[Advaita-l] Importance of Ashram

[Anuj]

Thanks Jagan, you help clarify my point as well. I think there is
another point to be made which is that most of the people we learn
about as the great sages of the past learnt from many masters and
eventually even superseded them in their own experience of the truth.
>From Budha, to Ramakrishna to Christ, they all grew out of their own
knowledge to become enlightened. Not that I expect to become as well
known as any of them obviously, but from a advaitic standpoint, if I
am fortunate enough, I will attain the same knowledge and feel the
same peace someday. That is the goal anyway right?

So teachers may come and go, they may be great or the "best" but by
judging them as so, one forms an opinion and opinions are not always
true, only the ultimate truth is true. I read a cute saying yesterday
"the only truth is the self, the rest are all opinions".

Anuj

On 12/4/07, jagannathan mahadevan <jagannathan.mahadevan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> By Deeksha I suppose you mean "learning". I think it is largely a
> personal preference as to who one should obtain guidance for learning
> from. For some the idea of getting a Deeksha and learn some
> technicalities, which is not wrong at all, may not appeal. What is
> best for you may not be suitable at all to another! For all that you
> know the sringeri swamiji may not even admit someone that is not a
> brahmana or not done veda adhyayana (I do not know what the rules
> are!)
>
> HH Chandrasekhara Bharathi swamigal himself has said that advaita
> cannot be taught but only experienced. In one of the quotes he
> mentions to an aspirant that he may at best clarify some grammar of
> the vedic texts but cannot teach advaita. Now my question is why
> should one go to sringeri matha (where Sri Bharathi Teertha Mahaswami
> resides) if only grammar is taught there? Of course as I mentioned
> before it may not be wrong at all to go and learn grammar, but for
> someone that is longing for an experience it is not suitable unless
> your high ranking orders can provide that.
>
> I am reminded of an anecdotal incident, narrated to me, about Swami
> Chinmayananda when he was called upon to shed the "saraswati" suffix
> by the same order you have mentioned as best for Deeksha. Swami
> Chinmayananda simply replied, "they can have the name, as saraswati is
> with me anyway!" Saraswati was indeed with Swami Chinmayananda and no
> one can dispute that. Learning is always possible where saraswati is
> and it is simply the person's preference to choose who he wants to
> learn from.
>
> The point of this is that the statement that sringeri is the best
> place or that the current mahaswami is the best, or that Ramakrishna
> order is "next" best is highly disputable without stating the metric
> for your ratings!!
>
> Jagan
>
> On Dec 3, 2007 10:04 PM, RAMESH RAMANAN <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hi Anuj,
> >
> >   I did not intend to discourage you from your goal, but only wanted to caution against the pitfalls. Swami Parthasarathy is very well-known and he has written very good treatises on Vedanta and the Gita. He has extensively lectured on Vedanta as well. But if you could get Deeksha from Sri Bharathi Teertha Mahaswami and be under his guidance, that will be the best you can get in this yuga. There just can not be any second opinion on that. Next to this will be discipleship under a senior monk of the Sri Ramakrishna Order. I do not know much about Swami Parthasarathy's Ashram, but I think, it ranks third in my list of preferences if I were to join an Ashram. Best wishes, Ramesh Ramanan.
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
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