Advaita and Christianity

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

jkcowart at cari.net <jkcowart at CARI.NET> wrote:

Thank you for the three references. I'll try to obtain and read these.
They sound very interesting.

> In response to my statement that:
> >> I, for one, would not choose to make the claim that there is some
> >>place where advaitan truth is not present,
>
> Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:
> >Heavens gate cult. I claim eschatological properties of UFOs have
no
> >connection with advaita.
>
> Yes, yes, of course.  Quite so.  I ought to have restricted my
statement
> to *the world's great religions*--all of which have some thread of
non-
> dual insight in them.

In case anyone thought I was trying to be pedantic, I was trying to
illustrate a point, namely, the subjective nature of which religions
come under the "great religions" banner. To some it may be obvious, to
me it only seems subjective. Note I am not denying Christianity as a
great religion, but the concept of great religions is neccessarily
subjective. Oldtimers on this list may remember that sometime back
someone even posted some sayings by some sundry rock stars and
wondered whether they too were advaitins!  With rock musicians treated
like Gods, perhaps that is not very surprising. 20th century Agama-s
perhaps :-).

> I have now done my best to be clear in all of this.
>
> To avoid further misunderstandings, I shall at his point take refuge
in
> the wisdom of Nisargatta Maharaj and agree that all who disagree
with
> whatever it is that they believe I have said are absolutely right
about
> whatever it is that they think they mean ... and be done with it.

The discussion has been very interesting. I am not sure if you feel
otherwise (your statement above seems to indicate that). No doubt
there might have been "non-dual" insights in many religions. That
should not be surprising or cannot be disputed because advaita-siddhi
cannot be restricted to people of a certain time or place. The
question is whether there is any other religion which has the same
conclusion such as "jagat mithyA". Even such a non-dualistic system as
Kashmir Shaivism argue and controvert advaita on this point. "Oneness"
with the deity is more common. Again, as I said undividedness applies
only to brahman and cannot be carried over to empirical things like
systems of philosophies. That need not lead to strife necessarily. In
any case thanks once again for the references.

Rama

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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