[Advaita-l] Shankara and Madhusudhana

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste Bhaskarji,
 
Namaste,
 
Vivekananda faced several hardships in life and when
he was passing through hard times, nobody
cared to help him with money, food & water.
 
The so-called Theosophical Society harrassed
him like anything.  His blood boiled when
Madras Iyers & Iyengars used to work under
britishers and bootlick them for salaries. 
The way he scolded one of the Iyengars of 
Madras by name Alasinga Perumal, it becomes
evident that religion for them is just a 
"kitchen-religion".  
 
BTW, Bhagavan Ramachandra is also said to have eaten 
meat with Mother Sita which has the reference
in Ayodhya Kanda.
 
Just see here from Ayodhya Kanda.  These two
are one of the instances but there are many
with Rama.  During the grihapravEsha into 
the parNasAla, He offered Anteloppe as 
the bali and performed vaishwadEva with
vaidika mantras.  
 
He also consumed madhu & mAmsa during
araNyavAsa.  
 
So, should we snub Rama as uncivilized ruffian!
Should we stop going to Rama Temples? 
 
///
 
taaM tathaa darshayitvaa tu maithiliiM girinimnagaam |
niSasaada giriprasthe siitaaM maaMsena chandayan || 
 
1. tathaa= thus; darshayitvaa= having shown; girinimnagaam= the mountaneous river Mandakini; taam siitaam= to that Seetha; maithiliim= the daughter of the king of Mithila; niSasaada= sat; giriprashthe= on the hill side; chhandayan= in order to gratify her appetite; maamsena= with flesh.
 
Having shown Mandakini River in that manner to Seetha, the daughter of Mithila, Rama set on the hill-side in order to gratify her appetite with a piece of flesh.
 
 
////
 
idaM medhyamidaM svaadu niSTaptamidamagninaa |
evamaaste sa dharmaatmaa siitayaa saha raaghavaH || 
 
//
 
saH raaghavaH= that Rama; dharmaatmaa= of righteousness; aaste= stayed; 
siitayaa sha= with Seetha; evam= thus speaking; idam= this meat; madhyam= is fresh; idam= this; niSTaptam= was roasted; agninaa= in the fire.
 
Rama, whose mind was devoted to righteousness stayed there with Seetha, saying; "This meat is fresh, this is savoury and roasted in the fire."
 
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Food for thought.....
 
sriram