[Advaita-l] Mayavada Darpanam

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

Sringeri Acharyas encourage sadas where other vaidhika traditions are
criticised especially the Madhwas but support Christianity and Islam. This
creates a mindset among traditional scholars such as your hood self who
suffer from cultish confirmation bias of attacking other vaidhika
traditions while respecting Abrahamic cults. Srila Prabhupada ISKCON did
the same of attacking "mayavadis" but glorifying Jesus and Mohammad.

I will post a few references from Dialogues with the guru and am amused
that you say my allegations are wild.

Page 146 "He (Tippu) might have committed excesses, but as I have already
pointed out, even they must have been due to his intense faith in God and
in his own religion as the only means of attaining Him." History tells us
what these "excesses" were and faith is no excuse to rape pr slaughter
innocents. The editor (R. Krishnaswamy Iyer then Swami Jnanamda
Bharathi) makes apologetic remarks at the end of the chapter.

While you say that Islam and Christianity should be condemned, the acharya
has (wrongly) dusarmed you. Page 29 "Do you think that God has favoured you
with such a high power of intellect that you can claim to sit in judgement
over the intellects of Christ, Mohammad and other religious teachers?" Sam
Harris argues in The End of Faith" how a high school student knows more
than the authors of Bible and Quran did. If you thought their (Jesus &
Mohammad) were so high that you can't even attempt to debate them, what
makes you think that Madhwa's, Jiva's or Ramanuja's intellect low enough
for you to indulge in polemics?

Sri Jaldhar Vyas says that all monotheistic religions are wrong blindly
equating vaishnavism, saivism etc. with Christianity and Islam. He displays
ignorance of difference between exclusive sectarian  and inclusive
non-sectarian monotheism. Anyway, Sringeri Acharya does not even think
these religions are wrong or one should give them up. On Page 33 He said to
one who was intelligent enough to understand the fallacy of
Chritianity, "Go, therefore, in search of such true Christians and ask them
in true humbleness of heart to solve your doubts." If a "true Christian",
whatever that is as the religion is laid on a foundation of bluffs, can
solve your problems, why not a true Madhwa or Sri Vaidhnava?

We should be brave and pursue truth. As Sringeri Acharya quotes Kalidasa
elsewhere, "All that is ancient is not good nor is a work censurable
because it is modern. The wise accept an alternative after examination; the
unwise are guided by the beliefs of others."



On Tuesday, December 17, 2013, Nithin Sridhar wrote:

> Funny you make wild allegations. Where did Sringeri Acharya support Islam
> or its atrocities?
>
> Besides, you should read my post again and clearly. The job of criticizing
> Christianity or Islam from historical, linguistic, theological basis is
> with the scholars and not Sanyasins. Shankaracharya did not establish mutt
> to write critique on Christianity. He did it to spread tenets of Dharma
> among the masses and they are very much doing.
>
> You can read in the net itself many material that has been written in
> criticism of Islam/Christianity and in defence of Hinduism. What is Rajiv
> Malhotra of Infinity foundation doing do you think? There are many other
> names too. I am not saying these are enough. True, more such literature
> must be brought out and the conspiracy is exposed, but that is the job of
> scholars and not Sanyasins.
>
> A person practicing Dharma in his life and passing down it to his children
> or teaching it to his students have better chances at maintaining this
> Living tradition of Dharma than a person who himself does not follow basic
> tenets of Dharma but simply keeps producing books after books against rival
> traditions.
> _________________
>
> I am not denying that there is a need to defend Hindu society and
> philosophies from attacks and criticisms of other Ideologies. I have myself
> indulged in many debates on orkut and other forums before. But, the truth
> is, there is a greater problem in front of us. That is, the lack of sense
> of Dharma among Hindu's themselves. Hindus at large have abandoned Dharma.
> They are happy with material comforts and other thing and have no care for
> even tenets like Truth, Non-Stealing etc. Much of our society's problem be
> it rape or otherwise is rooted in it. You are speaking of defending
> Hinduism by attacking others, but you are forgetting that Hinduism itself
> is weak because its people have forsaken Dharma. So, strengthening
> Hinduism, Reviving Dharma is a more pressing issue in front of us.
>
> The first step for that is to understand what constitutes Dharma and how
> to lead life according to Dharma. If this does not happen, then even
> hundred books criticizing Islam would be of no use. Many have already
> written detailing about atrocities of Islamic rulers or the frauds of
> christian missionaries. I have myself written on the Christian concept of
> "Inculturation" here-
> http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=634
>
> But, to expect Acharya's to do everything, where as we sit at home is very
> easy. Every person has one's own Sva-Dharma. That you are criticizing a
> Jnani is not the issue, but your criticisms are not well founded is the
> issue.
>
> Please start a separate topic for this.
>
> -Nithin
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 6:15 PM, <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It is very arrogant on your part if you say that Islam and Christianity
> don't pose intellectual threat. Apart from sword and money, they also use
> information warfare. In the link I shared Islamic Scholars argue why Vedas
> are not apaurusheya. If you have counter in defence of apaurusheyatva,
> please discuss. This fundamental tenet on which your vedanta stands
> (according to tradition) is flawed as per modern scholarship sponsored by
> the church. There are countless scholarly attacks on varnashrama dharma as
> well by missionaries and muslim scholars.  There are serious intellectual
> works by Dr. Witzel to PV Kane that demolish many vedic myths upheld Hindu
> traditions. Instead of defending dharma against such attacks, you are
> wasting time on in-fighting between vaidhika traditions in the name of
> polemics.
>
> If Sringeri Acharya supports Islam, how is that dharma just because he
> does it? From when did rape, murder, demolition of places of worship,
> discriminatory taxation (jizya) etc. came to be called dharma? :) I'm aware
> of the implication of criticising a jnAni - suffer bad karma done by him
> before his moksha. If I still do, it is because I strongly believe truth is
> the greatest of all dharmas as Manu asserts. I'm confident that I'll get
> the grace of Ishwara and the very acharya I criticise for speaking the
> truth that is in the larger interest of the world than phony eulogy that
> befits only the faint hearted.
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nithin Sridhar <sridhar.nithin at gmail.com>
> Sender: "Advaita-l" <advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>Date:
> Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:23:06
> 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] Mayavada Darpanam
>
> I do not feel there is anything wrong with the path of Bhagavata, Kapalika
> or Aghora.  I accepted them as valid as any other path. Of course they can
> be misused too just like any other paths.
>
> Comparing Islam with other branches of Hinduism is a fallacy. The Duty of
> the Acharya's be it of Sringeri or Ramakrishna was not to write treatise
> criticizing Islam or Christianity but was to uphold the tenets of Sanatana
> Dharma. And that has worked lot better in keeping Hinduism alive and
> flourishing more than it would have done by writing some critique. Further,
> Islam or Christianity had never posed a Intellectual Threat. The threat was
> always through Sword or Money. And this cannot be dealt by writing a
> Sanskrit treatise against Islam etc. I am very well aware of atrocities of
> Islam and Christianity. Tell me why did it happen? One of the many reasons
> was that Indians had forsaken Dharma and hence became weak. I agree that
> there is a void of Literature about Critique of Islam and Christianity from
> Hindus. And it has been partially filled in recent times by Scholars like
> Ram Swarup, Sita Ram Goel, Arun Shorie etc. And more of it must come, but
> this is not the job of a Sringeri Acharya who is concerned with a more
> deeper problem of rise of Adharma in society. They have shown by example
> how life must be lead. They have explained the tenets of Dharma for
> everyone to follow. Its time for we, the people to now revive the Dharma.
>
> Once, people return to Dharm even partially, the Hindu society would become
> strong, then no external threats would be able to oppose it.  One more
> point, Islam converted the whole of the lands into Islam wherever it
> spread, so also Christianity. Yet, in India they both failed. They have
> injured us for we were weak, but they could not kill us. India still has
> Dharma that is only sleeping now.
>
> As Sujal ji has pointed out, this discussion is best to be carried out in a
> separate thread. And we should discuss only on the present blog.
>
> Regards,
> Nithin
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 2:25 PM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
> rajaramvenk at gmail.com
>
>