Reflections :

Another of those earlier Time-Pass- series of E-Mail exchanges, which are "Reflections" in the blog. 

The Vedas/Upanishads are eternal is our traditional belief. The latter treated advaithic doctrine with consummate ease. With such profound base to start with - pardon me for being a bit blasphemous here- why was the need for a whole lot of mythological stuff describing Vishnu in the midst of an ocean, with a thousand headed serpent as His bed, or a Shiva with a snake as his scarf, and puranaas after puranaas -depending on the faith of the author- to prove the superiority of one vs the other, made them compete with each other etc etc. Snake is associated with evil- Planets Rahu/Ketu the rakshash's head and tail. One explanation is that it denotes the Universe like the snakes sheds its skin to assume new ones every pralayam........Not bad... No?

My anguish is that the so called intelligentsia, which has easy access to  material, and assumes authority to interpret any which way it feels, and gets "thaaliyan" enjoys it thoroughly and has a field day. It adds scientific color to these and comes to mind blogging conclusions which may or may not be facts supported by "pramannams" after all, especially for those sensitive folks who have immense faith. Just a few of these extremes; Saraswati, is Sarah, Brahma is Abraham, Isa is actually Christ etc, Gita actually prescribes fights between siblings to get liberation etc.  

Without further digressing let me state my point; Almost after a complete collapse of this upanishadic values/truisms, came Adi Shankara, to re-establish the supremacy of the Advaithic doctrine, and establishing a six fold trait of worship for ordinary folks, to restore some balance. But what has helped? Advaitha has almost wholesomely been hijacked by the western pundits with their finery in narration aided by a wonderfully great language. We seem to have been left out gaudily celebraing every pooja with more of bollywood kind of  pomp shows , rather than these being  elevating experiences. For the seekers of the latter, there are those rarest of rare moments of a "glimpse", to be followed by perpetual disturbance and turmoil. In a few years like folk culture these will perhaps occupy space in Republic day tableau s !! What a disgrace.     

And seekers like (sorry) me are becoming merely  mute witnesses, with no one to guide, or to offer succor, and the sages /the wise etc occasionally even feel the need to actually   rebuke for being not adequately qualified or equipped. I wonder if traditional fundamentalists can sometimes inadvertently become so insensitive that their terrorism takes the shape of "humiliating" others. 

A somberly worrisome thought for the day  !!!!!!!!!!     


Love

Vichu