Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Namaste Hershji, I'm glad to see that you've decided to remain on in the group and I would like to declare that my remark about Aurobindo was made purely on aesthetic grounds without reference to the quality of the philosophy or thought within. The later discourses of my master Sathya Sai Baba I find dull fare enough, the earlier translations by Sri Kasturi who was a writer himself are more readable. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by M. I find superb artless art. I am also fond of the writing of Papa Ramdas in his series 'In Search of God'. Like you I read in James' Varieties and consider his clarity and his detachment admirable. What he says about the mystical experience of the individual being the individual's own and having no persuasive force for others I accept with the reservation that there are forms of mystical experience which are engendered by practices within a specific religious setting and thus have a quasi objective status. I was initiated in the classic Tantric way, at a distance, with mantra and kundalini arousal though I knew nothing of any of this at the time. Certain other experiences like 'holy tears' have a place and do not require a box of tissues and a hug. Best Wishes, Michael. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Namaste Michaelji Thanks for your kind remarks. I did understand what you had meant and I had myself said in an earlier post that Auro's style was "classical", difficult etc. I did not want to push or sell Auro at all. I understand now that my reaction was very passionate and emotional . This is simply because at one time for a very limited period I thought I had understood (just a glimpse) him. He had been out of my mind for a long time but this incident together with the research in (Auro's interpretation) Isa up. brought back the richness of his writing to me. I will no longer harp on him in the group. I fully intend to abide with the groups guidelines which is discussion of Sankaras philosophy. warm regards Hersh advaitin, ombhurbhuva <ombhurbhuva@e...> wrote: > > Namaste Hershji, > I'm glad to see that you've decided to remain on > in the group and I would like to declare > that my remark about Aurobindo > was made purely on aesthetic > grounds without reference to the > quality of the philosophy or thought within. > The later discourses of my master Sathya > Sai Baba I find dull fare enough, the earlier > translations by Sri Kasturi who was a writer himself are more > readable. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by M. I find superb > artless art. I am also fond of the writing of Papa Ramdas in his series > 'In Search of God'. > > Like you I read in James' Varieties and consider his clarity and his > detachment > admirable. What he says about the mystical experience of the individual > being the individual's own and having no persuasive force for others > I accept with the reservation that there are forms of mystical experience > which are engendered by practices within a specific religious > setting and thus have a quasi objective status. I was initiated in > the classic Tantric way, at a distance, with mantra and kundalini > arousal though I knew nothing of any of this at the time. Certain > other experiences like 'holy tears' have a place and do not require > a box of tissues and a hug. > > Best Wishes, > Michael. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2005 Report Share Posted December 9, 2005 hersh_b <hershbhasin wrote: Namaste Michaelji Thanks for your kind remarks. I did understand what you had meant and I had myself said in an earlier post that Auro's style was "classical", difficult etc. I did not want to push or sell Auro at all. Did William James have any specific philosophy which could be relatable to Advaita; or it is that he was an intellectual, having given a detailed account of mystic states from the experience of great Christian saints? Was William James a saint like Thomas Kempis? What was his world view? I hear much of him being quoted by many persons, swamy Vivekananda included; or I am not correct. Please give me some more account of the backgroung of William James. with warm regards Sankarraman Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2005 Report Share Posted December 9, 2005 James was trained in psychology and taught in physiology as well. In _Varieties_, it is pretty clear that James is writing as a spectator, not a participant. The book began as a series of lectures at Harvard. James was very open about his methods - he basically did a literature search through the writings of mostly Western monotheist mystics, and mostly Christians at that. You never get the sense that he verified the writers' experiences with experiences of his own. The experiences he seems to take as authoritatively religious are the very dramatic transformational experiences, and the resulting states of extreme dispassion or detachment. He would be more impressed by a thaumaturge or a siddha than by a sage. Besides _Varieties_, Wm. James wrote _The Will to Believe_ (1897), in which he encouraged the use of faith. Believing out of faith, passion, or from volition was justified James thought, when rational means were insufficient to decide the case. For example, in the issue of God's existence, some skeptics might say rationality can't decide, so let's withhold belief. Others might say we ought not to believe. James thought, like Pascal, that belief in God might make a good wager. In epistemology, James was a pragmatist. For the pragmatist, truth is provisional and process-like. The pragmatic meaning of a belief or statement lies in the practical consequences from its use or application. In _Pragmatism: A New Name for some Old Ways of Thinking_ (1907) James wrote: "A pragmatist . . .turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes and origins ... turns towards concreteness and adequacy, towards facts, towards action and towards power. " Some more info on James here: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/jame.htm http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/james.html http://www.bartleby.com/65/ja/JamesWi.html > > advaitin > [advaitin] On Behalf Of Ganesan Sankarraman > Friday, December 09, 2005 7:36 AM > advaitin > Re: Re: James' Varieties > > > > hersh_b <hershbhasin wrote: Namaste Michaelji > > Thanks for your kind remarks. I did understand what you had > meant and > I had myself said in an earlier post that Auro's style > was "classical", difficult etc. I did not want to push or sell Auro > at all. Did William James have any specific > philosophy which could be relatable to Advaita; or it is > that he was an intellectual, having given a detailed account > of mystic states from the experience of great Christian > saints? Was William James a saint like Thomas Kempis? What > was his world view? I hear much of him being quoted by many > persons, swamy Vivekananda included; or I am not correct. > Please give me some more account of the backgroung of William James. > with warm regards > Sankarraman > > > > > Shopping > Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Shopping > > > > > > > > ------------------------ Sponsor > --------------------~--> > Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with > hope and healing > http://us.click./lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/XUWolB/TM > ----------------------------- > ------~-> > > Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of > nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. > Advaitin List Archives available at: > http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ > To Post a message send an email to : advaitin > Messages Archived at: advaitin/messages > > > Links > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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