Guest guest Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Hi Lema (? - you didn't sign your post), Welcome to the list. Yes, I don't remember what brought me to it but I found T. S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' around 1972, years before I discovered Advaita. I read and re-read them, practically learning them by heart. Much later, after finding out about advaita, I found more and more of this 'hidden' in the poems. Later still I found that he had studied Sanskrit, published an early Bhagavad Gita version, read F. H. Bradley for his thesis etc. I would probably have written a book on 'Advaita in Four Quartets' but he is still in copyright. : - ( Best wishes, Dennis advaitin [advaitin ] On Behalf Of lema0000 01 March 2008 05:14 advaitin Non-Advaita introduction to Advaita But, many years later, after I discovered Advaita through other means, I was reminded of it. And once I'd learned of Advaita, I recognized the (partial) Advaita nature in it. Has anyone else found some " proto-Advaita " that (even indirectly) led them to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 > found T. S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' around 1972, years before I discovered Advaita. I read and re-read them, practically learning them by heart. :-) i also love the four quartets, have read them over and over, and discovered them about the same time. in fact i wrote this piece for three voices using passages from the quartets: www.rachmiel.org/at_the_still_point_of_the_turning_world.mp3 i especially like the protracted litany like ending, brings me back to catholic masses with frankincense and latin. you should listen. :-) :-) rachMiel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Namaste Shri Lema, If non-dual truth is taken to be universal, it must be found in all traditions, wherever anyone enquires to the depth of knowing at the centre of the heart. Here is another example in John Masefield's Sonnet 44: O little self, within whose smallness lies All that man was, and is, and will become, Atom unseen that comprehends the skies And tells the tracks by which the planets roam; That, without moving, knows the joys of wings, The tiger's strength, the eagle's secrecy, And in the hovel can consort with kings, Or clothe a God with his own mystery. O with what darkness do we cloak thy light, What dusty folly gather thee for food, Thou who alone art knowledge and delight, The heavenly bread, the beautiful, the good. O living self, O God, O morning star, Give us thy light, forgive us what we are. In the Jewish tradition, non-duality may be found in the 'God of Moses', whose sacred name 'Yahweh' is interpreted as 'I am that I am'. Among the Ancient Greeks, Parmenides, Socrates and Plotinus may be understood as non-dualists. In the Christian tradition, the beginning of St John's Gospel may be taken as non-dualistic; and Saint Augustine is greatly influenced by Plotinus's non-dualism, very early in the history of the Roman Catholic church. Ananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Thank you, all. I appreciate your welcomes. Dennis Waite wrote: > I don't remember what brought me to it but I found T. S. Eliot's > 'Four Quartets' around 1972, years before I discovered Advaita. > I read and re-read them, practically learning them by heart. Much > later, after finding out about advaita, I found more and more of > this 'hidden' in the poems. Thank you for your reply. Naturally advaita books are my main focus (such as your The_Book_of_One and Back_to_the_Truth which I've found very useful), but it's still enjoyable to find advaita in surprising places. The Wikipedia article on " Four Quartets " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets) looks useful, and it links to them online. Ananda Wood wrote: > If non-dual truth is taken to be universal, it must be found in > all traditions, wherever anyone enquires to the depth of knowing > at the centre of the heart. > > Here is another example in John Masefield's Sonnet 44 > ... > In the Jewish tradition, non-duality may be found in the 'God of > Moses', whose sacred name 'Yahweh' is interpreted as 'I am that I > am'. ... In the Christian tradition, the beginning of St John's > Gospel may be taken as non-dualistic; and Saint Augustine is > greatly influenced by Plotinus's non-dualism Thank you for that. I agree with you after only recently becoming aware of the mystical tradition within all world religions and how similar they are (despite the outer forms of the religions being so different). Kuntimaddi Sadananda wrote: > your poem reminded me Tagor's Gitanjali. I use that for meditation. > I grew up as vishisTaadvaitin - rejected a personified form of God > that it teaches - bumped into JK philosophy - got thorrowly > confused - threw all the books and became an agnostic - with > scientist arrogance added to it - forced to attend Swami > Chinmayanandaji class on one sunday evening thrity years ago > becuase of my wife (I thought I may not find dinner on the table > otherwise) - enjoyed the lecures so much that I was ready the > next day ... God works mysterious ways. I had heard of Rabindranath Tagore but have never read any of his works. Thank you for giving me a place to start - I found that work at http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/gitanjali.html. And thank you for your personal story; it's good to know that others went through strange wandering to arrive here as I did. Len Mathers (Lema) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 advaitin , " lema0000 " <lema0000 wrote: > Dear Friends, One may find much advaitic message and the essence of the upanishads in Rabindranath Tagore 's work: " Sadhana " .This should beread by spiritual seekers and compared with Upanishads/the Gita since this work seems to be the personal statement by th epoet on these works. In Sai Smaran, N K Srinivasan > Thank you, all. I appreciate your welcomes. > > Dennis Waite wrote: > > I don't remember what brought me to it but I found T. S. Eliot's > > 'Four Quartets' around 1972, years before I discovered Advaita. > > I read and re-read them, practically learning them by heart. Much > > later, after finding out about advaita, I found more and more of > > this 'hidden' in the poems. > > Thank you for your reply. Naturally advaita books are my main focus > (such as your The_Book_of_One and Back_to_the_Truth which I've found > very useful), but it's still enjoyable to find advaita in surprising > places. The Wikipedia article on " Four Quartets " > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets) looks useful, and it > links to them online. > > > Ananda Wood wrote: > > If non-dual truth is taken to be universal, it must be found in > > all traditions, wherever anyone enquires to the depth of knowing > > at the centre of the heart. > > > > Here is another example in John Masefield's Sonnet 44 > > ... > > In the Jewish tradition, non-duality may be found in the 'God of > > Moses', whose sacred name 'Yahweh' is interpreted as 'I am that I > > am'. ... In the Christian tradition, the beginning of St John's > > Gospel may be taken as non-dualistic; and Saint Augustine is > > greatly influenced by Plotinus's non-dualism > > Thank you for that. I agree with you after only recently becoming > aware of the mystical tradition within all world religions and how > similar they are (despite the outer forms of the religions being so > different). > > > Kuntimaddi Sadananda wrote: > > your poem reminded me Tagor's Gitanjali. I use that for meditation. > > I grew up as vishisTaadvaitin - rejected a personified form of God > > that it teaches - bumped into JK philosophy - got thorrowly > > confused - threw all the books and became an agnostic - with > > scientist arrogance added to it - forced to attend Swami > > Chinmayanandaji class on one sunday evening thrity years ago > > becuase of my wife (I thought I may not find dinner on the table > > otherwise) - enjoyed the lecures so much that I was ready the > > next day ... God works mysterious ways. > > I had heard of Rabindranath Tagore but have never read any of his > works. Thank you for giving me a place to start - I found that work > at http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/gitanjali.html. And thank you for > your personal story; it's good to know that others went through > strange wandering to arrive here as I did. > > > Len Mathers (Lema) > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Hi rachMiel, I finally got around to listening to your 'concise version' of the Four Quartets. Brilliant! I really enjoyed it and will be putting it onto CD so I can listen to it on the hi-fi. The first half reminded me very much of the Eumenides excerpts from Family Reunion (another favorite, although I don't get to listen to it very often). I liked the folk-style 'Time and the Bell' and then the metamorphosis into, as you say, the litany. All very inspired and mesmerizing! Thanks. Best wishes, Dennis advaitin [advaitin ] On Behalf Of rachmiel 01 March 2008 17:45 advaitin Re: Non-Advaita introduction to Advaita > found T. S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' around 1972, years before I discovered Advaita. I read and re-read them, practically learning them by heart. :-) i also love the four quartets, have read them over and over, and discovered them about the same time. in fact i wrote this piece for three voices using passages from the quartets: www.rachmiel.org/at_the_still_point_of_the_turning_world.mp3 i especially like the protracted litany like ending, brings me back to catholic masses with frankincense and latin. you should listen. :-) :-) rachMiel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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