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Arunachala Shiva!

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  • 1 month later...

Dear friends,

 

Enclosed here is some 'off line correspondence' between Arto and myself which we

have agreed to share with the Group. Love, Alan

 

 

--- On Fri, 2/1/09, Alan Jacobs <alanadamsjacobs wrote:

 

> Alan Jacobs <alanadamsjacobs

> Re: Arunachala Shiva!

> " arto " <iamarto

> Friday, 2 January, 2009, 5:49 AM

> Dear Arto,

>

> Thanks for your interesting letter.

>

> You are right that Neo Advaita describes the destination

> without prescribing the journey, puts the cart before the

> horse, and gives you the icing without the cake. It is

> merely an introduction, with falsity included, but mature

> seekers will eventually move on to Ramana or stay in that

> parking space indefinately for the kicks. The Teachers are

> earning a good livelihood this way and target the naive and

> gullible, rather than mature seekers who shun them. I have

> not heard of Duncan Carse before, but now mainly read source

> books of Ramana himself, Muruganar, Ganapati Muni, or

> Advaita Classics that Bhagavan recommended such as the Yoga

> Vasista, the Ribbhu Gita, the Astavakra Gita,the Avadhuta

> Gita, Tripura Rhasasya, the Advaita Bodha Deepika, the

> Kaivalya Navaneetha and some works of Shankara which he

> translated in his own Collected Works. Look these titles on

> Google. When you have read Ramana's own writings, some

> of these books may appeal.

>

> Regarding Jesus. I am not really qualified to speak on

> this, but I believe he was a Jnani who taught non-dualism

> and was crucified on that account. At the same time the

> historical Jesus is diffult to get at as there have been

> distortions over the centuries by the Churches. The Gnostic

> Gospels including Thomas were excluded from the cannon by

> the Council of Nicea as they did not agree with the synoptic

> Gospels which were adopted as the true record.

>

> All best wishes in your earnest quest,

>

> Warm regards,

>

> Alan

> --- On Thu, 1/1/09, arto <iamarto wrote:

>

> > arto <iamarto

> > Re: Arunachala

> Shiva!

> > alanadamsjacobs

> > Thursday, 1 January, 2009, 11:45 PM

> > Thanks Alan, I will definitely go into these

> > recommendations.

> >

> > I had a small remark on the website:

> >

> http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/trad_neo/trad_neo.htm

> >

> > There is something that is not stressed-upon if you

> can

> > make one more article to stress that point I think it

> will

> > be better. It's about the " target

> audience " . I

> > think the whole issue for the Neo-Advaita is that it

> gives

> > the " bread " of the last stage prior to

> > Enlightenment to newbies who still have no clue how

> they lag

> > behind with lots of work needed to crack the Ego and

> attain

> > the one-pointed mental state.

> >

> > So it's not that Neo-Advaita is a false teaching,

> but

> > it's rather really targeting the " wrong

> target

> > audience " , which is supposedly the majority of

> the

> > students. And this wrong addressing is the problem and

> not

> > what they're saying, even if they're not

> really

> > enlightened. This is why David Carse's book which

> is

> > totally *God Mode* might be useful to those one step

> prior

> > to that state " where effort is impossible "

> as it

> > was termed out.

> >

> > This was my first remark, my second remark is to

> stress in

> > an article upon the teachings of Christ Jesus, in

> terms

> > of... why did Jesus say " Love one another as I

> have

> > loved you " , instead of " Get lost because

> > there's no one there, and I'm not talking to

> you

> > now " .

> >

> > If we can make a point that the teachings of the

> Christ was

> > mainly based on good will rather than absolute

> philosophical

> > truth, it can have some impact of seekers will think

> for a

> > while... " umm, why did Jesus hardly ever talked

> about

> > the absolute truth? " , and " why is the gospel

> of

> > thomas not recognized as far as the other

> gospels? " ..

> > because it contains some of the Neo-Advaitic

> teachings...

> >

> > You're older than me in these discussions and

> > negotations.. but perhaps my feedback is useful, in

> any case

> > thanks for reading :)

> >

> > arto

> >

> >

> > --- On Thu, 1/1/09, Alan Jacobs

> > <alanadamsjacobs wrote:

> >

> > Alan Jacobs <alanadamsjacobs

> > Re: Arunachala

> > Shiva!

> > " arto " <iamarto

> > Thursday, January 1, 2009, 8:29 PM

> >

> > Dear Arto,

> >

> > You asked me for book recommendations.

> >

> > I suggest you study the Ramanasramam (see google) main

> web

> > site, where you can download a number of books to see

> which

> > appeal to you most. Ideally Ramana Maharshi's

> Talks,

> > Collected Works, Day by Day with Bhagavan, Letters

> from

> > Ramansramam and Crumbs from his Table are largely his

> words

> > and these are obviously the best as they are from the

> > source. David Godman's Translations of

> Muruganar's

> > Padamalai and Guru Vachaka Kovai are first class

> because

> > they are Bhagavan's utterances. See how you get on

> with

> > these that you have not read already, and then we can

> > suggest others as supplements.

> >

> > All best wishes and regards,

> >

> > Alan

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