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Re: superstitions
In article <39duph$gn@ucunix.san.uc.edu>, vidya@cco.caltech.edu (Vidyasankar Sundaresan) writes:
|> In article <3945t2$lv2@ucunix.san.uc.edu> vijaypai@rice.edu (Vijay
|> Sadananda Pai) writes:
|> > Later Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas, such as Srinivasa Acarya, also
|> > converted kings, thus bringing whole kingdoms into the fold.
|>
|> Well, Vidyaranya did not just convert kings, he made a king and an empire,
|> so that the dharma was protected against invaders. As I said earlier, no
|> religious leaders or groups have a monopoly on this. When an advaitin gets
|> involved politically, you hold it against him and say that he is not
|> interested in dharma. When a Vaishnava acharya does it, you are all praise
|> for him. Nice double standards, this.
The difference is that the Vaisnavas did it as part of devotional
service, with a mindset of expanding the ranks of those "singing
the glories of the Lord". The mayavadis didn't have devotional
service anyway, so that was just material politics. And BTW,
this topic had been talking about Vivekananda (who didn't care
about dharma anyway), not Vidyaranya.
We praise Vaisnava politicians following in the traditions of
Arjuna, Yudhisthira Maharaj, Bhisma, Janaka Maharaj, etc.
All of them were political men but fully Krishna conscious.
They served with all their actions and truly lived up to
the command "mam anusmara yuddhya ca".
|> >
|> > So why does he care? The Vaisnava cannot stand to see anybody
|> > suffer, and he knows that the meateater will suffer regardless of
|> > what body he may get (as stated in the Mahabharata).
|>
|> Utter sanctimoniousness. So is the fanatic Muslim and the right wing
|> Christian who wants to "save" souls for Allah and for Jesus. Let the
|> meateater suffer till he realizes his own suffering, and comes to a proper
|> guru. You do not claim to be gurus, do you? No amount of shouting on your
|> part can save anybody. Forget the frills, and let the Lord do all the
|> saving in this world.
Let me remind you that the line I quoted was a direct English
translation from a Gujarati folksong popularized by the famously
non-sectarian Mahatma Gandhi!! Has nothing to do with
fanaticism or sectarianism.
Ultimately the Lord is the one who does all the saving in the
world; nevertheless, he says in BG chapter 18 that none is dearer
to him than the one who preaches the Supreme Truth. So we accept
that as an instruction.
|>
|> >
|> > |> reason that you are jealous of the visibility of the Ramakrishna
|> Mission?
|> >
|> > Krishna belongs to a group that's far more visible than RK mission,
|> > so why would he care?
|>
|> Surely there are different kinds of visibility. In any case, that he
|> "cares" is what I wonder. As you yourself say, why would he?
You were the one who first speculated that he cares about RK's
visibility. Before that he was just pointing out Vivekananda's
flaws just for its own intrinsic value.
|>
|> >
|> > |> S. Vidyasankar
|> >
|> > -- Vijay
|> >
|>
|> S. Vidyasankar
-- Vijay
