Guru Dev was instructed by Swami Krishnanand Saraswati of Shringeri Math, a lineage known for its adherence to the Smarta teachings of Adi Shankara. The worship of the five deities (Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Ganesha, Surya) is recurrent in Guru Dev's teachings. This teaching is thought to have originally means a way of bringing together the variety of worship under one umbrella, thus one could worship any member of Shiva's family or close friends (some also even include a sixth deity, Kartikeya, Shiva's second son and still be in the same community.
Vaj, What do you see in the differences between Smarta & Sri Vidhya that make you think that Guru Dev would have had trouble reconciling the two systems? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Feb 3, 2006, at 5:20 AM, Premanand Paul Mason wrote: > > > I don't know about the rest of you, but I got a series of shocks when > > I came to read of Guru Dev's lifestory and teachings. I had envisaged > > someone whose teachings would be light, optimistic, yogic and bright. > > Instead, I read in his teachings one steeped in the Hindu teachings > > which many of us would have associated with the Middle Ages rather > > than a man of enlightenment. > > I see a set of teachings which are framed and intended for > dissemination inside the tradition of Shankara and therefore typical > of Shankaracharya tradition. If we accept that SBS was a Sri Vidya > adept, the notable thing I notice was the public teaching was typical > of Shank-style teachings and did not contain any Sri Vidya teachings > whatsoever. One wonders if this is the reason for the reluctance in > taking the post in the first place: a post which requires you to talk > from a certain angle, in a certain vein and espouse the view of a > school. His rendering of Advaita Vedanta seems very traditional. > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
