[Advaita-l] Govardhan mutt

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

The ancient rules are strict. If some person goes abroad across the seas
and stays there the relatives in India have to perform some kind of
Shraddha known as Ghata Shraddha and cut off all relations with him. He is
dead for them. But today we see no such thing. Sons and daughters are going
abroad and settling there. There is no cutoff of relationships.

We can go on relaxing rules by saying rules have to be followed in spirit
and not letter. But at some point we reach a stage when the original System
is not recognizable. Then we cannot call it as Sanatana Dharma or
Brahmanatva specifically. Then what do we do? This is the question haunting
my mind.

On Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 11:41 AM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> That's why the leaders of Sanatana Dharma, the Acharyas, do not insist on
> the strict adherence to the Dharma shastra injunctions to the letter. They
> appreciate the spirit, though.  Issues like travel and stay abroad,
> divorcee remarriage, taking up jobs, etc. are tricky issues and if the
> strict rules are to be followed, there will be difficulty at all levels.
>
> regards
> subbu
>
> On Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 11:06 AM Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Namaste Sir
>>
>> We have to remember that Hinduism as projected, presented, propagated and
>> protected today is different from Sanatana Dharma in one very important
>> aspect. In the ancient times, medieval times and even some hundreds of
>> years ago what we today call Hinduism was 100% based on caste or Varna
>> system and the Ashrama system. The Varna and Ashrama systems were rigid
>> and
>> strict. The punishment for breaking the system was severe and many
>> Brahmins
>> faced excommunication. But today many organizations representing Hinduism
>> are relaxing the rules or they even reject the Varna and to some extent
>> Ashrama system. Anybody can become an Archaka in a temple. Anybody can
>> become a Sanyasi or Sanyasini.
>>
>> The Varna and Ashrama system was the backbone of Sanatana Dharma. In the
>> Gita Krishna repeatedly appeals to Arjuna about his Kshatriya Dharma. He
>> does not ask him to accept Sanyasa and realize Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya.
>> The effects of Varna and Ashrama are very deep. Most Samskaras are meant
>> only for Dvija males. Restrictions are in place for Mantras, and learning
>> Vedas and Vedanta. Brahmins are clearly treated as superior and Shudras
>> clearly as second class citizens.
>>
>> The organizations trying to protect Hinduism argue if we follow caste
>> system it becomes a dividing factor and Hinduism will die out as large
>> numbers will convert to Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Recently
>> hundreds
>> of Dalits converted to Buddhism because of severe discrimination by upper
>> caste Hindus. The invaders in history  were successful because Hindu
>> socoety was divided and not united against the invaders.
>>
>> Therefore we are facing a BIG dilemma. The dilemma is - If the Varna
>> system
>> is followed we lose Hinduism and Hindutva. If we reject the Varna system
>> we
>> are not following the Sanatana Dharma of the ancients. It becomes some
>> other religion in the name of Sanatana Dharma.
>>
>> I don't know the solution. All the Mathadhipatis and leaders of Hindu
>> organizations should come together to discuss this problem. Will it
>> happen?
>>
>> One more thing. I heard an old Hindutva Vadi say the reservation system
>> saved HINDUISM. Without reservation system, Hindus would have converted to
>> other religions and Hinduism would have been a small minority by now in
>> India.
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 9:16 PM Aravinda Rao via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Dear Kaushik ji,
>> > I too was not convinced by the logic in  the apashudradhikaranam, but I
>> too
>> > am a brahmin. I am not a woke brahmin but a sincere student of advaita.
>> I
>> > do observe the forces in
>> > history and I believe that the contribution of Vivekananda was
>> > unparalleled in modern times. But for his forceful presentation, the
>> Hindu
>> > point of view would not have been taken note of. The greatness of
>> > Upanishads became known to the educated Hindus because of these new
>> swamis
>> > and but for them, I think, Hinduism would have been dismissed by the
>> > non-brahmin elite in India itself, resulting in cataclysmic changes in
>> > society.
>> > It is true that even prior to Vivekananda the American thinkers were
>> fully
>> > aware of the Gita and the Upanishads. They were known as the Boston
>> > Brahmins. But with all that, the philosophical doctrine of Hinduism
>> could
>> > have been absorbed or 'digested' (to use the phrase of Rajiv Malhotra)
>> by
>> > the western thinkers/academics. Even today it is the English-knowing
>> swamis
>> > of various schools who are actively propagating Advaita to our own Hindu
>> > diaspora. I do have respect for all of the traditional swamis for a lot
>> of
>> > good work being done in a different direction, that is, preserving the
>> > shastra tradition.
>> > Aravinda Rao
>> >
>> > On Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 8:57 PM Kaushik Chevendra <
>> > chevendrakaushik at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > > The "rk mission" was established by Swami Vivekananda. He has
>> criticised
>> > > shankaracharya in his works regarding the apashudradhikarana. Also he
>> is
>> > > well known to eat beef when he visited USA. I don't see how we can
>> > consider
>> > > "rk mission" as a authentic advaitic parampara when the jagadguru
>> himself
>> > > is criticized by them. They have no following of vidhi or vidhana.
>> > Neither
>> > > do they abide by the rules specified by Shankaracharya. While having
>> the
>> > > stamp of Neo-advaita, lord knows what they preach.
>> > >
>> > > On Mon, 17 Oct, 2022, 8:51 pm Aravinda Rao, <karavind09 at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> > >
>> > >> It is very unfortunate that our traditionalists are not living the
>> > spirit
>> > >> of Advaita and also not seeing the social change. Are they
>> dismissive of
>> > >> the RK mission and Chinmaya mission too?
>> > >> Aravinda Rao
>> > >>
>> > >> On Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 8:22 PM Kaushik Chevendra via Advaita-l <
>> > >> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >>> Namaste sir.
>> > >>> What is the contention about?
>> > >>>
>> > >>> On Mon, 17 Oct, 2022, 8:20 pm VTCS Rao via Advaita-l, <
>> > >>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> > >>>
>> > >>> > I don't think whatever this swami is worth translating.
>> > >>> >
>> > >>> > Before being critical, this Swami should understand and digest
>> what
>> > us
>> > >>> > conveyed through Manisha panchakam. So sad disappointed to see
>> such
>> > >>> > sanyasis commenting and challenging Sringeri math.
>> > >>> >
>> > >>> > Best Regards/  VTCS
>> > >>> >
>> > >>> > VTCS Rao, Dean L&T IPM
>> > >>> > ________________________________
>> > >>> > From: Advaita-l <advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> on
>> > >>> behalf
>> > >>> > of Aravind M via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
>> > >>> > Sent: Monday, October 17, 2022 8:01:38 PM
>> > >>> > To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
>> > >>> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
>> > >>> > Cc: Aravind M <aravindeie13 at gmail.com>
>> > >>> > Subject: [Advaita-l] Govardhan mutt
>> > >>> >
>> > >>> >
>> > >>> >
>> > >>>
>> >
>> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FNKupYzLgjSg&data=05%7C01%7C%7Caab20fb24a444da911b008dab04c5be6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638016139264282392%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ofn0r%2FcF6ZW5l3akEbykIEO8yT61rubwY%2BZYsBIJf0U%3D&reserved=0
>> > >>> >
>> > >>> > Can anyone translate  what he speaks??
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>> --
>> Regards
>>
>> -Venkatesh
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh