Mind and sleep

[Guest guest]

Dear Ananda,

 

I cannot help but admire the heroic length and flawless prose of your

responses. Fortunately, I know that you enjoy writing, or I would

feel guilty indeed.

 

>Here, I would say that you are not being 'prosaic' enough, if by

>'prosaic' one means 'dispassionately analytical and skeptical'.

 

I love the graceful way that you use jiu-jitsu to gently deflect me

instead of karate to attack me head on. You did this before, when

you said I was not 'idealistic' enough, instead of flatly

contradicting me on idealism.

 

(For those who do not know, jiu-jitsu is a less violent form of the

martial arts, which aims to deflect your opponent's force so he

stumbles, whereas the more common and violent martial arts such a

karate try to kick the other guy's head off. I think that we should

follow Ananda's example and adopt the gentle approach here! :-) )

 

Basically, I agree with what you then said, namely, that Advaita and

nondualism in general seek to overcome ANY concept of the mind. As

you may have noticed, I have lately become quite enthusiastic about

the Yoga Vasistha, which states unequivocally that the source of all

dualism, ignorance and suffering is the mind, which must be utterly

transcended.

 

Also, it clearly states that both perceptions and conceptions arise

from the mind, which is interesting to those of us who tend to

distinguish sharply between sense-perceptions and thoughts. Really,

both are manifestations of the mind.

 

Without a doubt, the essence of liberation and enlightenment is to

somehow free ourselves from the bondage of the mind. Many, many

scriptures from both the Advaitin and Buddhist traditions say this.

(A prime example of the latter is almost anything from the Zen

tradition, which constantly speaks of 'no-mind'.) This means freeing

ourselves form all beliefs, presuppositions, partiality,

discriminations, preferences, aversions, and so forth. In a word,

from all conceptualization and objectification.

 

So to the extent that 'idealism' is still some kind of a mental

construction, i.e. some kind of a philosophy, you are absolutely

right that it is only tentative. I was merely using 'idealism' and

'monistic idealism' as convenient labels for 'consciousness only', to

distinguish it from such philosophical views as materialism. But if

even this notion retains some trace of conceptualization, then it

must be transcended and dissolved. Without a doubt this is the crux

of Advaita and of nondual traditions in general. And mind is

inseparable from ego...

 

In the midst of all this high-flying talk, let me remind readers of

what a startling assertion Advaita makes. It says that if we simply

silence the discerning, discriminating, conceptualizing and

objectifying mind, then all suffering will vanish, to be replaced by

the purest bliss of infinite consciousness. We often tend to forget

this in the midst of pedantic discussions. This is truly a most

remarkable claim, and one that should be 'scientifically verifiable'

in the strictest sense of the term.

 

This also means that we should consider the mind as some kind of

hideous cosmic cobra, more awesome and frightening that anything in

Hindu mythology. Of course, this leads us right back to snake and

rope!

 

However, we must still be prepared to answer those 'common-sense'

skeptics who say that abandoning the mind is tantamount to turning

into an idiot or a vegetable. I know that the mind can still

function appropriately as a mere tool, even while in the samadhi

state. My swamiji assures me that a jivanmukta can still do

mathematics; in fact, his mathematics will be much better. So trying

to understand how to use mind as a mere tool while remaining free

from all its presuppositions and partiality is perhaps an interesting

sadhana in its own right! Can ProfVK, a professional mathematician,

enlighten us? :-)

 

Your remarks on deep sleep are also quite satisfactory to me. That

state is always present though obscured by the mind. The issue of

remembering deep sleep is irrelevant, since memory is only of the

mind. Yes, this answer will do very well. My, we are making

progress indeed! Thank you.

 

Oh, and I almost forgot, I love your quotes from Tennyson and other

poets. I am glad that you can appreciate what is good in English

culture, instead of simply rejecting everything associated with the

hated imperialists. But then, you are Advaitin, without gripes or

prejudices... The Muslims also have beautiful poetry.

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

benjamin guru ji,

yes, the muslims too have beautiful poetry .

you know and i know. it is they who dont know that.

a.v.krshnan.

 

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