[Advaita-l] Marko's Posts

[Murali Karamchedu]

Dear Marko,

This message is to elicit from you the reasons for your posts.


Why is understanding the reasons for your posts important?

Your stated goal seems to be that you wish to seek out new friends. Given 
that you have
chosen a forum whose main purpose is to discuss advaita-vedanta  - *as 
taught by
Sankara* - I, and folks like me, would like to see that connection.

Your messages are read by people of differing backgrounds, a few among them 
are:

1)	Indians, and the Indian Diaspora, who have a traditional connection with 
advaita-
vedanta, who have a respect for and felicity with the methods of thinking 
and analysis
that this system requires. For this group, advaita-vedanta is more than a 
philosophy, it
provides a systematic framework for sadhana.

2)	Dilettantes, academics and scholars who wish to study advaita-vedanta as 
a philosophy

3)	Indians, and non-Indians, who genuinely seek mysticism and who resonate 
with
Vedanta in general

4)	Indians and non-Indians, who have a vague sense of spirituality; who take 
on a
universalist/syncretic approach to world teachings and science. This group 
has varying
degrees of rigor in their analysis.

5)	Mildly interested spectators

Many at times your posts appear as inspired blurbs, and as such may appeal 
to the 4th
group as beautiful instruction; but strikes a discordant note with the first 
two; and seems
delusional, confused or disorienting. For most part it is difficult to 
discern whether these
are questions, instruction, information you seek validation for, poems or 
proselytizing
thoughts.

I can think of a few reasons why you post; these are all possibilities and 
worth
eliminating, given the prejudices with which I (we) read them:

1)	You have realized the truth; it’s a matter of sharing it with us.

This may be, but the level of skepticism will be high. Even within our 
tradition, we admit
of avadhutas; however, they have no use for discourse with society in 
general, and as such
requires a jnani to recongnize one. Most of us can safely say we are not 
such jnanis.

2)	You have found someone who has realized the truth, are captivated with 
the
simplicity of the message, and wish to share it with us.

Similar to the previous case; if these messages run against the grain of 
tradition, which
requires the message and instruction to be in line with a defined path for 
progression –
sadhana; it is either dismissed or ignored by those seeking – sadhakas. This 
is not a value
judgment, it is just considered ineffective and impractical.

3)	You wish to lead us to a better path which is simpler and dispenses with 
complex analysis.
This is tempting to some; but mere slogans that assert are empty and seem 
misguided to
folks within tradition. In either case it helps to know if this is indeed 
the case; and if it is,
we would like to know how this relates to advaita-vedanta as taught by 
Sankara


4)	You wish to test the validity of the ideas which appeal to you.
I suspect this is one of the main reasons you post; if so, I would suggest 
that you collate
your posts into larger ones that are organized around the ideas that you 
wish to engage us
in a discussion with. As such the topics you bring seem disjoint to a few of 
us.

5)	You wish to challenge us with these ideas into a discussion, and convince 
us of an inherently simpler message.
If so, why?

6)	You just like to stir up discussion and enjoy the attention that comes 
with it.
This is not unusual in such forums, this one in particular has been more 
respectful of the
readers, and I hope that this isn’t the reason that you post.

If you indeed wish to seek out new friends in this group, helping us 
understand your
reasons would help.

Regards,
Murali Manohar