ISKCON and Advaita

[Vivek Anand Ganesan]

Hello :
-- In a thread titled "The greater bhakti", ShrI Jaldhar
Vyas wrote :
> That's the part they miss.  When we say the Self is
> Brahman it doesn't
> mean the self (small-s) _only_ is Brahman.  And when we
> says the forms
> such as Vishnu Bhagawan are not Brahman all we mean is
> that they aren't
> _only_ Brahman.  I'm corresponding with a Harekrishna and
> this is the
> point I'm trying to get across to him.  That he is
> placing a boundary on
> one side is God and another side is not-God thus he is
> putting limits on
> God.

  Pardon me for any pungent remarks made herewith but I
feel
that it is futile to "discuss" anything with ISKCON-ites
a.k.a. "Hare Krishna-s".  Whatever they may call
themselves,
they come across as fundamentalists full of proselytizing
zeal ( quite similar to Christian evangelists ).  They are
not open to discussion of any kind.  They are just
supremely
convinced of the truth of their position and don't feel the
need for any dialogue.  So, why bother?

  Anyways, their self-professed goal is to "rid" Hindu-ism
of mAya-vAda and to re-instate some long lost golden era
( which of course was ShrI PrabhupAda's "divine" mission ).
They have no respect for BhagavatpAda and consider it
necessary to abuse him at every available opportunity.
They
provide a hodge-podge objection to Advaita and when
cornered
they just start abusing Adi Shankara ( as if that proves
their point ).

  Usually, they "bait" people in the guise of conversation
( like Amway folks ) and if they find out that you have any
connections to Advaita, God help you! Incidentally, when I
first came in to contact with them, my knowledge of Vedanta
was limited to what I had read in Swami Vivekananda's
books. Because of many "sparring" sessions with them, I was
provoked to learn more and this led me to "classical"
advaita.  This is the ONLY good thing that came out of my
encounter with them.

  Considering all this, if you can still give 'em hell then
let us in on it ( provided it is OK with the other person
).

Thanks,

-Vivek.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send online invitations with Yahoo! Invites.
http://invites.yahoo.com

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.