[Advaita-l] Advaita and God

[U.K Anumula]

It is true that every advaitin believes in God.   Indeed, one's belief in 
advaita does begin with his faith in  God.  But theoretically speaking, 
however arid such intellectual probing may be, advaita need not shy away 
from uncompromising  analysis of all the concepts involved in this 
philosophy.  Such intellectual analysis needs to be philosophically 
integrated with faith in divinity and various ways of expressing such faith. 
   It needs to be examined whether "visishtaadvaita" provides some answers 
to these troubling questions.   To take pride in the intellectual 
infallibility of advaita philosophy and at the same time not accepting the 
consequences of relentless analyses of the concept of Brahman and the utter 
ephemerality of "God" would perhaps be less than honest.   It would be 
better simply to say that matters of faith are not subject to intellectual 
dissection.  That would be like any other religion in the world.  Or, in the 
alternative, define this as a problem to be probed by all advaitins and seek 
a solution to it.   (I must add here that I am not advocating Godlessness or 
atheism; but a measure of healthy agnosticism would be good for advaita.)