"THE PLACE OF PRACTICE IN ADVAITA-VEDANTA"

[Guest guest]

At 06:17 AM 9/2/2004 +0000, Madathil Rajendran Nair wrote:

>Namaste Gregji.

>

>The neos are also practising, Gregji! Otherwise, why all their

>discussion groups and interminable talk. They are doing satsangh and

>that is a sort of practice.

>

>Practice goes with thinking. The two cannot be separated. The neo

>brainstormers are actually practising when they write volumes and

>volumes on their direct approach. How can they then escape

>the 'identification' apprehended in the traditional?

 

===Namaste Madathil,

 

I agree with you 100%, the neos cannot avoid practice, regardless that they view

their activities as non-practice. Why else do they gather, talk, and read -

using the same ideas and phrases again and again and again and again?

 

--Greg

[Guest guest]

There seems to be a conspicuous lack of posts on this topic so far. On the

face of it, this may seem strange since one might have thought that we are

all practising and would be able to share our techniques and philosophies. I

wonder if it simply that people who are drawn to groups such as this are

those who are *not* interested in practice but rather in reading and

discussing and effectively maintaining the whole enterprise at the level of

the intellect. Those who ardently pursue a clear methodology of practice

simply are not interested in talking about it and consequently do not belong

to Internet discussion groups. Just a theory. Would be interesting to hear

what others think about this.

 

Of course, there is the other point of view that the only effective practice

is j~nAna and other techniques only serve as preparation for this. Hearing

what others say on the group, reflecting and then meditating on this would

then itself be the primary practice. But then comments of the members are

not shruti! (And this is not to mention at all the neo-Advaitin view that

'nothing can lead no one to nowhere'!)

 

Having made these deliberately provocative suggestions, I'll speak briefly

of my own view. This is that practices such as those of karma yoga seem to

be instrumental in the beginning to awakening one to the truths of which

Advaita speaks. Thus, I remember being given the practice of remembering

that 'I am not the body'. This was over thirty years ago. I remember how,

one evening I was walking home from the group meeting late at night and it

was absolutely freezing. So cold was I that my teeth were literally

chattering. The thought of the practice arose and I repeated this phrase to

myself mentally. The effect was amazing. My whole body relaxed. Instead of

walking as quickly as I could with all of my muscles tense, my pace slowed

right down. I simply felt the icy cold wind on my face without interpreting

this as 'I' am cold and the rest of the walk home was entirely pleasurable.

 

And there were similar events later. But it has seemed in more recent years

(I tell myself) that there is no longer the need for any of this. It is

simply known that I am not the body etc. and there is no purpose to be

served by practices of this sort. (Have I turned into a neo?) It seems to

confirm the idea that practices of this kind are preparation to stimulate

the search for knowledge. It may also confirm the tendency of the ego to say

'I know all of this already'!

 

Just a few thoughts to get things moving.

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis