[Advaita-l] names of reverence

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

[Was Re: Rudrashtadhayi of Sukla Yajur Veda]


On Tue, 13 Sep 2005, Krunal Makwana wrote:

> Also i was asked a question once by a friend of mine and he made a very
> valid point, he asked 'What is the point of having diffrent names for
> reverence e.g. swami, muni, mahamandaleSwar, giri, sankaracarya etc?' i
> was wondering is there an explanation of all the names of reverence. Why
> don't we have just one common title as e.g. Sir as we have here in
> England?
>

Different names describe different things.  It's no different in England
where knight, baronet, esquire etc. refer to different types of nobility
only some of whom are addressed as "sir"

Swami is the generic address for a sannyasi.  Muni is the same thing but
used mainly by Jains for their sadhus.  Many Dashanami sannyasis are
organized into groups called akhadas which actually functioned as military
regiments at one time.  Mahamandaleshwar is a title of an officer of one
of those akhadas.  Giri is one of the 10 orders of Dashanami sannyasis,
Shankaracharya is a title used by those who are in the direct line of
disciplic succession to Adya Shankaracharya.

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