[Advaita-l] Pa~nchapAdikAchArya

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

I received a personal email from someone, which is prompting me to write this.

The idea of a "true" tradition which is "lost" and then "rediscovered"
is a very *Western* concept and is utterly alien to the Indian/Hindu
way of thinking. In the Hindu way of thinking the same underlying
philosophy exists - sanaatana dharma. No one can destroy it. The
sampradaayavids always exist. Modifications on top of the fundamental
ideas happen over time, which do not invalidate the sampradaaya.
Changes are accepted and embraced. They are not harshly criticized.
This is the fact. Most Western educated Indians themselves are not
aware of this key fact and adopt a historical analysis of anything and
everything, which will lead you no where in the Indian philosophy - at
least if you are a practitioner, or want to really understand the
Hindu way of thinking. But historical analysis is certainly good if
you want to write papers in journals and publish books.There is a
saying that when biologists don't know what to do, they'll start
classifying things. The same goes for philosophers arranging
philosophy within neat historical compartments.

Rama