Guest guest Posted August 22, 2000 Report Share Posted August 22, 2000 Greetings Dennis: We need not necessarily consider the Gods and Goddess, because the teaching is that "Brahman alone is true, everything else is illusory". But are we ready! Are we ready to ignore the world just thus! Thinking that everything is brahman, are we ready to leave the job? are we ready to leave the comfortable home where we live? Though the teaching is crystal clear, we *naturally* behave as if every thing is separate! Imagine, you go and stand in front of a great advaitic teacher, for example Shankaracharya, then what will you do? Don't you prostrate? Don't you talk to him with reverence? I don't know about you but I certainly do prostrate to Shankaracharya... Even for a wee bit of second I will not think of Shankaracharya is nothing but me, though it is Shankaracharya's own propagation that the essence of me and him is the same! I will hold that he is separate and I am separate as long as I breath, as long as I move in this physical world. Though the teacher says "Brahman alone is true", we seem to perceive the Brahman with plurality, and we behave so. Actually, it is the question of behavior. We behave in front of elders. We behave in the eyes of society. We go as per the rules and regulations. We do all this because we are still living in the world. Same is the case, with Gods and Goddesses! I can see they are there, but then are they real? My teacher told me that it is my own mind which is projecting them! I learned that as my mind projects the images of my own father and mother and teacher, my mind also projects the Gods and Goddesses and miracles and dreams! I have put this question to my teacher. I asked her: "if it was my own mind which is projecting then what shall I do? Shall I discard everything as illusory?" My teacher kept quite for some time, but then she asked me, can you discard me as your teacher? I replied "No way!". She questioned again "can you stop eating and sleeping with out feeling physically uncomfortable? can you stop thinking of what has happened yesterday, and what will happen tomorrow? can you stop visualizing at all?...." I am confused with all these questions. Anyway, finally she said that as long as you feel that you are limited in your capacity, you should not discard anything. You haven't arrived yet! Remember what Gita says "OmityEkAksharaM brahma vyAharan mAM anusmaran, yaH prayAti tyajan dEhaM sa yAti paramAM gatiM". Keep in your thoughts that everything is illusory, that bhavana (perception!) will keep you detached from the fruits of action. Keep acting because what you learned is not yet become an experience for you. If you stop behaving, just because you got knowledge, one day your own knowledge that "Brahman alone is true" will drop you in a chaos. Unless there is manOnASa (destruction of mind-stuff) direct experience is not possible. ManOnAsa happens because of the detached action. Every action that is performed, with out any attachment to the fruit of action, will make you witness to that action. Since you witness the action, you will understand the essence of the action. But then after performing the action if you felt that you have to perform the same action again, then you are not witnessing the action but you are being dragged again by your own mind! Pinch your hand --- do you feel the pain? Open your eyes --- do you see the world? Take a deep breath --- do you smell the fragrance of the air? Listen carefully - do you hear the sound of the universe? If your answer to any of these questions is: YES I DO? then there are Gods who are real. Your duty is to behave with them. Hari Om! I remain yours, Madhava Dennis Waite [dwaite] Monday, August 21, 2000 3:14 PM advaitin Doing - me or God I'll continue on the periphery of the discussion this time, I think, having already fallen behind since I've been away for a couple of days. Just a few passing observations. All these Gods that are (necessarily) only part of vyavahaara: - Why do we need to even consider them? Are they not actually only our own invention, and thus even more illusory than we are (if that is possible)? Isn't it all tantamount to trying to put the content of our dreams on some sort of scientific footing; as though I should expect that the characters in your dream will behave the same as the ones in mine? Sadananda, Greg, et al, are you saying that all of these gods actually exist (to the same degree that we exist)? Is there a separate Iswara, a God of the Christians, of the Muslims, etc. or are they all one and the same (illusory) God? Would we have to get involved in discussions of satkaaryavaada and all the rest in order for someone to be able to provide a 'simple' answer to this one? Yes, Greg, Patrick - the painting metaphor I mentioned is the one given by Ramesh (my post at the time did say this). I like Greg's summary - there are no separate entities; therefore it is meaningless to talk about free will or determinism - simple isn't it! Dennis Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other contact, Email to <advaitins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 23, 2000 Report Share Posted August 23, 2000 Dear Madhav ji What a blessing you are for me. It is so much refreshing to read your words. Thank you for sharing all these lights. Raghabananda. **** Madhav ji wrote:-(Only part of it taken) Imagine, you go and stand in front of a great advaitic teacher, for example Shankaracharya, then what will you do? Don't you prostrate? Don't you talk to him with reverence? I don't know about you but I certainly do prostrate to Shankaracharya... Even for a wee bit of second I will not think of Shankaracharya is nothing but me, though it is Shankaracharya's own propagation that the essence of me and him is the same! I will hold that he is separate and I am separate as long as I breath, as long as I move in this physical world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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