An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
FROM A SITE VISITOR YESTERDAY: It seems to me the consciousness which you say is the cause of nonsense is also the cause of all that is accomplished in the relative. like Steven was saying we have to work if we don’t have someone to pay our bills. We have to contribute if we want to have some sense of purpose and meaning and betterment. You have said Christ was an Advaitin. I am combining Advaita Vedanta and Christianity to live by. My religion lets me serve others. What is wrong with that? what’s wrong with trying to live like Christ and help others. That is not nonsense. Jim
F.: [Continued from the last series] First, before offering any further pointers regarding a topic that can inspire billions of persons to enter into a state of emotional intoxication (namely, religion), let a pointer offered in the past be restated here:
the assumption of religious or spiritual personas is one of the steps along the “path” to Realization, but such role assumption cannot be the end of the “journey” to knowing the True Self since that would be in direct conflict with identifying with a false persona.
Ever since the Vedic scriptures were interpreted in a manner that would come to be called “Advaita Vedanta,” many persons have taken Advaita to be a form of religion. Some persons have seen it as a “set of spiritual teachings.” Some see it as “a philosophy.”
In the latter case, the term does not apply to Advaita if one takes “a philosophy” to deal with some intellectual pursuit of wisdom and morality. It does apply if “a philosophy” points to “a process that encourages the use of logic and reason to conduct an investigation into the nature of reality.”
While “philosophy” is the more accurate pointer of the three, Advaita is actually a step-by-step methodology whereby persons—domesticated and acculturated by use of programming—can be freed from the blindness that results from having been conditioned to believe what they have been told without questioning, leading persons to behave as perversely as those Pavlovian dogs that were trained to salivate over sounds rather than smells.
The Advaita process invites seekers to question all concepts that persons blindly accept as truth, eventually allowing seekers to see clearly, to see all that is false, and then to see and understand Reality. Some consider the teachings to be a means by which persons can be restored to sanity;
others take the teachings to be a means by which persons can be freed of their false beliefs regarding personas/personality and thereby be free of the relative effects of the many personality disorders that subconsciously and unconsciously control the thoughts and words and actions of persons who think, erroneously, that they are making choices.
No matter how persons try to classify the teachings by using terms such as “religion” or “spirituality” or “philosophy,” the fact is that the Advaita understanding has its roots in an original understanding that preceded religion, religious or spiritual writings, and even words and language itself.
That same understanding can still be tapped into via the inner guru or the “inner resource”; however, Jim, that original understanding has been lost to most. Moreover, it is that institution which you mentioned in your e-mail (namely, organized religion) that now blocks most of the persons on the planet from being aware of that original understanding.
Today, there are some six billion+ persons who claim to be members of one of the three sky-cults that evolved from the words of Abraham. His words were merely adumbrations of the dualistic (so-called “pagan”) sky-cults, but the magical thinking popularized by him and adopted by billions today results in people trying to live in a supernatural fashion that in the end results in their living in a most unnatural fashion.
Thus, rather than abiding in their natural state, they knell, chant, hum, sing “special” songs, ring “special” bells, wear “special” hats, worship the words in their “holy” books, wear their hair in a “special” way or shave their heads completely, adorn themselves with drapery-style robes, burn this, ring that, fight those who have differing beliefs, ad infinitum. All very unnatural.
Yet understanding that, ironically, religious and/or spiritual persona-playing is the third of seven steps on the “journey” to Realization, there cannot be any suggestion that the phase be skipped.
That point having been made clear, your claims about religion will be discussed as long as you understand that religion and spirituality are stations on the “path” that are only meant to be a stop along the way, not the end destination.
Religious and/or spiritual roles that are assumed by persons must be played for a time but eventually they must be transitioned if the full “journey” is to be completed. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
NOTE: Moving Tuesday from the south side of the lake to an even quieter location on the north side of the lake. Postings will continue when service is available at that location.
