[Advaita-l] Budha & Advaita

[praveen.r.bhat at exgate.tek.com]

praNAm all,

I just want to add in a few thoughts on all that went on this thread. First of all, that brAhmins and buddhists were/are at each other's neck is total nonsense, IMHO, even if no one said it in exact words! Next, whether or not following buddhism gives enlightenment is a moot for an advaita follower. It should be quite clear that even if one believes the goal to be the same (an assumption that one mistakenly starts with, since it can't be proven), what is more important is the path that one walks too. Many advaita sannyAsis have respected Buddha for his teachings, his mauna, etc, but still the advaita *tradition* does not *include* buddhism on the path. That in itself should be quite sufficient for us to stay away from equating nirguNa brahmaN with shUnya and what not! 

Moreover, whether the caste is by birth/actions/vAsanA/blah blah, have been discussed umpteen times on this list; so kindly refer to the archives before even lighting the sparks again! So has the topic been discussed on whether various "enlightenments" mean the same thing as advaita moksha. (Moderators have taken sufficient pains to get the archives up and running and searchable for this very reason, please... lets respect their efforts)

shivam shaantam advaitam,
--praveeN