Final Comments

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

> But sadly, too, the hostile nature of many of the postings makes
> receiving more of the digests akin to asatsang ... something I would
> have never imagined from such a group of spiritual questors


Believe me it could be a lot worse.  In former times such arguments were
often conducted with swords and cannon :-)

Today my mother, along with my wife, and daughter went to a simmanta
samskara (a ritual performed to bless an expectant mother) for the
daughter of one of her friends in the local Sai Baba group.  The rest of
the group was also invited.  All went well until the group were asked to
sing some bhajans.  The host and her family are Sindhis.  Sindh is now in
Pakistan and many of the Hindus (though not the host herself.) there eat
meat and non-veg food was being served there.  Some of the South Indian
members (who are staunch vegetarians) felt that such activities were not
appropriate in a place were himsa was taking place.  According to my
mother, the arguments got rather heated at one point but the key thing is
eventually things were settled amicably and more importantly, in a way
both sides felt Baba would have wanted it.

That in my book is satsang.  The gathering (= sangha) where sat (= truth)
is sought after.  You're right, it should not be hostile.  But passion can
lead to hostility or it can lead to truth and the need for truth outweighs
all other considerations.

> who claim to follow a pathway so closely aligned with my own.

But we never made the claim you think we did.  And therein lies part of
the problem.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/