Digest Number 433

[Guest guest]

Dear Mr. Satya Vakkalanka:

 

For some reason, several learned people tend to associate the historical

Buddha (Gauthama, Siddhartha) with the mythological Buddha. A great

majority of these people have not read the basic Vedantha Scripture, that

is Bhagavatha. First of all the Sanathana dharma is essentially

theistic. It believes in the existence of God, not only as a creator but

also as a protector. Many scientists often accept the concept of God

being a creator but not the concept that he is also a protector. Many

people who claim to practice the so called Hinduism (in fact, there is

nothing like that) may not even know that the sanathana dharma is

theistic. Unfortunately, these people have associated the sanathana

dharma or what they call as Hinduism with patriotism, nationalist

feelings and have tied down a great universally applicable theist

philosophy to a piece of land that we call India. There have been

attempts to determine a set date for every event that is in our

mythology. This has lead to a misunderstanding that the historical

Buddha and a mythological Buddha are the same. In fact Buddhism is an

atheistic philosophy, does not believe in the existence of God, rebirth

and heaven. It does not believe in idol worship which is the essence of

the concept of God for the common Hindu person.

 

No the Hindu mythological Buddha nas nothing to do with the historical

Buddha.

 

Madan K. Prabhakara

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Prabhakara,

 

My compliments on your frank and lucid posting.

 

You are quite correct that people are using what is essenatially an invented

word, "Hinduism", for creating a false sense of patriotism and nationalism.

It is time that we all make a stand to uphold the univeralism of Sanathana

Dharma that has been presented to us in such a concise and practical way by

the Acharyas of Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja Sampradayam.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mohan