[Advaita-l] Sankhya & Yoga
Michael Shepherd
michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk
Fri Jun 19 14:13:11 CDT 2009
Namaste Geetaji,
Just to defend Britain's reputation in terms of spiritual enquiry :
The School of Economic Science here in London has thousands of students past
and present of all ages who study Advaita Vedanta and other aspects of the
Hindu inheritance in the course of their 'practical philosophy' courses.
Guidance was received from the Shankaracharya of the North, Shantananda
Saraswati, and now from his successor, entirely by our request; and
meditation is practised under the auspices of that tradition. The average
student will have a vocabulary of about 200 key words of Sanskrit; will be
able to write Devanagari a little; and will have their Sanskrit Dictionary
at home -- some even with a Dhatupata to take words further.
There are two schools in London and a few elsewhere in Britain where
Sanskrit forms part of the studies from a young age. In fact I believe that
they are responsible for setting examinations in Sanskrit nationally.
Students will have studied your namesake, the Gita, and the Upanishads; some
have even taken degrees in Sanskrit at university. One of my friends has
produced a new English verse translation of the Gita (rumour has it that
Motilal sells it in Delhi..) along with a book on the Vedanta; and a new
translation of Manu is being worked on.
If we keep quiet about this, it is partly because such a set-up is so far
from traditional guru-shishya paramparas that I doubt that the average Hindu
could comprehend its validity; also in terms of karma-yoga it makes for slow
personal progress.
However in terms of 'practical philosophy' all this is of enormous value :
just the concept of guna -- which curiously never filtered through to the
West -- can be a basic tool for self-development.
So from Hinduism has been pressed for some decades now, an unique extract
of wisdom which from the mountains of the Himalayas, is nourishing the
plains of the West.. since the Veda belongs to all, we are told, and is to
be found in every nation's culture and every language, in its essential
truth..
(And by the way there's a branch of the school in Manchester... they might
even be grateful for an (unpaid..) Sanskrit tutor; I don't know anything
about the state of their Sanskrit studies currently..)
So Britain is slowly redeeming its past sins by joining the ancient Indian
Empire, which expands not by conquest but through truth..
Love,
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of geeta
armstrong
Sent: 19 June 2009 19:05
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sankhya & Yoga
Namastey Michealji,
Thanks for replying back, and yes your last words brought out a laughter
both from me and my agnostic hubby(incidentally an englishman).
Perhaps now you understand why I am impressed with your knowledge. I am
in Manchester where abouts in UK are you? presumably south....I still have
to meet anyone in England in all my 5yrs stay here I have not seen one
person who has understood hinduism and more shocking have even been asked is
that a religion?
God's love be with everyone....
love
geeta
http://community.webshots.com/user/geetaa21
________________________________
From: Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Thursday, 18 June, 2009 9:51:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sankhya & Yoga
Geeta, namaskar --
Thanks for the compliment -- but not as unusual as might be thought; and
not, alas, as detailed..
In fact I know of many English people who have a working knowledge of
Sanskrit and who study Advaita Vedanta; from the angle of 'practical
philosophy'; which means that jnana, yoga and ayurveda may come into the
picture.
There is a tradition of non-dualism to be discovered in European culture if
looked for, especially in the 'mystics' of around the 14th century CE; and
also the Catholic Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa around 1400-1430, who said
"There is no 'other' ".. and "Wherever you look, you see the face of God"...
Yes, we're not all Bharata-destroying two-world Abrahmanic colonialists from
wicked anti-Vedic Oxford of 1852... ;¬)
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of geeta
armstrong
Sent: 18 June 2009 21:16
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sankhya & Yoga
Namaskar Michealji,
Are you english? I am really impressed that you have taken pains to read
hinduism in such details and take part in discussions as well...its truly
unusual for a englishman...
love
geethttp://community.webshots.com/user/geetaa21
________________________________
From: Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Tuesday, 19 May, 2009 4:28:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sankhya & Yoga
Dear Bhadraiah,
Not so. The Vedic inheritance is full of nirguna admonitions. And in no way
connected with Abrahmanic cultures.
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of
Bhadraiah Mallampalli
Sent: 19 May 2009 16:03
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sankhya & Yoga
Dear Michael,
>Indeed it could be seen as the mark of a greater >devotion to God, never to
attempt to speak of Him.. >belief unquestioned and unbruised !
This is a needless extrapolation, probably caused by your own past
associations with Abrahamic culture.
Hara is not mentioned out of fear due to his being bhUtapati and rudra (one
who makes relatives weep due to loss of life), but becoming Hara is the last
necessary stage before realizing Brahman. Also, for the same reason rudra
owns whatever is left at place of yajna.
Conversely Vishnu is the first deva who comes into the yajna, so he is the
first deva who allowed the existence of individual jiva. Without knowing
him there is no knowledge of Brahman either.
Will Abrahamic God permit someone becoming equal to him?
Devotion to a deva is fine, but one should also realize that thinking of
that deva as some one other than one self, and fearing that deva forever is
another form of ignorance. Fear is tamas caused by an unfit mind, and the
first casualty of fear is loss of expansion of chest, which leads to an
unfit body, and so goes down the spiral.
Regards
Bhadraiah
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