"Jagat satya!"

[Jagannath Chatterjee]

Dear Ashisji/Vyasji,

Namaskar.

Ashisji wrote :
>
> You should really ask why, and how, Jagannath thinks
> Swami Vivekananda's
> views differed from the early teachers. Why do you
> take his word for it
> without your own enquiry?

Definitely Swamiji had drawn new meaning from the
Upanishads, Veda's and Bhagavad Gita. Swamiji did not
invent the altruistic approach, he only rediscovered
it from the sources mentioned above. He did differ
from Sri Shankaracharya when he led stress on seeing
the self in all and serving them as such. Swamiji
praised Sri Shankaracharya to dizzying heights but he
also accused him of distorting the scriptures to
project his own brand of advaita.

>
> >Jagannath Chatterjee wrote:
> >
> >> But the Mission has today gained acceptance among
> all classes.

 Vyasji wrote :
> >Of course.  Because they "won."  The colonial
> servent class overthrew
> >British rule in the end and it is their brand of
> modernity that prevailed.
> >Just as if some up and coming religion wanted to
> show its orthodox
> >credentials it had to reference itself to the
> Brahmasutras, in
> >contemporary Indian society, if you want to show
> how "modern" you are in
> >terms of religion, you have to do it in reference
> to Vivekananda.  This is
> >why he is invoked by groups as disparate as the VHP
> and the Communists.
> >But philosophy has moved on since the 19th century.
>  My complaint is not
> >that Vivekananda was too modern but that he was not
> modern enough.  The
> >reformers need to be reformed.  How will this be
> done?  Only be educated
> >people with a firm grasp of what our shastras
> actually teach and an
> >awareness of their context.

The need for "reforming the reforms" of Swami
Vivekanada appears only to those who oppose him for
the following;

1. His catholicity in accepting the inherent truth of
all religions and sects. Ekam sad vipra bahudha
vadanti.

2. His concept of the monks staying out of politics
and serving the masses without any hope of return.

3. His strong opposition to the Brahministic class who
did nothing but exploit the poor in the name of
religion.

Regarding certain quasi-religio-political
organisations, they are an oppurtunistic lot.
sometimes they fall at the feet of Swami Vivekananda
and sometimes they hold closed door meetings with the
Shankaracharyas.

Ashisji wrote :
> following a saint is one of the most mystifying and
> difficult of things and
> all sorts of things are said one way or another.
> Those who know, know.
> Those who don't know, talk.

Nobody can claim to "know" Vivekananda. On the day of
his attaining mahasamadhi, 4th July 1902, he was heard
muttering to himself "Only another Vivekananda can
know what this Vivekananda has done!" I personally
believe each of his utterances are sutras of which
volumes of bhasyas can be written. One can realise the
greatness of this Prophet by the fact that Sri
Ramakrishna thought it fit to teach pure advaita to
Swamiji alone and nobody else.

Yours sincerely

Jagannath.



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