[Advaita-l] Dwarka seer refuses to part with staff (fwd)

[Ravishankar Venkatraman]

Here is what happened at Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh airport 2 weeks ago.

I was standing in line at the airport security and before me were a few 
people dressed in black robes and  big hats. I realized that one of them was 
an archbishop (probably from connecticut area), as the people who travelled 
with him had connecticut drivers' licences. I happened to see the ID of 
archbishop as he was fumbling with a couple of items. It is not a federal 
ID. The archbishop was carrying a  tapered wooden stick averaging at least 
1.5" thickness (not a walking cane) which was gold plated for a few inches 
at both the ends. He was also wearing a few gold chains with religious 
symbols in them, which he removed while passing through the secutiry. The 
security did not object to his carrying the stick, though it is classified 
as a weapon.

The persons standing behind me were making comments about the stick being 
carried in, but nobody really objected to anything he carried. They greeted 
him with the same enthusiasm as they did to others.

The danda carried by pujya Sankaracharyas and other sanyasis is a thin 
bamboo stick which could hardly be considered as a weapon. It could be 
broken easily with a little pressure applied at the middle.


God bless,
Ravi


Jaldhar wrote:
>>compartment. He refused to part with the dand, saying it is always
>>kept with his person, is a symbol of his mutt, and that keeping it
>>away from his person would be sacrilegious.
>>"The behaviour of the pilot of the flight, which had over 50 per
>>cent foreigners, made me feel like I am indeed a terrorist and I
>>just wondered what the foreigners would be thinking of Hindu
>>saints," the swami said. He said he got off the plane because he
>>feared an incident could be created by Hindus on board the plane.
>>Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati met senior Indian Airlines
>>officials who apologised to him verbally, but refused to issue a