Advaita 1001

[Rushikesh K. Joshi]

>From jaldhar at braincells.com Thu Nov 14 21:33 IST 1996

>Vivekanand was a follower of the Brahmo Samaj before meeting Ramakrishna.
>Educated in colonial schools, he had next to no knowledge of Sanskrit.  He
>has no parampara having simply assumed sannyasa without any sort of diksha.
>His guru Ramakrishna, could not have taught him Vedanta either not being
>much of a scholar himself.

Scholarship, and knowledge of Sanskrit is by no means necessary
for Realization. You are making a mistake if you are going by the quantity of
Sanskrit one knows or the process of obtaining Diksha !

Respect other languages and other means of Knowledge.
The whole world has given us so many great Saints and Seers.

There is a nice quote of Shankaraachaarya which you are not aware of:

|| Sampraapte Sannihite Kaale, Nahi Nahi Rakshati Dukrin Karane ||

It is extremely beneficial to study the life stories and teachings of
Saints than to induldge in proving X > Y.

- Joshi