Fwd: My dream is coming true: regarding gita: thanks to SMS Chari

[Guest guest]

>"Krishna Kashyap" <kkalale1

>My dream is coming true: regarding gita: thanks to SMS Chari

>Thu, 28 Mar 2002 14:53:20 -0800

 

25 years back,when my grandfather was teaching

Bhagawadgita as per SriRamanujacharya, Shankaracharya

and Madhvacharya, he had imparted to me very

deep thoughts regarding the greatness and appropriateness

of our sampradaya.

 

At that time I had a dream that I should write a

commentary based on such rich insights to let the

world know the greatness 0f Bhagavadgita and our

sampradaya. Soon I realized that I was incapable

of doing that.

 

However, just few days back, SMS Chari came to

San Diego and showed me the draft of his new book:

 

The Philosophy Of The Bhagavad-gita

A Study Based on the Evaluation of

Comments of Samkara, Ramanuja and Madhva

 

 

This is turning out to be an amazing work. Most

of the books on Gita are>usually expositions of

a single school of thought or an independent work

of the author. There is no book that deals with

all the major schools and compares them.

 

The book is written with such great effort and

expertise that it will be surely a masterpiece.

The book is not finished yet. Draft of 18 chapters

are over. He has to write a synopsis of assessment

of the entire gita literature. He is doing that

right now.

 

The content of this book is very unique. For

example in the 12th chapter you can find the

question of arjuna: evam satata yukta ye

bhaktastvam paryupasate echapyaksharam avayaktam

tesham ke yogavittamah" - here the question is

about who is better - the person who meditates

on sri Krishna or Akshara? what is this akshara?

- it is nirguna bramhan as per Shankaracharya

and Prabhupada, it is Lakshmi as per Madhvacharya.

It is jeevan as per Ramanujacharya. why this

difference of opinion?. who knows 12th chapter

or gita correctly? How come Prabhupada, who is

supposed to follow Madhvacharya uses a sort of

non-madhva bent here? how does Ramanujacharya

derive the jeeva meaning here? how can that

position be supported?. I am sure these issues

will not matter to a person who is not deeply

interested or I should say is "troubled" if he

does not know the answers. No wonder hardly anyone

speaks to SMS chari to find out more. I am sure

getting caught up in karma is a major distraction

for even the true seekers .

 

An interesting incident happened. SMS chari said

that he found a great truth after a lot of effort-

ie. clear proof that jnanayoga is a necessary

prerequisite for bhaktiyoga, after a lot of research.

I pointed out that information in a small foot note

by Uttamur viraraghavachar. SMS was surprised and

said that, if I had that Uttamoor viraraghavchar's

edition handy, I could have saved some 10 or 12

sleepless nights!. Such is the greatness of

Uttamoor viraraghavachar. Such a great work from

Uttamoor viraraghavachar is OUT OF PRINT!. The modern

trend is "forget the difficult shastras, who wants

them. Just go to temples and enjoy the bliss of pujas.

This is a sorry state of affairs of visistadvaita. We

should go to the temples but not throw away shastras.

In the next few generations it probably will be even

worse. The focus on the prasthana trayas is becoming

soon extinct.

 

SMS Chari has given me the draft of his book for

further review. It is my pleasure that such a

responsibility has landed on such an undeserving

person like me.

 

I know that I never will be able to write such a book.

However, the by this great turn of events, I will never

need to write such a book, since SMS chari has done it

in an inimitable way. he has done kalakshepam under

puttamkotai swamy, who was an expert on gita,

madurantakam swamy etc.

 

If you need to reach SMS chari you can call him

at 818-348-8182 from tommorrow onwards. He is now

traveling to Los Angeles from San Diego. I had a

chance to sit down with him and review chapters

2,6 and 12.

 

Krishna Kashyap