Guest guest Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Namaste, I'll stick a few comments in this message with a deceptive title, so it doesn't look like I'm continuing anything. Madathilji, I like elephants too. And I see your point. The Yoga Vasistha is quite clear that the mind creates everything, not just pleasure and pain. I just read the story of Sakra. He was guarding his father while that latter was doing penance. Sakra started dreaming of a nymph, his mind went off to heaven, where it stayed for many eons in love with the nymph, then he fell to earth as a dew drop, was reborn as the son of a Brahman, reborn as a king, fisherman, etc. Meanwhile, the body guarding the father dried up, became a corpse full of worms, and so on. And there's more. Quite vivid stuff. The point of the story is that the mind creates the entire world of illusion. Ramji, I am not trying to do a 'coordinate transformation' on Advaita. For many months now, I have been sincerely trying to understand Advaita on its own terms. Somehow, a previous thread got me wondering again about the apparent multiplicity of jivas. Then I decided we should get back to Ananda's topic, so I put the words 'last message' in the title. Then it was moderator Gregji who said he felt he could continue the topic, since it was related to Sri Atmananda's teachings. So he is the guilty one! But in his latest message, he seems to have dropped it, even though I did have a response to his last thought. To see the world as illusion and consciousness only is hard enough. To see all jivas as one Consciousness is much harder. I wonder whether only a true jivanmukta can claim that he really understands this mystery. And this profound mystery is entirely from within an Advaitin perspective. This has nothing to do with other traditions or even coordinate transformations of Advaita. I claim that it remains profoundly mysterious and unfathomable, even if one reads only Shankara's works. Happy holidays to all! Hari Om! Benjamin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 At 01:01 PM 12/24/2003 -0500, Benjamin wrote: >Then it was moderator Gregji who said he felt he could continue the >topic, since it was related to Sri Atmananda's teachings. So he is >the guilty one! But in his latest message, he seems to have dropped >it, even though I did have a response to his last thought. Last post - that's right! Happy Holidays to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Namaste dear friend Benjamin: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. All of us try to understand the 'mystism' (beyond one's intellectual perspective) through our intellect. Consequently, each of us try to use a framework that we are comfortable with. No mathematician is disputing the brilliant mathematician's graphical representation and presentation. But his presentation will not change the general framework used by all mathematicians and text books. Your understanding and statement of 'idealism,' 'advaitic-idealism,' etc. may be quite valid with appropriate caveats and assumptions. It seems that you are quite comfortable with it and I don't see any problem. But at the same time, the general understanding of 'idealism' and advaita will remain the same as they are generally understood by the large majority. On this Chirstmas day, my gift to you to say that 'you are brilliant, sincere and very dedicated to what you believe.' Warmest regards, Ram Chandran advaitin, Benjamin <orion777ben> wrote: > > Namaste, > > it, even though I did have a response to his last thought. > > To see the world as illusion and consciousness only is hard enough. > To see all jivas as one Consciousness is much harder. I wonder > whether only a true jivanmukta can claim that he really understands > this mystery. And this profound mystery is entirely from within an > Advaitin perspective. This has nothing to do with other traditions > or even coordinate transformations of Advaita. I claim that it > remains profoundly mysterious and unfathomable, even if one reads > only Shankara's works. > > Happy holidays to all! > > Hari Om! > Benjamin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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