[Advaita-l] Re: Pa~nchapAdikAchArya

[K Kathirasan NCS]

Namaste Rameshji,

There was a time when the Upanishads were not written just like the
samhitas & brahmanas. Advaita darshana was taught even during those
times.  So to gain access to the teaching, one had to approach a teacher
like the way Maitreyi, Shvetaketu, Gargi, Satyakama etc did. None of
them read any texts. The Upanishads capture this wonderful method. In
any case, Shankara didn't invent this teaching. He was an illustrious
teacher in the line of many teachers who established the Siddhanta
firmly as taught the Upanishads. There was a methodology employed by the
Upanishads, which Shankara made very clear in is Bhashyas. Somehow the
methodology took a back seat after many years because of the later
Acharyas in the form of Bhamati and Vivarana. Especially the undue
emphasis on Yoga as a direct means to moksha. 

I will not dismiss the value of Bhamati and Vivarana but they have
deviated from the methodology of the Upanishad teachings as confirmed by
Shankara for reasons justified or unjustified. Nevertheless I
acknowledge the differences. A few of us prefer to reconcile the
teachings and others prefer to call a spade a spade. To each his own. 

I totally agree with what you mentioned in the rest of your post, as
quoted below. 

Kathirasan 
-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of Ramesh
Krishnamurthy
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 2:15 PM
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Re: Pa~nchapAdikAchArya

<<snipped>>
But books, tape recorders and parrots can never substitute a real
living human guru.

As far as an uttama adhikArI is concerned, a single sravaNa alone is
enough to attain brahmajnAna. There is no need to study any texts. But
teaching advaita-vedAnta to a disciple is a different story. Being
brahmaniShTha does not guarantee being a shrotriya.

dhanyosmi
Ramesh