[Advaita-l] The Evolution of Advaita from Sankara till Date

[Solracartist]

On 5/15/08 7:59 AM, "sivaramakrishnan muthuswamy" <muthushiv at yahoo.com>
wrote:

> ... He never sat in a
> corner to do tapas nor he collected some money and designed "Courses" for
> western people.  .
> 
And further on:

> All the modern day swamiji's are designing "Courses", a book and pep talk on
> Bagavad Gita, and some "rituals" because it looks soo cool.
> 

Dear Sir:
I am very surprised about these statements that criticize some very honest
swamis who offered their lives to spread the Scriptural Teachings putting
them in the same bag with charlatans and profit-making pseudo-spiritual
teachers.
Of course, I don't know who you are refering to, and I can only speak from
my own experience.
For your info I was born westerner, and after entering Vedanta by the
Western Advaita Teaching door (that some people nowadays call Neo-Advaita),
I felt something was missing, so I start looking other Vedantic venues, and
the Ego had the misfortune of falling into those "Courses" and pep talks on
Bagavad Gita that you are refering to (but again I must clarify, maybe we
are not talking about the same people). It wasn't only a revelation, it
opened (and still is doing it) the way of understanding the Sastras from
many angles, but essentially pointing at that Sublime Identity that we all
are, but fail to recognize due to Ignorance. I am (and still am) very
gratefull to have had the oportunity given in the form of "courses", "books"
and "pep talks". And I am also eternally grateful to those swamis that
initiated that kind of teaching form.
My path didn't lead me to Swami Vivekananda (yet), so I can't really
appreciate His Teaching, that I'm sure is another of the most beautiful
flowers in this Vedantic Garden we all share.

I was compelled to show you your own criticism, because in fact, you fell in
the same trap that you were pointing out as unacceptable.
In your own words:

> If you dont have the capacity to show gratitude, that
> is alright but don't throw mud at others because
> first it contaminates your hand.

Pleas receive my most respectful pranams,
Carlos Grasso