[Advaita-l] Interesting article.

[Abhishek Madhyastha]

On 8/18/12, rajaramvenk at gmail.com <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sankara, a theory, however eccentric it may seem, has to fit available
> data. There are evidences and tradition for Sankara to have lived 2500 years
> ago as well as the date of 8th  century. Most importantly he seems to end
> avatar in multiple places. My theory addresses all the data. No, I don't
> make fun on matters relating to acharya or tradition.
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
> Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:26:08
> To: rajaramvenk at gmail.com<rajaramvenk at gmail.com>; A discussion group for
> Advaita Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Reply-To: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Interesting article.
>
> As regards Ram-setu there is no doubt that the setu was a natural formation
> and Lord Ram got the dykes made so that the army can use it for crossing
> safely. Valmiki mentions the different types of trees used to make the Setu,
> apart from using the light floatable stones like pumice stones and coral
> stones.  It is on historical record that upto 1482 CE people could walk on
> the Setu. Lord ram got the Setu broken in Dhanuskodi (Dhanuskoti) while
> returning.
>
> Jesus Christ ws born in the year 4 BCE and in the month of September. It was
> the political sagacity of the Roman emperor to order the celebration of the
> birth of Jesus on the day of the birth of the pagan god Mitra (ie. on the
> Winter Solstice day).
>
> Your statement that Adi Sankara returned after 1200 years is pure fantasy.
> Or is Mr. Rajaram  making fun of the date controversy?
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: "rajaramvenk at gmail.com" <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 10:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Interesting article.
>
> In the case of Ramar Sethu, it is a natural formation because Rama lived in
> a different yuga. But it is considered as Ramar Sethu because of age old
> belief. A harmless ageold belief is itself a cultural heritage. That's how
> it was argued successfully.
>
> In the case of Jesus, his birthday is celebrated in certain Israel villages
> on a different date! Historically, it was changed to 136 times. The current
> birthday aligns with the pagan festivals :(
>
> In the case of Sankara, I think he lived for 1200 years. After an active
> life of 32 years, he gave up his avatara body in the Himalayas but came back
> to live in Sringeri with Sureshwaracharya for 1200 years. And then again
> gave up his avatara body in Kanchi. That is why we see differences in
> historical accounts and evidences. If you think this is an eccentric theory,
> I can't help it. You have a normal mind - how boring.
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> Sender: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 07:19:44
> To: A discussion group for Advaita
> Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Reply-To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
>     <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Interesting article.
>
> A fine example of the ideal attitude in this respect is available here:
>
> In the benedictory discourse delivered, in Kannada, at Mysore on 15.4.1988
> by His Holiness Jagaduru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Swamigal, 35th Pontiff of
> Sri Sharada Peetham Sringeri said:
>
> (Quote)
> **
>
> In our Holy land, Bharath, persons in the Government, Advaitic
> Sannyasins,devotees and people interested in the Shastras have been
> celebrating , since the start of the current year, the twelfth centenary of
> the advent of Bhagavatpada, the preceptor. Historically, 1200-1300 years
> have passed since Bhagavatpada was born. If, following deliberation as on
> other issues, a consensus had arisen about the year of Bhagavatpada’s
> advent, be it 1200 years ago or earlier or later, there would have been no
> occasion for dispute. Historians have so far not determined the year of
> Buddha’s Nirvana with exactitude and certainty.  Yet, in 1956, the
> 2500thanniversary of Buddha’s Nirvana was commemorated in various
> parts of the
> globe.  Research has not established that Jesus Christ was born precisely
> in 1 A.D. on December 25.  Nevertheless, the world over, Christmas is
> observed on December 25 and the Christian era commences from 1 A.D.  Thus,
> there are precedents for the anniversaries of events relating to personages
> being celebrated even in the absence of historical definiteness about the
> dates of those occurrences. So, the mere reason that 788 A.D. may actually
> not be the year of Bhagavatpada’s advent cannot debar or render censurable
> the current twelfth birth centenary celebrations.
>
> However, be that as it may, it is intensely gratifying that the twelfth
> birth centenary of that holy one is being celebrated. The present
> celebrations provide us a special opportunity to think of and express our
> gratitude to Bhagavatpada, who has done so very much good to all.
>
> (unquote)
>
> A similar question came up with respect to the Ramar Sethu.  While the
> protagonists believe it is indeed the remains of the sethu built by the
> vanara-s during Ramayana, the scientists tried to prove that what is seen
> under the oceanic surface is a natural formation of things like
> stalagmite.
>
> Regards
>
> subrahmanian.v
>
> On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 1:11 AM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
> svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> >
>> > Namaskar,
>> >
>> > One doubt keeps lurking in my mind when this topic comes up. Suppose
>> > we accept the dates proposed by Sringeri Sharada peetham, what
>> > explanation could be given to the guru parampara of the other 3 amnaya
>> > peethams which date before 788AD? Is it really possible that all those
>> > acharyas before 788AD are fake or "created"?
>> > On the other hand, if we accept 509BC as the date, as proposed by the
>> > other 3 mutts, what explanation could be given to the huge gap of over
>> > 1000 years that would be generated within the Sringeri Guru parampara?
>> > What happened to all the gurus in between this huge time gap?
>> >
>>
>> Neither of the above. The true answer is that dates are shaky. In general,
>> record
>> keeping about these matters and preserving them over time has not been a
>> strong
>> point in the history of any of the Mathas or for that matter, in any
>> traditional Indian
>> institution. The dates attached to the paramparAs have largely been
>> derived in the
>> 19th century and the discrepancies are because the various Mathas have all
>> done
>> this exercise independent of one another. One should keep an open mind
>> about the
>> dates currently being given out, without reading too much into their
>> differences.
>>
>> Vidyasankar
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Actually there is one flaw in your theory Mr.Rajaram. Suppose we
accept that acharya gave up his body once after 32 years, then lived
with Sureshwaracharya for 1200 years & finally left his body in
Kanchi, shouldn't the Kanchi peetham have records of acharya passing
away in 820 AD? Instead their records say that acharya passed away in
509BC! If your theory were to be true, surely Kanchi peetham would
hold some records that acharya passed away 1200 years after giving up
his body once & not before 1200 years, i.e the time of acharya's 1st
death as you say.

One thing that amuses me is that the Puri Govardhan peetham is headed
by HH Jagadguru Nischalananda Saraswati who is the 115th pontiff or
so! While this is the case with Govardhan peetham, the Jagadguru of
Sringeri Sharada peetham is only the 36th Jagadguru. The number of
pontiffs of the Govardhan peetham is over 3 times that of Sringeri!
What could possibly be the reason for such a vast difference?