[Advaita-l] Comments of an ISCKON follower

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 6:23 PM, Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika at gmail.com
> wrote:

> On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
> rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > It is ISKCON, not ISCKON. After surrendering oneself, how can there be
> two?
> > If a devotee retains his independent will after surrendering to the Lord,
> > then he cannot claim to have surrendered in the first place.
> >
> > Lack of independence and non-duality are not the same. Taking refuge
> (surrendering) implies duality, it is not possible otherwise. There is
> nothing in the ShaDanga sharaNaagati that leads to non-duality. In
> vishiShTAdvaita, jIva is utterly/completely dependent on the supreme being.
> Yet, it is distinct.  In our mata -- advaita-vedAnta, brahman in
> pAramArthika is not only advitIya it is also niShkala or partless. Latter
> is important, as it removes the soul/body argument of vishiShTAdvaitins.
>
>  Two entities are distinct only if they differ in will. Otherwise, they
are part of one entitiy like fingers of a hand. If the one entity is
partless, then they are one entity only. Is it not?


> Another interesting thing (but tangential) to this thread is, sharaNagati
> and bhakti or two different concepts. I understood this while studying Sri
> nilakaNTha dIkShita's  AnandaSagaraStava. There is some degree of vagueness
> in definition of what bhakti is. But sharaNagati as a process is not only
> simple, it is unambiguous.
>
>
Without bhakti, why will one do saranagathi? If it is done to get rid of
one's own troubles in this world, it is a deal.