[Advaita-l] Dinosaurs and Puranas

[K Kathirasan NCS]

Namaste to all,

May I humbly add on to what Lathaji had shared. The wisdom and content of our scriptures primarily satisfy three criteria, which are: 

1. anadhigata - unique knowledge not revealed in any other body of knowledge 
2. abadhita - not negated by other means of knowledge (pratyaksadi....) 
3. hita - beneficial

What is beneficial (hita) to us comes in two forms which is preyas (Dharma) & sreyas (moksa). The knowledge of dinosaurs (you can include modern knowledge of cellphones too) is not found in our sastras because it leads you to neither preyas nor sreyas. This could be reason for its omission. 

Warmest Regards,
Kathirasan K
-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org [mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of latha vidyaranya
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 5:07 PM
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Dinosaurs and Puranas

hari om
namaste
 
all that our science proves is not the eternal truth. what was proved scientifically a hundred years ago to be the truth gets disproved another hundred years later by some other research group who claim their discovery is the 'latest truth' ! and all human discoveries are bound by the limited perception of human mind and sensory apparatus. they are 'pourusheya'. whereas, our smruthi and puraanaas are based on shruthi or vedas which are  apourusheya and hence contain the eternal truth. where physics ends meta physics begins. 
 
for that matter, i don't think musquitos or cockroaches are mentioned in puraanaas. the general term 'srishti' or 'creation' encompasses all that  was / is / going to be in the Brhmaanda. 
 
interesting thread ! sure to bring out a smile on the many serious faces of List members :))
 
namaste
 


--- On Fri, 4/7/08, Pranav Peshwe <pranavpeshwe at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Pranav Peshwe <pranavpeshwe at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Dinosaurs and Puranas
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Friday, 4 July, 2008, 5:54 PM

On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Suresh <mayavaadi at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Friends,
>
> As it's scientifically accepted that dinosaurs existed millions of
years
> ago, why is it our puranas/ramayan never mention them? Or, do we have to
> assume that the rakshasas mentioned therein could be referring to
dinosaurs?
>

Namaste Suresh,
         Dinosaurs became extinct around 65 million years ago. I am not sure
whether any of our Puranas and Ramayana refer to that old an era.
Scientifically speaking, dinosaurs and humans (or for that matter, any of
the *homo* species) did not coexist. So, there can be no mention about
dinosaurs in our scriptures.


The reason I find this important from a spiritual angle is because, if our
> scriptures hadn't mentioned these things, it raises questions as to
their
> authenticity.
> Moreover, how is it possible to believe that the scriptures are ancient,
> when this obvious info. pertaining to that time is missing?
>

I doubt whether all the things mentioned in our scriptures comply with
modern science. So, it is up to every individual to decide for him/herself
whether or not to accept the scriptures as authentic. IMVHO, it is the
philosophy in the scriptures that is important and, not the technical
details.

HTH.
Learned members, kindly CMIIW.

Best regards,
Pranav
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