[Advaita-l] Re: A REQUEST FOR GUIDANCE.

[K Kathirasan NCS]

Namaste

Every organisation, be it RK Mission or Chinmaya mission, has
contributed positively to the teaching of Vedanta. However our
perspectives and desire are entirely due to our aptitude and
preparedness. For example, about 15 years ago, I found the general
titles of RK Mission very informative. However, at present I prefer the
works of Shankara on the Prasthana traya and also the works of Dayananda
sarasvati swami and satchitanandendra swami.

I also agree with Sanjayji that in very traditional circles too, Vedanta
can become an intellectual exercise or even not fruitful. I still
remember a Swami from Sringeri Matha approaching Swami Sakshatkrtananda
of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (Rishikesh) imposing his belief that the Jagat
was a product of the union of Shiva and Shakti. In fact, this incident
baffled me because until then I assumed that anyone who was initiated by
the Sringeri Matha must be shrotriyas. A lesson learnt. 

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of Sanjay
Srivastava
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 9:58 AM
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Re: A REQUEST FOR GUIDANCE.


On Jul 17, 2006, at 9:13 PM, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

> Not having any experience with Ramakrishna Mutt, I don't know what
> advice their sannyaasis give householders. Of course, as you say the
> target audiences are vastly different. I would say that their
> structure is more Westernized than traditional Mutts, but not a
> Christian one. It's more a mixture of the vedaanta and bhajana kind of
> traditions.

...which again can neither be said as better or worse, but depends on 
ones aptitude. The search for 'traditional' teaching can prove to be 
elusive. I spent some time at Kailash ashram at Rishikesh with a very 
respected swami-ji in search of 'traditonal' teaching and realized very 
soon that it was not my cup of tea. His vedanta lectures would sound 
more like classes on Sanskrit grammar. He would utilize all his time 
discussing derivations of nouns and verbs and what not, hardly touching 
anything of vedanta teaching as I understand. May be that teaching 
teaching style is suitable for someone looking for a Ph.D. in shankara 
siddhAnta, not spiritual guidance. May be not. I have found the right 
balance (for me) in Sw. Dayananda's lectures, but others may certainly 
question whether his method can be called 'traditional' in the 
traditional sense.

praNAm



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