[Advaita-l] A FB post on Adishankara's statue at Kedarnath

[Karthikeyan B]

Arun Yogiraj is the sculptor and artist from Mysore, Karnataka who is
behind the Shankaracharya statue that's installed at Kedarnath.
Do check out his work and share your gratitude.

https://arunyogiraj.com/
https://twitter.com/yogiraj_arun

Thank you,
Karthik

On Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 7:40 PM Mano.Manoharan via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> I am conscious that, One needs to be cautious when drawing parallels, in
> particular with sensitive topics ..however, there is a saying "no one is a
> prophet in their own land". A version of this is mentioned in Christian
> literature, in relation to Jesus Christ.
>
> It is not an excuse or explanation but I think it's tragic when something
> like this happens. Though on the bright side, a "side-effect" of this is
> that Adi Shankara now belongs to the *whole world *not just my beloved
> Kerala.
>
> I am confident that in time, maybe not in our lifetime, Shankara's Advaitic
> teachings will long outlast any transient political or religious
> Ideologies
> *Mano K Manoharan*
>
>
> On Tue, 9 Nov 2021 at 21:25, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/Tambrahmsthinnai/permalink/2284172081724878/
> >
> >
> >
> > Namaste 🙏🏽
> >
> > Yes, PM Modi ji did unveil Adishankaracharya's statue at Kedarnath. It's
> a
> > 12 foot tall statue which weighs 35,000 kg. It's a proud moment for all
> of
> > us. Adishankaracharya was the one who restored the glory of the shrine in
> > the 8th century A.D.
> > As keralites, me and my family were extremely happy, proud and embarassed
> > at the same time.
> > Why embarrassed ? Here's the reason.
> > Any consious Bharatiya Sanatani from Kerala will be. The land of Kerala
> was
> > blessed to be the birthplace of Adi Shankaracharya. He was born in
> Kalady.
> > This is Sri Adi Sankara Keerthi Sthamba Mandapam is an eight-story
> memorial
> > in Kalady, the birth place of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. Kanchi Kamakodi
> Math,
> > Tamil Nadu, had to build it as Cong-Commie govts in Kerala don’t want
> > people to cherish the legacy of the great Hindu renaissance leader. A
> > university is named after Shri Adishankaracharya. (My congressi aunt
> > (young) studies in a college named after Adi Shankaracharya, but she
> > doesn't know who he is. That's the case with most students too.) This is
> > the only thing we have.
> > We couldn't even make a one foot tall statue of Adishankaracharya in
> Kerala
> > due to the opposition from radical Islamists (high on number in Kerala)
> who
> > has the support from the communist/congressi govts.
> > The respect and gratitude which Shankaracharya should be getting from his
> > birthplace is being denied and is getting it from the place in which he
> > went to Samadhi. Modi ji is making people remember about the great
> > Adishankaracharya. This step is absolutely necessary and if this is how
> the
> > condition goes, one day might come in which we Hindus don't even know who
> > Adishankaracharya is, like in Kerala.
> > If you've noticed, I always take pride in saying that I belong to the
> birth
> > state of Shri Adishankaracharya. I do not want my state to be called as
> > “the land of communists" ! This feels like, we Malayalis are selling off
> > our true identity and are running behind something else.
> > Most people don't know about Shri Adishankaracharya. In my school, I had
> to
> > conduct a small scale survey in which I asked my school mates to
> recognise
> > these people from their pictures. One was Adishankaracharya and the other
> > was Che-Guevera. 99% of them didn't recognise Adishankaracharya but all
> of
> > them(honestly…all of them) recognised Che. Some people didn't know his
> name
> > but knew that he was a communist. This result truly disheartened me.
> > If the Hindus of Kerala stand together and know about the legendary
> > Adishankaracharya who is the man behind the renaissance of Sanatan
> Dharma,
> > we'll also get a statue of Adishankaracharya here in his birth place.
> > These morons who are opposing the statue of Adishankaracharya are the one
> > who advocated for the statue of Ali Musaliyar, the man behind the Moplah
> > Hindu genocide. Adishankaracharya is revered and valued all throughout
> > Hindustan except his birth place.
> > Another reason might be because of the history, that there were clashes
> > with Namboodiris of Keralam and the Jagadguru. He left for sanyasam at a
> > very young age which was not acceptable by the namboodiris of Kerala. So
> > Adi Shankaracharya didn't have any touch with Kerala after that. He came
> to
> > see his mother when she was about to pass away. The Namboodiris and
> others
> > refrained from touching her and igniting the fire (Shankaracharya can't
> do
> > that). Then jagadguru with his yogic power ignited the fire. He didn't
> > consecrate any temple in Kerala. But I beleive, at least now Keralites
> > should leave that behind and follow him and his teaching. Yes, we mainly
> > follow Tantric practices but Adi Shankaracharya is much beyond an advaita
> > Vedanta philosophy. If today, in Hindustan, Sanatan Dharma is wide
> spread,
> > Adi Shankaracharya is the main reason. I don't think these reasons or
> > regional chauvenism or political ideology of yours should prevent you for
> > adoring the Jagadguru.
> > The reason why many Keralites oppose it is because, they're “literates"
> ! I
> > saw some malayali IG pages(chauvinistic) which said instead of unvieling
> > Shankaracharya's statue, he must eradicate poverty. I'm sorry. But that's
> > how the mentality is. So…along with not knowing his contributions, this
> is
> > also a reason.
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