From a site visitor: “What is with some Advaitans who talk of human misery and suffering? I used the teachings to detach from it all and move on. I take my adversities and make opportunities of them. If people have problems, they need to find solutions instead of wallowing in misery. Make clear to people that we are Brahman. We have the power to turn failures into success and move on.”
F.: Your comments reveal that you understand none of the Advaita teachings. If you did, you’d understand one particular irony: the Realized are detached from all illusion but nevertheless have the ability to live "as if" the relative were real while knowing it is not. That frees the Realized from the suffering that is triggered by ego-driven emotional intoxication but still allows the Realized to feel. And one thing that the Realized feel is empathy for those suffering. Devoid of any dualities such as “good-bad,” “right-wrong,” and “moral-immoral,” the Realized automatically move through this existence spontaneously while behaving in a fashion that aligns with common definitions of what "moral" conduct entails—including empathizing with the non-Realized and their misery, understanding their suffering and its causes, and caring about those who are suffering as a result of having to deal with non-Realized egomaniacs.
You’re also operating under a misunderstanding that is common to some when they first come into contact with the Advaita Vedanta teachings: it is believed by certain persons that if she/he realizes—which your statements show you have not—then he/she will receive some benefit. The fact is that, upon Realization, there is no longer anyone to receive a benefit; there is no person to be helped via enlightenment. The result of realization is that the person disappears, and when the final ego-state disappears, including the seeker, then the final vestige of ego disappears; then, when the final vestige of ego disappears, life for “self” does not improve (“self” having dissolved). On the other hand, the relative existence does improve for the thousands who would have had to deal with your ego. Contrary to the beliefs that were revealed in your e-mail, Realization is not as much about you overcoming your problems and misery and suffering. That would only benefit “one.” It is far more about that “one” no longer raining on the parade of all whom that “one's” ego can impact in the relative existence. Comments in yesterday’s post triggered several e-mails, this one being typical:
From another site visitor: “All of your examples yesterday were about nothing more than relative concepts.”
F.: True, the examples offered yesterday dealt with the relative. All misery and suffering is of the relative existence only. That said, let the discussion turn to that “Brahman” mentioned in the original e-mail and to that “power” that was alleged. If you are the power or have the power, then do not merely end your adversity only. End all adversity. If you are Brahman, can you not come up with a “Plan” that is more “divine” than the current one which is failing so miserably? So much for power, and so much for Brahman. Hang Brahman. Hang the “Am-ness” as well. It is the fount from which springs all the misery and suffering that Advaitans speak of. If that speck of consciousness that had manifested in the spaces called “Nisargadatta” and “Ramana” were yet speaking, those specks of consciousness would also say, “Hang Maharaj and Maharshi too.” Also, hang “floyd” and, by the way, hang “you.”
Yes I—the consciousness—speak of the consciousness to novices, but you want to speak of your relative experiences in the same breath as you speak of that Absolute which is prior to any experience (because it is prior to consciousness). I Am That which is prior to both consciousness and experiences. If you were actually to understand the "Brahman" you speak of, then you would not imagine your self or your Self to be something that can escape the reality of that ultimate state, and you would not imagine that your self is existing now or that your Self will exist forever as some form. Yet it is not even required to understand the Absolute to be able to know your True Self, the manifested Pure Witness that is capable of knowing the Oneness, capable of understanding the At-one-ment. You have missed it all as a result of believing that you already know it all. Very egocentric, indeed. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be concluded tomorrow]
F.: Your comments reveal that you understand none of the Advaita teachings. If you did, you’d understand one particular irony: the Realized are detached from all illusion but nevertheless have the ability to live "as if" the relative were real while knowing it is not. That frees the Realized from the suffering that is triggered by ego-driven emotional intoxication but still allows the Realized to feel. And one thing that the Realized feel is empathy for those suffering. Devoid of any dualities such as “good-bad,” “right-wrong,” and “moral-immoral,” the Realized automatically move through this existence spontaneously while behaving in a fashion that aligns with common definitions of what "moral" conduct entails—including empathizing with the non-Realized and their misery, understanding their suffering and its causes, and caring about those who are suffering as a result of having to deal with non-Realized egomaniacs.
You’re also operating under a misunderstanding that is common to some when they first come into contact with the Advaita Vedanta teachings: it is believed by certain persons that if she/he realizes—which your statements show you have not—then he/she will receive some benefit. The fact is that, upon Realization, there is no longer anyone to receive a benefit; there is no person to be helped via enlightenment. The result of realization is that the person disappears, and when the final ego-state disappears, including the seeker, then the final vestige of ego disappears; then, when the final vestige of ego disappears, life for “self” does not improve (“self” having dissolved). On the other hand, the relative existence does improve for the thousands who would have had to deal with your ego. Contrary to the beliefs that were revealed in your e-mail, Realization is not as much about you overcoming your problems and misery and suffering. That would only benefit “one.” It is far more about that “one” no longer raining on the parade of all whom that “one's” ego can impact in the relative existence. Comments in yesterday’s post triggered several e-mails, this one being typical:
From another site visitor: “All of your examples yesterday were about nothing more than relative concepts.”
F.: True, the examples offered yesterday dealt with the relative. All misery and suffering is of the relative existence only. That said, let the discussion turn to that “Brahman” mentioned in the original e-mail and to that “power” that was alleged. If you are the power or have the power, then do not merely end your adversity only. End all adversity. If you are Brahman, can you not come up with a “Plan” that is more “divine” than the current one which is failing so miserably? So much for power, and so much for Brahman. Hang Brahman. Hang the “Am-ness” as well. It is the fount from which springs all the misery and suffering that Advaitans speak of. If that speck of consciousness that had manifested in the spaces called “Nisargadatta” and “Ramana” were yet speaking, those specks of consciousness would also say, “Hang Maharaj and Maharshi too.” Also, hang “floyd” and, by the way, hang “you.”
Yes I—the consciousness—speak of the consciousness to novices, but you want to speak of your relative experiences in the same breath as you speak of that Absolute which is prior to any experience (because it is prior to consciousness). I Am That which is prior to both consciousness and experiences. If you were actually to understand the "Brahman" you speak of, then you would not imagine your self or your Self to be something that can escape the reality of that ultimate state, and you would not imagine that your self is existing now or that your Self will exist forever as some form. Yet it is not even required to understand the Absolute to be able to know your True Self, the manifested Pure Witness that is capable of knowing the Oneness, capable of understanding the At-one-ment. You have missed it all as a result of believing that you already know it all. Very egocentric, indeed. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be concluded tomorrow]
TOMORROW: Your “power”
