Three schools of thought

Jaldhar H. Vyas jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM
Fri Nov 22 16:23:26 CST 1996


On Fri, 22 Nov 1996, Shashikanth Hosur wrote:

> If Dwaita and Vishista dwaita schools
> of thought do not lead to realization then why did Sri Madvacharya
> and Sri Ramujacharja founded this schools of thought.  These people I consider
> were fully realised and knew the absolute Truth as well Sri Sankaracharya
> knew.  In fact these people came after Sri Sankaracharya and in fact in the
> begining were followers of advaita school of tradition.
>

Why do some people on an Advaita list expound theories which are against
the tenets of Advaita?  People make mistakes.  That's an unfortunate fact
of life.

Or perhaps people turned away from Advaita in disgust at the laxity of
some of its proponents.  I'm thinking specifically of Swami Sahajanand The
19th century founder of the Swaminarayana Sampradaya which is one of the
foremost and fastest-growing sects in Gujarat.  In his Shikshapatri or
letter of Instruction to his disciples he recommends the worship of the
panchadevas and says only fools think there is a difference between Shiva
bhagawan and Vishnu Bhagawan, not typically the kind of behavior of
Vaishnavas.  He was also an advocate of Sannyas including the
Paramhansa sort which is more typical of Smartas.  Yet he has adopted the
a story of his life that he met a group of Advaitins who believed as some
have expressed here, "We are realized.  Therefore we are entitled to do
what we like."  Needless to say this did not impress the Swami.  I cannot
help but think the multitude of enthusiastic followers of the
Swaminarayana Satsang could have become a powerful force for Advaita if it
were not for the behavior of these pseudo-Vedantins.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas [jaldhar at braincells.com]   And the men .-_|\ who hold
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