apples and oranges superstition etc.

[Guest guest]

>Sarlos said--

> Fwding a nice piece by Durga in NDS

>

> One thing which I'd like to point out, because

> it is a point on which I was confused for many

> many years, is that actual nondual teachings

> from the Hindu tradition, (as given through those

> ancient texts the Upanishads, which are to be found

> at the end of the Vedas), do not teach that there is

> some sort of nondual 'merging' through jnana yoga.

>

> These ideas seem to have been introduced to

> the west by various teachers from India.

> My own exposure to them came primarily from

> reading Yogananda's " Autobiography of a Yogi, "

> but I'm sure that they have come here from

> other teachers as well. And these ideas

> are also prevalent in India.

>

> But actually Vedanta (the nondual teachings found

> at the end of the Vedas) does not teach that

> any 'merging' is possible. There is no

> little 'I' which needs to merge with

> some big 'I.' There is no little self

> that needs to merge with a big Self.

> In fact, there is no `little self.' There is only

> actually one Self, and `you' are already that.

>

> So what is needed is not a `merge afforded

> through jnana,' but rather a direct recognition

> of what is already true.

>

> Hanumanji says:

>

> " when I have the Knowledge of Reality,

> I see that you are I and I am You "

>

> Hanumanji doesn't speak of `merging'

> He speaks of having `Knowledge of Reality.'

>

> How to acquire this Knowledge of Reality,

> which is also called, Self-knowledge,

> Self-realization, Enlightenment, Moksha?

>

> What is involved in gaining that Knowledge,

> " knowing which everything else is [as well] known? "

>

> If Self-knowledge is a recognition of what is

> already true, and my mind does not now recognize

> what is already true, then how can my mind

> gain that Knowledge? And why does my mind

> not now seem to know or recognize what is

> already and always true?

>

> In nondual teachings, this is where the teachings

> of karma, and bhakti yoga are useful. Karma: I do

> what is to be done, what is in harmony with the

> creation, what is in harmony with dharma.

> I do not do what is not to be done. I do

> not do to another what I would not want to

> be done to myself.

>

> Bhakti: having a personal relationship with

> a preferred form of god.

>

> What is the purpose of all of these practices

> from the perspective of the teachings of nonduality?

>

> The purpose is to acquire a certain quality of

> mind, which type of mind is useful for self-

> inquiry.

>

> It takes a very subtle mind to separate out the

> real from the unreal, as subtle a mind as

> is the Hamsa bird who can separate out milk

> mixed with water.

 

Namaste Sarlo,

 

Yes Durga comes up with a lot of stuff albeit within her religious

'convictions'.

To me a universal heretic to all religions and philosophies

apparently,there is also nothing to achieve. It is a matter of working

through the illusion or apples to realise we are oranges all the time.

I was recently more or less thrown off the A-dvaita site, and my final

heresy was to quote the creation hymn from the rig veda, which I

think I may have posted here also. The last two lines ask a rhetorical

question that perhaps Brahman knows or perhaps Brahman doesn't

know..re creation etc.

This fitted in with my enquiry that perhaps all this sat-cit- ananda

is actually 'Saguna' Brahman in pralaya and not Nir Guna beyond it

all. This apparently went over like a lead balloon, and seemingly

didn't fit in with worshipping sankara as an incarnation of siva.

So people who are well indoctrinated cannot let it go and disguise

their superstitions in different terms.

With regard to karma and jnana etc etc they are all really to reducce

the ego or 'thief in the palace' I learned years ago at an AA meeting

that if you are concerned with others you don't have much time to

worry about yourself, so reducing the phantom of ego.

In the end result even being so called devout is just a form of brain

washing to worship one phantom god or other.

All we have to do is clear the clutter and move from apples to realise

we were oranges all the time...........Tony.