--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > sparaig wrote: > > Shatananda was declared "unqualified" because he was a cook, > > basically. The fact that he was Gurudev's oldest disciple didn't > > matter to the scholars. > > > There's no evidence that I can find that would indicate that > Shantanand was a "cook" by profession. According to the Times of > India, Shantanand was an editor for years at Geeta Press and later a > student at the Shankar Matha in Allahahabad. After Shantanand took > sanyas he certainly wouldn't be found cooking food for others - > Sanyasins aren't supposed to be fooling around with fire. > > But in fact the committee you refer to wasn't a committee of scholars > anyway and neither was Swami Brahmanand Saraswati a scholar of any > repute - he was a mystic. On that basis, Shantanand was the more > worthy successor to Guru Dev, not any of the other caste mongers who > frequent political parties, despite their much Sanskrit learning. > > From the Times of India: > > The Shankaracharya was born in Achati village of Basti district into a > Brahmin family. He was the third son of Pandit Lal Bihari Tiwari. > After taking to "Vairagya" at 20, he went to Geeta press, Gorakhpur, > and there he stayed from 1933 to 1939. After that, he went to the > ashram of Uria Baba in Vrindaban where he remained for 14 years and > studied. In 1951, he took "sanyas" from Shankaracharya Swami > Brahmanand Saraswati of Jyotish Peeth. After the death of Swami > Brahmanand Saraswati, he was made the Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth > on June 12, 1953. On February 29, 1980, he declared Swami Vasudevanand > Saraswati his successor. > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Mon, Sep 11 2006 2:40 pm > Groups: alt.meditation.transcendental, alt.yoga, alt.meditation > Thread: The one undisputed fact about Guru DevJi > http://tinyurl.com/yx4go7
Reccomended reading for anyone who thinks Shantanand Saraswati was just a cook: "The Man Who Wanted to Know God" ISBN 0-517-88520-4
