[Advaita-l] Religion that I am born into

[Srikrishna Ghadiyaram]

hariH Om !!

--- Raghavendra Hebbalalu <hs_raghavendra at yahoo.com> 

> > If one's 'past deeds' were so much binding and
> > guiding
> > one, then one should have so chosen to 'stick' to
> > religion of birth all the time. But, it is not the
> > case.
> > 
> > Religion is 'man made'. No question of eligibility
> > or
> > otherwise. 
> 
> I would disagree here. Eligibility is there in the
> form of the required mental preparation, be it in
> this
> janma or the previous ones. But, please note that I
> am
> not implying that all brAhmaNas in this birth have
> that eligibility. 

Do you mean to say that some are born as Brahmanas
though they are not eligible ? Or for what these
'some' Brahmanas are not eligible ?

How can you call one a brahmana who does not study
sruti, who does not do charity, who resorts to himsa,
or who is greedy of this worldly prosperity. (I am one
such). I understand these are the basic injunctions
for being a brahmana.

> Just as SanyAsa is not given to
> all
> and sundry who request for it, conversion to another
> religion is not recommended for everybody. This is a
> very private matter between the person and the
> person's Guru.
> 

How and when does one become a Guru  for some one ?
What is the starting point. So, do you mean to say
that a Guru can have sishyas of other religions ?

> The external emblems of a religion may be man-made.
> The Vedas/Vedic Truths are apauruSheya and hence the
> Dharma stemming from it is apauruSheya (not
> man-made).
> 
> 

If Vedas are 'apaurusheya' then 'Quron' also can be
'apaurusheya', as it is claimed by Muslims.

Current Religion is a popular vehicle to investigate
into 'Truth'.

Religion is nothing but symbols and rituals, whose
purpose can be debated. (A advaita sannyasi even gives
up the 'bottu' of any kind.) Remove all those and then
define 'Religion'. What is left ?? 

A way of life dealing with how to behave in society
man with man, being with being , is all that is left.
The remaining portion is man with God. The symbols and
rituals associated with the second part is what is
popularly known religion. The first part is now in the
domain of social culture. 

If I were having 'muslim' parents, I would have been
branded a muslim. I would be eating 'meat', more
likely. 

But, for reasons unknown to me, and any way some one
has to be born to my present parents, I am here now.
It could be some other body. Being brought up in
certain way, I strongly identify with one set of
ideals and defend them as great or only truth. 

There is no liberation to people in either camp, as
long as they are identified with one and discriminate
the other.

The wise discriminate and choose a right way of
living. This does not mean that I will start doing and
behaving like a muslim or eat meat. My body and mind
are not conditioned to that, as of now.

The philosophic enquiry is entirely different. One can
question the 'TRUTH' and arrive at the solution. All
the other techinques in particular religions are
directed to knowing that 'TRUTH'.

There is no religion in 'shatka sampatti'. Suresvara
whom we revere now so much is said to be a Karma
Meemamsaka in the beginning, until Sankara met him. 

People who can not understand true advaita and/or want
to propagate their way of understanding of 'advaita'
alone have such strong views on conversion.

Yes, I too agree that 'forced conversion' is against
the current democratic thought. Will of God in such
situations can not be easily understood, though it is
obviously because of 'God's Will'. Otherwise, I will
be having 'my will' stronger than 'god's will' which
is ridiculous. How can there be my will separate from
God's will. The advaita vedanta is shouting so much
that there is no 'I' separate from Him. As long as one
is not clear of this basic principle, all suggestions
will put one in an unescapable maze.

I find this following  beautiful sentence in the
chapter titled, "Creation as Explained in the Tantra"
by J. G. Woodroffe, page 131, in the book 'Studies in
the Tantra, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

"What is the intrinsic value of a philosophy which
emanates from a mind which is so ignorant as to be
superstitious ?" 

Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
http://mail.yahoo.com