ADMIN my last mail for Gurus and Students pl read

[Guest guest]

Om Klim Krishnaya Jagannathaya Svaha

 

Dear Chandrashekharji,

 

Please consider this as an administrative post. This is about time I intervened and protested against you. This mail should have been written only on the Vyasa but I am deliberately posting this on Varahamihira as I want every student to read this. Since you have maintained no decorum, neither will I, on behalf of myself and some of the gurus here. In my so many years in SJC this is the first time that I had to take such a strong stand against anyone. But you leave me with no options.

 

1. Neither you nor Saaji gave any scriptural reference nor did either of you discuss it at any point. The only person who did was Ajit. And the only person who raised the relevant question from it was Sanjay Prabhakaran. If both of you followed Shankara, you too would have asked the same question as he did, that from the Mundaka definition it appears that the Upanishads and the Vedas are apara. Does that make sense or is there an anomaly there? This question did not seem to strike you or Saaji. But it struck Shankara and hence he went on to give an explanation. What is your explanation Chandrashekharji? Naturally you are very uncomfortable with Shankara and with our discussions. The Mundaka has very clearly stated that the 4 Vedas and the 6 Vedangas are very important for Brahmagyana. Also the classification of para and apara in not on the basis of texts, but something else. Not at any point have you or Saaji discussed these issues, as I think you do not have the intention to do so. Your agenda seems to be something else.

 

2. Secondly, all I have been telling Saaji from the beginning was to reflect more. But it agitated him intensely. Why? It led him to fling accusations wildly. Why? Not only that, when I told him one day that it was past 1 a.m. in the night and that I would write to him in the morning, he turned around and accused me that I was not giving quotations!! Under your guidance Chandrashekharji!! All students in Varahamihira are under the guidance of their teachers. If he was a normal Varahamihira student he would have waited patiently till the next day and the discussions would have progressed at its own reflective pace and all in the list would have benefitted. Consequently, JHora, which arrived here exactly at that time and languished here in the office as I had to waste my time writing non-astrological mails to him in order to clarify my statements. I asked him to read shlokas 13-17 of the chapter of karakas on Parasara. He disappeared. And started talking of his caste and his father. A student should have responded and discussed and from it the whole list would have benefitted. I was really looking forward to that. Not only the shlokas but Santhanam's commentaries as well. So, I repeat, what is your agenda Chandrashekharji?

 

3. It is you and your students Saaji and Prabodh who have been speaking in an insulting tone to the teachers here...without provocation. To challenge and to question in a healthy intellectual debate in one thing, but to be rude is another. Subsequently, I must admit Prabodh realised the utility of discussions. I had decided on the basis of this development sometime back that I would not respond to any students here, except those who are my own students and those who belong to the SJC Delhi study circle (for whom I am directly responsible), and of course to the gurus. It is not worth it. Parasara says, "Na deyam parashishyayam nastikayam shathaya cha". "Don't give this knowledge to another's shishya, a non-believer and to one who is deceitful and malignant." Also, I don't have the time. Instead of wasting my time writing such mails as this, I would rather spend this time more valuably by exchanging views with Ajit and Sanjay P, who have reflected on Shankara's commentary and moved on to ponder over the higher spiritual implications for jyotish. And with Partha, Rafal and Lakshmi R, all of whom shared their views. That is what we should be doing here in Varahamihira. So that a student's doubt and query should lead us to study and reflect more and help us to grow by exchanging and sharing knowledge. If I am unable to do that, then it is pointless being here in Varahamihira.

 

The result of similar behaviour in the past is that many gurus quietly leave the lists. This includes Sanjayji, although he will cover it with Jupitarian sugariness and say he is busy and travelling. The Moderator is at the moment busy getting married, lest anyone accuse him that he is not doing his job. As far as I am concerned this has now become no better than the very public Vedic-Astrology. I also know, that this very mail of mine will be twisted and made into an issue as you have been twisting some mails to project a different scenario. I agree that Visti should not have dragged in the name of Narasimha. It was out of context and I don't know why he did so. In fact, Sanjayji did not like it either and had asked me to tell Visti to withdraw his statement. BUT Visti was right in asking Saaji who his guru was, as Saaji said he was only following his guru. For some reason, Saaji did not stand up for you. And it was I who provided the name. But you twisted this event to once again project something else. Finally, Saaji made some comment about age and intelligence, to which I responded that though Visti, Partha and others were so young in age, we learn a lot from there. Again you twisted this mail of mine. I wonder why you are doing this Chandrashekharji?

 

For senior gurus in Vyasa

4. I sincerely request senior gurus in Vyasa to rethink about Varahamhira and our roles as teachers. For as of now, I don't feel very comfortable about sharing knowledge in this forum, and most DEFINITELY not parampara knowledge. The premise of such sharing is mutual intellectual respect and trust, which is sadly lacking.

I will write one last mail on this list giving the shlokas as Sanjayji had requested and as Chandrashekharji does not seem to have a clue about them. Actually I was going to do it for Saaji, when I realised that he was not interested in it. Till now we have only talked about the eligibility of teachers. I think we should talk of eligibility of students. We are so busy playing the role of a benign Jupiter that we overlook all this and turn a blind eye to this fetish of guru bashing.

 

Finally, this discussion on para vidya rose, as Prabodh was vehemently opposed to the association of astrology with spirituality. Similarly Saaji and Chandrashekharji's basic ground of agitation among other things is that the Mundaka is actually stating that jyotish is necessary for brahmagyana. So the primary discomfort of all three of them arises whenever there is a close connection with spirituality and jyotish. However, the rest of us are here only because we are interested in spiritual astrology. So there is a fundamental difference of opinion here. Hence you will observe Chandrashekharji's rejection of the spiritual aspect of the Atmakaraka. (He wrote in a mail to me that what does the 12th from Karakamsha have to do with the Atmakaraka?) The second is provocations regarding Atmakaraka and the chara karaka schemes, is because he does not identify with Brhat Parasara all that much. His adherence is with Laghu Parasari. This is what I observed in conferences from his comments. That is all right as everyone has their own opinion. Hence whenever the question of chara karakas come up they back out of the discussions. So the two main problems that are easily identifiable are spirituality and Brhat Parasara.

 

With these two last mails I will not be reading any more mails on Varahamihira for some time. I am not running away. I will instead spend the time on finishing the production of SJC's first book by assisting the author and the printer. By assisting in the legalities of establishing such a publishing wing. By attending to JHora CD, the finalisation of the Guru Shishya database, the finalisation of the Membership Data Base, the finalisation of JD registration, writing my 3 papers for the coming conferences, attending the classes of my teachers, teaching the students under me and making the next conference in Delhi feasible. In between, if Varahamihira gives me the space for sharing with other members instead of writing mails like this, I will spend time on the list. As of now, it is a futile waste of time.

 

Om Gurave Namah.

 

Best regards,

 

Sarbani