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Anuj | 1 Jan 2008 05:27
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Re: Importance of Ashram

Thank you Mahesh, I am actually going to be visiting the ashram for 4 days
this week while Swamiji is there to get a feel for the place. I know I will
be happy there to have like minded people and time to my-self.
I appretiate your support and know that Swamiji's no 'BS' style :) is
particularly why I like him. Sorry about the pun.

Happy New Year, and may peace be with you

Anuj

On 12/31/07, Mahesh Ursekar <mahesh.ursekar@...> wrote:
>
> Pranams Anuj!
>
> Congrats on ur decision to follow the spiritual path as such a young age!
> The mind is sharp and able to absorb new ideas easily. I wish u much
> success
> in ur endeavor.
>
> I didn't read all the posts in this thread but from the little I read, u
> seem to have made up ur mind to join the academy. I think it is a wise
> decision. I say this having attended lectures by Swamiji's students for
> the
> past one year.
>
> Some ++
> a. The ashram has students from all over the world (including students
> from
> the US). It is quite 'modern' in terms of living & food arrangements so u
> will not find urself out of place there
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S Jayanarayanan | 1 Jan 2008 07:31
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Re: Importance of Ashram

--- Ramesh Krishnamurthy <rkmurthy@...> wrote:

> On 31/12/2007, Mahesh Ursekar <mahesh.ursekar@...> wrote:
> > b. Swamiji himself has studied in the UK and so is comfortable &
> conversant
> > with ideas of the West. In this respect, his teaching is a
> wonderful blend
> > of the East & the West
> > c. His teaching is 100% rational with no element of superstition
> or
> > ritualistic leanings or blind beliefs.
> 
> This talk of "blending east & west" always makes me squirm in my
> seat.
> Most people who make such claims are actually 99% west and 1% east.
> Our problem is not the need to assimilate western paradigms but the
> need to first understand our own.
> 

Exactly.

But there is hardly any doubt that Swami Parthasarathy is first and
foremost a businessman who happens to be incidentally interested in
Vedanta. For instance, here is the advertisement on his website:

http://www.vedantaworld.org/cultural%20foundation%20bro_sc.pdf

  "... you will learn in a personalized setting with
  Swami Parthasarathy, the world authority on ancient wisdom
  in modern business."
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Lakshminarayana | 1 Jan 2008 07:47
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Re: Importance of Ashram


=======================================  

>"Above all, at 6 feet he has maintained a 32 inch waistline,
  148 pound weight and ideal blood pressure and sugar levels
 for the past 60 years! Born to a premier business family,..."
=======================================

Not to offend anyone here, but I burst into laughter after reading this.

On a more serious note, I think Shri Anuj has already made his choice and it is better to just leave it there.

Regards
-Lakshminarayana

---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
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Anuj | 1 Jan 2008 08:21
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Re: Importance of Ashram

Dear Kartik, I appreciate your visiting the website thoroughly and
although I agree that it is a marketing savvy website (what you consider
corporate or "cultish" ), I think the central message of not believing what
you read, hear and assume but finding out for yourself through direct
experience is being missed here. You see, Mahesh actually has been to the
ashram, as will I in a few days. My mother has this problem of taking things
on face value and believing things too literally sometimes...and I can see
how that messes things up.

Yes, he is a businessman, and a really good one at that, but considering
that most of the influence and problems lie at their root in the working,
materially attached world, I see nothing wrong with addressing that
audience who need this knowledge the most. It's great that Vedanta is
preached the world over to all but most people like my mother and other
people in their retirement years that tend to really take this knowledge to
heart are not going to make the kind of difference it will take to make
society at large a better, truer, wiser place. So I feel the niche Swami
Parthasarthy appeals to is quite an important part of the generation that
can make a real, practical difference in their society and this is for the
greater good for the most people. Let's just say, for someone like me with
an MBA who has withdrawn from the American corporate banking/consulting
lifestyle I can connect with this version of Vedanta that leaves me more
positive for the state of humanity - that there is hope if only the
knowledge is shared in a digestible context. Rather than sharing all the
complicated Sanskrit terminology and debating over Which Swami is more or
less authentic and wiser, I prefer to concentrate on finding this out within
and if the environment and guidance is conducive to that, that's where my
home will be.

I do sincerely appreciate every one's input and concerns and support though,
(Continue reading)

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Sanjay Srivastava | 1 Jan 2008 12:39
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Re: Importance of Ashram

AFAIK, Sri Parthasarathy is not a "swami" in technical sense. He has not
taken any sannyasa. "Swami" title has been given to him by his students. He
spent some time at Sandipani Gurukul at Powai, when Swami Chinmayanada was
alive and Swami Dayananda was chief instructor there. He was asked to leave
Sandipani before completing the course, reasons for which were never made
public.

That said, I have heard that his stress management courses are good.

-praNAm
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Dr. Yadu Moharir | 1 Jan 2008 20:06
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Re: Importance of Ashram

Namste Jayanarayan-Ji:

  Dos this not mean that Swami Parthasarathy is utilizing the teachings rather than locking himself in the
Ivory Towers of Advaita?

  If Advaita had no use in everyday life (vyaharika level) then one needs to wonder why Archarya established
school (Math) in all four corners of India?

  If someone uses the Advaitic principles why should that individual be looked upon as being less ?  IMHO - It
should be the other way around.

  aj~nebhyo granthinaH shreShThaa,  granthibhyo dhaariNo varaaH |
dhaaribhyo j~naaninaH shreShThaa,  j~naanibhyo vyavasaayinaH || manusmR^iti 12-103||

   
  Meaning - Someone who has studied a little is better than totally ignorant. Someone who has memorized them
are better than someone who knows a little. One who knows the meaning is superior to those who memorizes.
However, one who practices it (the knowledge) is certainly the most superior.

My apologies if I am missing something !!

  Best regards,

  Dr. Yadu

S Jayanarayanan <sjayana@...> wrote:
  --- Ramesh Krishnamurthy wrote:

> On 31/12/2007, Mahesh Ursekar wrote:
> > b. Swamiji himself has studied in the UK and so is comfortable &
(Continue reading)

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Jaldhar H. Vyas | 2 Jan 2008 00:24
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Re: Importance of Ashram

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008, Dr. Yadu Moharir wrote:

> Namste Jayanarayan-Ji:
>
>  Dos this not mean that Swami Parthasarathy is utilizing the teachings 
> rather than locking himself in the Ivory Towers of Advaita?
>

If I see a rat in the kitchen and hit it with a big heavy Sanskrit book 
I may achieve a practical effect but I think we can all agree that is not 
how you are supposed to "utilize the teachings" can we not? :-)

>  If Advaita had no use in everyday life (vyaharika level) then one needs 
> to wonder why Archarya established school (Math) in all four corners of 
> India?
>

The Vyavaharic use of Advaita Vedanta is to prepare for the abandonment of 
vyavahara.  This is not to say that there is not room for vyavahara in 
life at all--after all we consider dharma, artha, and kama to be 
purusharthas as well as moksha but the prior three are addressed by other 
aspects of the Smarta tradition.

The job of the karmakanda is manage stress.
The job of the jnanakanda is to end stress permanantly.

When I worked on Wall Street I met a lot of "type A" personalities, the 
kind of people whose hair turned white in their 30's due to stress and 
overwork.  Sometimes those people would go to "biblical" retreats for a 
week or two (or have a heart attack and go to hospital for a week or two.)
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Jaldhar H. Vyas | 2 Jan 2008 06:35
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Re: Importance of Ashram

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008, Anuj wrote:

> Yes, he is a businessman, and a really good one at that, but considering
> that most of the influence and problems lie at their root in the working,
> materially attached world, I see nothing wrong with addressing that
> audience who need this knowledge the most.

Well that's the question isn't it?  Does this kind of thing really address 
the problems materialist businessmen face or is it just a palliative?

As I mentioned in the other post I wrote on this topic today, there is 
part of the broader Smarta or "Hindu" tradition that does address the 
issues of living in this world but Vedanta is something else.

> It's great that Vedanta is
> preached the world over to all but most people like my mother and other
> people in their retirement years that tend to really take this knowledge to
> heart are not going to make the kind of difference it will take to make
> society at large a better, truer, wiser place.

Advaita Vedanta is not trying to make society better.  It is 
self-admittedly "other worldly" But it is part of a greater corpus of 
beliefs, which I am refering to as smarta, one of which is that "other 
worldliness" belongs to the last stage of life.  Other things are expected 
of younger people and I think those other things would do more to address 
the immediate problems they face than Vedanta would while preparing them 
for Vedantic sadhana later.

The confusion over these matters is a deliberate historical and cultural 
phenomenon.  A critical thinker should ponder why.
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K Kathirasan NCS | 2 Jan 2008 10:14
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Re: Importance of Ashram

Namaste 

I am not sure if Swami Parthasarathy is a Jnani (in fact who can vouch
for that with certainty), but it would be good for seekers like us to
heed what Shankaracharya says in the Tattva Bodha: 

"Further those who praise, worship and adore the Jnani, to them go the
result of the good action done by the Jnani. Those who abuse, hate or
cause pain or sorrow to a jnani - to them go the results of the sinful
actions done by the Jnani. "

And also in the Jivanmuktananda Lahari, Shankaracharya says: 

" Seeing the people of the city, men and young women of different forms
clad in attractive dress and decked with ornaments of gold, beautiful as
paintings, the sage joyously interacts with them - yet he never gets
deluded, blessed with the grace of his master, for in his heart is the
knowledge that he is the witness, the watcher of them all, and of
himself.

Living at times in mighty palaces and at others in pearly mansions; at
times on mountaintops and at others on the banks of rivers, and again in
the huts of great hermits, the sage never gets deluded, blessed with the
grace of his master - for in his heart is the knowledge that he is the
witness, the watcher of them all, and of himself. " 

Warmest Regards,
Kathirasan K

-----Original Message-----
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Sharath T Poojary | 2 Jan 2008 13:31
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What is Maya?


Namaste,

When we talk of Maya and those that are due to it, are we not bringing in duality where just Brahman exist? I
have read that Maya is not apart from Brahman, as heat is not apart from fire. But with reference to this
example, is not heat something different from fire. Of course, in our example, heat is dependent on fire.
But as such, heat is different in itself. Like, heat can also be from flow of electron through a filament in
bulb. Here we do not see fire, but heat is still present.

Can someone tell how the ONLY BRAHMAN "becomes" of "mistaken" (so to say)as Maya, when there is nothing else?

Sharath
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Gmane