[Advaita-l] Comments of an ISCKON follower

[Ravisankar Mayavaram]

On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>
> Lack of independence and non-duality are not the same. Taking refuge
(surrendering) implies duality, it is not possible otherwise. There is
nothing in the ShaDanga sharaNaagati that leads to non-duality. In
vishiShTAdvaita, jIva is utterly/completely dependent on the supreme being.
Yet, it is distinct.  In our mata -- advaita-vedAnta, brahman in
pAramArthika is not only advitIya it is also niShkala or partless. Latter
is important, as it removes the soul/body argument of vishiShTAdvaitins.

Another interesting thing (but tangential) to this thread is, sharaNagati
and bhakti or two different concepts. I understood this while studying Sri
nilakaNTha dIkShita's  AnandaSagaraStava. There is some degree of vagueness
in definition of what bhakti is. But sharaNagati as a process is not only
simple, it is unambiguous.