[Advaita-l] Shankara and Madhusudhana

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> Let us also add the prevailing story of how shankara did funeral rites to
> his Mother even after taking sanyAsa?
>
RV: According to the "story" Sankara did that to fulfill his promise and
that he gave her vaikuntha prapti. Anyway, he explains to the objectors that
a jnani is not bound by rules as per sastras. He cannot be said to be
violating sastras if he is acting as per sastric description of the highest
jnani. In fact, the same "story" says He is an avatar of Siva and avataras
act in strange ways that seem to contradict dharma but in reality do not -
the classic case being Krishna.

Even some so called jagadguru-s with long titles on closer examination turn
out to be narrow minded castists. Sick!
RV: It is a very generic attack and best avoided. All our traditions
recognize jati. Denying caste is like denying genetics. It right to
acknowledge difference and provide personalized solutions to achieve
material and spiritual aspirations. It is hurtful to discriminate or treat
derogatorily. Vaidhikas want all beings to be satisfied and include them in
tarpanam. We offer tarpanam to rishis, devas and also sudras. Is it not? It
is said that Mahabharatham names only one person explicitly as a jnani, the
highest position possible and that is a sudra - Vidura. Contrast this with
other religions that created the notion of slaves but attack caste system.