Veda, Goswami's works, Mundaka Upanisad verses (for Gauranga)

[Guest guest]

Aum Namah Shivaya

 

Namaste,

 

I am attaching the relevant pages scanned as you asked to see. I have

come across atleast 12 translations of the same in English as well

as Indian languages. All of them are more or less similar, even the

commentators. At least this is one area that there has been no

controversy. BTW are you conversant with Samskrit? Though I learnt it

in some sense and have enough working knowledge, I would say that

only a scholar of the language should attempt any re-interpretation.

And that too has certain criteria. The nuances of the language are

many. Of course we all love and enjoy reading in the original. The

power of certain words is intense in the original and translations

don't compare that way, especially the last verses where a

description of the Absolute is given.

 

 

As for the authoritativeness of a text, as you may know, there are

literally hundreds of schools in hinduism. They all differ in their

interpretation and the books they prescribe to their followers. So to

get some common point of refernce, it is accepted that the Vedas are

ACCEPTABLE to all, as most schools derive their basis at least partly

from here. So certain texts that the Advaitic school prescribes may

not be acceptable to the Dualist and likewise. It has been a long

established practice that all schools DEBATE with each other not with

texts acceptable to themselves, but those that are acceptable to all.

Only the Veda and at times the Brahma Sutras have been accepted by

all. The B.Gita too generally. But only the Veda has been

unquestioned, at least partially if not fully. That's what keeps

totally different schools like Advaita, Dvaita, Visishtadvaita etc

within Hinduism still. So I will leave it there since you seem to be

THOROUGHLY convinced about certain texts being acceptable to all.

Unfortunately that is NOT the case. There has been UNITY in diversity

in Hinduism. That unity had been possible because of the acceptance

of the Veda, not because of Goswami's works (I respect him though).

Would Samkara bhashya be acceptable to you? No. That's how it is.

 

 

 

And finally I would like to stay away from a discussion on this

particular topic, as I feel that it is futile. We will agree to

disagree if you kindly allow so. Conceptually we cannot agree, I like

your enthusiasm and love for Krsna though.

 

Hare Krsna

 

Satya

 

PS: The attachment has taken a lot of my time. I hope it atleast

comes through properly. Otherwise I can send to your personal mail

again. I better get back to my work now!

 

NOTE: The message bounced back inspite of the attachment being

zipped. I will separate the pages and resend the attachment later

after I attend to the work at hand