[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Caricature of Advaita, Shankaracharya, etc. by the Gaudiya head

[Aravinda Rao]

Dear Sri Vyas,
Maybe you are right that we have to counter the arguments of the dualists.
But there is no point condemning them in this small group.
I think that we have to be busy studying and teaching the basic texts of
vedanta in whatever little circle we have. It is true that some of the
concepts
are tricky and difficult to explain. Fortunately, there  are many
traditional scholars alive who can clarify our doubts.
Our internal discussion in this google group may not resolve all doubts.
Some may have patience and time to explain and some may not do so
because they may be engaged in several other activities. I have a bank of
traditional scholars whom I contact but not through email.
Regards,
Aravinda Rao

On Fri, Oct 28, 2022 at 12:06 PM Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 18 Oct 2022, Aravinda Rao via Advaita-l wrote:
>
> > They are our younger brothers. We may smile at them.
>
> I don't know about the dynamics in your family but if my younger brother
> were to speak so insolently to me, he would not get a smile but a slap in
> the face. Or probably one of my elders would beat me to it.
>
> > They have done a great
> > job of aggressively creating awareness about Hinduism in more than 150
> > countries.  They include the African nations.
>
> And if they spread slander about true dharma in the process what is the
> point of that?  University professors also spread "awareness about
> Hinduism" in many countries.  Sometimes it is out of genuine interest;
> sometimes there are sinister intentions.  We are able to tell the
> difference in that case, why not in this one?
>
> > Those who read the Gita and
> > the Bhagavatam in whatever form will slowly come to Vedanta.
>
> And how pray tell do you think that will happen if nobody informs them
> about what Vedanta actually teaches?
>
> See in your minds eye you think you are engaging in some kind of high
> minded principles but to the outside observer it only looks like
> cowardice.  If Advaita Vedanta is not worth defending or if purported
> followers are not able to articulate its tenets, then  you are telling
> the world it is worthless.  I doubt tnat was your intention.
>
> And it is so easy to counter Gaudiya arguments.  If there is any familial
> analogy, it is the bastard son of Advaita Vedanta.  Chaitanya himself was
> a dashanami sannyasi.  He admired the Bhagavata tika by Shridhar Swami who
> was a "mayavadi" who pays respect to Shankaracharya in his mangala shlokas
> and actually was Shankaracharya of Puri.  (The Bhagavata itself is replete
> with Advaita siddhanta as Shri Subrahmanianji has tirelessly pointed out.)
> Chaitanya was not much of a philosopher himself.  Gaudiya philosophy is
> the product of his followers the six Vrindavan Goswamis and such critique
> of Vedanta as they did is just copypasted from Madhva sampradaya. Two
> generations after Chaitanya, the Maharaja of Jaipur held a conference of
> all the Vaishnava sampradayas and the Gaudiyas were belittled by the
> others for not having prasthana trayi bhashyas.  Such works as they have
> now were only written after this in reaction by Baladeva and others.  So
> the Gaudiyas for all their obsession with being "authorized" have very
> little claim to Vedic or Vaishnava foundations.  It is the feelings of
> inferiority that result from this that drive this aggressive behaviour
> towards us.  It's an effort to hide their true origins and convince the
> others "See we are genuine Vaishnavas too."  Other sampradayas
> unfortunately engage in slander too but they atleast have some rational
> critique too.  Name-calling is all ISKCON has.  All you have to do to shut
> them up is to point this out.
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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