[Advaita-l] Interesting article.

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

As regards Ram-setu there is no doubt that the setu was a natural formation and Lord Ram got the dykes made so that the army can use it for crossing safely. Valmiki mentions the different types of trees used to make the Setu, apart from using the light floatable stones like pumice stones and coral stones.  It is on historical record that upto 1482 CE people could walk on the Setu. Lord ram got the Setu broken in Dhanuskodi (Dhanuskoti) while returning. 

Jesus Christ ws born in the year 4 BCE and in the month of September. It was the political sagacity of the Roman emperor to order the celebration of the birth of Jesus on the day of the birth of the pagan god Mitra (ie. on the Winter Solstice day).

Your statement that Adi Sankara returned after 1200 years is pure fantasy. Or is Mr. Rajaram  making fun of the date controversy?


________________________________
 From: "rajaramvenk at gmail.com" <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Interesting article.
 
In the case of Ramar Sethu, it is a natural formation because Rama lived in a different yuga. But it is considered as Ramar Sethu because of age old belief. A harmless ageold belief is itself a cultural heritage. That's how it was argued successfully. 

In the case of Jesus, his birthday is celebrated in certain Israel villages on a different date! Historically, it was changed to 136 times. The current birthday aligns with the pagan festivals :(

In the case of Sankara, I think he lived for 1200 years. After an active life of 32 years, he gave up his avatara body in the Himalayas but came back to live in Sringeri with Sureshwaracharya for 1200 years. And then again gave up his avatara body in Kanchi. That is why we see differences in historical accounts and evidences. If you think this is an eccentric theory, I can't help it. You have a normal mind - how boring.  
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

-----Original Message-----
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
Sender: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 07:19:44 
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Reply-To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
    <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Interesting article.

A fine example of the ideal attitude in this respect is available here:

In the benedictory discourse delivered, in Kannada, at Mysore on 15.4.1988
by His Holiness Jagaduru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Swamigal, 35th Pontiff of
Sri Sharada Peetham Sringeri said:

(Quote)
**

In our Holy land, Bharath, persons in the Government, Advaitic
Sannyasins,devotees and people interested in the Shastras have been
celebrating , since the start of the current year, the twelfth centenary of
the advent of Bhagavatpada, the preceptor. Historically, 1200-1300 years
have passed since Bhagavatpada was born. If, following deliberation as on
other issues, a consensus had arisen about the year of Bhagavatpada’s
advent, be it 1200 years ago or earlier or later, there would have been no
occasion for dispute. Historians have so far not determined the year of
Buddha’s Nirvana with exactitude and certainty.  Yet, in 1956, the
2500thanniversary of Buddha’s Nirvana was commemorated in various
parts of the
globe.  Research has not established that Jesus Christ was born precisely
in 1 A.D. on December 25.  Nevertheless, the world over, Christmas is
observed on December 25 and the Christian era commences from 1 A.D.  Thus,
there are precedents for the anniversaries of events relating to personages
being celebrated even in the absence of historical definiteness about the
dates of those occurrences. So, the mere reason that 788 A.D. may actually
not be the year of Bhagavatpada’s advent cannot debar or render censurable
the current twelfth birth centenary celebrations.

However, be that as it may, it is intensely gratifying that the twelfth
birth centenary of that holy one is being celebrated. The present
celebrations provide us a special opportunity to think of and express our
gratitude to Bhagavatpada, who has done so very much good to all.

(unquote)

A similar question came up with respect to the Ramar Sethu.  While the
protagonists believe it is indeed the remains of the sethu built by the
vanara-s during Ramayana, the scientists tried to prove that what is seen
under the oceanic surface is a natural formation of things like
stalagmite.

Regards

subrahmanian.v

On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 1:11 AM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> >
> > Namaskar,
> >
> > One doubt keeps lurking in my mind when this topic comes up. Suppose
> > we accept the dates proposed by Sringeri Sharada peetham, what
> > explanation could be given to the guru parampara of the other 3 amnaya
> > peethams which date before 788AD? Is it really possible that all those
> > acharyas before 788AD are fake or "created"?
> > On the other hand, if we accept 509BC as the date, as proposed by the
> > other 3 mutts, what explanation could be given to the huge gap of over
> > 1000 years that would be generated within the Sringeri Guru parampara?
> > What happened to all the gurus in between this huge time gap?
> >
>
> Neither of the above. The true answer is that dates are shaky. In general,
> record
> keeping about these matters and preserving them over time has not been a
> strong
> point in the history of any of the Mathas or for that matter, in any
> traditional Indian
> institution. The dates attached to the paramparAs have largely been
> derived in the
> 19th century and the discrepancies are because the various Mathas have all
> done
> this exercise independent of one another. One should keep an open mind
> about the
> dates currently being given out, without reading too much into their
> differences.
>
> Vidyasankar
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