[Advaita-l] Importance of Ashram

[Sanjay Srivastava]

Mahesh wrote:

"I would only encourage those who think Swamiji is not teaching Vedanta in
the true spirit to pick up some of his CDs/VCDs, etc (or better still,
attend one of his lectures - he travels all over India) and get familiar
with his teachings before casting aspersions."

Sri Ram wrote:

"I think it is not fair to take pot shots at Sri Parthasarathy`s way of
teaching vedanta .He has given the course content and utilises the
Upanashidic teachings to improve the thinking process and develop
concentration on the subject on hand."

Let us take a step back and see what is happening here. A vedanta teacher is
supposed to be "shrotriya" and "brahmanishtha". Whether someone is actually
a "brahmanishta" or not is difficult to judge for others. Only thing that
can be realistically assessed is whether someone is a "shrotriya" or not.
However, this very information is kept under wrap by his organization. Is it
fair to prospective students?

I mean it is very good that he takes good care of his health and is
athletically fit at 87. However there are more important questions that need
be addressed by someone who claims to be a vedanta teacher. Don't you find
it a bit odd that a website that takes pains to share his waistline and
blood sugar statistics is silent on important questions like: Where did he
study vedanta? Who were his teachers? From whom did he get sannyasa diksha
and "swami" title? etc. Don't you think these are important questions to
ask? Has he answered these questions anywhere? Are any of his students
willing to share this information?

When sincere people are taking important life decisions based on someone's
claim as a vedanta teacher, shouldn't he show a bit more consideration
towards them by at least answering some of the basic things?

praNAm