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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: lulla@athena.mit.edu (The Spy)
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Date: 30 Oct 1994 01:29:40 GMT
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Distribution: world
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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References: <38hou6$haq@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
In article <38hou6$haq@ucunix.san.uc.edu>, vivek@cs.rice.edu (Vivek Sadananda Pai) writes:
|>
|> In article <37ut7c$1bk@ucunix.san.uc.edu>, srinivas@Glue.umd.edu (Nagulapalli Srinivas) writes:
|> |> In Article 1346 Manish Tandon (manish@cadence.com) writes:
|> |>
|> |> >And worse, atheists like Vivekananda in the recent times promoted completly
|> |> >ignorant views (a sort of cross between mayavad and soonyavad) covered with
|> |> >flowery language of Universal Consciousness and what not. These are really
|> |> >the ones who misguide the ignorant masses that you can use your own whims
|> |> >and pranks and realize that you yourself are God. These idiots dont even
|> |> ^^^^^^
|> |> >understand that the very idea of God turns meaningless as soon as one thinks
|> |> >there is more than one Supreme, because if so, neither would be Supreme.
|> |>
|> |> [ I have nothing to do with the main thread of the topic, but want
|> |> to respond to some of the comments and views of yours.]
|> |> I don't get it. You think Vivekananda promoted "completely ignorant
|> |> views" and you consider him as "idiot", right?? Kudos to your originality
|> |> and irrationality. Without logical, empirical, spiritual and even actual
|> |> experience-based proof to back-up, calling a person who epitomised one of the
|> |> sublime truths by actually living them and not by mere preaching, shows only
|> [...]
|>
|> This is a bit off topic, but since it does deal with Vivekananda, here goes:
|> Does anybody know what the story was with Vivekananda's fondness for
|> pork, even as a sanyasi? Everyone who I've asked has said that he did
|> eat pork, but nobody could give me an explanation as to why.
|>
|> If it is the case that he did eat pork, and he was doing so just to
|> satisfy his taste buds, I'd have to wonder what sublime truths could
|> come from one who unnecessarily killed animals for food. And, I should
|> clarify a bit - I'm referring to sublime religious truths only.
|>
|> -Vivek
|>
|>
|>
|>
|> ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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|>
Vivekananda was not a "perfect" person. To clarify, he was a perfect
soul, but needed to take on a personality so that he could do his
work in the world. Ramakrishna said V. would have a "veil of maya"
until his work was complete. As such, he had a personality, ate meat,
smoked, made occasional mistakes, etc.
One other thing. He did not "unncecessarily" eat pork and other meat.
He said he "knew it was wrong" even as he did it. Many times when he
was a guest in others' houses, he ate what they cooked so that he wouldn't
inconvenience them or waste food.
One final comment. When V. was doing his ascetic practices before
becoming a sanyasin, he was very strict about his diet. According to
his book on Raja Yoga, he said he found that eating only grains and
milk was ideal for attaining results. After he attained all the
"sublime truths" - to use your words - he relaxed his habits. Unless
you yourself have attained samadhi or accomplished a fraction of what
he has, you can't blame him for relaxing his habits. After all, he had
already reached the highest truth and was sacrificing his own peaceful
life in order to teach others.
S.
