[Advaita-l] Science and Advaita

[Sundaresan, Vidyasankar (GE Infra, Water)]

>but I can see that in an oral tradition stemming
>from satsanga in the presence of the guru or the rishi, 'Please inform
me
>further..' is more appropriate and useful than a challenging 'Why do
you
>say that?' (which I guess Adi Shankara had to face quite frequently on
his
>travels ?...) 
>
>But I don't despair of the Western mind at its height : as a poet, I
hold
>those two principles mentioned, of the One in the many, and the magic
of
>Creation, at the front of my creative mind; and trust that there are
>scientists as well as spiritual leaders who do the same ! 

Dear Michael,

I must admire the sentiments you express in this thread. Even in the
Indian
oral tradition, 'please inform me further' is reserved for one who is
acknowledged
as the guru. 'Why do you say that?' is appropriate enough amongst
equals.
There was a tradition of healthy debate as seen from numerous accounts
from across India, over many different centuries. The "Western" habit of
questioning is not too alien to the traditional Indian mind, although
the modes
of questioning and the language used may be different in style and
flavor.

The problem is, nowadays, people don't always know what is appropriate,
to whom and when. On the one hand, many undeserving and self-appointed
individuals are raised to the status of gurus, while genuine gurus are
not
respected. On the other hand, the genuine spirit of scientific inquiry
is getting
lost everywhere in the world, for various reasons. This is true not only
of
Westerners, but of Indians too. There is no longer a Western mind or an
Indian
mind or a Chinese mind. Having lived  in India and the USA, I don't see
that
people are very different anywhere, except for their unique sets of
personal
and cultural prejudices.

Just as a general caveat, I would caution reading too much into things
like
the five stages of saMSaya, etc. There have been many different schools
of
thought in India and each has a different take on such topics. For
example,
in the upanishad-s and in Sankara's writing, saMSaya is simply a
function
of the mind. It arises naturally whenever there is an unknown or a
conflict
between knowns. Without seeing the perspective of the particular school 
being discussed, it is hard to generalize.

Best regards,
Vidyasankar

ps. Is the Encyclopedia of Hinduism project officially extinct? Their
website
is still up, although it has not been updated for a few years now.
knowing what the