[Advaita-l] Sringeri Jagatguru announces His Successor

[RAMESH RAMANAN]

Pranams, 
I would like to add my observation from two real-life incidences relating to Sri Ramana Maharishi: Two visitors asked the Maharishi the following questions on two separate occasions: 1)  "Mahatma Gandhi and others are fighting for the country's independence. Why don't you join hands with them to get freedom for India? 

2) Why do you not preach all the Truth from a platform instead of sitting here on a couch? (Though not so rudely put, the questioner assumed that Sri Ramana was simply whiling away his time and living like a parasite on the adulations and praise of his followers. 

Sri Ramana's answers were telling: The answer to the first question 1) The same force that motivates me also motivates Mahatma Gandhi and others. It is not necessary that all have to respond in the same manner to the same circumstances. I am motivated to act the way I do and Mahatma Gandhi and others are motivated to act the way they do. There is nothing contradictory in our actions. (Indirectly, Sri Ramana was hinting at the freedom of the Spirit or Atman, towards which he was guiding genuine seekers of Truth). The answer to the second question is especially relevant to us when we consider the lives of saints and sages: The answer is: 2) How do you know that I am not teaching? Simply lecturing others for hours on end from a platform and not transforming their lives (causing mere pain in the ears of the listeners) is nothing in comparison with sending out divine inner force, (which I am doing). This is exactly what a true sage or saint does, sending out positive spiritual vibrations to transform the lives of their disciples and the whole of mankind in a subtle and invisible manner and their very presence purifies the whole of mankind in a very subtle way and they never take credit for all this, being the selfless power, at-one-ment with the highest reality called Brahman. 
The presence of Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamiji in our midst is a great and rare blessing. let us enjoy his presence and humbly accept his decisions, as we are very low in spiritual calibre compared to him and we have no moral right to  judge him by our petty standards. A sage alone can judge another sage to some extent. Swami Vivekananda had said this about himself, Only a Vivekananda can appreciate what this Vivekananda has done so far (This was not said out of arrogance, but out of the realization that there were people out to measure him by their ordinary standards). 

Ramesh Ramanan. 

     On Thursday, 15 January 2015, 23:12, Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
   

 Thanks for this and the following reply.

I think it would be fruitful to look at the video in the front page of
http://www.sringeri.net/

I think it would be useful for the "illiterate modernists" to listen
carefully, especially to the parts between minutes 16:00 and 22:00. There
was also some speculation on the qualifications of a successor designate.
The basic qualification is I think a solid grounding in the
sAdhanAcatuShTayam. Some people had mentioned being versed in the vedas.
Sri Bharati Tirtha had undergone yajurveda adhyayanam. But Sri Vidyatirtha
took up sannyaasa when he was 14 or so and has mentioned in one of his
talks that he had learned just a few suuktams before taking up sannyaasa. A
a matter of fact, he has mentioned that when he was taught the shankara
bhAshyams, he realized that they corresponded to what he had already
realized. So, I think the peethaadipatis make a decision which they think
is optimal and we don't have access to their thought process.

Rama

On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 5:56 PM, Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 6 Jan 2015, D.V.N.Sarma డి.వి.ఎన్.శర్మ via Advaita-l wrote:
>
>  In order that the peethadhipathis may understand, relate  and communicate
>> with the modern society, I think they should have some grounding in modern
>> science and technology. If not, they will be more and more alienated from
>> the society and loose their relevance.
>>
>
> There appears to be a typo in your post let me fix it for you.
>
>  In order that the illiterate modernists  may understand, relate and
>> communicate with dharmic society, I think they should have some grounding
>> in sanskrit and shastras. If not, they will be more and more alienated from
>> the society and loose their relevance.
>>
>
> Much better right? :-)
>
>  Already their impact on the society at large is infinitesimal. The only
>> people who look to them is a very small fraction of the society (the
>> priestly class)
>>
>
> Assuming that this is true (and its not by a long shot) what makes you
> think that "a grounding in science and technology" would make any
> difference?  If you had any grounding in science yourself you would know
> about the large amount of sociological research being done into the decline
> and rise of various religions.  I'm not going to do your homework for you;
> look into it yourself and see how much e.g. spouting some gibberish about
> quantum physics will help.  And if let's say he opens a twitter account it
> will be in the papers for one week and then back to usual.  Real social
> changes take effort by large groups of people.  Have you done your part?
> Or are you just another one of those armchair generals?
>
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