[Advaita-l] 'End' not 'Means'

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 13 Apr 2006, Ger Koekkoek wrote:

> For me, as a European, I feel a bit a contradiction at this moment. Adwaita
> cannot be traditional for me, course I am no Hindu.
> Or do you mean that I should stick to questions about:
> "Who am I", from Sri Ramana Maharshi,
> a translation from sayings from Sri Shankara, from the "Ashtavakra Samhita",
> from "Advaita Bodha  Deepika",
> "Jnana Yoga" from Vivekananda,
> or your website about Vedanta?
> These are the texts on Vedanta I have.
>

The bottom line is that Advaita Vedanta is a body of knowledge with
history, doctrines, heresies, controversies and options.  In other words
it should be treated just like any other field of knowledge that you want
to learn. The only difference between it and lawnmower repair or table
tennis is that the result of knowing it is transcendant rather than
immediate. (Though I admit that's quite a big difference.)

> Or am I also allowed to write texts as the following, which are, as far as I
> think to understand this all, related to advaita:
>
> I once said to someone: "It 's impossible to think anything in the present."
> He started to laugh and responded a bit rough: "But I am answering you here
> and now, isn't it, you fool?"

...

Speaking with my moderator hat on I don't think I would want to stop you
from writing that sort of thing.  But speaking with my contributor hat on
I probably would not respond much.  That's not using the power of the
internet to its potential in my opinion.


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