Measure of firmness (was Re: Dvaita and Sophistry - Part 1(The nature of difference) )

[M. S. Ravisankar]

Firmness/Validity of a philosphical system in the context of vedAnta is
measured by its ability to give satifactory interpretation of prasthAna
trayI (brahmasuutra, bhagavad giita, and major upanishads) and show its
conformity with these texts. This is a tradition started and set  by our
Acharya.  There are only handful of schools within vedAnta, which meet this
requirement.

It should be noted, however, to do this these schools of thoughts may end up
stretching, distorting, and misinterpreting statements in these texts --
just to make it agree with the proposed philosophy. One such example is the
morphing of "sa aatmaa tattvamasi ..." to "sa aatmaa atattvamasi".

In the above example, one can see usefulness of such a measure, as it
exposes a fundamental problem. Many new schools that come under the class of
neo-vedanta, that mix and mess  advaita-vedAnta with buddhism etc., say
whatever they want to say and show no obligation to undertake a formal
exposition of prasthAna trayI.

Ravi


-----Jaldhar Wrote:

> >We may disagree strongly with Dvaita but at least it has a firmer
> >foundation than some of the crazy ideas being thrown around these days.

> Can you elaborate on this please?

Dvaita arguments atleast attempt to base themselves on facts and logic
unlike the muddled hodge-podge of many of todays thinkers (many of which
unfortunately claim to be in the Advaita camp.)  I give them credit for
that.  We may diagree with both the premises and the conclusions but we
ought to atleast respect the effort.

Also historically the spirited criticism of Vyas Tirth and his disciples
forced Advaita Vedanta to clarify our views (Which Swami Madhusudan
Saraswati and his discipes ably did.)  So actually we should thank such
people for polishing the the gem of Advaita!


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