Guest guest Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 HARI AUM Shree Madathil Nairji has kindly let me post his REVISED version of his 'Vision Statement on 'Advaita'. Hope the chance to read it again is appreciated. Regards Balagopal NARAYANA NARAYANA NARAYANA A VISION STATEMENT ON ADVAITA Madathil Rajendran Nair This is my statement of vision on Advaita. It is my touchstone. I do rub on it any statements that I come across in order to ascertain their acceptability or otherwise. 1. Advaita boils down to the question " Who am I? " and the answer to it. 2. It doesn't primarily concern " Who are we or who are they? " or " What are we or what are they? " . 3. When the first question is answered, Advaita assures, the other questions will be automatically answered. 4. The answer to the " Who am I? " question is " I am Brahman " . 5. Brahman is sat-chit-Ananda – roughly translated as Existence (Immortality) , Consciousness / Knowledge and Fullness (without wants) 6. Advaita also says that everything is Brahman. It then means that I am everything. 7. Realizing that I am everything is, therefore, self-realization – the answer to the " Who am I question " . 8. This means that, in self-realization, an erstwhile individual entity `goes' whole into fullness without duality which it unknowingly was even before. Since BMI is the seat of individuality, the `transformation' of the individual entity into universal fullness connotes transcendence of BMI - a full blossoming of the individual mind into universal consciousness. 9. Thus, if individual mind is considered as reflected consciousness, the realized mind is pure Consciousness. There is nothing outside it. 10. That Consciousness, by the definition above, is both Immortality and Fullness. 11. Thus, with self-realization, the following knowledge should occur:  I am Immortality (no thought of birth and death)  I am all Knowledge (There is nothing more to know.)  I am Fullness (I am everything and I have no wants.) 12. This cannot be an understanding as understanding is duality-ridden with subject-object involvement. THIS IS JUST ME THROUGH AND THROUGH. That is self-realization – a blossoming forth of the erstwhile self-evident " I " in me into the full bloom of Wholeness with which the erstwhile individuality vanishes without a trace. That Consciousness has nothing outside or inside it to transact with. 13. The question is asked: " What then really happens to the self-realized one? " A logical mind wouldn't bother to answer this. There is no self-realized *one*. He should be known as a ONE without the scope for any two. There are no more any happenings in or to that ONE. He is everything, everywhere, all the time without any tinge of duality, spatiality and temporality. 14. Then, they ask: " What happens to his body? " . Well, as long as we consider him as a self-realized *one* among us, he needs to have a body and protect it against bumping into a pillar (someone recently expressed this worry!). This applies to his mind also. People think that he needs it to prepare his lecture to his disciples and also watch and enjoy the Lord's leela taking place all around him. The self-realized one's body and mind are simply the botheration of the not-self-realized-ones. We can have any amount of conjecture on these issues and also find many an explanation in scriptures. The question to be asked is if that is the purpose of the last of the puruShArtthAs, which is mokSha. 15. Those asking the above question forget that they can never " know " a self-realized one because he is verily Brahman. 16. The world is Brahman constantly revealing as Brahman. The whole purpose of our existence is to submerge in the light of that revelation and dissolve our individuality in that ocean of Wholeness. 17. That cannot happen unless the desire-ridden mind stops hankering after objects of enjoyment and dissolves its cellular and nuclear individuality in the universal cytoplasm. 18. Brahman, our real nature, is always beckoning. We don't heed the call in our frenetic perambulations. To those who heed, men of wisdom emerge from nowhere to hold their hands and help them to the portals of their own glory. You can call them by any name: jnAni, brahmaniShta, avadhUta, avatAra – anything. It doesn't matter. They are the Grace of Brahman manifesting in the world of the *seeker* and that is very much in the nature of our phenomenal. 19. To enquire into the mechanics of such benevolent manifestation (Questions like: “Does it have a mind?â€, “Does it need a body?†etc.) is a waste of time when our primary objective is to answer the call of Brahman – our Immortality. It is just enough to understand that there is a lot of Grace in the phenomenal and it can come to our rescue at every turn in any form. 20. Verses like Bhagavad Geetha 4.34, 5.7 and 5.8 are assurances to this effect which attempt to describe this Grace existing amidst us. These are descriptions in the phenomenal. It is the phenomenal that clamours for unending explanations and interpretations. I don't know if I have deviated from Adi Shankara's position. I confess I haven't read him fully yet and, even if I do, which is just impossible, I don't think I will understand him fully. Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger./invite/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hare Krishna, 4.34tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevayaupadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissivelyAnd render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto youBecause they have seen the truth. 5.7yoga-yukto visuddhatma vijitatma jitendriyahsarva-bhutatma-bhutatma kurvann api na lipyate One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, Who controls his mind and senses, Is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled. 5.8 - 5.9naiva kincit karomiti yukto manyeta tattva-vitpasyan srnvan sprsan jighrann asnan gacchan svapan svasanpralapan visrjan grhnann unmisan nimisann api indriyanindriyarthesu vartantan iti dharayan A person in divine conciousness, Although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing Always know within himself that he does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or opening and closing his eyes, He always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them. Krishna, Bhagavad Gita As It Is.--- On Wed, 1/14/09, balagopal ramakrishnan <rbalpal wrote:balagopal ramakrishnan <rbalpal[Guruvayur] Revised version- Advaita"gvr" <guruvayur >Cc: "Madathil Rajendran Nair" <madathilnairWednesday, January 14, 2009, 7:05 PM HARI AUM Shree Madathil Nairji has kindly let me post his REVISED version of his 'Vision Statement on 'Advaita'. Hope the chance to read it again is appreciated. Regards Balagopal NARAYANA NARAYANA NARAYANA A VISION STATEMENT ON ADVAITA Madathil Rajendran Nair This is my statement of vision on Advaita. It is my touchstone. I do rub on it any statements that I come across in order to ascertain their acceptability or otherwise. 1. Advaita boils down to the question "Who am I?" and the answer to it. 2. It doesn't primarily concern "Who are we or who are they?" or "What are we or what are they?". 3. When the first question is answered, Advaita assures, the other questions will be automatically answered. 4. The answer to the "Who am I?" question is "I am Brahman". 5. Brahman is sat-chit-Ananda – roughly translated as Existence (Immortality) , Consciousness / Knowledge and Fullness (without wants) 6. Advaita also says that everything is Brahman. It then means that I am everything. 7. Realizing that I am everything is, therefore, self-realization – the answer to the "Who am I question". 8. This means that, in self-realization, an erstwhile individual entity `goes' whole into fullness without duality which it unknowingly was even before. Since BMI is the seat of individuality, the `transformation' of the individual entity into universal fullness connotes transcendence of BMI - a full blossoming of the individual mind into universal consciousness. 9. Thus, if individual mind is considered as reflected consciousness, the realized mind is pure Consciousness. There is nothing outside it. 10. That Consciousness, by the definition above, is both Immortality and Fullness. 11. Thus, with self-realization, the following knowledge should occur:  I am Immortality (no thought of birth and death)  I am all Knowledge (There is nothing more to know.)  I am Fullness (I am everything and I have no wants.) 12. This cannot be an understanding as understanding is duality-ridden with subject-object involvement. THIS IS JUST ME THROUGH AND THROUGH. That is self-realization – a blossoming forth of the erstwhile self-evident "I" in me into the full bloom of Wholeness with which the erstwhile individuality vanishes without a trace. That Consciousness has nothing outside or inside it to transact with. 13. The question is asked: "What then really happens to the self-realized one?" A logical mind wouldn't bother to answer this. There is no self-realized *one*. He should be known as a ONE without the scope for any two. There are no more any happenings in or to that ONE. He is everything, everywhere, all the time without any tinge of duality, spatiality and temporality. 14. Then, they ask: "What happens to his body?". Well, as long as we consider him as a self-realized *one* among us, he needs to have a body and protect it against bumping into a pillar (someone recently expressed this worry!). This applies to his mind also. People think that he needs it to prepare his lecture to his disciples and also watch and enjoy the Lord's leela taking place all around him. The self-realized one's body and mind are simply the botheration of the not-self-realized- ones. We can have any amount of conjecture on these issues and also find many an explanation in scriptures. The question to be asked is if that is the purpose of the last of the puruShArtthAs, which is mokSha. 15. Those asking the above question forget that they can never "know" a self-realized one because he is verily Brahman. 16. The world is Brahman constantly revealing as Brahman. The whole purpose of our existence is to submerge in the light of that revelation and dissolve our individuality in that ocean of Wholeness. 17. That cannot happen unless the desire-ridden mind stops hankering after objects of enjoyment and dissolves its cellular and nuclear individuality in the universal cytoplasm. 18. Brahman, our real nature, is always beckoning. We don't heed the call in our frenetic perambulations. To those who heed, men of wisdom emerge from nowhere to hold their hands and help them to the portals of their own glory. You can call them by any name: jnAni, brahmaniShta, avadhUta, avatAra – anything. It doesn't matter. They are the Grace of Brahman manifesting in the world of the *seeker* and that is very much in the nature of our phenomenal. 19. To enquire into the mechanics of such benevolent manifestation (Questions like: “Does it have a mind?â€, “Does it need a body?†etc.) is a waste of time when our primary objective is to answer the call of Brahman – our Immortality. It is just enough to understand that there is a lot of Grace in the phenomenal and it can come to our rescue at every turn in any form. 20. Verses like Bhagavad Geetha 4.34, 5.7 and 5.8 are assurances to this effect which attempt to describe this Grace existing amidst us. These are descriptions in the phenomenal. It is the phenomenal that clamours for unending explanations and interpretations. I don't know if I have deviated from Adi Shankara's position. I confess I haven't read him fully yet and, even if I do, which is just impossible, I don't think I will understand him fully. Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger. / invite/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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