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

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

Sankaran Kartik Jayanarayanan <kartik at ECE.UTEXAS.EDU> wrote:

> Nagarjuna also makes a judgment stemming from experience, "All
entities
> are subject to causation." Again in stark contrast, VedAnta firmly
upholds
> Brahman as transcending causation.

Thanks to Kartik for pointing out passages from relevant texts. I'll
try to post some relevant excerpts from sha.nkaras works later. But
one thing various people have overlooked (although Jaldhar touched
upon this) the fact that shruti (and smR^iti) pramANa *alone* can
produce realization. It would be quite clear to anyone not infected by
vacuous optimism that sha.nkara makes it quite clear that avidyA is
destroyed by the shruti pramANa only. shruti is a pramANa (means of
knowing), that should be quite clear. It's not a record of some
mystical realizations of some X or Y or Z. The Buddhists don't accept
shruti pramANa, hence their avidyA cannot be destroyed. There is no
question of the sha.nkara and Nagarjuna having the same "realization".
End of story.

> If you're referring to some mystical realization that you've had on
> reading the kArikA, I would have to say, "No thank you, but I'm not
> interested." I'm sure many others on this list share my feelings.

Exactly. "I sat down in meditation and realized this truth, hence it
must be true" kind of stuff is not vedAnta. Old time list members may
remember the time when this list was overrun by such characters. Many
(if not all) of them were trying to use this list as a springboard for
guru-hood, again clear to anyone not infected by vacuous optimism.
Yes, at least I share your feelings.

Rama

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Mon May 29 06:48:52 2000
Message-Id: <MON.29.MAY.2000.064852.0200.ADVAITAL at LISTS.ADVAITAVEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 06:48:52 +0200
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: Bondada Umamaheshwar <bumamahe at VANENBURG.COM>
Subject: Re: "me me"
Comments: To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at braincells.com>
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>It is interesting to note that the real problem is in the bleating of "me
>>me" (mamakAram), not in kAnta or tanayA or gR^haa or pashavAha.  It is "me
>me"(mamakAram) that invites vrikaha(mortality) not kAnta or tanayA et al.

That is true! But, I feel, the fact is, on the practical side, it is this
"woman and gold" that are foundation (or food) for this mamakaram.  It this
fact that makes a householder's life all the more difficult when it comes to
directing it towards Him.


-----Original Message-----
From: S. V. Subrahmanian [mailto:svs_shankara at HOTMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2000 11:39 PM
To: ADVAITA-L at advaita-vedanta.org
Subject: Re: "me me"


It is interesting to note that the real problem is in the bleating of "me
me" (mamakAram), not in kAnta or tanayA or gR^haa or pashavAha.  It is "me
me"(mamakAram) that invites vrikaha(mortality) not kAnta or tanayA et al.


----Original Message Follows----
From: "Ravisankar S. Mayavaram" <msr at COMCO.COM>
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
<ADVAITA-L at braincells.com>
To: ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG
Subject: "me me"
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 11:17:28 -0500

kaantaa ime me tanayaa ime me
gR^ihaa ime me pashavastvime me |
evaM naro meshha samaana ruupaH
me me kR^itaH kaala vR^ikeNa niitaH |

This wife is mine, these children are mine, this house is mine,
and these cattle are mine, like this a man keeps on repeating "me
me" (pronounced like May, in Sanskrit it means mine) like a goat.
Hearing this "me me", comes the wolf kaala ( death)
  to snatch away his life.

(source: Jnana Sudha by Swami Poornananda Thirtha)

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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