Non-Advaita introduction to Advaita

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List Moderators' Note: We take this opportunity to welcome you to the list and

thanks for your insights to why you want to choose advaita. We look forward to

your participation and we encourage members to provide their answers to Lema's

question.

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Greetings all,

 

I'm a new member here, though I've read much here that's been helpful.

Thank you.

 

I'd like to ask the group if there were any non-Advaita source that

may have led then to Advaita, even if indirectly.

 

In my case, back in high school after becoming an atheist (I was

raised a Christian, but rejected it), I read some Alexander Pope (from

his " An Essay on Man " ):

 

All are but parts of one stupendous Whole,

Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;

That changed thro' all, and yet in all the same,

Great in the earth as in th'ethereal frame,

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees;

Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,

Spreads undivided, operates unspent;

Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,

As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;

As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,

As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns.

To him no high, no low, no great, no small;

He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all!

 

Cease, then, nor Order imperfection name;

Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.

Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree

Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee.

Submit: in this or any other sphere,

Secure to be as bless'd as thou canst bear;

Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,

Or in the natal or the mortal hour.

All Nature is but Art unknown to thee;

All chance direction, which thou canst not see;

All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good:

And spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,

One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

 

For some reason that really resonated with me, even though I was an

atheist. I discussed it with some Christian friends and teachers, but

they rejected it, saying that is wasn't " religious. "

 

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?