Re "Guru Dev was tricked into accepting the position": I was right! From The TM Technique by Peter Russell (1976), page 23:
Every twelve years in India there is a large gathering of "saints" and holy men at Allahabad where two of the holy rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna, meet. This festival is called the Kumbla [sic] Mela and it is customary for many of the recluses to come down from the mountains for this occasion. Along with thousands of others Guru Dev had left his cave to attend. Making the best of the opportunity his proponents performed the inauguration ceremony and having been officially invested as Shankaracharya for North India Guru Dev had little choice but to accept the honour. I'm sure I've come across that account in other books and articles. ---In [email protected], <s3raphita@...> wrote : Re "Why did Swa. Brahmananda abandon this realization-practice to engage in a role-playing position as a kingly Shankaracharya. This is never addressed by the biographies but is glossed over with pious platitudes.": Didn't MMY say that Guru Dev was tricked into accepting the position? Or am I imagining that I heard that story? If so, I must be going senile. ---In [email protected], <mjackson74@...> wrote : that is a damn good question - I appreciate you posting this. I am gonna get this book and see what it does have to say, esp. now with this in mind. From: "emptybill@... [FairfieldLife]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, July 3, 2015 12:02 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Roots of TM Anyone read this stuff? These types of biographies contain lots of valuable information. However, all of them tend to be hagiographies written by Western psychophantic householders. Consequently none of them reflect the ACTUAL view of sannyasa held by someone like swami Brahmananda Saraswati. He was not just a sannyasin, but rather a Danda-Sannyasin, which is a specific category of stict renunciation. Danda-Sannyasins have no concern with the world at all. Rather, they take care of simple bodily needs and use their remaining life moments to engage in nididhyasana (contemplation). This means examination of the apparent difference between the Awareness-Self and experience itself. Between Self and Other. Between Brahman and appearances. It also means contemplating the Upanishad declarations that Brahman is reality itself (satyam), Awareness itself (jnanam), limitlessness itself (anantam) and that this apparent world is that very Brahman itself. Why did Swa. Brahmananda abandon this realization-practice to engage in a role-playing position as a kingly Shankaracharya. This is never addressed by the biographies but is glossed over with pious platitudes. PS: Don't bother replying with "He loved us so much he wanted to save us from ourselves" christian theologizing B.S. Also leave off the "He was a great bodhisattva" Buddhist B.S. These types of answers will only demonstrate lack of understanding the question.
