Hare Krsna,
To continue extended reply to respected forum member Avyaydya ji's line of questioning:
Sanathan Dharma means the eternal righteousness. It's quite impossible logically for concept such as san'Atan to be removed from it's root "anadi" which means "without beginning" and "anantha" which means "without end... to have an end. So this is a concocted "danger."
All philosophical schools since the dawn of time within Sanathana Dharma have promoted their views and held public debates, etc. But most importantly you see school like that of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu being a recent phenomenon coinciding with Mughal invasion.
caturtha ślokera artha ei kaila sāra
prema-nāma pracārite ei avatāra
I have given the essential meaning of the fourth verse: this incarnation [Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu] descends to propagate the chanting of the holy name and spread love of God.
-Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 4.5
These other proselytizing faiths are going full steam, and you are standing still. Do you think standing still will protect India from invasive ideologies? If you have a truth but do not speak it, how is that truth able to impact the world? Without a great personality like the preaching sannyasi Mahaprabhu Chaitanya and His popular movement with reincorporated forcibly converted Hindu's, and also converted the key proselytizers into bhaktas... that there would have remained a "Hindu" Bengal? Does it occur to you that the Yuga Dharma for this age of Kaliyuga is so easy as chanting for a purpose illustrated within Smriti tradition precisely because this entire world has to begin the process which ultimately will restore the Satyuga. Therefore "ignoring" or "not bothering" about invasive, aggressive ideologies affords no protection at all but simply assures destruction and loss of the Vedic conception of life? Because what comes after an incarnation like Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is Shri Kalki Bhagavan. But there can still be a golden hour in the midst of Kaliyuga. For this the Puranas proclaim that incarnation in the Kali Age is desirable because the Yuga Dharma is so much simpler. Else, for what purpose do the incarnations of Vishnu Tattva enter into the world except to turn mankind away from the downward spiral of degeneration and materialism?
What Vedic ideals are lost by Vaishnava sampradaya? No! Rather a preservation of Vedic ideals, Sanskruti, and pride of place within Vedic Sanathana Dharma. The real loss of Vedic ideals is some kind of fandangled new age do-it-yourself religious philosophy which bears no association with the ancient teachings within the shastras, as in some persons who say the scriptures are all man-made, made-up and to be dispensed with by elevating own personal opinions in place of teachings of our holy sages.
dharmaṁ mahā-puruṣa pāsi yugānuvṛttaṁ
dharmam — the principles of religion; mahā-puruṣa — O great personality; pāsi — You protect; yuga-anuvṛttam — according to the different millenniums
-Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.38 ISKCON isn't syncretic at all and doesn't teach anything "Christian." Everything which is taught comes from Shastras. When ISKCON's founder Guru Acharya spoke to Christians by way of explanation, to make concepts understandable would explain by analogy, this thing is like that thing. Show me one official ISKCON temple which chants Hare Jesus? Of course there have been innovators, but those who dared where always thrown out as they do not represent the teachings and ideals of the founder, a born brahmin Vaishnav priest. People from Christian upbringing often have the same mentality as that is their understanding. But their idiosyncratic beliefs are not the equivalent of ISKCON spiritual institute teaching. Why else would His Holiness Srila Prabhupada translate some 60-70 works, including shastras into English language if only to teach Christianity? Why would He train Sanskrit scholars and priests with Vaishnav pancha samskara with fire yagna, give brahmana thread and gopala mantra and teach them to live the brahmin ideal?
That is your personal view, a path of non-belief. What school is this? Who is your Guru?
Verily that which is Dharma is truth.
Therefore they say of a man who speaks truth,
"He speaks the Dharma,"
Or of a man who speaks the Dharma,
"He speaks the truth."
Verily both these things are the same.
-Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad 1.4.14
sad eva, saumya, idam agra AsId ekam evAdvitIyam,
taddhaika AhuH, asad evedam agra AsId ekam evAdvitIyam,
tasmAd asataH sat jAyata 6.2.1
In the beginning, dear boy, there was existence alone,
one only without a second. Some people say that, in the
beginning, there was non-existence alone, one only without
a second. From that non-existence arose whatever exists.
-Chandogya UpaniShad, chapter 6
You are referring to Krsna uvacha:
ye 'py anya-devatā-bhaktā
yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ
te 'pi mām eva kaunteya
yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam
Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kuntī, but they do so in a wrong way.
-Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 9.23
Vaishnava siddhanta is notoriously not "politically correct" as far as trying not to be condescending to a wrong teaching. Did you not say:
"The Richis believed in Man constantly renewing himself, like Cosmic Man Purusha is constantly renewing himself..." And if
definition of Dharma, per Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad
is equivalent to "Truth" then why is it condescending to say
mankind moves from untruth to Truth as his capacity to grasp truth improves through spiritual purification? Is it not the same as saying:
ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
May there be peace everywhere.
-Source, Rg Veda
Since you have concocted own concept that proselytizing is Adharmic despite context of incarnation Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu clearly coinciding with Mughal invasions and forced conversions and countering quite effectively the same... and since you have concocted that Krsna worship is Adharmic since it posits a "
a Belief in a supreme God," "
That is why proselyting is against Sanatan Dharm. It is a danger to diversity." When in actuality it is the "diversity" of foreign aggressive faiths which are the danger, and the self-respecting solution is to meet the danger head-on directly, rather than passively waiting for the inevitable loss. And since Vaishnavism positing Vishnu Tattva as Supreme, and Shaivism positing Shiva Tattva as Supreme, and Shaktism positing MahaMaya Tattva as Supreme have not since ages managed to "destroy" Sanathana Dharma diversity... accuse your debate as being facetitious and without merit. All you are doing is creating unnecessary divisions and hostility WITHIN Sanathana Dharma. And self-division is a failure strategy. Better to promote unity.
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