Learning Srutis/Upanisads

[Guest guest]

Jai Sri Krishna,

 

Please accept my humble obesiance unto your lotus feet.

 

My name is Sumeet. I am very much interested in Vaishnavism though i

am not officially affiliated to any particular school of thought.

However, i have been studying different vaishnava philosophies -

Ramanuja,Madhva etc. Originally i am from delhi, but i study in

US. This is my first post on this list so i thought i should

introduce myself.

 

Sri Vaishnava books that i have studied and am studying are

following:

1) Gita bhasya - Ramanuja.

2) Vaishnavism - SMS Chari.

3) Philosophy of Upanisad - SMS Chari.

 

By reading these books again and again i do have fair amount of

knowledge of Vishistadvaita. I want to know where can i get

Fundamentals of Vishistadvaita by SMS Chari.

 

for now i had a question for people here:

 

Sruti as tradition says was never written down in form of book and

for that reason it is called Sruti. However, seeing the condition of

jivaatman in kali yuga Vyasa deva put everything down in form of

books. Also, we are aware from traditional sources that upanisads

are studied at the feet of a guru. One cannot do a self study and

think he knows everything.

 

So when a disciple will start studying Sruti, there will arise many

questions in his mind when he ponders over the meaning and hence we

require someone to answer them. These stages are known to everyone

are sravanna and manana. So it is natural that it will take some

time before all doubts in mind of a seeker are laid to rest. For all

this while, a seeker needs to stay at feet of his Guru serving him

with full surrender and love.

 

But the way socio-economic conditions of world is right now, it is

not possible for everyone or rather most of the people to undergo

Sruti training in a traditional way. And even if we choose to go to

guru for traditional style of learning, given the spiritual

condition of our generation, it may take us many years or may be

decade(s) if not more to actually understand the import of

Sruti/upanisad as a whole body of knowledge. And common sense can

tell that it is impossible for people in general to do something

like this.

 

So my question is, does this means that there is no way a man who is

even interested or may be capable of understanding upanisad learn

it, since traditional way of learning Sruti will not work for most

people owing to the different conditions of the world we live in

today. I will be glad if you can quote what actual Sri Vaishnava

scholars/acarya have to say about this. Please provide appropriate

refrences.

 

 

 

Your Servant Always,

Sumeet.

[Guest guest]

>>So my question is, does this means that there is no way a man who is even

interested or may be capable of understanding upanisad learn it, since

traditional way of learning Sruti will not work for most people owing to the

different conditions of the world we live in today. I will be glad if you can

quote what actual Sri Vaishnava scholars/acarya have to say about this. Please

provide appropriate refrences. <<<

 

Let us look at this from a broader perspective.

 

Just imagine if we were left alone from day 1 in a remote

place with no humans around!

Pretty much everything we do is what we have gathered

from others. They are all our gurus.

Any shaastra (subject) needs several years of learning.

High school deploma takes 12+ years of schooling.

All these need initiation and basic training. Why would Vedas be any different?

How many people have learnt classical music on thier own?

I think you are blindly(just like most others)are reading too much into it.

Perhaps we should be saying: Vedas (Shrutis) ALSO have to be, rather thans

should be.

Vedas themselves declare anantAvai vEdAh (knowledge is endless). No guru knows

or can impart you all there is to know. Perhaps a Guru can help you to see the

wisdom of crossing the threshold of knowledge.

 

dAsan

 

K. Sreekrishna Tatachar