[Advaita-l] mleccha-s not eligible to take Hinduism??

[S L Shivashankar]

Dear Ravi,

The reason for me entering this discussion - which is certainly to open
Pandoras box! - was to give an example from my own experience. Of course
there is no such thing in ancient shastras as "How to handle an European
that enters into the hindu-fold?". This was a non-existing question to
people in ancient times for obvious reasons. But today things are
different, and many people all over the world gets interested in and
sometimes even enter religious traditions of other people and cultures. So
how are such things dealt with in practice by acharyas and pandits of
today? Pointing to myself as an example was the whole idea behind my
posting.

The traditional people I have met in real life obviously view this matter
different from what you are doing. There´s nothing strange about that. I
know very well there are people who differs in opinion of those who has
initiated me and instructed me. I have been a member of this list for some
12 years know, so I am very much familiar with all those pro et contra
arguments related to caste issues that appears on this list every now and
then. I am not trying to say that there´s any monolithic standpoint on this
issue shared by every single scholar.

Quoting the dharma shastras in discussions like this is a good thing of
course, but as we have seen countless of times on this list, arguments
regarding the question of adhikara can be found to support more than one
view. If at least some traditional acharyas and pandits let foreigners like
me to enter the hindu fold, giving me upanayanam etc., then perhaps we
should ask ourselves why they are doing so. Are their interpretations of
the shastras necessarily less reliable than interpretations found among
members of this list? Some people on this list would probably reply that
the pandits I have met are not very learned or the like, but I can assure
you that´s not the case.

Warmest regards
Shivashankar



2012/6/26 ravi chandrasekhara <vadhula at yahoo.com>

> It is wonderful to hear, but per shastras he has no adhikara for Upanayna
> and sandhya-vandana. There is alternative Sandhya method for those who do
> not have adhikara.  Dvijas who default on their duties on the other hand
> will hav eto answer/pay for it later.
>
> Ravi Chandrasekhara
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: kuntimaddi sadananda <kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com>
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 9:39 AM
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] mleccha-s not eligible to take Hinduism??
>
>
> PraNAms
>
> I just saw Shivashankar/Lundgren mail. I have a fond memories of meeting
> him in person in Stockholm and almost had daily extensive discussions on
> Advaita Vedanta. He organized my talk at the local Hindu temple and we had
> after scrumptious South Indian dinner.
>
>