Re. SAD VIDYA Supplement V. 39

[Guest guest]

Dear Anu ,

 

I have just found Prof. Mahadevan's* Commentary on this penultimate verse of the

Supplement to Sad

Vidya. 39.In his book,Ramana Maharshi and His Philosophy of Existence which

contains the only

commentary on the Supplement he writes:-

 

"There is the danger of understanding the meaning of Advaita wrongly. When it is

said 'All is

One',

You Are That'etc. one may superficially interpret these statements to mean that

A,B,C,D, etc. are

one.Obviously,if there are A,B,C, and D as distinct entities,they cannot be

one.Advaita does not

teach that these distincts are one,nor that they should be reduced to one.In the

Advaita

experience there is no plurality at all.And so, it is not the express sense of

the Advaita

staements that should be taken as what they teach, but their implied meaning.

 

The story is told of a student who attempted to practice non-duality as against

an elephant . His

teacher taught him that 'all is Brahman'.As he was walking along a road he saw

an elephant

coming.The mahaut who was seated on the elephant asked the student to get out of

the elephant's

way. But the student would not listen. Why should he leave the middle of the

road, he thought;

after all he was Brahman ,and the elephant too was Brahman; and how could

Brahman harm Brahman? As

he was musing in this manner, the elephant caught hold of him with its trunk and

threw him

aside.With his body mangled, he went to his teacher and complained that the

teaching he had

received did not work.The teacher remarked :"when Brahman in the form of the

mahat asked you to

move away,why did you not listen to him?"

 

There can be no action without duality. Behaviour is possible only when there is

the cognition of

duality. While cognizing duality, to argue that there is no difference between

good and evil, high

and low, preceptor and pupil, is not to know the meaning of Advaita.The pupil ,

so long as he is a

pupil and has the body-consciousness , should show the highest reverence to his

master."

 

All Love, in His Grace, Alan

 

*A long standing devotee of the Maharshi and Prof. of Advanced Philosophy Univ.

of Madras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

I read this story in 'The Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna" by M

 

Thanks for reminding me on Ramakrishna Paramahamasa teachings.

 

With Love,

ChandruAlan Jacobs <alanadamsjacobs (AT) (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

Dear Anu ,I have just found Prof. Mahadevan's* Commentary on this penultimate

verse of the Supplement to SadVidya. 39.In his book,Ramana Maharshi and His

Philosophy of Existence which contains the onlycommentary on the Supplement he

writes:-"There is the danger of understanding the meaning of Advaita wrongly.

When it is said 'All isOne',You Are That'etc. one may superficially interpret

these statements to mean that A,B,C,D, etc. areone.Obviously,if there are

A,B,C, and D as distinct entities,they cannot be one.Advaita does notteach that

these distincts are one,nor that they should be reduced to one.In the

Advaitaexperience there is no plurality at all.And so, it is not the express

sense of the Advaitastaements that should be taken as what they teach, but

their implied meaning.The story is told of a student who attempted

to practice non-duality as against an elephant . Histeacher taught him that 'all

is Brahman'.As he was walking along a road he saw an elephantcoming.The mahaut

who was seated on the elephant asked the student to get out of the

elephant'sway. But the student would not listen. Why should he leave the middle

of the road, he thought;after all he was Brahman ,and the elephant too was

Brahman; and how could Brahman harm Brahman? Ashe was musing in this manner,

the elephant caught hold of him with its trunk and threw himaside.With his body

mangled, he went to his teacher and complained that the teaching he hadreceived

did not work.The teacher remarked :"when Brahman in the form of the mahat asked

you tomove away,why did you not listen to him?"There can be no action without

duality. Behaviour is possible only when there is the cognition ofduality.

While cognizing duality, to argue that there is no difference between good and

evil, highand low,

preceptor and pupil, is not to know the meaning of Advaita.The pupil , so long

as he is apupil and has the body-consciousness , should show the highest

reverence to his master."All Love, in His Grace, Alan *A long standing devotee

of the Maharshi and Prof. of Advanced Philosophy Univ. of Madras.

__________

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