07-08-2004, 09:51 PM
Sridhar, Thanks a lot.
Sunder,
I was a sceptic nastika teenager. But kept on reading the texts. When I first understood Vedanta (well to a degree which satisfied me), I was so thankful for having born in India. That gratitude has only increased over the years. There is so much that our ancestors achieved and left for us!
Regarding Mandukya-upanishad, isn't it amazing how much influence this tiny upanishad of 12 shlokas has had? I also like the fragment of the last 12th shloka/mantra:
"Atmaiva saMvishati Atmanaa Atmaanam"
Please let us know results of your meditations.
Hauma,
Nihilists/shunyavaadis also fall in the cheap category. If you can prove that a problem doesn't exist, you don't have to solve it! Although Nagarjuna was a master of dialectics. His arguments in the favor of shunyavada are very strong. People say that Gaudapada and Shankaracharya himself were influenced by his ideas. But Gaudapada, in his Mandukya-karika, laid the foundation of advaita vedanta of Shankara, by positing the exact opposite of shunyavada. That the ultimate is not sunya/voi but a pure existence sat-chit-ananda. Same as the upanishads. For having taken many arguments from Bauddhas (Nagarjuna in particular), Shankara was even called 'prachhnna baudhha' or hiden buddhist by his detractors! But shunya and saccidananda are very different things! Shankara used dilaectics to show the shunyata of Maya, but not of ultimate self/brahman. Nagarjuna and bauddhas made everything shunya.
Regarding Bhuta-chaitanyavada of Lokayatas and Sattvika-chaitanya of Sankhya-Yoga-Vedanta, isn't it amazing how contemporray their disputations sound! People are still debating taking the same old two polar positions as was done in India thousands of years ago! Thanks for bringing the theory of 'Bhuta chaitanya vada' to our attention. Most of us grow up only reading about the Samkhya-Yoga-Vedanta side of the story.
Sunder,
I was a sceptic nastika teenager. But kept on reading the texts. When I first understood Vedanta (well to a degree which satisfied me), I was so thankful for having born in India. That gratitude has only increased over the years. There is so much that our ancestors achieved and left for us!
Regarding Mandukya-upanishad, isn't it amazing how much influence this tiny upanishad of 12 shlokas has had? I also like the fragment of the last 12th shloka/mantra:
"Atmaiva saMvishati Atmanaa Atmaanam"
Please let us know results of your meditations.
Hauma,
Nihilists/shunyavaadis also fall in the cheap category. If you can prove that a problem doesn't exist, you don't have to solve it! Although Nagarjuna was a master of dialectics. His arguments in the favor of shunyavada are very strong. People say that Gaudapada and Shankaracharya himself were influenced by his ideas. But Gaudapada, in his Mandukya-karika, laid the foundation of advaita vedanta of Shankara, by positing the exact opposite of shunyavada. That the ultimate is not sunya/voi but a pure existence sat-chit-ananda. Same as the upanishads. For having taken many arguments from Bauddhas (Nagarjuna in particular), Shankara was even called 'prachhnna baudhha' or hiden buddhist by his detractors! But shunya and saccidananda are very different things! Shankara used dilaectics to show the shunyata of Maya, but not of ultimate self/brahman. Nagarjuna and bauddhas made everything shunya.
Regarding Bhuta-chaitanyavada of Lokayatas and Sattvika-chaitanya of Sankhya-Yoga-Vedanta, isn't it amazing how contemporray their disputations sound! People are still debating taking the same old two polar positions as was done in India thousands of years ago! Thanks for bringing the theory of 'Bhuta chaitanya vada' to our attention. Most of us grow up only reading about the Samkhya-Yoga-Vedanta side of the story.