The BUDDHA as we see Him (words & Vedanta)

[Guest guest]

Dear Neilji,

 

Thank you for your informative reply.

 

I think you present a certain paradigm within which spiritual pursuit

is commonly understood, but one in which traditional Advaita Vedanta

does not fit in. I hope that I can correctly explain why I think

Advaita Vedanta does not fit into this framework.

 

The most crucial issue relates to how Advaita Vedanta understands the

use of words. Vedanta says that words cannot describe the Absolute,

however they can directly reveal the nature of the Absolute. When we

read Shankaracharya's commentary, it becomes clear that his main

concern is to explain how Vedanta works as a means of revealing

directly the nature of the Absolute.

 

Vedanta, as a spiritual pursuit, is basically about the convergence of

what one understands as the meaning of the teachings and immidiate,

ordinary experience. In the case of the teacher, the understood

meaning of the words and immidiate, ordinary experience is exactly the

same. We summarize the teaching as "That thou art." It can also be

summarized differently, for example "Everything is Brahman." These two

statements when used in an Advaitic sense have exactly the same

meaning, and their implied meaning coressponds exactly to immidiate

experience. To understand "That thou art," you have to understand what

"That" means, what "thou" means and in what sense they are connected

by "art." When one understands this with exact precision, this is the

same as liberation because to understand this statement precisely

implies that the meaning present in one's mind is exactly coincident

with immidiate experience.

 

Thus since "Tat tvam asi" understood precisely is exactly

correspondent with immidiate experience, to understand one is to

understand the other. The whole purpose of Vedantic sadhana is to make

our understanding of the teachings converge exactly with immidiate

experience. The immidiate experience side of the equation is not a

problem because its always immidiately available. So there is no

reason to alter experience or to have different experience - the only

thing we need to alter is the way we understand the meaning of "tat

tvam asi."

 

Thus the whole purpose of Vedanta is said to be to ascertain the

meaning of the words. It is an analysis into words because that is the

only side where there is anything to be done. Since these words are

always side-by-side with immidiate experience, as soon as the meaning

we understand clicks with immidiate experience, one is established in

the vision of the Self.

 

Once again, keep in mind that "tat tvam asi" is just one way to

summarize the teaching and it can be summarized in other ways. It also

does not need to be summarized. The implicit meaning of "tat tvam asi"

is equal to immidiate experience alone and this implicit meaning can

be created in all kinds of ways. The whole purpose of Vedanta is to

create this implicit with perfect precision using the can be conveyed

by words.

 

I believe there is a significant difference beween this position and

the general position common in both Buddhism and more Yogic

perspectives on Vedanta,

 

Regards,

 

Rishi.