First, this From a site visitor: “If you don’t believe that Advaita Vedanta is a religion, why link to others who do? If you do not believe it is a spiritual path to follow, why link to sites that do? Seems you’re contradicting yourself.”
F.: Suppose someone at Level Two comes to this site on a day when a question or comment from someone at Stage Six is being addressed. Then, suppose that the Level Two visitor (who wouldn’t have a clue as to what that day’s posting is pointing to) happens to link to a site where he/she finds pointers that shift that person from Level Two to Level Three. Now, to continue with yesterday’s discussion.
From a site visitor [continued]: “I thought Advaita Vedanta was a philosophical path or maybe a spiritual movement. Reading some of the e-mail you’ve posted, it seems some believe that it’s a religion. Which is it?”
F.: Some people worship alcohol. Some worship their bodies and the bodies of others. Persons can claim anything they want and can declare that they worship anything they want to worship. They can claim anything they want as their "religion." They can claim any label, or all the labels, they want, but the original understanding was that they are “not two.” What I Am and What You Are is one thing only, not two or more. All labels are false identities, and when false identities are assumed to be real, that will end the search for Who or What You Truly Are.
So a person can say that he is “an Advaitan” and is also “a religious person,” or he can say that alcohol, sex, or Advaita are his religion. He can say he is “an Advaitan” and “also worships a guru, a spouse, or his new car.” He can say he is “an Advaitan” and is guided by the Upanishads, the Holy Bible, the Torah, or any of the thousands of so-called “holy” texts. But that has nothing to do with the original understanding, nothing to do with the original intent of the “journey” that the Advaita-type understanding provided, and nothing to do with the de-accumulation of activities and texts and worship and doingness that happens automatically after Realization. [Recall that Christ offered the "Advaita teachings" long before they were called "Advaita Vedanta teachings."] So persons can make every claim they want, but they are only revealing that that they are persons (i.e., personas, non-Realized). Advaita Vedanta is not a religion or a spiritual movement since (1) its intent is to shift persons to Full Realization and since (2) Full Realization takes persons far beyond the playing of religious roles, far beyond the playing of spiritual roles, and far beyond the assumption of any other roles as identities.
If you look at hundreds of definitons of what a religion is, you’ll find they share something similar to the Oxford Dictionary definition: “The very word ‘religion’ may have come from the Latin religãre which means to tie fast. Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview, a worldview being a set of basic, foundational beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the universe.”
How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if the earliest teachings had no specific system of beliefs but instead encouraged the elimination of all beliefs? How could it be a religion if religion encourages “tying to something” (a guru, a god, a text) while Advaita Vedanta via its earliest teachings invited personas to be detached from all? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if for 35,000 years or more it (in its original unnamed form) recognized no deity or god with personal attributes and only for the last 1200 years has some persons/followers who have accepted such a concept? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if via its earliest teachings it invited the elimination of belief in all concepts whereas religions encourage belief in man-made codes and ethics? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if via its earliest teachings it revealed (a) the illusion that “life” is and if it revealed that (b) any "view" of this "world" is an illusion…all in direct opposition to the teachings of religions? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion when religions promote foundational beliefs while Advaita Vedanta in its earliest form advocated being free of all beliefs (which are nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men)? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion when it knows that “humanity” is an illusion and that the only thing that is real is the energy-consciousness that is being misperceived by the non-Realized, the religious, and the spiritual? How?
Because anyone can say he or she is “an Advaitan” and also “a religious person.” So it is in the world of blind men who think they see, who think they can grasp a part of the elephant and from that limited experience somehow know the whole when they only know a part. When one Realizes, Advaita is also tossed. Thorns are used to remove thorns until the last thorn is removed. Then, all thorns are tossed. Those who cling to gurus, objects of devotion, rituals or texts are clinging to useless thorns that must be fleshed out and tossed if persons are to move along the path to Full Realization. (If you move from California to New York, there is no need to go back and try to gather up all the roads you used to get to the destination. Once you have reached the destination, you’re done with the road. Since the consciousness speaks spontaneously, it may offer pointers to others about the most direct route between the two states…or it might not. It might not speak orally but might speak through writing. It might answer some persons and not others. It can determine where along the route travelers are and can guide them along the next leg or can suggest a change in direction to move back toward the main path that is more easily traveled. Or none of that might happen. So it is. What does not happen is a clinging to certain steps that were taken along the “journey.”)
F.: Suppose someone at Level Two comes to this site on a day when a question or comment from someone at Stage Six is being addressed. Then, suppose that the Level Two visitor (who wouldn’t have a clue as to what that day’s posting is pointing to) happens to link to a site where he/she finds pointers that shift that person from Level Two to Level Three. Now, to continue with yesterday’s discussion.
From a site visitor [continued]: “I thought Advaita Vedanta was a philosophical path or maybe a spiritual movement. Reading some of the e-mail you’ve posted, it seems some believe that it’s a religion. Which is it?”
F.: Some people worship alcohol. Some worship their bodies and the bodies of others. Persons can claim anything they want and can declare that they worship anything they want to worship. They can claim anything they want as their "religion." They can claim any label, or all the labels, they want, but the original understanding was that they are “not two.” What I Am and What You Are is one thing only, not two or more. All labels are false identities, and when false identities are assumed to be real, that will end the search for Who or What You Truly Are.
So a person can say that he is “an Advaitan” and is also “a religious person,” or he can say that alcohol, sex, or Advaita are his religion. He can say he is “an Advaitan” and “also worships a guru, a spouse, or his new car.” He can say he is “an Advaitan” and is guided by the Upanishads, the Holy Bible, the Torah, or any of the thousands of so-called “holy” texts. But that has nothing to do with the original understanding, nothing to do with the original intent of the “journey” that the Advaita-type understanding provided, and nothing to do with the de-accumulation of activities and texts and worship and doingness that happens automatically after Realization. [Recall that Christ offered the "Advaita teachings" long before they were called "Advaita Vedanta teachings."] So persons can make every claim they want, but they are only revealing that that they are persons (i.e., personas, non-Realized). Advaita Vedanta is not a religion or a spiritual movement since (1) its intent is to shift persons to Full Realization and since (2) Full Realization takes persons far beyond the playing of religious roles, far beyond the playing of spiritual roles, and far beyond the assumption of any other roles as identities.
If you look at hundreds of definitons of what a religion is, you’ll find they share something similar to the Oxford Dictionary definition: “The very word ‘religion’ may have come from the Latin religãre which means to tie fast. Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview, a worldview being a set of basic, foundational beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the universe.”
How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if the earliest teachings had no specific system of beliefs but instead encouraged the elimination of all beliefs? How could it be a religion if religion encourages “tying to something” (a guru, a god, a text) while Advaita Vedanta via its earliest teachings invited personas to be detached from all? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if for 35,000 years or more it (in its original unnamed form) recognized no deity or god with personal attributes and only for the last 1200 years has some persons/followers who have accepted such a concept? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if via its earliest teachings it invited the elimination of belief in all concepts whereas religions encourage belief in man-made codes and ethics? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion if via its earliest teachings it revealed (a) the illusion that “life” is and if it revealed that (b) any "view" of this "world" is an illusion…all in direct opposition to the teachings of religions? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion when religions promote foundational beliefs while Advaita Vedanta in its earliest form advocated being free of all beliefs (which are nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men)? How could Advaita Vedanta be a religion when it knows that “humanity” is an illusion and that the only thing that is real is the energy-consciousness that is being misperceived by the non-Realized, the religious, and the spiritual? How?
Because anyone can say he or she is “an Advaitan” and also “a religious person.” So it is in the world of blind men who think they see, who think they can grasp a part of the elephant and from that limited experience somehow know the whole when they only know a part. When one Realizes, Advaita is also tossed. Thorns are used to remove thorns until the last thorn is removed. Then, all thorns are tossed. Those who cling to gurus, objects of devotion, rituals or texts are clinging to useless thorns that must be fleshed out and tossed if persons are to move along the path to Full Realization. (If you move from California to New York, there is no need to go back and try to gather up all the roads you used to get to the destination. Once you have reached the destination, you’re done with the road. Since the consciousness speaks spontaneously, it may offer pointers to others about the most direct route between the two states…or it might not. It might not speak orally but might speak through writing. It might answer some persons and not others. It can determine where along the route travelers are and can guide them along the next leg or can suggest a change in direction to move back toward the main path that is more easily traveled. Or none of that might happen. So it is. What does not happen is a clinging to certain steps that were taken along the “journey.”)
The roots of the original understanding from which Advaita Vedanta evolved were simple, as was the lifestyle of those who grasped the understanding. Then, no need for any Advaita teachings existed since there were no concepts or false identities that complicated a simple lifestyle. When nomads first settled into communities, according to anthropological evidence, their lifestyle was simple. Like many jungle tribespeople today in Central or South American, humans spent 2.5 hours per day doing the work required to meet basic survival needs. (Their “work” of hunting and fishing and gathering is now what Westerners call their “vacation or relaxation activities.”) The remainder of the time, they communed, played, enjoyed sex, etc. That simple lifestyle was possible only in the absence of concepts, and it is being practiced in remote villages today that are free of concepts. Only after men began dreaming up concepts about gods—and added the trappings of prayer and worship and devotion and “right” living that they believed could get you rewards now and a reward later—did a need for the teachings arise. Only then did men dream up the dualities of "good vs. bad" and "right vs. wrong." Only after the invention of lies did persons require a method to free their “minds” of belief in those lies. Only after the passing along of concepts became the practice in certain cultures did persons need the teachings that would someday be called “Advaita Vedanta.” Only after persons began programming and conditioning their offspring with distortions did a need arise to re-purify their distorted thinking. In short, only after persons began corrupting and bastardizing the consciousness did a need arise for the teachings that can re-purify that consciousness, that can allow persons to come to remember what they already know (namely, Who or What They Are), that can free them of the nonsense of accepting magical, supernatural explanations for totally natural events, and that can allow persons to escape the complications of a lifestyle littered with concepts and activity. Only then, post-Realization, if it possible to relax, to take it easy, and to cycle beyond the complicated and enjoy the simple. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
