from the unreal to the real

[Guest guest]

hariH OM!

 

although the mahavakya, TAT TVAM ASI, is automatic, the typical

sadhak and even pakva THINKS and BELIEVES he/she doesn't LIVE so(!),

because he's yet unwittingly a victim of the ego-Mind's perpetual

habit of judging its host (i.e. the jivatman or atma-buddhi-manas) to

be something OTHER than the ineffable brahman-Self. this is the

historic human nemesis...common product of sociological conditioning,

resulting in the prevalence of a tenuous, illogical, yet utterly

convincing alienation from one's intrinsic/natural state.

 

nevertheless, regardless of how deep the infliction is embedded in

one's frontal awareness, the act of freeing oneself from its clutches

amounts to achieving nothing more sophisticated than a simple change

in attitude...aspiration of the jnanamarga. tantamount to flipping

a switch...a switch of insight that's the result of a fundamental

reordering of ideological priorities. in other words, since one's

attitude is the product of a collection of thoughts (which have

therefrom created a corresponding collection of emotions--resolving

into a mileau of experience in the Heart), the power to change [such

attitude] can rest on a single revelatory insight or event of

understanding: that one's essence is *not* the product of the Mind,

whose primary function is to categorize and judge. (an important

caveat to note, however: it's rather the other way around: one's Mind-

-an *indispensibly* vital TOOL--is the product of one's Essence.

thus the Mind is the servant of the jivatma, not its master! but

first things first...)

 

the phenomenon of the soul's manifestation into Life requires the

matrix of Relativity to be functional. however, [its] systemic

polarity also comes with a price: in order to be operable, Relativity

demands a critical sacrifice of the observing subject which, if put

in its rightful context, doesn't need to be the handicap it otherwise

inevitably becomes [to the observing subject].

 

moksha is the result of freeing oneself from the trap of Relativity's

unavoidable negative component--which has profoundly conditioned the

ego-Mind to define and thus delimit its host's [jivatman's] state of

Being.

 

therefore, now, getting down to the basics of all basics by

addressing the question of all questions:

 

who am i?

 

the first and most important phase of answering this question lies

beyond all conceivable answers available to the mind. this

answerless answer delivers moksha.

 

however, to my understanding, there is a second phase involved,

whereby once the first is secured, [the second] is relatively equally

important. because it addresses the riddle of why we're here, as

well as why we became manifest. (this latter suggests that Life is

not merely a test or lesson to teach us--as individual monadic

entities--to never again make the " idiotic " mistake of coming

into " physical " being or manifestation. for such a conception

critically derides and trivializes the ontological essence of brahman

Itself! for, how can we imagine that something so elaborately useless

could emanate from something so consummately aesthetic?!)

 

the second phase [this time entailing a relative answer] is therefore

as follows:

 

although i am essentially ineffable and inscrutable (nirguna

brahman), I AM also a cyclical manifestation of a divine ego-Mind

reference point (brahman manifest or saguna brahman [which is not

merely ishvara, but the entirety of sohamidam (isvara, jivatman, and

jagat)], that was never born and will never die.

 

this is the result of the *desire* of brahman (desire is inherent in

seed form in nirguna brahman...thus so in the night of brahman or

pralaya sthithi), as revealed in the early passages of the rig veda

( " Desire the primal seed and germ of spirit " ). this is an

ontological imperative, providing meaning and purpose to why maya

itself exists at all!

 

what is not ordinarily understood is that [this] recurring or

reincarnating divine jiva possesses an eternal, [and yet] *vital*

flaw. (vital because it is part and parcel of the mystery of Being;

vital because without it, beauty, wonder, and even love couldn't

exist! if there were such a thing as perfect, absolute knowledge

(i.e. omniscience), life's inspirational power of wonder would cease

to exist.)

 

this is so because it is impossible for the concept of perfection to

exist within the realm of awareness, which--regardless of the

advanced degree of attenuation of the separative jiva--by definition

requires a subject and object to exist in relativity (the latter

being the *inescapable* foundational matrix of manifest Life).

 

the jiva must come to terms with its inherent flaw AFTER it

establishes its connection to its source (i.e. representing the

phase AFTER jivanmuktha!).

 

in previous posts i alluded to what i would now like to refer to as

an " existential fractal theory, " being thus:

 

there is a universal Flaw that threads the entirety of existence,

both Manifest *as well as* Unmanifest, and that once moksha is

achieved, the muktha's mission is to come to terms with this Flaw,

both 1. within himself [*as* the Self or paramatman-equivalent-to-

parabrahman]; 2. within his " jiva-point of reference " or ego-Mind,

and 3. within the world [or brahman's lila]. these three are

collectively sohamidam.

 

this can be proved by virtue of the fact that--as far as we can tell,

based on information gleaned via history's evidence--there has not

ever been a being incarnate in human form who was perfect. also:

that what is Manifest [saguna brahman] contains the totality of that

which it's been created from, viz the Unmanifest [nirguna brahman].

(as such, " as above, so below, " is equally true in its obverse: " as

below, so above. " )

 

we can look at our modern sages and see this is so: ramana,

ramakrishna, jesus, buddha... all had [inevitably] characteristic

human flaws.

 

my purpose for raising this point is the fact that, in large part,

individuals consciously or subconsciously, seamlessly/continuously

judge themselves to be as yet unenlightened because they're innately

discouraged by their imperfections, arriving at the stark conclusion

that they are trapped in and by something that has a separate reality

from brahman.

 

this habit needs to be broken. and it can be accomplished by a

single insight, in any given moment of time.

 

namaste,

frank

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna, Namaskarams,

 

a good post, written well.yet if sages like ramana.ramakrishna.jesus,

buddha...all had characteristic flaws how can simple folks like me can

accomplish by a single insight, in any given moment of time.i pray

that i accomplish that.

 

baskaran

 

advaitin , " frank maiello " <egodust wrote:

 

> " we can look at our modern sages and see this is so: ramana,

> ramakrishna, jesus, buddha... all had [inevitably] characteristic

> human flaws.

>

> my purpose for raising this point is the fact that, in large part,

> individuals consciously or subconsciously, seamlessly/continuously

> judge themselves to be as yet unenlightened because they're innately

> discouraged by their imperfections, arriving at the stark conclusion

> that they are trapped in and by something that has a separate reality

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " baskaran42 " <baskaran42 wrote:

>

> if sages like ramana.ramakrishna.jesus,

> buddha...all had characteristic flaws how can simple folks like me

can

> accomplish by a single insight, in any given moment of time.i pray

> that i accomplish that.

>

> baskaran

 

hariH OM! baskaran-ji,

 

i should have been more precise about the degrees of the flaws

exhibited by the sages i mentioned. their personas were as close to

being perfected as a human can get, but still not perfect in the

absolute sense of the word.

 

as far as people who believe they're yet so far removed from

achieving a breakthrough insight into their true nature, as you have

intimated regarding your own position on the so-called " path of

return, " i would say that it will as yet take some time before you or

they can attain such " by a single insight, in any given moment of

time. " although, even this is not *impossible*; just not likely.

however, the fact that you are studying advaita vedanta, as well as

being a member of this forum, are factors in of themselves conferring

a great boon! your good karma has availed for you a great

opportunity. you CAN take advantage of it on one hand by simply

recognizing the basics of the jnana marga, which, afterall are not as

complicated as they can sometimes appear, especially when mulled over

excessively (likened to looking directly at a feint star, if you

relax and drift askanse it can be seen, however when you try hard to

see it directly, it disappears!)

 

what are the basics?: that you are NOT the mind and its coercive

dictates; that there isn't a single thread of a vibration coursing

through your being that's anything other than brahman Itself; and on

the other hand by having the faith that the teachings can spark the

vital change in your outlook or attitude. despite that such outlook

has been meticulously conditioned over lifetimes by a stubborn and

powerful river of misleading thoughts, yet those thoughts are based

on virtually *nothing*. their foundation is unreal. like a hare's

horn or a barren woman's son. sri ramana said, the right word to a

ripe soul can transmute its ignorance as quick as a spark igniting a

gas-drenched mountain of cotton.

 

i was specifically addressing the many advanced sadhus (pakvas) in

our forum. i believe a number already know and acknowledge such

within themselves; however i believe a greater number, by virtue of

their dialog, still think they're still so far from attaining

moksha. the thinnest of all possible veils is blocking them simply

because they've accumulated a far too lofty definition of a jnani.

[if ever the expression was apropos], " they're busy making mountains

out of molehills. "

 

namaste,

frank