[Advaita-l] buddha : according to purANas and other hindu-texts

[श्रीमल्ललितालालितः]

On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 16:37, Siddhartha Krishna <sidha at vedism.in> wrote:

> This goes back to the very basic question....which Purana's and how much in
> them should be accepted by a Hindu? As a student of the Vedas I have always
> felt a terrible confusion when I read the derogatory stories in the Puranas
> about various Gods/Goddesses of the Vedas and in some cases even the holiest
> of the Vedic Rishis? Why do we find so many derogatory remarks for Maharshi
> Vishvamitra, the seer of the Gayatri Mantra, the holiest mantra of the
> Vedas. Why do we find so many derogatory statements for Indra, the king of
> the Vedic Gods, Soma and even Vishnu, all of whom are worshipped extensively
> in the Vedic hymns. Is the Pushan mentioned in the Isha Upanishad the same
> as the one whose teeth were broken by Virabhadra in Bhagavatam? Is the Indra
> mentioned in Kena, Aitareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads the
> same as the one that is mentioned in the story of Ahilya in the Ramayana?
> The list is endless. Why we just don't dismiss all this with वेदबाह्याः
> स्मृतयः याश्च काश्च कुदृष्टयः। सर्वास्ताः निष्फलाः प्रेत्य तमोनिष्ठा हि ताः
> स्मृताः? If we do so, why we Sanatanis despise Swami Dayananda and his Arya
> Samaj so much? Or was Namadev true when he said 800 years ago that if the
> Muslims are one-eyed, the Hindus  are blind (as they have derogatory stories
> against their own Gods that they worship)?
>

So, you mean that everything opposed to your AchArya and philosophy should
be thrown away from your texts ?
Or, you want to throw away any text in whole which teaches like this, even
vedas ?



> I'm a follower of the Vedas and Acarya Bhagavatpada (Adi Shankaracharya)
> from the depth of my heart, but I am throwing up these questions for the
> sake of discussion and would like to know what the learned scholars in the
> list in here think about these and similar issues. Is there a way to resolve
> these problems?
>

Can't say now. People holding different views should come to think upon it
according to shAstram. I don't have faith in so called 'free inquiry'.



> It is an important question, as the answer would decide how we will lead
> our great Vedic Dharma in to the 21st century.
>

Agreed.


> Regarding the discussion on the Buddha, I wouldn't say much, but I would
> like to refer the learned scholars in here to passages such as Brahmana
> Vaggo in the Dhamma Pada etc. where one can see the amount of respect that
> Lord Buddha has for the Vedas.


Direct me to a digital version and reliable translation, please.


> I just would like to state that we need to make a distinction between the
> Buddha himself and Buddhism in general as it developed after the Buddha.


How was it that direct disciples of buddha were unable to understand his
teachings, even when dhamma-pada was there ?


> As Hindus, it is our duty to fully respect him,


I'm curious to know which buddha was indicated in our texts ? After
confirmation it will be easy to direct my shraddhA ?


> but of course we reject anything that is against the Vedas in his
> teachings...which is very little, the rest of the teachings are extremely
> beautiful and helpful in our spiritual Sadhana. Concepts like "anatta"
> (anAtmya) or "SUnya" (void) are even mentioned by the Upanishads and the
> Bhashya of Acarya, yet it is just that we understand them differently than
> the Buddhists. Furthermore, a "healthy" rejection of the Vedas is to be
> found freely in the Upanishads and the Gita as well, which of course refers
> to a state of highest enlightenment,


Agreed. Vedas themselves tell such things.



> so why do we blame only Buddha of that?
>

because we couldn't identify buddha of purANas ? and because we are unable
to conclude that he was not totally against veda.




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*श्रीमल्ललितालालितः <http://www.lalitaalaalitah.com>
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