letter shared

[Guest guest]

Harsha: Thank you for sharing your letter Frank. It is articulate and the

indication in it might be useful to some. I will take the liberty to forward it

to two lists and will encourage people to carefully

read through it. It has the touch of Ramana to it.

 

f. maiello wrote:

> "f. maiello" <egodust

>

> hariH OM!

> dear List members-

>

> the following letter may be of interest to you.

> it is the result of an inquiry by an inquisitive

> and philosophically astute-minded individual

> who was openly troubled with what was a genuine

> understanding/insight into vedanta on one hand

> yet an inability to reconcile it with what was

> going on around him in his world, on the other.

> he pushed me so far, and was so sincere with

> his quest for relief, that through me [out of

> compassion] came some, what i believe to be,

> very effective insights into the paradox of

> the human condition and how vedanta can assist

> in addressing it.

>

> ****************

>

> dear sir-

>

> from what i'm seeing, my assessment of your

> understanding [if i may say], is that you have

> indeed found the 'answerless answer' to our

> fundamental human dilemma, yet somehow seem to

> talk yourself out of it.

>

> what i have discovered is basically the ability

> to coexist alongside the mystery of Life, without

> further speculation or inquiry. it's a matter of

> the capacity to shut the door on the impossibly

> vast and endlessly creative machine of maya.

> this implies that all phenomena, including the

> [apparent] dynamics of suffering and bondage,

> are a very sophisticated product of this maya,

> which therein hypnotize and entangle us, quite

> automatically...*until* we investigate the matter.

> the result is, as i said, the ability to be at

> peace within the paradox of an imperfect world.

> i no longer have any questions nor do i desire

> to obtain solutions to problems like injustice,

> starvation, disease, etc, not only because time

> itself destroys everything anyway, but more

> importantly, because what is being destroyed

> isn't Reality, only the temporal/corporeal

> manifestations of It.

>

> in fact, it goes *far* beyond even this. the above

> technically only amounts to a dogmatic strategy, for

> the purpose of [haphazardly] appeasing the relentless

> intellect--which demands answers. for example, i can

> also say this: "act as though everything matters;

> be as though nothing does." yet this is also merely

> a 'dogmatic strategy' [albeit one that has a very

> practical application].

>

> it goes actually to the place where the obsessive

> flame of the ego-Mind has been blown out. this

> latter is the best translation of nirvana. and it's

> really no more complicated than that. nevertheless,

> such primal simplicity is yet alien, and even repulsive

> to the human intellect, which operates on the more

> familiar ground of complexity and involvement--

> intrinsic to the paradigm of the analytical Mind.

>

> i can only say that, sitting with the ego-Mind

> attenuated (either without thoughts or remaining

> unaffected by them), enables the execution

> of the experiment in pure Being, whereupon what

> follows defies description or commentary, either

> per itself (the experience) or per the matter of

> what is said to be its own projection into Life.

> and this has been my experience. although i'll

> occasionally lapse into the old habit of

> intellectual curiosity/bewilderment, until i

> investigate the situation, and find it to be

> naught but maya's incredible phantasm.

>

> thus, we are naturally the Self; only the Mind

> somehow convinces us otherwise.

>

> OM shaanthi

>

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