Guest guest Posted November 12, 1999 Report Share Posted November 12, 1999 As one of the list moderator, let me take sometime and clarify the list position on postings and discussions. First, Advaitam with fully specified rules and regulations may qualify to be dogmatic. But Advaita Philosophy is beyond dogmatism and this list focuses on the philosophy and less on the religion. To cultivate discipline, faith becomes integral part of any enquiry. The Hindus and non-Hindus who have faith in the Advaita philosophy should keep an open mind to listen to all other view points. I have participated in many discussions in Advaita-L list, and Soc.Hindu.Religion newsgroup forums. Let me share my experiences which can help others in their discussions. During the discussions, I do not forcefully impose my viewpoints on others and I didn’t expect them to changes their viewpoints. Also everyone in this list shouldn’t expect to impose their viewpoints are on others. We can individually analyze them on our own and can still maintain what we believe in. This is what we can do and we should learn to stop there. The list doesn’t intend to take any position one way or another and will remain open to all view points as long we maintain “Dharma including Ahimsa.” . We as individuals have different background and belief and sometime we may be willing to change and on other time we may not. We as individuals decide and no one else can dictate our position. We the members with diversified views can coexist and in fact we do coexist in spite of the diversified backgrounds of the members. The purpose of this list is to understand different viewpoints so that we can learn more and seek the "TRUTH" in a friendly atmosphere. People do change, some changes may be visible and others may be subtle! The degree of dogmatism will be diluted as we proceed to gain more knowledge and learn to discard our ignorance. In essence, the purpose and goal is to dilute dogmatism and free our mind from corruption. The purification of mind can take shorter or longer time depending on our background and efforts. During my discussions, I had disagreements with others on what they say and that does not necessarily means conflict. Most of the time, when we perceive conflict, we are more responsible and we determined to think that the other person is responsible. When we truly make up our mind and accept the fact that everything that we say should be accepted by everybody! Any such belief is an expression of our greed and ego. Also, when we the discussions go beyond fact finding and divert to ego-propelled argumentation, we should determine to stop with humility. We are not perfect human beings and at times we overboard and cross the boundaries of courtesy and decency. At those times, we should accept our shortcomings and say, “I am sorry,” which is the true expression of “I am Brahman.” Let us determine to develop positive attitude toward the fellow members of the list and appreciate and understand their rights to say what they believe in. We create all contradictions, forgetting the Advaitic Truth that all creations are “illusions” and are caused by our ignorance. Finally, I want to congratulate all the members for keeping this list free from ego-propelled argumentation and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. With Love and regards, Ram Chandran Note: This is my personal viewpoints and I want to thank the fellow members for listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 1999 Report Share Posted November 12, 1999 At 12:01 PM 11/12/99 -0500, Ram Chandran wrote: >to stop with humility. We are not perfect human beings and at times we >overboard and cross the boundaries of courtesy and decency. At those >times, we should accept our shortcomings and say, "I am sorry," which is >the true expression of "I am Brahman." Let us determine to develop >positive attitude toward the fellow members of the list and appreciate >and understand their rights to say what they believe in. Ram, This is beautiful and inspirational. Thank you for your thoughts. With Love and Respect, --Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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