--- In [email protected], Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: >Well lets see. I have been to Guru Dev's ashram in Allahabad 4 times. The >last time was this past April, but Vasudevanandaji was not there so it was >pretty quiet. I just walked around a bit. There is a beautiful altar in the middle of the courtyard of the ashram that has a statue of Adi Shankara and one of Guru Dev and a pair of Guru Dev's sandals that have been bronzed. I believe they do puja to the altar every morning. On previous occasions I have met with Vasudevananda in his meeting room, which is the same room and has the same seat that Guru Dev sat on and the energy in there has always been palpable. Vasudevanandaji has always been very low key, pretty relaxed and would answer any questions (not that I really had any) and was always appreciative that we were with MMY. Jyotir math was also very nice and not much going on. There a few monks who are disciples of vasudevanandaji and very welcoming. I attended evening puja to Vasudevanandaji sandals that were there and it was lovely. The monks asked me to stay for a few weeks, which I had no time to do, but it was nice that they asked. Both ashrams seemed very traditional ashram like. Not at all TM like.
I plan on visiting Kanchipuram in the fall. > > On Jun 1, 2009, at 12:36 PM, Randy Meltzer wrote: > > >> > >> Depends on a number of things really Lurk. A big one for me is 'what > >> do I perceive as their underlying intention?'. Another is 'is this > >> just another "pile on" post? I'm not a fan of digital rugby. Do I > >> have enough time and is it worth it? It's also good to feel people > >> are interested in responding to the topic, not just shooting off some > >> obtuse remark. > >> > >> For any of these reasons I may decide not to waste my time. > >> > >> Randy seems like a guy interested in actually having an intelligent > >> conversation and he's had some interesting things to share as well. > > > > Thanks Vaj for saying that. I am not here to do the "pile on Vaj" > > thing. Its just when you make statements like "the shankaracharya > > order is Vaishnavite" and my experience is soooo the oposite I had > > to chime in. And yes, I did have a small axe to grind about you as > > someone pointed out in a previous post, because I felt your comments > > in the past about my experiences were disrespectful. In any case, > > its nothing personal. Just trying to keep the facts staight > > > I think the crux of the issue Randy is that you saw Shiva worship > going on at the Maths and so assumed the lineage was Shaivite (even > though it's not), but it's more accurate to say the Smartas had a very > all-embracing view of Hinduism, and that's also probably why > Shankara's line was so incredibly popular, eventually helping to dowse > Buddhism's spread (although I'm sure the invasions also helped create > a surge in Hindu nationalism and an appreciation of Hinduism's own > diversity). They later even integrated Shakta practices, so it's > rather profound what they did. > > I was hoping now that you've shared that you've been to a number of > the Maths, you'd also share some of your experiences there. Seriously. >
