[Advaita-l] On recent mails the list has seen

[Raghavendra Hebbalalu]

Dear moderators,

Do we want to change the name of the list to "Advaita
vedanta as taught by the Sringeri Matha"? I have the
greatest respect for the Sringeri-maTha, but it would
benefit all of us if we focused on
shrI-chandrashekharabhAratI's reprimand of a disciple
- "Advaita is not the property of Shankara's
disciples". 

vidyAraNya-svAminaH chose to focus on the
panchapAdikA-prasthAna (that his
vivaraNa-prameya-sangraha focuses on). But the
Sringeri maTha itself traditionally teaches Advaita
according to the bhAmatI-vyAkhyAna. The differences
between bhAmatI and vivaraNa are well known. So, does
the statement at the bottom of this email mean that
whatever the then pontiff of the maTha says is to be
taken as the correct interpretation of the doctrine?
What else is the maTha without the pontiff? I am
making this argument to show the problems that the
statement at the bottom of this email can cause. 

If the differences between vivaraNa and bhAmatI can be
reconciled by the scholars like Appayya dIkShita, is
SSS too far away from the advaita doctrine to be put
in the same camp as Madhva? Just note that in the
common statement that sums up advaita - "brahma satyaM
jaganmithyA jIvo brahmaiva nAparaH", all advaitins,
including SSS, agree that Brahman is satyaM, that
jagat is indeed mithyA and jIva is Brahman Itself.
Now, we have seen a lot of heat generated over the
nature of avidyA. But in the pAramArthika perspective,
does everybody not concur?

And in any case, focus should be on the work and not
the name of a person. Even if we assume that a work
was based on incorrect understanding, the person who
did it did not do it out of dishonesty, as he felt
that it was the truth. So, I would like to request
list members to restrict criticism, if any, to the
work and not take names of people unnecessarily.  

Finally, it would be good to all of us if we focused
on shamAdi-ShaTka ourselves.

Best regards,
-Raghavendra


> -----Original Message-----
> From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> [mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]
> 
> I must point out that this list firmly stands by the
> Sringeri Math
> when it comes to understanding Sankara's doctrine.


 
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