The greatness of Advaita

[Guest guest]

Advaita Vedanta is the most well-known school of Indian philosophy. Based on the ancient scriptures, namely the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, and following the rules of interpretation of the Brahmasutras, Advaita Vedanta is at once a school of philosophy, a religion, a theology and a doctrine of salvation. All these roles are only different aspects of the various schools of Vedanta, and Advaita stands as the most important and oldest school of Vedanta.

 

Advaita Vedanta holds that in the ultimate analysis, all that exists is only Brahman. The vast amount of multiplicity seen in the world of human beings, the diverse kinds of individuals who identify themselves with different names, families, castes and races, indeed the entire universe, from the largest stars to the smallest atom - all this is indeed nothing but Brahman. It is only ignorance of this astonishingly simple, yet complex truth that leads to misery. The individual Atman is also ultimately not different from Brahman, and realization of this important doctrine is Moksha. Such a realization is not just something learnt from a text-book, but this is to be learned from an accomplished Guru who is himself liberated, reflected upon by the student and finally experienced personally in the grandly eloquent silence that accepts all as equal and yet denies all individual characterization.

 

The Advaita teaching aims at liberation through a dissolution of all individuality, along with the cessation of misery, arising from the unitary knowledge of the Atman's identity with Brahman. All of this is extremely difficult for an ordinary human being, who clings to his individuality as if it were a precious treasure. Therefore, the Gurus in the Advaita tradition prescribe that an earnest student of Advaita Vedanta has to satisfy many qualities, such as patience, fortitude, keen concentration, continence, devotion to God and the Guru, and an ability to discriminate between the eternal and the ephemeral. In order to cultivate such sterling qualities, Vedic study, Yogic practice, and the worship of Isvara in time- honored forms are advised. Thus, Advaita Vedanta synthesizes the study of the ancient Vedas, popular Bhakti-oriented religion and Yoga with a sharp philosophical thinking, to form a solid bed-rock upon which a lot of contemporary Hindu religion rests.

 

 

 

[paul108]

If you believe advaita is the ultimate truth, whom are you trying to enlighten?

[Guest guest]

Krsna bhaktas?

[Guest guest]

 

God realization is revealed in three ways,

 

The first for some is Brahman realization, the path you assert.

 

the second is realization of Paramatma, the presence of

God within our self, and everything else, as guide

and director.

 

the third stage is Bhagavan realization, realization of the

personality of Godhead, the individual consciousness

of God, not to be confused with Brahman, which is simply the all pervading aspect of God.

 

Realization of oneness with brahman is incomplete

realization of the absolute truth, while indeed everything is one with Brahman, within that oneness

there is diversity.

 

to insist that diversity is an illusion, is not

the fact, diversity is real, an apple is not an orange,

although they are both comprised of one energy.

 

the advaitans are fond of pointing out the temporary nature of material things, claiming this is proof of

their non real nature, this is the result of

mental gymnastics , accepting an unprovable concept

and rejecting that which is right befor their eye,

the fact of this world being real,regardless

of it's temporary nature.

 

What is Brahman ? It is an aspect of God.

 

God is more then an all pervasive field of conscious energy, god has will, and identity,God is a thinking thing, this concept of God possessing individuality

is necessary to understand the absolute truth.

 

We are not the omniscient being that God is,we are not the omnipotent being that God is, we are not the creator,

maintainer or destroyer , we are part of God ,

but we are not the infinite being itself.

 

to insist that the goal of existence is to end

our individual identity, is a misconception.

True brahman realization consists of realizing our

eternal identity as part of the supreme being,

not in identifying our selves as that supreme being.

 

When we can percieve God within our own self, and within all

things, then that is Brahman realization and paramatma

realization together.

 

When we realize the individual identity of the infinite supreme being as being a conscious willfull entity,

then we have realized Bhagavan, the personality of

godhead.

 

 

[madhav]

so, when the islamists have jihad against all the kafirs of the world, how the advisits would fight terrorism?

 

same question for dvaitis (i.e. vaishnavas),

shivites, shaktas, etc.?

 

should they fight with untity?

or should they fight or debate within

to prove their philosophy or sdadhana is better?

should they say, "everybody, join our sampradaya, and then only we can fight?"

 

i request that if you do not mind,

please put your answer like:

 

as a advaiti (or dvaiti, etc.) i should fight like a kshatriya (or barhmana, etc.) i could fight non violently in .... manner.

 

[vsdprasad]

madhavji, thats an important thing worth cnsidering when islamic jehadis are attacking innocent kafirs.

There is no end to philosophical altercations and the need of that hour would be to fight unitedly no matter what philosophy you follow.

Lord Krishna never instructed Arjuna to tread the path of non-violence always -- and every school of philosophy agrees to this.

When the duty requires one to protect himself & his surroundings, he should act accordingly.

But religion should never cause war and majority of the wars like world wars were fought purely for material gains.

 

-Prasad.

[Guest guest]

Philosophical debates are necessary for the development of religious thought. When an external threat comes, the entire hindu society will unite to counter the threat. Have no doubts about it. Dont take philosophical debates too personally. Have the right spirit. The Dvaitins are our brothers. It is good to keep this in mind.

[Guest guest]

achintya bheda bheda makes sense to me.I have done lot of research.Even in near death experiences where people having no knowledge of God experience divine reality firsthand they too maintain this philosphy of drop and ocean although same in quality.

 

Joy

[shvu]

 

Madhav,

 

I gather you want all Hindus, including HKs, to unite against Islam terrorism. Assuming everyone has come together, what is the next move?

 

1. Kicking out Muslims from India

2. Invading Pakistan

3. Wait for them to make the first move.

 

Or something else?

 

Thanks

 

[theist]

shvu, that is the very question I was going to ask. It is one thing to be against terrorism, everybody says they are but how to act against it.

 

What do you do? Go burn your Muslim neighbors house down with he and his family in it?

 

My view is govt.'s should hunt down the terrorists and slay them where they find them, and the citizens should stay out of it.

 

Anyway we await Madhvas answer to shvu's questions.

[Guest guest]

shvu, just because global unity is desirable, it does not mean unity is to be abhorred at family level. as far as what we could do, the following are some of the ideas.

 

--we would all agree that it is beneficial to take the good points of all religions. such a common denominator - speak the truth, for example - is applicable to one and all. similarly, if the different traditions of vedic thought work together, it will make sure that the common denominators of sanatana dharma are practised benefitting all.

 

--if we assume that sanatana dharma is from the lord and for every one's good, then the obvious defects have to be well explained by all schools together - caste system and treatment of women to name a couple.

 

--indians have a right to choose and such a right is meaningful only if it is based on correct information. the truths about islamic & christian oppression are suppressed and rewritten because of the vote bank politics. there is also deliberate misinformation propagated to strengthen the preaching missions of muslims and christians. in the school curriculum islam and christianity are portrayed as religions that stand for equality where as sanatana dharma is considered to highly partial. small children at impressionable age are brainwashed using the national infrastructure. fight such lies together as it affects sankarites as much as it does vaishnavites.

 

--the christian and islamic missions are getting aid from not only overseas but also the indian government as minority benefit. put an end to this partial treatment.

 

--protect cows together

 

--fight indecent portrayal of hindu men as impotent and hindu women as prostitutes mrs. and mr. iyer, for one recent example. or creating stereotypes through religion dominated media.

 

 

[madhav]

dear shrvu ji,

 

thank you for asking a very good question.

my answers are below your questions:

 

1. Kicking out Muslims from India

 

not necessarily if we could persuade them to give up islam.

islam is aggresive, intolerant and violent, and hinduism is the opposite. only the hindus loose everything if these two live together. if the hindus had practiced hinduism correctly as krishna says in gita, they could have avoided islam's invasion in india. now we need to correct the problem and do it fast.

 

if it does not work, then they should be sent to pakistan.

we made it for them. that was a lot of our sacrifice (and foolishness as well.)

 

2. Invading Pakistan

 

no, but if it does not stop cross border terrorism and isi causing trobules within india, then strong steps could be taken. the hindus need to give up gandhian ahimsa policy and take up krishna's message. gandhi has made the hindus uneasonably tolerant like enuches. things are changing now.

 

3. Wait for them to make the first move.

 

they already have taken many first moves in all kinds of terrorism all over india nd in kashmir. india needs to clean up from within all pro pakistani persons including isi's network. then prepare and be ready for all out war if that becomes necessary. pandavas' army was smaller than the kauravas, but they fought. ours is larger then this eternal enemy, and we have suffered a lot more than we should.

 

i write this assuming you are a hindu and not a muslim.

 

when a topic like this is discussed,

there come two kinds of people who do not agree and give all kinds of reasons. one the muslims in disguise of hindus, and the other the hindus who still are under the delusion of gandhi's ahimsa and really do not know islam's barbric character and what they did to us for 1000 years.

 

we need all the help we an get to argue with these two anti hindu or pro muslim groups.