[Advaita-l] namo namah: and some questions

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004, Ravisankar S. Mayavaram wrote:

> Unless you are bhagavan (who knows all), you can not say A's bhakti  is
> better than B's just based what you can observe with your senses. Not only
> we can't say that,  it is simply not our business.
>

But the thing is we do it all the time!  This is Shravana masa so I am
doing abhisheka to Shiva Bhagavan every day.  On mondays I do it even
more elaborately.  This monday, I went overtime and got late for work.  As
it was quite hot outside and I was in a rush, I decided not to change from
my dhoti and went as is.  On the train a couple of Indians were ooh-ing
and ah-ing about how nice it is that a young man is so religious.  But I
thought to myself, these people probably saw me a 100 times in t-shirt and
jeans and never said anything and now because I'm wearing a dhoti I am
suddenly a Maharshi?

The answer people give to Sanskrit Beginners' predicament is satsanga --
the company of the pure devotees.  But this implies that you can tell the
difference between satsanga and kusanga.  Using superficial criteria to
discriminate is wrong and fruitless but refusing to discriminate at all
out of paralyzing fear of appearing "judgmental" is also wrong and
fruitless.  Judgement should be refined further and further.  It should be
directed just as strictly (if not more) at ones own conduct as anyone
elses.  But it's still making a judgement.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>