June topic: Personal stuff

[Guest guest]

Namaste all,

Very many thanks to you all for your encouraging posts

today and to those of you who have helped push me

along throughout the month. Especial thanks to the

moderators for initiating the study and for your

direction. As I said at the beginning, ‘This is the

advaitin site Jim, but not as we know it.’ May normal

life return quickly.

 

Purely at the personal level, you can have no idea of

the agonies I have been through after each posting,

questioning whether anything of use had been written.

The first section had been pre-written and was tweaked

on the e-mail but once we had begun to use the texts

then it was all written on screen from notes made

during my daily study sessions. I was, as we say,

flying by the seat of my pants. So far I have not

looked back at any posting so it will be interesting

to see some time what appeared. No doubt there will be

many cringe-making moments.

 

Above all, my main concern has been that the

traditionally anchored and orthodox members of this

site would be disturbed by my study of such sacred

texts. If any have been unhappy then may I assure them

that I would not have begun the topic without the

request of the moderators, and, above that, the

authority given to speak from the heart that came from

people in India in the distant and recent past.

 

The Vedas and India are very similar in that if you

visit them as a tourist with camera in hand, carrying

baggage from your everyday life, they will welcome

you, let you take your photos to show your friends and

have souvenirs to keep and then you depart. But if you

approach them with respect and a kind of innocence,

open to any direction they present to you, you will

find yourself embraced in something so fine, so

subtle, that at first you will not know what is

happening but only later will understanding emerge,

precise and directly relevant.

 

Finally to the point some have made as to my academic

approach and scholarship; comments that I am sure

would make the real academics on this site smile

patiently. I was never trying to produce some defined

argument, just a general idea to toss into the fires

of the Vedas to see what happened. Also there was no

consistency of record. I could never finally decide

whether to write Agni or agni as Sanskrit does not use

capitals and when transliterating ‘A’ does not mean

capital letter. It was all a mess.

 

As to scholarship may I relate events of four years

ago for in them appear some real scholars.

For some time I had known that my body was in serious

trouble with bowel cancer but for family reasons at

that time I did not want people to be hassled with a

hospitalised husband and father. When the time was

right I decided to return to Varanasi for the first

time for more than 30 years to give thanks to the city

for wonderful people I had met there in the past.

I went to Sri Anandamayee’s ashram and sat in the room

where I had sat at her feet as a young man. In search

of some trace of the late Dr Gopinath Kaviraj I went

to the Banaras Hindu University where I met Dr

Kamalesh Tripathi who had known him well. We met

several times and one day he took me to meet some

other professors.

On that day I met Scholars.

They shone with insight and understanding. The main

advaitin professor was the clearest light. Quite

correctly he would not discuss spiritual matters in

any language but Sanskrit although he was fluent in

English. My knowledge of Sanskrit is limited to the

written page but meaning transcends words. When

someone speaks of scriptures without understanding

then the listener does not understand. In this case

though the meaning behind his words was clear. What an

honour it would be to be a pupil of such a scholar. I

have never met his like in a Western University. He

was a Scholar, a humble powerhouse whose heart and

mind were burnished by real study and practice.

 

The body survived subsequent slashing and hacking by

surgeons, much to their surprise, especially as I

refused their kind offer of chemo and radio therapy.

Battered the body may now be but for the next few days

it will be at my mercy. As I said initially, my main

delight is in sport and so as from tomorrow I will be

whooping with delight as I swoop down mountain trails

on my bike, picking my way along sheep tracks high

above sea and valleys and sit with my wife and border

collie in mountain streams, listening in the silence.

 

Thank you again for mails and encouragement.

 

Ken Knight

 

 

=====

‘From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed, breathed forth.’

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste Ken-ji,

 

It is with a sense of sadness as well as awe and admiration that I

read your post. My pranams to you. I shall try to remember the

meanings of Maya and its nuances that you have illumined in your

expositions as I attempt to carry forward the flame to this month's

discussions.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan

 

 

 

In advaitin, ken knight <anirvacaniya> wrote:

> Namaste all,

> As to scholarship may I relate events of four years

> ago for in them appear some real scholars.

> For some time I had known that my body was in serious

> trouble with bowel cancer but for family reasons at

> that time I did not want people to be hassled with a

> hospitalised husband and father. When the time was

> right I decided to return to Varanasi for the first

> time for more than 30 years to give thanks to the city

> for wonderful people I had met there in the past.

> I went to Sri Anandamayee's ashram and sat in the room

> where I had sat at her feet as a young man. In search

> of some trace of the late Dr Gopinath Kaviraj I went

> to the Banaras Hindu University where I met Dr

> Kamalesh Tripathi who had known him well. We met

> several times and one day he took me to meet some

> other professors.

> On that day I met Scholars.