[Vedavyasa] ADMIN my last mail for Gurus and Students pl read

[Guest guest]

Dear Sarbani,

I have read your mail and protest. Since you want it to be publicly

discussed, I would like other Gurus and Shishyas to give their frank

opinion as to whether I have maintained decorum or not.

 

I am surprised to observe that Mundaka Upanishad is not considered as

Scripture by you. I do not remember anybody having given scriptural

reference either. If I remember right, Sanjay P. as well as Ajit and

Sarajit too quoted the same source. My reply to Sanjay P. also

clarified my understanding of what is Para and Apara Vidya. I do not

think you have read my reply. If you are interested in continuing the

discussions on the thread I could quote from Narada Purana which states

the purpose of Jyotish. There are many other reference to Para and

Apara Vidya in scriptures.

 

I am sorry if you feel I guided any one to take a particular line. This

is a charge that I strongly protest again. I am certain that every one

remembers that I entered the discussions when things were going in the

direction of personal attacks instead of discussion on scriptures. You

may ask my students whether anytime I have asked them to begin any line

of discussions. I do not have a habit of censoring anybodys mail.

 

The remark about my agenda is in bad taste, and I would not like to

comment on it. I would like you to read Saaji's reply to Visti again

and point out where he says he was following his Guru.

 

I am also surprised to see that you think Laghu Parashari is different

from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. I would request any of the Gurus to

whom the remaining paragraphs are addressed to show me a single shloka

in Laghu Parashari which is not in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. Let

me also call upon all Gurus to read my mails, that are reffered to, and

find out whether what is being alleged about me having said is right. I

have never held the position that use of 8 Chara Karakas is wrong.

 

Let me make it clear that I only commented about fixation about Guru

when insinuations were made against me in earlier mail. I had sent the

shloka to Sanjay indicating my understanding of my work as Guru. It is

from Narada Samhita.

 

If this an attempt to ask me to not to air my views on the list, say so

plainly. Making allegations without any basis, that too of a personal

nature is detested. Let me also make it clear that I had never

solicited to become Jyotish Guru of SJC and am pasting mail inviting me

as Jyotish Guru from Sarbani, for record.

""Sarbani Sarkar" <sarbani

"Chandrashekhar" <boxdel

 

Sunday, April 27, 2003 6:01 PM

 

Dear Chandrashekhar,

 

I write this mail to you at Sanjayji’s behest. SJC Asia is now going to

incorporate several new gurus, as the existing gurus are overloaded and

also

because we need more gurus in India. He has chosen about 2-3 people

from

each zone, namely, the western, eastern, northern and southern zones

from

India. He will make the announcements later in the year when Jupiter

enters

Leo. From the western zone, one of the prospective gurus he has in mind

is

you. In fact he has wanted to appoint you guru since a long time,

whether he

appointed anyone else or not. He wished to know whether you would be

willing

to take on this responsibility. He feels that your knowledge will be an

asset for SJC and many students will benefit for it, as they are already

doing. Please let me know whether you accept this proposal or not so

that I

may pass on your decision to him

 

Best regards,

 

Sarbani"

 

If Sanjay wants me to give up my responsibilities as a Guru I would

like him to say so and tell the shishyas whom I am teaching at present

from which Guru they should learn. I would be glad to relinquish the

responsibility, but only on say so of Sanjay or Narasimha.

Regards,

Chandrashekhar..

 

Sarbani Sarkar wrote:

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

[om jum sah vyam Vedavyasaaya namah sah jum om]