On part 61 of Vivekananda on the Vedas

[Guest guest]

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Leon Dawson wrote:

 

Dear Sister Gayatriprana,

Thankyou very much for your mail, I appreciate your enthusiasm and wisdom on

this subject.

 

Admittedly some words when taken out of context can sometimes make a person

appear exclusive or to hold a certain view, and then when you see the larger

picture (as described by yourself) then the meanings of them change.

 

I think you could see where I was coming from, I myself appreciate 'God' as

described in the Vedas more than from any other scripture - and I now, as a

result, experience Him within my life much more than before. But I also feel

that the Vedas attract philosophers by their content, and other scriptures

attract souls with different character traits, not everyone feels the need

to philosophise - and thus their path to the truth is available through

different doors..... but anyway I am rambling now <grin>

 

Also I am from the school of having a personal relationship to the Supreme

in simultaneous oneness and difference and thus the idea of becoming one

does not appeal to me, and I think that's where we disagreed on the last

part....... each to their own.

 

What are your general practices, I have not heard of Vivekanda before, did

he start a large movement in recent times?

 

Feel free to ask any questions of me.....

 

Namaste

 

Leon.

~~~~~~~~~response from Sister Gayatriprana~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dear Leon,

I was happy to see that my reply met some of your objections.

 

The other points that your raise will, I think, be answered as we go along

in this study. Although the kind of " philosophical " Vedanta that has

appealed in the West is quite well known, the Vedanta of

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda takes another view and factors in precisely the sort

of " personal " aspects you are referring to - and without becoming

dualistic in the process, I believe. If you want to follow along the line

of thought, stick with the presentation as it comes out, week after week.

After this more philosphical portion, we will get to the issues you are

interested in.

 

In answer to your question, Swami Vivekananda was a modern (1863-1902)

teacher of Vedanta. His ideas were basically obtained from Sri Ramakrishna

(1836-1886), who is widely regarded in India and elsewhere as one of the

very important spiritual teachers of Vedanta, giving it precisely the

" personal " turn that not only you are interested in. This introduction we

are doing to Swami Vivekananda's commentaries on the Vedas and Upanishads

will unveil, step by step, how Vedanta evolved up to and including Sri

Ramakrishna's contribution. Thereafter, we will take up the commentaries on

the Vedic and Upanishadic mantras themselves.

 

Swami Vivekananda came to the West in 1993 for the World's Parliament of

Religions and thereby launched a worldwide movement which now has

headquarters in India and centers all over the world. In India, his

organization does a lot of social and educational work in the spirit of

worshipping God in human beings; and, in the West, mostly training in

spiritual methods and tradition, such as yoga, philosophy, etc.

 

If you want to know more, most of our centers have Web sites. Jay's Website

is:

www.vivekananda.co.uk

 

Thank you for your interest. Let us know how you feel about the later

installments, as they unfold a rather different point of view from

traditional Vedanta, which is what is being presented at the moment.

 

I will be on retreat and away from the computer from July 10 to July 25.

 

With best wishes,

Sister Gayatriprana

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