[Advaita-l] Dvaita's wrong knowledge

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sat, 14 Jun 2003, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

> namaste shri Anand,
>
> You have made a very valid point. The moderators of the List
> are conspicuous by their absence

As is sometimes the case, all the list moderators have become quite busy.
In my case I'm writing this from a hotel room in Florida thousands of
miles away from my books.

> and, in my view, are doing
> a dis-service to the List, a List which says it is following
> shri shankara's philosophy.

Actually what our list guidelines say is that we are trying to
_understand_ Shri Shankaras philosophy.  We cannot succesfully follow what
we do not clearly understand.

And I can't speak for Jay, Srinivas, etc. but I would like to think they
have learnt something and corrected some erroneous notions about Advaita
Vedanta in the process.  If this is the case then also the list is serving
its' purpose.

> While shri shankara's teachings
> are maligned and thrown dirt all over, the List moderators
> allow these postings without even a whimper. I recall
> days when moderators used to intervene saying such and
> such posts are not allowed because they do not follow
> shri shankara's philosophy.

If Jay and company were the kind of Dvaitins who say Shankara was a demon
sent to destroy Vedic religion with crypto=Buddhist heresy, etc. etc. they
would have been out on their ear after the first sentence.  Now what Jay
is saying is uncomplimentary.  He thinks Advaita Vedanta is wrong.  But
after saying that he says, "I think it is wrong because x, y, z..." using
the same methods and concepts we use.  Do you honestly fail to see the
difference between that and "maligned and thrown dirt over"?

> To say that the dvaita
> follows shruti and hence these posts are allowed (shri
> jaldhar's feeble recent justification for allowing these
> posts)

Needless to say this is a misrepresentation of my position.  What I am
saying is that Dvaita has virtually the same concepts, methods and goals
as Advaita thus what it has to say about _Advaita_ concepts such as
adhyasa ought to provide food for thought.  Dvaita musings on say the
theological position of Vayu have no place here but has anyone been
bringing them up?

> may be justifiable (i) if there is active point-by-point
> debate by learned scholars on both sides,

So have at it then!  Whats that you said?  You're not a scholar?  Why not?

Vidyashankar, Sadananda, and several others have answered for the advaita
side.  As both you and Anand have mentioned me by name let me assure you
my relative silence, (I've also made a few responses) has no greater
significance then as I said above, I've been very busy.

> *and* (ii) if
> the List mandate is amplified that such debates are allowed,
> *and* (iii) if such debate serve the needs of the List members
> as per the moderators' judgement.
>

FYI, Jay did ask me privately earlier if I thought he should continue.
You know my reasons for telling him yes.

My hope is that by reading this set of postings readers have been
stimulated to think more about the ideas discussed.  Rather than just
taking someones word for it I hope they will study the issues for
themselves.  I'm not afraid of anyone being seduced by the "dark side" :-)

> I personally felt the last three weeks of debates a huge noise
> and a waste of time for everyone and specially for me.
>

Ok, well delete that debate and start talking about something you feel
isn't a waste of time.


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