Non-vedanta advaitists

Govind Rengarajan govind at ISC.TAMU.EDU
Sun Feb 15 15:12:31 CST 1998


On Sun, 15 Feb 1998, Miguel Angel Carrasco wrote:

> ^ÓWhat attitude do you have towards their [jnanis from different traditions]
> evident discrepancies? Are they just due to different cultural backgrounds,
> and/or to different audiences? Or do they really disagree with each other?

They may in fact disagree with each other, in totality, or at some
level. But what does one do in such a situation? Do we (this set
includes atleast one person, me ;-) have the knowledge to judge
always accurately? Of course, notwithstanding this we do in fact
judge (I do). So the alternative, which again doesn't really answer
your question, is to "seek" the truth through something you have
faith in. I have learnt that faith comes slowly but steadily.
Now, to answer your question, yes, it will be wonderful if all
"jnAnis" were to say the same exact thing. But obviously (atleast at
our level of understanding) they do not. May be it's the cultural
background, may be it's the audience, or may be, as you said
earlier, it is simply that they are not fully "realized". But does
it matter? Do you have faith in somebody/some school? Do you follow
his teachings? Only this matters, isn't it?

> Imagine that the sages I mentioned were to meet all together before a mixed
> audience of seekers - would they say the same? Would they feel that any of
> them could speak as their common spokesperson?^Ó
>

I can't imagine and I don't know. And to be honest, I don't care.
What purpose will it serve anyway? Increase faith? What do you
think?

Regards,
govindarajan



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