[Advaita-l] Attack on Adi Sankara-by Dvaitins-what has been done to resolve this?

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

Sree Ramesh - PraNAms

Just for info.  Shreeman Vedanta Deshika was the one
who formulated VishiShTaadvaita on a firmer basis. He
represents VaDahalai sampradaaya and is respected
throughout. He was around 15th Century, if I remember
correctly.  The sataduuShaNii is more polemical work
and does not attack any individuals. The book is
similar to Advaita Siddhi of Madhusuudana Saraswati.
An English version, not necessarily in the same
format, is done by Shreeman S.M.S. Chari entitled
"Advaita -VishiShTaadvaita" one can get this book on
line.  According to Chari maama, Shree Ananta Krishna
Shastri has written ShatabhuuShaNii - but in stead of
taking one by one objection, Shree Shastriji has given
general description of Advaita Philosophy. Shree
Shastriji has written extensive commentary on Vedanta
Paribhaasha of Dharmaraja Advarin. A glimpse of that
work you can see in book of Prof. Bina Gupta on
'Perceptions in Advaita Vedanta', which can be
downloaded. 

Taking a particular philosophy as puurva paksha is
standard method of philosophical discussions.  There
is nothing wrong with that.  Bhagavaan Ramanuja's Sree
bhAShya on Brahmasuutras where he takes Advaita as
puurva paksha is worth studying.  There are seven
untenables against avidya concept of advaita Vedanta.
Dr. Grimes has taken up this as part of his Ph.D
thesis.  

What you are complaining is personal attack by many of
Dvaitins  trying to repeat some of the arguments from
B.N. Sarma's book. I found Sarma’s book it very hard
to read.   

I agree with Vidya that personal attacks are bellow
ones dignity and are not worth responding to. We had
one Shree J N who was making fool of himself by silly
arguments and was thrown out of this list as well as
advaitin list. It is better to ignore these rattling
noises than to give importance to them.


Hari Om!
Sadananda

 




--- RAMESH RAMANAN <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Dear Advaita list members,
>    
>   I find it absolutely ridiculous for anyone to have
> the audacity to make slighting remarks on our Sri
> Adi Shankara.
>    
>   I have read that Sri Vedanta Desikan Swamigal had
> written a book titled 'Shatha Dhooshani' condemning
> advaita of having 100 mistakes/blemishes/errors and
> flaws. The Kanchi Mahaperiavaal Sri
> Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal directed an
> Shastraic scholar compose a book 'Shatha Bhooshani
> (praising Advaita Vedanta, refuting all the
> arguments in the Shatha Dhooshani, but without
> condemning the book itself) in response to this
> book. The Mahaperiyavaal also directed the Shastri
> who was respected and loved by both the Sringeri and
> the Kanchi Maths, to get the foreword to this book
> from none other than Sri Abhinava Vidya Theertha
> Mahaswamigal of Sringeri, who was also a great
> expert in Nyaya and Tarka. 
>    
>   I have not had the fortune of availing myself of a
> copy of this book or reading it. I think this book
> might be a fitting rejoinder to those who have the
> audacity to malign our beloved Sri Adi Shankara, who
> was not and cannot be limited to any particular sect
> or belief. Ramesh Ramanan.
>    
>    --- Vidyasankar Sundaresan
> svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote: 
>    
>   I heard from one of my friends that Adi Sankara
> has been attacked viciously by the dvaitins. I also
> read.  That is true.
>     
>   What has been done about this by the advaita
> (smartha) community? This is character
> assassination, isn't it? A debate has to take place
> with mutual respect, they can attack the philosophy,
> if they want, but cannot make nasty  remarks about
> saints, just because they belong to a  different
> sect.
>    
>   A whole lot of dispute and recrimination has taken
> place over the last six-seven centuries about these
> issues.
>     
>   Something has to be done about this, because this
> is an attack on a certain religion, which Indian
> Constitution doesn't permit. Either dvaitins must
> remove these objectionable verses from their texts,
> or face action. Imagine what would happen if similar
> comments have been made against Muslims, there will
> be an outrage. But why does no one care, when
> advaitins are attacked?
>    
>    The problem is, the dvaitins who live today are
> not the ones who wrote texts like the Manimanjari.
> As such, there is not much they can do. Don't you
> think what you are suggesting, about removing
> objectionable verses from their texts amounts to
> censorship? Moreover, should we really be comparing
> such issues in the dvaita-advaita disputes to
> Hindu-Muslim disputes?
>     
>   In general, in any dispute, when one party resorts
> to name calling, it is a sure sign that they are
> losing the argument. It should be a matter of pride,
> therefore, that the advaitins have not had to write
> texts that stoop to such a level. Many have cared in
>  the past and have taken issue with the dvaitins 
> about these issues.
>     
>    Many advaitin friends have contacted the dvaita
> list moderator, someone named Rao, but he didn't
> have the decency to respond properly. In fact, he
> hurled abuses at people who expressed concern. 
>    
>    See above :-). On a more serious note, I think
> Shrisha Rao, the moderator of the dvaita list is
> still a member of this list, so he may be reading
> this. As the dvaita list and its functioning are not
> the concern of this list, I hope you can take it up
> with him separately and get your concerns addressed.
>     
>    Goes on to show people will never respect us, as
> long as we crawl and beg. So the question still
> remains, what can we do about this? Swallow these
> insults and move on, or take action?
>    
>    I don't see holding one's head high and refusing
> to resort to similar tactics of insulting and
> mud-throwing as crawling and begging. Look at the
> larger picture - advaita vedAnta is spread all over
> India while dvaita is identified with a much smaller
> community of people in south India. 
>    
>   Although dvaita has influenced a few other
> Vaishnava groups, such as the Gaudiyas, it is not
> present as dvaita in these other sects. Over the
> last century or so, advaita and Sankaracharya are
> also known,  respected and admired all over the
> world, not because smArtas have emigrated to other
> parts of the world, but because independent students
> of Indian philosophy are able to the truth and worth
> of advaita and the greatness of Sankaracharya. I
> don't think this is a sign of people not respecting
> us, is it?
>    
>   Best regards,
>   Vidyasankar
> 
> 
> 
> 
>        
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