Practical Vedanta

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

Sankaran Panchapagesan <panchap at ICSL.UCLA.EDU> wrote:

>        I never said anything about rewriting smRtis. I only wanted
to
>learn if social service was included in our smRtis, and they seem to
be.
>(So, I guess advaita is still there for me :-).

>        I don't think you should say this to anybody, least of all to
>somebody who believes in the advaitic tradition. If you mean I am
wasting
>time on the list, I will not post further on the topic. Things are at


I didn't intend to mean that you were wasting time on the list. Sorry,
I re-read my original mail and I agree that it could be construed that
way. It was a sincere suggestion to you. If I had thought that you
were trying to waste time, I wouldn't have responded :-).

Let me explain why I said "advaita not for you" etc.. As per vedAnta,
shruti is a pramANa or means of knowing. So is sm.^iti, since it is
derived from shruti. They are NOT supplements to mere reasoning.

Many people who think they "believe" in the advaitic tradition do not
realize the importance of shruti and/or smR^iti. They think it's
subservient to reasoning. In certain cases that's true, but not in the
topic we are discussing, viz, dharma. Please read your mail again and
see why I got the impression that you were trying to downplay smR^iti.
If you can't find out, send me mail and I'll let you know.

Rama