[Advaita-l] Shankara and Kriya Yoga

[Keshava PRASAD Halemane]

My Dear Friends:

It is indeed interesting and also significant to note that irrespective of the topic on which a discussion takes place, in this esteemed group, if & when the learned ones decide to contribute, there is always a lot of learning that can take place for the rest of us. 

Secondly, i thought that i may share a few thoughts that came to my mind in the process of reading through these postings. 

IMHO:
(1) If in fact AdiSankaraBhagavadpadaAcharya where to have some significant teachings obtained from someone, that he felt to be significant enough either for himself or/and (to pass on such teachings) to his disciples, there would have some mention of such things somewhere in his own teachings/works.  This can probably be checked easily without resorting to any outside sources - outside of the Sankara Advaita Parampara.  If not such mention is in fact to be found anywhere in his teachings/works, it may probably mean that there was nothing significant in whatever was learnt, even if such a claim indeed happens to be true. 
(2) Some independent unbiased objective checks on the matching chronological details from available data/records (and not based on any mystical hypotheses/presumptions/etc) may probably yield some fool-proof verification. 
(3) After all what can be the motivation to stress on this particular eventuality?  As i see it, it could be that someone stands to gain some brownie points by taking credit to such an eventuality - whether it be true-to-facts or only hypothetical!  If it is a false claim, the claimants are fooling themselves.  If true, let it be so!  So, then they derive some credit from such a claim! But, of what avail?  If as mentioned in Para-1 above, AdiSankaraBhagavadpadaAcharya himself has not felt it significant enough to have felt the need to explicitly include such details in his own teachings to his own disciples, what do such claims mean to you and me anyway!?  Is this not similar to the situation where it is said that Dattatreya has twenty four gurus?  In the final analysis, every experience in one's life can be a learning experience, while some may be more significant than some others. It is a matter of one's attitude in learning from such
 experiences/encounters in life.  The more significant one's get impressed and even get reinforced in one's memory through one's rumination process, while the less significant ones may fade away in course of time.  Any teacher out of his own sincerity-&-honesty and out of his love towards his disciples will certainly pass on such information with all the required details without any hesitation.  Of course, the problems of preservation of such teachings without dilution is dependent on the specific guru-shishya parampara.  And, now let us go back to Para-1 above again and try to get the required answer. 

praNaams
Keshava Prasad Halemane