Guest guest Posted September 8, 2001 Report Share Posted September 8, 2001 Greetings, I am a beginner in this spiritual journey. My serious interest in spirituality started couple of years ago and I have been reading books and I am doing regularly nithya karma's like SandhyaVandhanam, Meditation. In these years I have found out that spiritual is more of practical than theory. And as a beginner I am in a dilemma of basic fundamentals of spirituality. The one thing I am finding tough is choosing a philosophy. The amount of scripture is enormous and to just go through even ones might take one's full life. And I am convinced that choosing one philosophy means rejecting other. esp in case of Dvaita,Advaita and Vishistadvaita. There can hardly be any reconcilation among these philosophy. And compromising in search of truth will lead us nowhere. So I would like to know from members what made you people to beleive in Advaita, 1. Is it because most of you are born Smartha's. 2. Is it that you people are conviced of Shankara's teaching comapred to Ramanuja or Madhva. I am sure this takes lot of effort as going through the works of three Acharya's and their lineage is not an easy task unless one is completely dedicated to that. 3. Or as some people say just believe in any philosophy, God will take of everything. sarvam vasudevamayam jagath prashanth Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Messenger http://im. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 9, 2001 Report Share Posted September 9, 2001 >Prashanth Godrehal <gprasha > >So I would like to know from members what made you >people to beleive in Advaita, > >1. Is it because most of you are born Smartha's. >2. Is it that you people are conviced of Shankara's >teaching comapred to Ramanuja or Madhva. I am sure >this takes lot of effort as going through the works of >three Acharya's and their lineage is not an easy task >unless one is completely dedicated to that. >3. Or as some people say just believe in any >philosophy, God will take of everything. > >sarvam vasudevamayam jagath >prashanth > Prashanth - Greetings too and welcome to the list of inquiry. Ultimately the question boils down to about you and not what others believe in or convinced about. At this stage do not worry about - what is right - advaita, vishishhTaadvaita or dwaita. Whatever environment you are bought up try to assimilate that philosophy until your mind start questioning the validity of those - then it will find propler teachers to address the issues that are or will be bothering you. When your mind is ready to inquire Lord will provide an appropriate guidance in the form of teachers or books that are conducive to your growth. Whatever made you to join this group has already installed seeds of inquiry in your mind. Open yourself and inquire the nature of the truth as being discussed in these discussion groups. There is also dviata and vishhishhTaadvaita list too. It is ultimately you have to come to grips with what is right for you and have the guts to proceed to findout the truth. Hari OM! Sadananda _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2001 Report Share Posted September 10, 2001 On Sat, 8 Sep 2001, Prashanth Godrehal wrote: > [...] > So I would like to know from members what made you > people to beleive in Advaita, > > 1. Is it because most of you are born Smartha's. > 2. Is it that you people are conviced of Shankara's > teaching comapred to Ramanuja or Madhva. I am sure > this takes lot of effort as going through the works of > three Acharya's and their lineage is not an easy task > unless one is completely dedicated to that. > 3. Or as some people say just believe in any > philosophy, God will take of everything. > > sarvam vasudevamayam jagath > prashanth > > Dear prasanth-ji, namaste and welcome to the List. I am wondering why do you think *you* have chosen advaita? Is it not more correct to say that advaita has chosen you? Regards Gummuluru Murthy - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2001 Report Share Posted September 10, 2001 Greetings Shree Prashanth and welcome to the list. advaitin, Prashanth Godrehal <gprasha> wrote: > In these years I have found out that > spiritual is more of practical than theory. Practice and theory are each other's strength. > The one thing I am finding tough is choosing a > philosophy. My suggestion is to be open to all philosophies and digest them well. One must be cautious do disengage judgements for or against and to consider with reverence every thing that comes along the way. >The amount of scripture is enormous and to > just go through even ones might take one's full life. Actually the whole Scripture of all religions put together above and below the Sun is only this - 'tatvamasi'. However, the details being overwhelming, the following short summaries may be of help: The Essence of All Our Sacred Books: advaitin/message/9064 To Arjuna overwhelmed with grief, helplessnes and fear, Geeta [2:3], Krishna smiles wonderfully :-) :-) :-) and gives the answer to stimulate the Divine within. (Geeta [13:27], Geeta [13:28]). Swami Vivekananda's short Geeta summary of 3Shlokas: advaitin/message/9095 Essential Practice: karma-phala-tyaga > And I am convinced that choosing one philosophy means > rejecting other. esp in case of Dvaita,Advaita and > Vishistadvaita. There can hardly be any reconcilation > among these philosophy. And compromising in search of > truth will lead us nowhere. > Sir - this is a pitfall maya creates and smiles from above. Accepting one is perfectly fine but rejecting others may be shutting some doors to the wonder and mystery that is infinite. There is perhaps perfect harmony among them as Upanishads testify. Kind Regards, Raghava Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2001 Report Share Posted September 10, 2001 Namaskaram Shri Prashanth Personally, i follow Advaita because i have been raised that way. I also to the philosophy "Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti" (The truth is One, the wise speak of it in different ways). So pick a way that appeals most to you personally and follow it with all your heart and mind. To help you in your quest, i would like to point you towards some links, teachings of His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamiji of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. The essence of His Holiness' talks is that devotion is foremost, the philosophy does not matter >From the Gita "bhaktiyamaam apijaanati yavaam yaschashmi tatvatahah...." http://www.kamakoti.org/acall/ac-bhakti.html (importance of Devotion, from "Acharya's Call" http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part1/chap5.htm (Devotion common to all, from Hindu Dharma a.k.a Deivathhin Kural) And finally... http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap34.htm (What do the Vedas teach us, from Hindu Dharma) Here the Acharya talks of Dvaita as well as Advaita "... and indeed modern science takes us increasingly close to Advaita whose truth hitherto could not be known by anything other than the Vedas. In the early centuries of science it wasd thought that all objects in the world were different entities, seperate from one another. Then scientists came to the conclusion that the basis of all matter was constituted by the different elements, that all the countless objects in the world resulted from these elements combining together in various ways. Subsequently when atomic science developed it was realised that all the elements had the same source, the same energy. ...." Best regards Venkatesh ------------------- > > > Greetings, > > I am a beginner in this spiritual journey. My > serious interest in spirituality started couple of > years ago and I have been reading books and I am doing > regularly nithya karma's like SandhyaVandhanam, > Meditation. In these years I have found out that > spiritual is more of practical than theory. > And as a beginner I am in a dilemma of basic > fundamentals of spirituality. > The one thing I am finding tough is choosing a > philosophy. The amount of scripture is enormous and to > just go through even ones might take one's full life. > And I am convinced that choosing one philosophy means > rejecting other. esp in case of Dvaita,Advaita and > Vishistadvaita. There can hardly be any reconcilation > among these philosophy. And compromising in search of > truth will lead us nowhere. > > So I would like to know from members what made you > people to beleive in Advaita, > > 1. Is it because most of you are born Smartha's. > 2. Is it that you people are conviced of Shankara's > teaching comapred to Ramanuja or Madhva. I am sure > this takes lot of effort as going through the works of > three Acharya's and their lineage is not an easy task > unless one is completely dedicated to that. > 3. Or as some people say just believe in any > philosophy, God will take of everything. > > sarvam vasudevamayam jagath > prashanth > > > > > > > Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Messenger > http://im. > > > ------------------------ Sponsor ---------------------~--> > FREE COLLEGE MONEY > CLICK HERE to search > 600,000 scholarships! > http://us.click./47cccB/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/XUWolB/TM > ---~ -> > > Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. > Advaitin List Archives available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ > To Post a message send an email to : advaitin > Messages Archived at: advaitin/messages > > > > Your use of is subject to > > > -------------------------- | http://www.kamakoti.org/ | | A website on Hinduism, | | with a difference ... | ------------------------- --- OREKA ! L'ACCES A INTERNET MOINS CHER ! Connaissez vous nos nouveaux forfaits ? 10H pour moins de 40F, ou 25H pour moins de 80F (Internet + télécoms) ! Découvrez les vite ! Cliquez ici : http://www.oreka.com/start.php3?id=op3b600eafd954b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2001 Report Share Posted September 10, 2001 advaitin, Prashanth Godrehal <gprasha> wrote: > > > Greetings, > > I am doing > regularly nithya karma's like SandhyaVandhanam, > Meditation. > "Simple as the Sandhya worship seems to be, it is sufficient to help us on the highest stages. All the three aspects of karma, bhakti and jnana are given place in the Sandhya worship" quote from the words of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharti Swamigal, 34the Pontiff of Sringeri. So you are already on the right track. > 2. Is it that you people are conviced of Shankara's > teaching comapred to Ramanuja or Madhva. I am sure > this takes lot of effort as going through the works of > three Acharya's and their lineage is not an easy task > unless one is completely dedicated to that. One common fact that underlies all 3 systems is their acceptance of the Vedas and Upanishads as the basis for their philosophy. What is the true import of the vedas? You can find out from the following article: advaitin/message/9221 Apart from 'theory' there are Saints and Sages through the ages who have testified to the Advaitic viewpoint .e.g Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharishi etc Finally as the Upanishads say "like rivers leads to the ocean, all paths finally lead to the same truth". regards Sundar Rajan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2001 Report Share Posted September 10, 2001 It is a pleasure to see the on going discussions on `spiritual dilemma' Instead of starting with the question: `Why Advaita?,' let us begin our enquiry on `Why Vedanta?' Fundamentally, Pure Vedanta is an exploratory journey of life. The purpose of this exploration is a learning exercise to eradicate our ignorance. We want to be the purest of the pure, noblest of the noble and the kindest of the kind. All the three Vedantic philosophies propose to achieve the above goal by approaching our life with different perspectives. According to Advaita, we can reestablish our `True Divine Nature' by removing our ignorance (impurity). The Vishistadvaitans claim that we can become purest of the pure by keeping the Lord (Narayana) in our heart. The Dwaitans believe that we should pray and request the Lord to grant us purity. Ultimately all these three philosophical schools believe that the Grace of the Lord is necessary and sufficient for us to attain purity and eternal bliss. Few months back, in our Toastmasters club meeting, one of the speech topic was "How I am blessed?" The speaker described everything that happened that day from morning till noon. Her day was just normal: She got up from bed, took the bath, had breakfast, wore some decent clothing, drove to work, prepared the speech, and finally delivered the speech. All the above activities became normal because nothing went wrong! Any one of the above normals could have gone wrong: (1) couldn't get up because the alarm didn't ring because of power failure (2) there was no hot water during shower (3) All food including the milk and bread in the refrigerator got spoiled (4) No decent clothes in the closet, (5) Due to Traffic jam, couldn't reach the office on time (6) Computer failed and couldn't complete the speech To have a normal routine, we have to be blessed and that should be our correct attitude. With the correct attitude, we realize, that we are always blessed and we should take every opportunity that we come across to love, help and be kind. The Vedantic perspectives of life can greatly help us to cultivate an attitude to lead our life with the positive frame of mind. Then we will start enjoy our life with the fullest extent and we will have fewer complaints, no more accusations and we can surely attain and reestablish our 'True Divine Nature.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2001 Report Share Posted September 10, 2001 Thank you all for the responses towards my last post. It certainly cleared some of my doubts. And thank you for the links given. I will definitely visit those links. But I have few more doubts , Sundar Rajan ji says, "Apart from 'theory' there are Saints and Sages through the ages who have testified to the Advaitic viewpoint .e.g Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharishi etc". In this case if we see Sri RK and Sri Ramana Maharshi realised the truth and then validated their experiences with what Scriptures had to say. In our case we are going through the scriputures and trying to experiences what it says. I feel though both approches lead to same thing, from former case we can clearly say that to know the truth we need not know the philosophy. So some times I wonder spending time reading all the scriptures to know whether world is real or not, whether brahman is Saguna or nirguna or jiva,paramathma aikya or bhedha will anyway help in realisation of truth. Because once we realise truth all these things will anyway become crystal clear whether we have read scriputes or not. And Shri Venkatesh writes, ""Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti" (The truth is One, the wise speak of it in different ways).So pick a way that appeals most to you personally and follow it with all your heart and mind." This has always puzzled me. Is it correct to say that if we follow any philosophy we reach the same truth. If we see our Acharya's comments it doesn't seem to me so. I have read some of Madhva's commentries and he clearly rejects Advaita. And ofcource Shankara says there can never be dvaita in ultimate Reality. And the ultimate truth itself is different in these pholosophy's. Or is it that for different people different philosophy applies? sarvam vAsudevamayam jagath Prashanth Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Messenger http://im. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 11, 2001 Report Share Posted September 11, 2001 The best would be what someone has already suggested to you. If you have the time, study, read, investigate, and come to your own conclusions. Either you do that or you choose a philosophy that appeals most to you. That is my humble suggestion Venkatesh ------------------- [snip] > Or is it that for different people different > philosophy applies? [snip] --- OREKA ! L'ACCES A INTERNET MOINS CHER ! Connaissez vous nos nouveaux forfaits ? 10H pour moins de 40F, ou 25H pour moins de 80F (Internet + télécoms) ! Découvrez les vite ! Cliquez ici : http://www.oreka.com/start.php3?id=op3b600eafd954b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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