Antiquity of Advaita Vedanta (was Re: An Open Letter to All)

[Rajesh Venkataraman]

Dear List Members,

I got the following mail from Bhaskar in reply to the
mail that I had sent to the list yesterday. Though he
wants to correspond with me personally I thought it
would be better to have the discussion through the
Advaita list as more learned members could comment on
it and also as he says that he is still a beginner and
would like to learn more about Advaita.

I hope Bhaskar would not mind.

Regards

Rajesh

--- bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com wrote:
> From: bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
> To: rajesh_venk at yahoo.com
> Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 15:04:29 +0530
> Subject: Your Mesg.
>
>
>
> dear rajesh
>
> This mesg. i donot want to address to Advaita-L, i
> want to directly interact
> with U.  As far as my doubt goes regarding Sandhya
> vandana sloka, I am a Smartha
> Brahmin ( Yajurvedi) while doing sandhyavandana I do
> recite this every day.  I
> have come across this verse in Kannada book titled
> "Yajurveda Nitya Karma and
> Yajurveda Pratah sandhyavandane published by
> Krishnaiah Shetty & Sons, Balepet,
> Bangalore.  Please note this has nothing to do with
> ISKCON.  They teach some
> other type of sandhya vandane after taking
> initiation.  This is my personal
> doubt not ISKCON's doubt. Yes I do agree this verse
> completely sounds Advaita
> thats Y i am more interested in this verse.  As i
> already told in my
> introductory mail I am a tyro in spiritual path, i
> am trying to analysing the
> issues from an objective point of view.  still my
> mind is oscillating between
> dwaita and adwaita philosophies.  Thats the main
> reason i am sharing my thoughts
> with the members of Advaita-L.
>
> It is not I said that  the Lord incarnated as
> Acharya Sankara to wean the people
> away from the hold of Buddhism by introducing them
> to the "lower" philosophy of
> advaita  this Lord Shiva himself said in Padma
> Purana, i think you have not read
> my mail fully.
>
> ISKCON tells that YES we do have to  condemn
> Kindergarten and all lower classes
> just because they are pretending like big
> universities.
>
> you asked me Y would the God take so much pains to
> incarnate to MISLEAD people.
> What does he gain by doing that? If he is a really
> compassionate lord why
> doesn't he guide
> the errant ones on to the right path? Is he not
> sadistic otherwise? Doesn't he
> have anything better to do? How better is he than
> the Asuras?
> Answer:  It is all his LEELA, who are we to ask
> him?? he is the supreme god head
>  he can do whatever he likes to do in his creation.
> don't you have right to
> place things as U like at your home??   This
> universe is his home / play ground,
>  he can do so as per his will and wish, who are we
> to question him??
> We ourselves cannot read our own minds and its
> turbulent  emotions ,
> how can we expect to read the mind of minds?? He is
> the only person can reveal
> his true nature and intentions  to his true
> devotees.  Our duty is to surrender
> unto the lotus feet of paramatma, render
> self-less service to all and beg for his mercy.  So,
> please dont label him
> Sadist, that & this O.K. Moreover, Lord Siva in the
> form of Shankaracarya cannot
>  be blamed for this, as He was only doing what He
> was
> ordered to by the Lord. Here are some verses from
> Padma Purana:
>
> Aradhanam sarvesam
> Visnor aradhanam param
> Tasmat parataram devi
> Tadiyanam samarcanam
> (Lord Siva to Goddess Durga in the Padma Purana)
>
> ½Ñy dear Devi, although the Vedas mention worship of
> demigods, the worship of
> Lord Visnu is topmost and ultimately recommended.
> However, above the worship of
> Lord Visnu is the rendering the service to
> Vaisnavas, who are
> related to Lord Visnu.?
> Lord Shiva Himself accepts that the worship of
> Vishnu tattva is the highest.
> Only fools don»¹ understand the injuctions of the
> Shastras and of great
> Vaishnava acaryas and concoct their own philosophies
> in their
> illusioned minds.
>
> Yas tu narayanam devam
> Brahma-rudradi-daivataih
> Samatvenaiva vikseta
> Sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam
>
> ½Å person who considers demigods like Brahma and
> Siva to be on an equal
> level with Narayana is to be considered an offender
> and an atheist.?
> To know the position of Lord Krsna as the
> Adi-Purusha, the source of all
> incarnations, you shall have to
> derive knowledge only from the Bhagavatam. There is
> no other way. Even though
> this fact is revealed in the other Scriptures, there
> is no direct revelation of
> the Lord»¸ glorious pastimes and His position as the
> Supreme Lord from Whom Lord
> Brahma, the creator of all the material universes,
> is born. you might be knowing
> that from this Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva comes.
>
> Svagamaih kalpitas tvam ca
> Janan mad-vimukhan kuru
> Mam ca gopaya yena syat
> Srstir esottarottara
> (Padma Purana  Uttara Khanda 62.31)
>
> ½Åddressing Lord Siva, the Supreme Personality of
> Godhead said, ½Ôlease make the
> general populace averse to Me by imagining your own
> interpretation
> of the Vedas. Also, cover Me in such a way that
> people will take more interest
> in advancing material civilization just to propogate
> a population
> bereft of spiritual knowledge.?
> This is the exact instance where Lord Visnu
> instructs Lord Siva to take birth as
> a brahmana in Kali yuga  as Shankaracarya. Actually
> Sripada
> Shankaracarya Himself has said that Narayana is
> transcendental by saying,
> 3arayana paro vyaktat?
> Sivasya sri-visnor ya iha guna-namadi-sakalam
> Dhiya bhinnam pasyet sa khalu hari-namahita-karah
> (Padma Purana  Brahma Khanda 25.16  Ten offenses to
> the Holy Name of Lord Hari)
>
> ½Øo consider the name of demigods like Lord Siva or
> Lord Brahma to be on an
> equal level with the Holy Name of Lord Hari.?
> Krsir bhu-vacakah sabdo
> Nas ca nirvrti-vacakah
> Tayor aikyam param brahma
> Krsna ity abhidhiyate
> (Mahabharata  Udyoga Parva 71.4)
>
> ½Øhe word 0rs?is the attractive feature of the
> Lord»¸ existence, and 3a?means
> spiritual pleasure. When the verb 0rs?is added to
> the suffix 3a?
> it becomes Krsna, which indicates the Absolute
> Truth.
>
> Regarding  MAMEKAM :  ISKCON goes clearly by the
> plain meaning of it.  It will
> not try to turn and twist the meaning of it.
> Sat-Chit-Ananda Vigraha that is
> Sri Krsna himself.  I donot want to give elaborate
> answer to this.  If you want
> pls. let me know i shall try to send Srila
> Prabhupada's interpretation on this
> verse in his Book "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" in my
> next mail.
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol !!!
>
> Your humble servant
> bhaskar
>
>
>


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