The mind according to Sri Shankaracharya.

Srikrishna Ghadiyaram srikrishna_ghadiyaram at YAHOO.COM
Fri Sep 13 21:34:08 CDT 2002


Hari Om !!

------------------
Sri S. V. Swami Wrote:

"Namaste!

Can the language be more moderate in the discussion? If Mr.Kiran is a
sincere seeker and is raising the questions with sincerity, he deserves to
be heard and his questions answered. Shri Srikrishna's replies suggest that
he is getting annoyed with Sri Kiran, than Kiran's questions. I submit that
one can always differ with a person's point of view, but need not extend
the difference to the person!

If logic and intellect cannot answer questions, love and faith and patience
do provide answers. Let us extend that to all seekers.

Swamy SV"

--------

It hurts me too that I had to be go into matters which was not Advaita; but
had to suggest some one to pick up on basics of 'Intellectual' smartness,
which is an ESSENTIAL pre-requisite for an Advaitic knowledge SEEKER. As we
all know Advaitic teaching as expounded by Acharya Sankara is full of
uncompromising logic which attacks the unsupported beliefs. Unfortunately,
in the present society, 'stubbornness to one's views is declared to
be 'conviction', because no one asks for 'basis'. In the present situation
the thread was totally meaningless, as  nothing more new was being added.

I was getting annoyed because the matter over the period of time has
degenerated into a 'Jalpa', and not a 'Vada' any more. In such a situation,
it is just a waste of everyone's time to keep reading e-mails. So, my
suggestion to the disputant was an essential re-direction to the correct
methodology and I consider it to be a help, even though it looked hasrah a
the outset. I thought this quote from
http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part13/chap8.htm  will be a helpful
definition/guide line for fruitful discussions on this list.

"The word "vada" itself is nowadays wrongly taken to mean stubbornly
maintaining that one's view is right. As a matter of fact it truly means
finding out the truth by weighing one's view against one's opponent's. It
was in this manner that Sankara held debates with scholars like
Mandanamisra and it was only after listening to the other man's point of
view that he arrived at non-dualism as the ultimate Truth. Vada means an
exchange of thoughts, not a refusal to see the other man's point of view.
To maintain that one's view of a subject is the right one without taking
into account the opinion of others is "jalpa", not vada. There is a third
attitude. It is to have no point of view of one's own and being just
contrary: it is called "vitanda". "

Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna



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