Efficacy of Self-Enquiry and its 'oneness' with 'Surrender', the Essence of Devotion

[Guest guest]

Dear "firak or

rahasya"/Maitreya

Here is a summary of what

you wrote. I have only

rearranged your ideas.

Summary of Your Statements

A. Advaita is actually

the closest, words can come to

the reality of conscious

silence/awareness, beyond all

trace of subtle thought, and

it gives the rational and/or

intellectual support (i)

for 'let go' to happen, and

(ii) to experientially

merge with the One, and (iii)

which intellectual support

'surrender' needs. The whole

point of advaita is,-(i) to

provoke surrender to What is,

(ii) saying 'Thy will be

done', which is the door to

freedom. Surrender flowers

into silence and enlightenment

when the time is right.

B. The endless

intelectualisation of advaita

today by many of its adherents

trivialises the impact of the

Truth it points to.

As you yourself have

stated in paragraph A,

intellectual discussions

provide the 'necessary

support' for 'surrender' to

which alone 'Advaita' points.

In due course of time,

depending on the degree of the

'loosening of the hold of

sense-impressions' on account

of the impact of the

understanding spontaneously

springing from intellectual

discussions, which 'degree'

will of course vary between

persons, the actual

'surrender',-which is the same

as the 'Self-Enquiry' of the

Jnana Maargaa',-will progress.

Further, if one is

watching the 'endless

intellectualisation of

others', one must surrender

that 'watching' to the Higher

Power or Ishwara,-

(i) who alone is the

doer, and

(ii) who alone is making

those 'others' to endlessly

intellectualise, and

thus, begin to think about

Ishwara alone, until the

Realisation of Ishwara.

Alternatively, if one is

pursuing the 'Self-Enquiry,

(i) one must enquire as

to 'who is perceiving the

endless intellectualisation of

others', by which enquiry,

one's attention will be turned

from 'those' endlessly

intellectualising to the 'one'

who is thinking about them and

their endless

intellectualisation, and

(ii) then proceed to

further enquire as to 'who am

I' that is the thinker, by

which the particular thought

about the others endlessly

intellectualising, will perish

in the supreme source that is

the 'Self'.

And, this process one must

continue until all thoughts

cease.

Intellectuals never find

freedom from the suffering of

the human condition by

thinking about truth.

But, the 'Jnana Maargaa'

itself means 'thinking in the

reverse/inward direction' and

winning back the 'Self'.

As long as the Saadhanaa

in the Jnana Maargaa, i.e.

Self-Enquiry is proceeding,

the attempt at it, will keep

one away from engagement in a

multiplicity of worldly

pursuits, except those

pursuits which are

'obligatory' according to,-

(A) (i) the station

of life one happens to be in,

and

(ii) the

predominant gunas of one's

nature, and those too,

(B) without the sense

of 'doership', and

this is such a great

service to those around, if

only one can somehow manage to

do this.

Once the Self is found,

there will be 'no other',

whether human or other living

beings, whose condition will

be cognised by the Self as

being apart.

However, it is altogether

different, if one has a strong

distaste for the 'Jnana

Maargaa'.

Thanks and kind regards.