Likewise the comment about "twice born" , it is not only Brahmins that are "twice born"
--- In [email protected], "Randy Meltzer" <rm...@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], Vaj <vajradhatu@> wrote: > >Vaj, > What makes you think that the shankaracharya tradition is a "vaishnavite" > group? > The shankaracharya order has always been a shiva tradition, not a Vishnu > tradition (vaishnavites are vishnu/krishna followers). > Its obvious even from the name. Shankara is a name of shiva, not vishnu. > For someone who presents himself on this forum as being knowledgeable about > this stuff, at least get your facts straight. > > > > On May 30, 2009, at 6:43 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: > > > > > Like Judy pointed out, it's totally common for Indian devotees to > > > extol assumed enlightened saints and gurus with over the top > > > honorifics, and the idea that one of Maharishi's early followers > > > gave him that designation out of their own reverence and pride. > > > > While that is a possibility and worth investigating further, if you > > examine Sanskrit-Hindu literature, esp. in Vaishnavite groups like the > > Shankaracharya, you'll see it's typical to have a sannyasi name as the > > primary title, with additions to this name given by the guru (e.g. > > Yogananda's guru gave him the title "Paramahamsa" indicating that he > > believed him to belong to a certain class of yogins, a paramahamsa). > > You can see this trend going back as into the middle ages. A list of > > many other Hindu commercial gurus reveals this same pattern. While > > honorifics like 'His Holiness' may be added out of devotion to one's > > guru, in Mahesh's instance we definitely know this was not the case. > > > > It's important to distinguish between honorifics, like 'His Holiness', > > and order or ordination names, titles indicating attainment and titles > > indicating a certain skill ("yogi"). > > > > In Mahesh's instance, he had the problem of being in the Shank. Order > > as an assistant and wanting to launch himself into the guru biz. > > What's a non-twice-born Hindu to do? After all he could not become a > > swami. You have someone confer a title on you or you make up one > > yourself. Usually the one conferring the title is the guru. And we do > > know SBS never conferred any titles on Mahesh. > > > > I guess the important here is if someone was dishonest from the get > > go, what does that tell us? > > >
