Ravindran Kesavan

There are two systems of Gothra: One, the family tree - which traces the biological lineage. Two, the spiritual initiation lineage- which traces the unbroken guru disciple lineage of a spiritual tradition. Whichever the first guru's name who started the spiritual tradition become the gothra name for all the followers of that tradition in this system. K.Ravindran

Ramanuja uses the "either- or" thinking of the classical logic (technically called the Principle of excluded middle) in many of his criticisms. Example : "Either avida is real or it is unreal". But this either-or thinking is flawed and gotten rid of in many-valued logic fuzzy logic and quantum logic. Advida cannot be neatly classified as real or unreal. - it depends on the context and level; at one level it is real at another at is not real.To understand this level difference let use a familiar example of Dream. Is dream real or unreal? If we rephrase this question to mean , Do dream occur? (did I really dream of a unicorn?) then the answer is- yes. If we rephrase the same question to mean what one sees in the dream is real? ( does the unicorn I saw is real?) then the answer is- no. So is the dream real or unreal? Both. Avidya is not neatly real or unreal. You need a third category of "indeterminate" or "Undecidable". Bi-valued logic fails here. One needs a tri-valued logic. Regards, K.Ravindran

Dear Suchandra, This doesnot mean that Christians do not believe in souls. That conclution does not follow from the above premise. They Verynuch believe in soul. But what they dont believe in is the Soul of Animals and Plants. ( They are created as food for Human) ( And nonchristians perhaps - due to the religious prejudices ) They verymuch believe in the Soul of a (Christian) human being. Perhaps the only religion that doesn't admit a soul is Buddhism ( Anatmavada) . K.Ravindran

There is already only one god. Why should not the bhaktas call the One god with thousand names? : Ganesa , Kartikeya, Aditya, Siva, Gowri, Saraswati, Bhrama, Kali, Mahakala, Bhuvaneswari, Matangi, Chinamasta, Tara, Avakohiteswaea, Heruksa , Adonai, Allah, Yehova, Vishnu, Krishna , Karupaswami , Orisha, Obathala, Yemaya, Zious , Rhia, Arthemis, Diana, Freyr,Thor, Eros, Chu-jung, Hu- chi ..... .... ..... ..... ................... ....... ...... What is the problem, in humanity chanting the thousand names of The One God ? Or is it that you dont agree with the Vedic Wisdom: "There is one reality, the sages call it by many names" ? K.Ravindran

There seems to be a confusion over the meaning of the word "Real" Many times One hears in this forum discussions, that the world is 'real' and at the same time it is equally called "Vertual" (cf. the title of this thread), "dreamland" or "dream" (cf. the two quotations of Srila Prabhupada) In what sense the world is real if it is vertual or a dreamland? What is the meaning of real over here? What is the definition of reality? K.Ravindran

Hi Srikanth , welcome back. How was your vacation? K.Ravindran

Well, to recognise the truth in it, you must be wise too Bija. There is a Zen saying : "A snake will know the legs of another Snake". I have oftern received profound spiritual lessions and instructions from even children as young as three years of age . And they taught me in the form of (Disguise of) child's play . God is every where. I worshipped god as my teacher and god taught me from anywhere and every where. By the by I liked very much your dream that you shared elsewhere: to have an ecofriendly biodiverse zone and a house there, or something to that effect. A spiritual man like you need also a spiritual environment - a sat sang - association with spiritually advanced souls. It is a nice idea to create a matt of this sort in an ecologically enriched biodiverse locality. Regards, K.Ravindran

Dear Bhaktajan, It is nice to see the change and development in your spiritual stance from your original position. You have graduated from thinking Siva as being destructive and unworthy of worship and all that stuff (c.f. your first response post ) to Lord Siva being the protecter of Vaishnavas and you. That is good spiritual progress. There is a few more steps ahead for you to be fully metured spiritually. You still think that Balachandran has been send to you by Siva to learn from you. That may not be the case. For all I know from my experience Lord Siva is a grand and ultimate teacher in spiritual deciplines and he teaches all that is there to learn in spirituality - he does not need any one to teach spiritual knowledge. He is the original and universal guru and a Siva bhakta doesnot require to go to any other gurus. On the otherhand the purpose of Blachandran's reaching you might be to teach you certain spiritual lession that you need to learn in your Vaishnava achara. Lord siva has sent him to be your teacher and not the otherway round - and you are already learning spiritually from his interaction, as I can see it. Now only one more step is required. You need to realise that Lord Siva - your protecter - wants you to do Vaishnava bhakti properly and has sent his Bakta to teach you as your Guru. You need to leave your ego - that you are his teacher - and surrender to his holy feet as your spiritual Siva guru, serve him and learen from him. Lord Siva's grace has fallen on you now. This is the way you should take it. I mean this sincerly knowing Lord Siva's ways. His deciples must be taken as his representatives, and I have learned it the hard way in my spiritual life. They can teach you mega lessions even if they look very ordinary, because it is Lord Siva who function through them. You are lucky my friend, that Lord Siva is instructing you and dont miss the opportunity to serve Him and learn from Him. Regards, K.Ravindran

It all depends which book one reads and believes in. According to goddess mythology, the ten incornations of Vishnu are created by the Goddess Tripurasundari from her ten finger nails. K.Ravindran

Gayatri mantra and even devada is cast in a feminine form . But actusally the devada of this vedic mantra is "Savitr' - the Sun God. K.Ravindran

There were Religions before Christianity and Islam and Judaism. Human kind were never with out religion. K. Ravindran

Vegitarianism is a fine spiritual value. Non harming and hurting another conscious being is the essence of it. Every one should strive for it and achieve it, rather than rejecting it as an immposible ideal. In a completely spiritual world no one will hurt any other creature. It is an advance understanding of spiritual life. I dont see anything imposible about the whole world achieving it . We have progressed in many ways. Human race was cannibolistic once . We have given up that. Slavery was ones practiced, we gave up that. Why should we think that a fine princviple like vegitarianism is not possible universally? We all should strive towerds it, and accomplish it. Nothing much is achieved if it remains the practice of an elitest few. The suffering of the creatures will not vanish that way. K.Ravindran

Because krishna is a human. He is a realised human. Like every realised rishi, he knows he is god in nondual mode of knowing. At the same time he also knows that God is a transcendantal being different from the emprical existence. Bedabeda principle is applied here. While Krishna is God - and so are every souls - God is not Krishna. ( God is more than krishna) Of course The Krishna bhaktas will disagree with this interpretatiuon. K.Ravindran

Milk should not be treated as meat. However there should be a public movement that milk should be obtained only from Spiritual Cow Asramas where cow is treated with reverence and protected. That could act as a motivation for cow protection. K.Ravindran

Any mantra can be and should be repeated daily as japa. Every mantra technically requires initiation by a guru K.Ravindran

There is another interpretation to the parents of Ayyapa being Siva and Vishnu. In esoteric spiritualism, Vishnu is the same as goddess Parvati. Vishnu is the male form of Parvati. Vishnu is Vaishnavi ( Parvati) and Narayana is Narayani (Parvati) . Hense there is no contradiction or perversion in siva vishnu union. K.Ravindran

Burning the seeda of past karma is the only way. This can be achived in many ways. The pure clasical method is yoga. In nirvikalpa samadhi Seeds of karma are burnrd. This is the sure method. Of course there are other methods like bhakti yoga or Karma yoga. Seek liberation through any authentic method. that is the way to purify past karmas . K.Ravindran

Dear Baktajan, Why are you trying to convert a Siva bakta to your system? Is there any real need? Hindus are wise and all gods are great forms and can deliver all goods. It is the bakti which matters not the form of god. If you dont learn this spiritual lession you will be no different from Fanatic Cristians and Muslimes. There was nothing wrong with our hindu gods - we dint need new gods from the invaders isint it? The more and more you try to do your preaching the more and more you will encounter resistence and people will hate you . This is the story of all convertants. Because all idea of convertion is based on intolerance hatred and spiritual ignorance. Christians and Muslimes were like that and commited sin and crime against Spiritually advanced hindus. Now you are doing the same within Hindu sect. People will appreciate you and even follow you much better if you simply be an example of bhaki, love, tollerance, liberalism and show reverance to all gods. They are true spiritual quality. Prejudice hatred and parochialism (my god and your god ) are anti-spiritual qualities. When people see these things in any one intitutively they know you that person is not spiritual and not worth to be followed in spiritual matters. I dont mean to give advise because unsolicited advice creats anger. I only mean to share my views, on this issue. You can practically see what happens in this forum discussion itself isint it? Have You succeeded in converting anybody to youir view (except the ones who were already inclined to tha same view as your's right from the begining)? Regards, K.Ravindran

Dear Bgita, I dont know whether I am addressing rightly Or B. Gita? is appropriate. As to your dream initiation where Siva's mantra is spilled or pronounvced 'wrongly', there may not be any thing wrong in it as there are many mantras of siva that are formed by permutation of the individual letters in a varieties of ways. There are also many secret mantras that sound very different totally or partially from the traditional and familior panjakshara. Try with your dream mantra You might get some unexpected spiritual results. Regards, K.Ravindran

Technically this mantra is not Krishnas. Vasudeva is another name of Vishnu. It is a Vishnu's or Narayana's mantra. Vishnu exists always and the stated mantra was known much before Krishna avadar. Hence there is no puzzle how come Narada muni knew it before Krishna avadar. Regards, K,.Ravindran

Dear ARJ, Aiyapa is supposed to have born as a son of Siva as father and Mohini the Vishnu's female form as his mother. Thre Myth goes like this. After the churning of the Milk occean for Amrita , Vishnu bivitched the asuras by asuming his mohini form and managed to give the Amrita to devas only. Hrearing this Lord Siva wanted to see Vishnus Mohini form When vishnu took the form Lord sive got bivitched too and out of Siva and Mohini is born Aiyappa. The Chlid was found by King of Pandala (of present day kerala) And the childless king adopted him as his son. Regards, K.Ravindran

(1) Both Krishna and Rama were Kshatriyas and not Brahmins. Meat eating is alowed As Kashtriya darma. You cannot judge them by Your dharma. (2) Vegitarianism of the Brahmins is relatively a recent reformation. In vedic period there was no such restriction and I am told Brahmins - that is priests - ate non vegitarian diat regularly. ( I am told . I might be wrong on this) In any case Vadic Rictuals refer to animal sacrifices and Devas are supposed to be fond of such animal offering. (For example Indra is supposed to be very fonfd of Hor's head) . One cannot judge others from our concept of dharma. Regards, K.Ravindran

I do not know Mayavada is true or not as In veda there is no explict statement to the unreality of the world. Maya theory is Sankaras, interpretation. On which I have no disaggreement. But The concept on oneness of the God Or the Ultimate truth , is by no means Sankaras invention. It is explicitly stated in Veda. Rgvedic gods (Devas) are 33 in number, and after after introducing them , Rg Veda declares explictly that there is only one Deva. Bagavat Geeta belongs to the class of Purana and not of Veda. In spiritual matters , I would go by Vedic declaration rather than on other latter works. Neither Sankara nor Krishna are more authentic than Sruti (Vedas). K.Ravindran

Dear Bee, There are no demigods. There is only one god. This one god has been conceived in many ways by people with many many names and forms. On this Veda is very clear and categorical. "Truth is one . Sears call it by many names" - RigVeda. The Concept of Demigods is not a spiritual concept . It is a political conception of the bhaktas to glorify their own form and faith is superior and other's are inferior. There is no support of this calim anywhere in Veda. It is all in all Puranic creation. There is a myth that puranas are be written by Veda Vyas. It is a myth . Puranas were not written by one person - certainly not by any one who knows Veda thoroughly. Indologist have evidences to the effect that Puranas were written at various periods of time by various people in various regions. That is why one find so much of contradidictions amoung them. For authendic Spiritual knowledge do not depend on Puranas. Depend only on Vedas. K.Ravindran