Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: Questions & answers etc

From the Bhakti List Archives

Venkatesh Elayavalli/DCOM • May 1, 1996 


 
> I, for one am not an advocate of either blind faith, or blind following.
> 
> I would ask you all to remember this; for the young who live in the 
> west, and especially those who were born in the west, the 'sitting at 
> the achaarya's feet' is not at all possible.
> 
> And when friends and families gather together, the elderly who may be in 
> the position of imparting knowledge have barely enough time to sit and 
> gossip and to catch up oncommunity needs, let alone give detailed and 
> comprehensive instruction to the young.
> 

I do not agree with this. I know of families here in US who do take time
to teach their children the 4000 paasurams  and other slokas. There  are
regular classes in Bay Area Chinmaya Mission for young children who usually
go along with their parents. 

If there is a will there is a way.

> The only way the young can get any 'learning' is through books (and 
> eMail of couse). This learning is generally done in the privacy of ones 
> own environment with little outlet for question and queries.
> 

Not necessary, reading from the books may be useful, however, with little
more enquiry, one can find places where there are religious discources and 
can make time to attend them. Same thing goes to philosophical quests.

> This is why forums such as this must be encouraged. The questions asked 
> _must_ be answered knowledgeably. It is morally wrong for the elders who 
> have 'learning' to condem the young for asking questions. And what is 
> this nonsesnse of 'asking in personal mails'? Does anyone truly think it 
> is only the one person who wants answers to questions? I know I learn a 
> lot from the questions of others and am often frustrated when the 
> subject matter drops from sight and I am left hanging, waiting for more 
> instruction, just because it has gone into 'personal mails'. Locking 
> things behind closed doors is not the way to encourage the pursuit of 
> knowledge.
> 

This i agree, but, please remember that as the frequency of criticisms and 
counter criticisms increase, the knowledgeable members of the group might
tend to withdraw from posting, which is conter productive. A bit of caution
and constructive criticism would always be appreciated. 

Also, one needs to know when to stop arguing in the open forum. some times 
too much information on one incident or single person may be
uninteresting to some, but a few would like pick it apart for various 
reasons (example recent Vidyaranya related posting). 

Just expressing my thoughts,

regards
-vke


 
> 
>