Guest guest Posted October 26, 2004 Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 --- Balaji Ramasubramanian < > > sri tony, > > i agree wit u that there is no point in worshipping > a form, or a > long-gone sage. in fact i wud go to the extent and > say that there is > no point in worshipping anybody even if he is > living. the reason is > that nobody can enlighten u or me. we will hv to > enlighten ourselves. > we r totally responsible for our ignorance and are > totally responsible > for our liberation as well. > > hwever, if ur question is 'why do advaitins worship > ramana', there is > a very simple point i wud like to highlight here, by > discussing hw the > buddha and the upanishads dealt with this and > similar questions. > > the upanishads donot try to answer questions like > these at all. while > in many places the upanishads appear to say that > 'this is the way the > universe was created' etc. each one explains this in > a different way, > and they seem to contradict each other indicating > that > 1. the answer to these questions does not help in > liberation > 2. these questions were not asked by the ancient > indian sages. they > answered these questions but superficially and were > not particularly > interested in answering them. > > with regard to this question the upanishads maintain > that there is no > death or birth for the enlightened. they donot say > if he exists or > does not exist after death. > > the buddha has in particular addressed this question > very beatifully. > he has described all positions on this particular > question 'does a > tathagata exist after death?' and finally simply > said that he does not > teach anything with regard to this question. he > maintains that this > question is not conducive to the liberation of the > individual and > hence he wud not bother to answer it at all. pls > read the brahmajala > sutta in this regard. > > generally, the buddha, sankara, ramana etc. were > very great men and > surely they were grt teachers as well. they r highly > respected. the > respect that each one of them deserves is like the > respect one has > towards a grt president like abraham lincoln - > perhaps even better. > the respect which we shud hv for these ppl shud be > of admiration, > interest and emulation. if we can become like them > or even try to it > wud be so much better. > > hwever, there are those ppl (this does not mean the > members) who donot > wish to look for the truth, but hv more interest in > worshipping. they > delve more on worshipping than on realizing the > truth. ramana, sankara > or the buddha did not discourage them from > worshipping. although this > does not license one to worship another, it is but > mysterious that ppl > find pleasure in worshipping. > > normally bhakti is expected to be for: > > 1. surrender of the ego > 2. emulation of the one being worshipped > > hwever, this does not happen with everyone and hence > they hv blind faith. > > there is howver no point in asking this question > either. it is not > conducive to liberation. it may give us many things > to think abt, just > like 'when did the universe begin?' the dharma (the > supreme dharma is > not sectarian, it is universal) is not against such > questions. but > they r not conducive to liberation. > > -balaji _______________________________ Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now. http://messenger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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