[Advaita-l] Comments of an ISCKON follower

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

It is ISKCON, not ISCKON. After surrendering oneself, how can there be two?
If a devotee retains his independent will after surrendering to the Lord,
then he cannot claim to have surrendered in the first place.

Sri Ramanuja called advaitins anadi evil. In the Madhwa tradition, Sankara
is considered a characterless demon in Mani Manjari. In ISKCON, Sankara is
considered to be an incarnation of Lord Siva, who taught mayavada under the
orders of Lord Krishna to delude atheists (rascals) in to accepting the
Vedas and worshipping the Lord.

The criticism of SankarAdvaita by other traditions is nindhanopasana like
Kamsa did to Krishna. Polemics keep the tradition alive. If Madhwas had not
criticized Advaita, Madhusudana would not have written Advaita Siddhi.

Did you know that Sri Krishna Chaitanya got initiated by Kesava Bharathi?
More importantly, he shaved his head and removed the upanayanam thread like
Sankarites do. I have a contemporary painting that shows that in addition
to literary evidences.

On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 2:26 PM, Venkata sriram P
<venkatasriramp at yahoo.in>wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> Bhagavan Krishna Himself says in BG as "Ishwara sarvabhUtAnAM hridEshE
> arjuna tiShTati".  And Bhagavan Krishna is none other than Ishwara for we
> Advaitins.  And hence, we surrender unto Him only who is the indweller of
> All.
>
> Shri Chandrasekhara Bharati while performing Srichakra Navavarana Archana
> during
> the night, quite often, used to apply kumkuma on Himself and put flowers
> on Himself.
> Thus, He used to be in trance the whole night.  He attained such advaitic
> state of
> realisation.
>
> So, it was natural on the part of Acharya Sankara to comment on that sloka
> with such a commentary as He was an epitome of advaita siddhanta.
>
> When somebody criticizes Shankara, it implies it is their *state of mind*
> and their
> *samskAra* and we advaitins should pity on them and should never return
> back the
> brickbats.  ISKCON has criticized Lord Shiva as Demi-God and Advaita as
> the philosophy
> of rascals (by Srila Prabhupada).
>
> But, we advaitins, take everything in our stride and march on ahead on the
> royal path of
> Advaita with heads held high.
>
> For criticizing others means criticizing ourselves.....
>
> regs,
> sriram
>
>
>
>
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