Antiquity of Advaita Vedanta (was Re: An Open Letter to All)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 11 May 2000, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

> At the risk of sounding churlish,

You are sounding very churlish right now.

> *I* do mind. This is not a place for
> ISKCON propoganda. Please keep it to personal mail. A reasonable
> discussion on differences between advaita and other philosophies would
> be good to read.

I'm sure your email program has a delete key.  Please use it on any posts
you do not find good to read.

> The kind of stuff found in the mail you forwarded  is
> fairly irrelevant. So are discussions on the economy of Thailand,
> various states in India, and other such stuff some list members have
> been indulging in.

> It never ceases to amaze me, advaita vedanta list =
> discussions about sha.nkaras works and his followers works. Why on
> earth do all these various people feel compelled to post on these
> irrelevant topics?
>

Well I admit that particular tangent of that thread is straying from the
charter of this list a bit however in my opinion meta-discussion of the
works of Advaita Vedanta is a must.  They did not occur in a
vacuum. Part of the problem nowadays is a crisis of meaning.  Due to the
dislocations and upheaval in traditional society there are now many people
who have difficulty dealing with views you and I take for granted.  We
cannot simply turn our backs on those people.  We should always be
prepared to give them answers--not necessarily answers they like but
answers nonetheless.

Those people who have doubts and questions must feel free to voice
them.  This is the first and most vital step to removing doubts.

> I have been intending to post various things on advaita to the list,
> which I hoped would be of some interest. I was waiting for all these
> completely irrelevant topics to die down. I have already been waiting
> for a month and looks like I have a long wait ahead of me. I have been
> trying to maintain my patience, but this last post is quite the last
> straw. Why can't people follow the example of Ravi or Anand and post
> something relevant? Is this concept of sticking to advaita vedAnta on
> the advaita vedAnta list that difficult to understand?
>

The beauty of the Internet is it is "elastic".  Adding more posts needn't
displace ones which are already there.  As one who has enjoyed and learned
from your posts in the past, I avidly await their resumption as I'm sure,
do many other people.  Please go ahead and write about what interests you
and don't let "irrelevant" posts bother you.

To list members who have hitherto remained silent, don't be shy.  This
list exists to help you understand Advaita Vedanta.  If you have questions
feel completely free to post them here.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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