A site visitor wrote: I guess I’ve been what you could call a seeker but not a finder for several decades, then I found your advaita vedanta blog while doing some Googling and that started a month-long investigation into advaita. I’ve visited dozens of sites and read all your old posts and the recent ones you’ve made since your accident. (Hope you’re recovering well.) I’m captivated by what I’ve found so far but the terms you use are confusing. I Googled “Advaita terms” and have visited several sites, but none have helped me understand many of the expressions you use. Where else can I look?”
F.: Most books that discuss the Advaita teaching in depth will have a glossary in the back that might help you. Several other internet sites you may have not yet visited are possibly available. Also, a book you can read about at http://floydhenderson.com/theessence.htm provides an in-depth explanation of many of the terms used on this site and can serve as a starting point on the Advaita “journey.” For now, though, explanations of some of the terms used on the site will be offered since the goal is to use language that is as simple as possible, considering the subject matter. These may not necessarily conform to the definitions offered by other Advaitans (especially those who use the original Far Eastern terms) but will help you negotiate the postings on this particular site. Finally, you’ll be invited as usual to pause after the reading and take into consideration any pointers offered, even those conveyed via definitions in a glossary.
Person: Anyone not Realized; a persona; the outer physical self that is limited to self-identification with the body and with the mental roles dreamed up for the body to play; one who believes that the roles he/she plays actually identify who he/she is; one who believes his images are real; one who believes the images of others are real. [While the realized are free of ego and ego-states, persons are fully absorbed in false identities and are driven by the egotism that accompanies all assumed roles].
Realization: The understanding that results after completing the entire Advaita “journey” and being free of all personas (all false identities); the awareness or knowingness that results when one has been freed of the effects of programming and conditioning and no longer believes the lies that his culture claims are the truth; that “state” which results when the contaminated consciousness has been returned to a pure “condition” that is free of concepts, ideas, emotional intoxication and belief in the lies that had been taken as truth as a result of enculturation; the restoration of the consciousness That You Are to its pure "condition"; the "highest" knowledge (derived via meditation from within, never from without) that is the complete awareness of the unity of all things.
Persona: From Latin, meaning “mask”; one trapped in an ego-state, a false identity, a personality.
Ego: from Latin, meaning “I.” Specifically, it is the pronoun used by those who believe any false identity to be real; the source of perceived separation; the source of fighting to preserve image; it follows assumption of a false identity, is used to defend false roles, and always propels a role to “super” status. (For example, as soon as one assumes the role of “a wife,” she immediately becomes “Super Wife,” deserves nothing less than a “Super Husband,” and will expect to be treated in a super fashion. The case is the same with “husband” and the same with all roles. “Super Teacher” must have “Super Students” to survive, and “Super Teacher” will fight with non-super students as if a life-and-death struggle is under way, so thoroughly is the ego-state taken to be the real.)
Ego-state: that “state” in which a persona exists, taking false roles to be true identity. An ego-state is always identified by placing a word after “I am” (such as, “I am a spouse”; “I am a lover”; “I am an employee,” “I am a teacher,” etc.)
I Am, I Amness, Is-ness: The statement of awareness by Pure Consciousness which knows that it has temporarily manifested in a space, that it is the conscious-energy that is currently abiding in the state of Amness, but that also knows It Is That…the singular, most basic That Which All Is; the expression of Pure Consciousness.
True Self: the Pure, post-Realization Consciousness that witnesses purely and accurately as long as it is manifested, aware that no subject-object duality exists and aware of the Oneness.
Atonement: Not a reconciliation between humans and an imagined external power (conceived by man and bearing the image of men) but instead the awareness of the at-one-ment, of the Oneness, of the fact that all is only That and nothing more.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
F.: Most books that discuss the Advaita teaching in depth will have a glossary in the back that might help you. Several other internet sites you may have not yet visited are possibly available. Also, a book you can read about at http://floydhenderson.com/theessence.htm provides an in-depth explanation of many of the terms used on this site and can serve as a starting point on the Advaita “journey.” For now, though, explanations of some of the terms used on the site will be offered since the goal is to use language that is as simple as possible, considering the subject matter. These may not necessarily conform to the definitions offered by other Advaitans (especially those who use the original Far Eastern terms) but will help you negotiate the postings on this particular site. Finally, you’ll be invited as usual to pause after the reading and take into consideration any pointers offered, even those conveyed via definitions in a glossary.
Person: Anyone not Realized; a persona; the outer physical self that is limited to self-identification with the body and with the mental roles dreamed up for the body to play; one who believes that the roles he/she plays actually identify who he/she is; one who believes his images are real; one who believes the images of others are real. [While the realized are free of ego and ego-states, persons are fully absorbed in false identities and are driven by the egotism that accompanies all assumed roles].
Realization: The understanding that results after completing the entire Advaita “journey” and being free of all personas (all false identities); the awareness or knowingness that results when one has been freed of the effects of programming and conditioning and no longer believes the lies that his culture claims are the truth; that “state” which results when the contaminated consciousness has been returned to a pure “condition” that is free of concepts, ideas, emotional intoxication and belief in the lies that had been taken as truth as a result of enculturation; the restoration of the consciousness That You Are to its pure "condition"; the "highest" knowledge (derived via meditation from within, never from without) that is the complete awareness of the unity of all things.
Persona: From Latin, meaning “mask”; one trapped in an ego-state, a false identity, a personality.
Ego: from Latin, meaning “I.” Specifically, it is the pronoun used by those who believe any false identity to be real; the source of perceived separation; the source of fighting to preserve image; it follows assumption of a false identity, is used to defend false roles, and always propels a role to “super” status. (For example, as soon as one assumes the role of “a wife,” she immediately becomes “Super Wife,” deserves nothing less than a “Super Husband,” and will expect to be treated in a super fashion. The case is the same with “husband” and the same with all roles. “Super Teacher” must have “Super Students” to survive, and “Super Teacher” will fight with non-super students as if a life-and-death struggle is under way, so thoroughly is the ego-state taken to be the real.)
Ego-state: that “state” in which a persona exists, taking false roles to be true identity. An ego-state is always identified by placing a word after “I am” (such as, “I am a spouse”; “I am a lover”; “I am an employee,” “I am a teacher,” etc.)
I Am, I Amness, Is-ness: The statement of awareness by Pure Consciousness which knows that it has temporarily manifested in a space, that it is the conscious-energy that is currently abiding in the state of Amness, but that also knows It Is That…the singular, most basic That Which All Is; the expression of Pure Consciousness.
True Self: the Pure, post-Realization Consciousness that witnesses purely and accurately as long as it is manifested, aware that no subject-object duality exists and aware of the Oneness.
Atonement: Not a reconciliation between humans and an imagined external power (conceived by man and bearing the image of men) but instead the awareness of the at-one-ment, of the Oneness, of the fact that all is only That and nothing more.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
Please note: Books ordered now can still be delivered before Christmas. The most popular among Advaitans this season is:
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
Available to order at http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm. (Limited quantities in stock until after the first of the year.) If sending as a gift to a friend or relative, please put in the Message Box at the bottom of the order page their name and mailing information and the message you'd like enclosed with the gift.
