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Re: superstitions
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: superstitions
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From: afs3653@is.nyu.edu (Alessandro F. Sabatelli)
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Date: 19 Oct 1994 22:07:32 GMT
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Distribution: world
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: New York University
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References: <37uu8o$b36@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
Vidyasankar Sundaresan (vidya@cco.caltech.edu) wrote:
: In article <37k0tr$p9t@ucunix.san.uc.edu> manish@cadence.com (Manish
: Tandon) writes:
: > susarla@growler.owlnet.rice.edu (H. Krishna Susarla) wrote:
: > |> Chirag Randeria (esccd@daisy.egr.uh.edu) wrote:
: > |> : hey people, Help me. I'm trying to write a paper on superstitions
: in
: > |> : hinduism, and in the Indian culture. I would appreciate it if
: anybody out
: > |> : there will mail me a list of superstitions that they are aware of.
: > |>
: > |> One interesting superstition prevalent in Hindu society is that God
: > |> does not exist/or is not personal, and that you can "interpret"
: > |> the scriptures any old way you want and still expect to achieve
: > |> self-realization.
: > |>
: > |> -- Krishna
: >
: > That's a good one.
: >
: > I've been trying to fight it here for quite some time.
: >
: > Within the Vedic society, Shankaracharya has been one of the most
: prominent
: > persons who promoted the impersonal (mayavadi) view, which was based
: upon
: > his obvious misinterpretation of the crystal clear Brahma-sutras.
: Actually,
: > the Brahma-sutras are so clear that they dont need any interpretation,
: > therefore any interpretation is misinterpretation.
: >
: > Amazingly, this is the same Shankaracharya who said:
: >
: > bhaja govindam bhaja gOvindam bhaja gOvindam mUdamathE
: > "Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish
: one!"
: > and
: > "I desire to be in Vrindavana so that I may sit on the
: > bank of Yamuna and pass each long day of my life in the
: > twinkling of an eye, meditating on Lord Krishna."
: > --Abhilasastaka
: >
: [Lot of other junk deleted]
: You seem to know a lot about Sankaracharya that even his closest disciples
: Suresvara and Padmapada didn't. : -).
: Sankaracharya's interpretations of the Brahmasutras and the Upanishads are
: extremely orthodox. He does not interpret scriptures any which way he
: wants. Rather it is the dvaita and the achintya bheda-abheda schools that
: wilfully misinterpret the scriptures. And for the sake of polemics against
: Sankara's school, you intentionally misinterpret Sankara too. You quote
: Sankara whenever it suits you (read, whenever you want to demonstrate the
: orthodoxy of your views :-) :-)) and revile him at other times. I have
: already followed up to your articles on s.r.e. on the Chinmaya mission,
: but you haven't cared to respond to them. Maybe you have some answers
: here?
: How blind can one get? Mr. Know it all, please show me how the
: Brahmasutras are so crytal clear that they need no interpretation? Do you
: mean to say that Sankara, Ramanuja, Bhaskara, and even Madhva who
: interpreted these were all fools? Of course you will say that Sankara
: created all the misunderstanding, and the others after him only tried to
: clear up the mess he created. In that case, why do all of them also
: disagree among themselves? Your pride really carries you away. Try giving
: a literal translation of the Brahmasutras and see if you can understand
: them without any accompanying explanation. Remember, you are not to use
: any of the bhashyas available, so that you can be free of any
: "mis"interpretations.
: Finally, see if you can convincingly prove how Sankara/advaita is wrong,
: without quoting the Padmapurana or some such other lame work. A few months
: ago, we had a major discussion on alt.hindu regarding advaita and
: visishtadvaita. I am sure you can get copies of all articles from the
: moderator. Convince yourself that you can explain away all the upanishadic
: passages quoted therein without recourse to advaita.
: Note that none of those passages talk of a personal God, let alone
: Krishna. Both the Personal and the Impersonal are parts of our traditions,
: and neither of them is a "superstition". It is surprising how people can
: still be like ostriches with their heads buried in sand. It is sad that
: you people would jump on some innocuous question about superstitions, to
: conduct your petty diatribe against advaita.
: S. Vidyasankar
: ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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people/lets get something straight/we are all Him/the self is him/if one
is god how is it that god is impersonal/rever the self/moksa awaits
