[Advaita-l] Sringeri Jagatguru announces His Successor (Jaldhar H. Vyas)

[Venkatraghavan S]

Sir - you have echoed my sentiments exactly. I held my peace as I didn't
want to argue unnecessarily, but it was very gratifying to note that there
are others out there who recognize the true value of the matham sticking to
its traditional roots, despite the pressures from so called reformers.

Its an unfashionable viewpoint, but an important one.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan S
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Cc:
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 17:56:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sringeri Jagatguru announces His Successor
On Tue, 6 Jan 2015, D.V.N.Sarma డి.వి.ఎన్.శర్మ via Advaita-l wrote:

In order that the peethadhipathis may understand, relate  and communicate
with the modern society, I think they should have some grounding in modern
science and technology. If not, they will be more and more alienated from
the society and loose their relevance.

 There appears to be a typo in your post let me fix it for you.

In order that the illiterate modernists  may understand, relate and
communicate with dharmic society, I think they should have some grounding
in sanskrit and shastras. If not, they will be more and more alienated from
the society and loose their relevance.

 Much better right? :-)

Already their impact on the society at large is infinitesimal. The only
people who look to them is a very small fraction of the society (the
priestly class)

 Assuming that this is true (and its not by a long shot) what makes you
think that "a grounding in science and technology" would make any
difference?  If you had any grounding in science yourself you would know
about the large amount of sociological research being done into the decline
and rise of various religions.  I'm not going to do your homework for you;
look into it yourself and see how much e.g. spouting some gibberish about
quantum physics will help.  And if let's say he opens a twitter account it
will be in the papers for one week and then back to usual.  Real social
changes take effort by large groups of people.  Have you done your part?
Or are you just another one of those armchair generals?

Don't you see the irony that we are discussing this issue ON THE INTERNET?
I myself first heard the news on www.sringeri.net a web site on the
internet maintained by the matha itself.  (You knew this right?)  How much
more modern do you want communication to get?

But if you think the present Jagadgurus communications are subpar I bet
you'll have some choice words about Bhagavan Dakshinamurti who doesn't
communicate at all!  Yet His silence is meaningful for the one who is in
the right frame of mind to understand.  If you wish to be led around by the
nose there are plenty of Gurus (and popes and mullahs) who will be glad to
be of insistance but Advaita Vedanta requires self-initiative on the part
of the sadhaka.  No Deva or guru or jnani can give you jnana. It is
something that can be only be achieved by ones own struggle.  Only a small
elite can manage this.  This is why Advaita Vedanta will never be a mass
movement and for that matter doesn't want to be a mass movement.

whose self interest is served by exhortations made by the pontiffs to
uphold sanatana dharma. It is paraspara bhavana. You scratch my back, I
will scratch yours. It is high time for the pontiffs to get out of this rut
and take a fresh look at their relevance to the society.

 And you think your "modern society" isn't motivated by self-interest?
Unfortunately this is the kind of half-baked analysis is what passes for
intellectualism in contemporary India. All you and Venkatesh Murthy have
done in this thread is build up a massive straw man and then proceed to
knock it down.  What is the point?  Don't you people have anything useful
to contribute to advaita-l?  If not why are you even here?

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar <jaldhar at braincells.com>@ <jaldhar at braincells.com>
braincells.com <jaldhar at braincells.com>>