Subject: RE: [Advaita-l] namo namah: and some questions

[shankar]

> 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?

Is not the visuals seen by the people superficial ?.since on certain 
occasion what we see might not be true.The people who thought that 
the man is religious are commenting only on the dress,probably the
man could have worn this for a participating in a drama  and not for only puja.
Sometimes the same people would think a siddhar ( a sort of enlightened
persons,as addressed in Tamil nadu) as a mad man and equivate
a mad man as a siddhar. These assumptions cannot be always
construed as true and false.The exteriors as seen of a person cannot 
be measured in a 1-10 bhakthi scale since as an outsider we
cannot predict the levels of bhakthi achieved by a bhaktha.
This can be scaled only by  bhaghawan. As an outsider can we
predict who between  "Meera" and "Surdas" where better bhaktas 
of Lord Krishna. Only the lord can know it, isn't it ?

> 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.

People do judge a person and asertain that he is a great bhaktha of so
and so lord. But the question is the sacle of greatness,  which
can be only assertained by the receiver of the bakthi. The relationship 
is one to one and I think only these two know how their
relationship is evolving. We may and can pass judgement and
why should we fear about it. This is in no way affecting them
since both are not looking at us to measure.

Shankar.