Jnana and Bhakti

[Ravisankar S. Mayavaram]

--- Vivek Anand Ganesan <v_ganesan at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>  To address the former, neo-vedantins ( esp. Swami
> Vivekanada, who is persona non-grata on this list )

If this is the perception of the list you have, it is not correct. From
the history of the list, probably you can say this: "Works of Swami
Vivekananda cannot serve as a final authority is resolving an issue
related to advaita vedAnta". But that does not mean he is persona
non-grata as you say.  Same thing is true for many famous teachers of
the last  century.

Swami Vivekananda is a great saint and he incarnated for a particular
purpose. According Sri Ramakrishna in the "Gospel": Vivekananda and
Ramakrishna are respectively incarnations of Sages nara and nArAyaNa.

What typically happens is, devotees of these saints get offended when
one says "such and such thing" he/she said is not in accordance to
traditional advaita-vedAnta. That in the past has led to some angry
sign-offs.

Personally, I admire and love Ramakrishna very much. I have read
portions of "Gospel of Ramakrishna" by M and with tears brimming my
eyes. However, I think, even though his teachings are good for
attaining chitta-shuddhi they do not represent traditional
advaita-vedAnta. If at all, he borderlines between vishiShTaadvaita and
advaita-vedAnta, or something like that.

My 2c.

Ravi






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