[Advaita-l] Re: Question: Swadharma

[Sanjay Srivastava]

Namaste Ram-ji.

Sri Ram Garib wrote:

> That certainly doesn't mean that it is impossible to get a qualified teacher
> for someone born in a wrong situation. I had the rare luck of getting
> initiated into the first verse of brahma-sutra by no less an authority than
> Swami Krishnananda-ji himself. But I will not pretend that it is as easy as
> mentioned in the above mail.

I think we are mixing here dharma-jijnAsA with brahma-jijnAsA. Apart
from shankarAchArya-s, who are also considered guardians of sanAtana
dharma, other swami-s are not necessarily authority on dharma-jijnAsA.
I am not intending it as any disrespect to other swami-ji-s and least
of all to Swami Krishnananda-ji whom I hold in highest regards.
However as you mentioned in one of your previous mails, dharma is a
deep subject. It will be too much to expect any one person to know the
nuances of community specific dharma for each community. All one
person can be expected to master is the general guidelines of dharma.
Therefore as Jaldhar pointed out we have a lot to gain from an
introspective approach in this regard.  However, I agree with you that
perpetuation of all traditions -- god, bad and ugly -- cannot be the
essence of dharma. Above all, dharma must offer a promise of personal
and spiritual growth.

Some time back, there was a series on karma yoga by Sri Sadananda-ji
and it deals with this issue in further details. If you are interested
in broader guidelines of dharma, you will find it illuminating.

praNAm