Guest guest Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 Namaste! Here is an interesting article in which Ramana responds to some of Aurobindo's ideas. http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0098.htm The relevance to this month's topic of Bhakti is that Ramana once again emphasizes that Jiva (soul), Ishwara (personal God) and Jagat (world) all arise together with the mind and its notion of Ahamkara (ego). So once again, Advaita emphasizes that Bhakti is inseparable from mind and is therefore at a 'lower' level than complete liberation. The contrast to Aurobindo interests me, because Aurobindo had a very sharp mind and good judgement. Whereas Gandhi seemed naive regarding Hitler and the more militant Muslims in India, Aurobindo shared no such illusions. I have read about Aurobindo and find his ideas interesting. However, reading his texts is a lot of work, because he writes most profusely. Nevertheless, he is a major Indian spiritual figure of the last century, who commands respect. This article also interests me, because I am inclined to share Aurobindo's notion that we are destined for a more glorious and spiritual 'body' in future lives after enlightenment, perhaps one made of light instead of gross matter. I have difficulty seeing what is wrong with an ideal paradisical 'world' with ideal beautiful flowers, mountains, rivers, people, etc. Why can we not become 'realized' and yet enjoy the beautiful spectacle? For sure, we must give up identification with the illusion of the body, but may that illusion not then become a delightful spectacle, the dance of Maya? Sometimes the pure Advaitin notion of complete liberation from the phenomenal world seems very cold and abstract to me, if not incomprehensible. Often I feel inclined to interpret Advaita as the purification of how we see this or any world, not the elimination altogether of a world. What would be left? Infinite black space? Perhaps I really fail to understand something essential... Om! Benjamin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 advaitin, Benjamin Root <orion777ben> wrote: > > Namaste! > > Here is an interesting article in which Ramana responds to some of > Aurobindo's ideas. > > http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0098.htm > > The relevance to this month's topic of Bhakti is that Ramana once > again emphasizes that Jiva (soul), Ishwara (personal God) and Jagat > (world) all arise together with the mind and its notion of Ahamkara > (ego). So once again, Advaita emphasizes that Bhakti is inseparable > from mind and is therefore at a 'lower' level than complete > liberation. > > The contrast to Aurobindo interests me, because Aurobindo had a very > sharp mind and good judgement. Whereas Gandhi seemed naive regarding > Hitler and the more militant Muslims in India, Aurobindo shared no > such illusions. I have read about Aurobindo and find his ideas > interesting. However, reading his texts is a lot of work, because he > writes most profusely. Nevertheless, he is a major Indian spiritual > figure of the last century, who commands respect. > > This article also interests me, because I am inclined to share > Aurobindo's notion that we are destined for a more glorious and > spiritual 'body' in future lives after enlightenment, perhaps one > made of light instead of gross matter. I have difficulty seeing what > is wrong with an ideal paradisical 'world' with ideal beautiful > flowers, mountains, rivers, people, etc. Why can we not become > 'realized' and yet enjoy the beautiful spectacle? For sure, we must > give up identification with the illusion of the body, but may that > illusion not then become a delightful spectacle, the dance of Maya? > > Sometimes the pure Advaitin notion of complete liberation from the > phenomenal world seems very cold and abstract to me, if not > incomprehensible. Often I feel inclined to interpret Advaita as the > purification of how we see this or any world, not the elimination > altogether of a world. What would be left? Infinite black space? > Perhaps I really fail to understand something essential... > > Om! > Benjamin Namaste Ben, I think we can get that paradisical body on the astral. Shades of St Paul here with spiritual bodies etc. Aurobindo had been a liberation fighter so understood the mundane world very well. His integral yoga seems to wish to bring 'God', into descending into consciousness of all. He states it happened to him on the 23 or 24 of November 1923, I believe. He put it as Krishna descending on to the planet. Krishna being the Universal descending into the particular, in this case Aurobindo.......ONS.....Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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