Reality

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

As I stated in a previous email, classic advaita

vedanta makes a big fuss about reality. Of course,

the technique of negation is a major feature of

classic vedanta practice. Here is a quote from Sri

Ramana Gita:

SRI RAMANA GITA--Chapter One, ON THE IMPORTANCE OF

UPASANA (literally "being seated near", meditation.)

 

"First Question:

Is Mukti (Release from phenomenal existence) to be had

by mere discrimination between the real and the unreal

or are there other means for the ending of bondage?

Answer to the First Question:

Abidance in the Self alone releases one from all

bonds. Discrimination between the real and the unreal

leads to non-attachment.

The jnani is unfathomable; he abides always in the

Self alone. He does not consider the universe as

unreal or as different from himself."

 

In this passage Ramana states that "abidance in the

Self alone releases one from all bonds. Discrimination

between the real and the unreal leads only to

non-attachment. Ramana goes on to say the "He (the

jnani) does not consider the universe as unreal..."

 

Michael says that discrimination between the real and

the unreal leads to a nervous breakdown. There isn't

anything that is unreal so what is there to

discriminate. If you want reality all you have to do

is open your eyes and look around. Life is real.

Life is SELF. The SELF cannot be described because it

is beyond description. Can we describe the universe?

Can we describe life? We can describe a portion of

the universe a portion of life; but the SELF is whole

and it is not possible for us to understand. But life

is real.

 

 

Read the words of Sri Ramakrishna:

GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA---page 310:

MASTER: "...When Rama said to Dasaratha that He was

going to renounce the world, it worried His father,

and the king sought counsel of Vasishtha. Vasishtha

said to Rama: 'Rama, why should You give up the

world? Reason with me. Is this world outside God?

What is there to renounce and what is there to accept?

Nothing whatever exists but God. It is Brahman alone

that appears as Isvara, maya, living beings, and the

universe.' "

 

THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA, page 325

"Vaikuntha: 'Is the world unreal?'

Master: 'Yes, it is unreal as long as one has not

realized God. Through ignorance man forgets God and

speaks always of "I" and "mine". He sinks down and

down, entangled in maya, deluded by "woman and gold".

Maya robs him of his knowledge to such and extent that

he cannot find the way of escape, though such a way

exists."

and a little further on in the same passage--

 

"Hedge it about with Kali's name

If you would keep your harvest safe.

 

Surrender yourself to God and you will achieve

everything.

 

This is the stoutest hedge of all,

For Death himself cannot come near it.

 

'Yes, it is a strong hedge indeed. If you but realize

God, you won't see the world as unsubstantial. He who

has realized God knows that God Himself has become the

world and all living beings. When you feed your

child, you should feel that your are feeding God. You

should look on your father and mother as veritable

manifestations of God and the Divine Mother, and serve

them as such...."

 

 

Here is passage from:

The life of Vivekananda, by Swami Nikhilananda:

Narendra, understanding the fatal nature of Sri

Ramakrishna's illness and realizing that the beloved

teacher would not live long, intensified his own

spiritual practices. His longing for the vision of

God knew no limit. One day he asked the Master for

the boon of remaining merged in samadhi three or four

days at a stretch, interrupting his meditation now and

then for a bite of food. "You are a fool," said the

Master. "There is a state higher than that. It is

you who sing: 'O Lord! Thou art all that exists.' "

Sri Ramakrishna wanted the disciple to see God in all

beings and to serve them in a spirit of worship. He

often said that to see the world alone, without God,

is ignorance, ajnana; to see God alone, without the

world, is a kind of philosophical knowledge, jnana;

but to see all beings permeated by the spirit of God

is supreme wisdom, vijnana. Only a few blessed souls

could see God dwelling in all. He wanted Naren to

attain this supreme wisdom. So the Master said to

him, "Settle your family affairs, first, then you

shall know a state even higher than samadhi."

 

Michael says: There is nothing but

Life/God/SELF/Brahman. Life is real. Our inner being

has an eternal nature. Once that is realized then one

can be happy and accept existence.

 

Love,

 

michael

 

 

 

 

 

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