untouchability are eradicated then the
upper caste people can't enjoy their special privileges.
In precise as an indian, practical vedanta means, "eradicate
untouchability,castism and other social evils."

Regards
Madhavan




______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com