[Advaita-l] Importance of Ashram

[Anuj]

I appreciate your advice and concern Sanjay. Wow! I am surprised that
you know people who went to Swami Parhtasarthy's school. Wonders never
cease.
Well, I have always thought that it is not the teacher but the
teachings that one should concern themselves with. I have seen many
people, including my parents and relatives get attached to their
teachers and ironically not pay nearly as much attention to the
teachings.
Having said that, I think it will be the entire student body, senior
members of the teaching staff and yes, Swamiji himself - the
collective lot and most of all my own commitment and time by myself
which I look forward to. So his classmates impressions of him from 30
years ago, I feel, may still not be as accurate an indication of what
my experience may be like. Is that fair? Besides having heard him
speak, and sat with him one on one for half an hour is more than I
could expect from any other teacher prior to admittance. I do also
intentend to visit the ashram a few months prior to finally moving
there so I am not blindly jumping onto this new phase in my life.

I truly do appreciate every one's concern though, it mirrors that of
my parents and well wishers and I am grateful for it.

Anuj
On 12/3/07, Sanjay Srivastava <sksrivastava68 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Anuj:
>
> I will second what Ramesh said and will advise you to do some independent
> background research on the organization and the swami before making full
> time commitment. The information you gain through an organization's website
> or through his committed disciples is not independent verification. If I had
> to make this decision, I would prefer to talk to his mates from his earlier
> days or people who know him independent of his vedanta background. I can
> give you off-line email addresses of some of the people who were at
> Sandipani at the time Swami Parthasarathy was a student there. You may get
> different but valuable perspective from such people. I cannot assure you if
> they will respond to your queries, but it is definitely a worth try if you
> are thinking of full time commitment.
>
> praNAm
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