Fwd: /Greg Cit Jada Granthi

[Guest guest]

NonDualPhil , " Greg Goode " <goode@D...> wrote:

 

NonDualPhil , Insight <insight@s...> wrote:

> Joyce: Some might but I'm not bothered

> by how things really are. I'm interested

> in whether the notion of the body/mind being

> " inert " is an unquestioned belief or a

> strategy.

 

===Certainly not an unquestioned belief -

unquestioned beliefs on the nature of

mind and body have them being quite

active!

 

It is a strategy that questions, challenges

and deconstructs the identification with

the body and mind.

 

What usually occurs as unquestioned is

the the feeling that " The body/mind is me "

or " the body/mind is mine. "

 

The teachings of advaita vedanta allow

people to come to see the body/mind as

observed objects. This is a great shock

and a great insight. It turns the world

of experience upside down. What one had

taken as the subject (me=my body and my

mind) starts to be experienced as the

object.

 

Now, what makes the body/mind seem inert

as opposed to active? Basically, the

observation that all the indications

of its activity (indications which might

include the feelings of power or movement

or change) are yet *other* observed objects.

And along with this is the advaita teaching

that all " power " and " seeingness " come

from the Source and not from the objects that

are illuminated by the Source.

 

Getting a better and better handle on what

" belongs " to Source and what " belongs " to

the Source's objects is called by advaita

" jnana yoga " or discrimination between the

" Real " and the " Unreal. " By these latter

terms advaita means " that which doesn't

change " vs. " that which seems to undergo

change. "

 

Having less and less the feeling/belief

that " I am this body or memories or values

or tendencies or subconscious " is one way

to describe the fruits of this discrimination;

it's a way to fill out the notion of the

" mind becoming more subtle. "

 

Now, there's kind of a loose and accepted

linguistic fluidity in advaita contexts.

And there are contexts within contexts.

 

Saying

 

(a) The mind is inert.

and

(b) My mind is getting more subtle.

 

are said in different contexts. They

never really butt heads.

You'd say (a) within the context of

jnana yoga inquiry. You'd say (b) when

you're talking about the progress of your

jnana yoga inquiry.

 

--Greg

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