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Questions & answers etc

From the Bhakti List Archives

Raymond Crawford • April 30, 1996 


I, for one am not an advocate of either blind faith, or blind following.

I would ask you all to remember this; for the young who live in the 
west, and especially those who were born in the west, the 'sitting at 
the achaarya's feet' is not at all possible.

And when friends and families gather together, the elderly who may be in 
the position of imparting knowledge have barely enough time to sit and 
gossip and to catch up oncommunity needs, let alone give detailed and 
comprehensive instruction to the young.

The only way the young can get any 'learning' is through books (and 
eMail of couse). This learning is generally done in the privacy of ones 
own environment with little outlet for question and queries.

This is why forums such as this must be encouraged. The questions asked 
_must_ be answered knowledgeably. It is morally wrong for the elders who 
have 'learning' to condem the young for asking questions. And what is 
this nonsesnse of 'asking in personal mails'? Does anyone truly think it 
is only the one person who wants answers to questions? I know I learn a 
lot from the questions of others and am often frustrated when the 
subject matter drops from sight and I am left hanging, waiting for more 
instruction, just because it has gone into 'personal mails'. Locking 
things behind closed doors is not the way to encourage the pursuit of 
knowledge.

If I ask a question I am, I think, entitled to an answer. As childish 
and as my question may be, I think that everyone should hear the answer 
because just maybe this may help othrs who also have the same thoughts 
or doubts but may not express them because of fear of ridicule or 
condemnation.

On another point, humour is one way of refocusing our attention. If we 
look (listen to) at any authority who is giving a discourse, we note 
that there are moments of humour in the discourse. This snaps the mind 
back into attention so that we can concentrate on the main message.

Just my thoughts.
Ramadas

all spelling mistakes are of my own invention