[Advaita-l] An interesting post on Ramacharita Manas and Advaita

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On December 23, 2022 9:11:06 AM GMT+05:30, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>     Analysis of a Misleading post
>
>Recently, a gentleman had written a post in which he mentions that Goswami
>Tulsidas has condemned Advaita and that those who follow the philosophy of
>Advaita shall end up in Hell.

I highly doubt this.  When Tulsidasji wrote the Ramacharitamanas he came under criticism from certain Pandits of Kashi who felt such a sacred text as the Ramayana should not be translated into "mleccha bhasha".  It was Swami Madhusudana Saraswati acclaimed by all as the head of the Scholarly community in Kashi who came to his defense.  He even penned a shloka:

आनन्दकानने ह्यस्मि‌ंजंगमस्तुलसीतरुः।
कवितामंजरी भाती रामभ्रमरभूषिता ॥

"In Anandavan[1] there is a walking Tulsi tree whose poetry-buds are always frequented by the bee called Rama."

[1] another name for Kashi or specifically a forest on the opposite bank of the Ganga where even now many saints dwell.

Given that Swamiji is well known to have been an ardent defender of Advaita Vedanta against all comers does it seem plausible that he would have advocated for one who was an opponent?

>A comment:
...
>Just
>like the Gaudiyas who claim Madhwacharya to be their Moola Acharya, are
>kept at arms length by the Madhwas of the South, Karnataka, so too is the
>case with the ‘Ramanandi’ sect Vs the Ramanuja Vishishtadvaita.

It is the same story.  A sect that was founded more on emotion than philosophy later starts feeling inferior so they latch on to a more established sampradaya and start attacking "mayavada" to establish their bona fides.

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