Sunday, November 11, 2007

HINDU BY “BIRTH,” BUT INVESTIGATING ADVAITA, Part Eight

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FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Please see the 02 November 2007 post for the e-mail which is being responded to today]

(The exchange continues):

F.: Now, Vignesh, you are invited to revisit some of your comments about “God” and “religion” and “holy” writings in light of the pointers offered over the last days:

V.: “My concept of Brahman(God) has so far been like…,” and “in every religion there is no parallel existence to God,” and “God does not change,” and” “Even if there is Consciousness, how could God become aware of It's existence…?” and “But that is not in line with the teachings of the Upanishads, right?”

F.: What a waste of energy, yes? What a waste of time that could be spent dancing and enjoying the lightness of being, yes? Why a waste? Why spend time debating with yourself or others about mirages? See that a mirage is a mirage and move on down the road. But that is nearly impossible for those who, from childhood and then throughout adulthood, have been programmed to believe in duality, in god(s), in holy men, and in holy books.

Maharaj said: “First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented God. Then you worship such a God and…you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.”

Note that duality drives the invention of gods, that the invention of gods drives the writing of dualistic (“holy”) books, that dualistic (“holy”) books generate organized religions and spiritual movements, and that religions and spiritual movements generate and support more dualistic concepts: good, bad, right, wrong, reward, punishment, heaven, hell, etc., resulting in a closed loop of learned ignorance.

Why is there no need for holy books and religion and worship and spiritual movements? Because Truth cannot be stated; thus, there is no need for any priest or preacher or prophet or rabbi or imam or medicine man to assume it is his task to tell you what the Truth is. Truth cannot be stated. There is no need for any “holy” man (it is almost always a man, is it not?) to write what he claims are “holy words of God’s Truth” because the Truth cannot be written any more than it can be stated.

However, Truth can be realized by tapping into “the intellect” (actually the pure consciousness) via the inner guru, but many adhere to the view expressed by Loyola who wrote that Catholics “… sacrifice the intellect to God.” (No argument there, but the practice is not limited to any single denomination but is common throughout all religions and sects and “programs” and spiritual movements as well.)

For an objective witness to see how “religious leaders” have required the forfeiture of logic and reason over the ages can lead such a witness to question their invitation to abandon logic and reason; can lead to the objective witness eventually discarding all false beliefs; and can prepare the way for Truth to spring into awareness via the re-purified consciousness.

Yet the forfeiture of logic and reason among persons who are religiously or spiritually programmed, as you have been, is a result of the same programming that inspires many to agree with the belief of Luther who said, “Reason is the Devil’s harlot….”

It is that type of disdain for reason—along with the inflation of the worth of “unquestioning faith”—that has led trillions of people over the millennia to accept that Buddha, Krishna, and Christ were all conceived in some virginal fashion and were all born in manners that (supposedly) did not involve the use of a violated-by-a-male birth canal. So much for holy words in holy books.

If you want to rely on books as your source of truth, then read enough books and treatises and essays to receive a balanced view: Read Freud’s The Future of an Illusion in which he reports, “Where questions of religions are concerned, people are guilty of every possible sort of dishonesty and intellectual misdemeanor.”

Read Heine’s Gedaken: “In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in pitch-black a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind old men as guides.”

But in the end, what good are any of the readings from believers or non-believers? One group shouts “Aye” and the other immediately shouts “Nay.” The task for you is not to find out what all of them think they know but for You to find the answer to this question: “What do You know?" The third step of the "journey" to Realization is a religious or spiritual step. The step must be taken; however, to complete the "journey," the third step must be transitioned.

To find the answer to the question above, you must cast aside all of the beliefs that are “theirs,” then conduct a Self-Inquiry, and thereafter determine what You have always known but do not remember at this moment because of programming and conditioning. That which blocks the realization of that which You have always known is the impure (programmed and conditioned) consciousness.

The obstructions that have blocked "you" from knowing You are the same obstructions that prevent the seeing of Truth because they create a miasma of lies called “the mind.” That miasma includes such obstacles as dogma, ideas, beliefs, and concepts.

For beginners, Vignesh, the suggestion is to stay with the “I Am” only until the last ego-state and concept and belief dissolves. Eventually, even the “I-Amness” can be transcended, and then, abidance as the Absolute can happen. The “you” will disappear, You will stop functioning as if the various "you's" are real, and You will abide as the one and only You for the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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