From a site visitor: “I thought Advaita Vedanta was a philosophical path or maybe a ‘spiritual movement.’ Reading some of the e-mail you’ve gotten, it seems some believe that it’s a religion. Which is it?”
F.: Thanks for your question. Advaita Vedanta is taken by some to be any of the above, by some to be all of the above, and by the Realized to be none of the above. The level of nonsense and debate that has evolved around Advaita Vedanta is not unlike the fabled argument engaged in by six men from India who, trying to satisfy their minds, determined that they would observe an elephant by “feeling” and determine its appearance, though all were actually blind. The first touched the side and determined that elephants look like walls, while the second felt the tusk and said that elephants look like spears. The third, who touched the trunk, concluded that elephants feel like snakes. The next felt the knee and said that elephants look just like trees, but the fifth touched an ear and came to believe that elephants look like fans. The last who touched the tail determined that elephants look just like ropes. The poet John Saxe drew this conclusion:
“So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!”
Today’s “theologic wars” are the curse of the relative existence. How has an understanding, which once provided simple steps to be followed in order to remove distortion, become so distorted and a part of the "theologic wars"? That is easily understood if it is realized that everything cycles from simplicity to complication and then back to a simple “state.” Distortion happens when persons fixate at the complicated level rather than completing the cycle and understanding the simplicity. For example:
1. In a void—which is as simple as it can get—a single hydrogen cell sprang forth. After dividing four times and reconnecting, helium evolved. Those two interacted and exploded into this universe. Everything on this planet was originally one atom. Simple.
2. In birds, animals, plants, or humans, a single cell can unite with another single cell and trigger a reaction that results in a multiplicity of cell clusterings that come to be identified as a “body” or as a tree or as whatever label humans assign. From a single unit, a body can evolve, a forest can evolve, a flock can evolve, a herd can evolve, a race can evolve. But eventually the “body” and all else will cycle back to the elements in an act of simplification as another cycle “completes.”
3. Pure consciousness manifests, but because of programming and conditioning and indoctrination, a complicated “mind” results (which is nothing more than an accumulation of beliefs, lies, and distortions that trigger more and more complications). If the cycle of the “mind” is “completed”—if the “mind” is allowed to cycle out of its imagined existence and end while the consciousness is still manifested—then simplification returns. If not, things remain complicated, but eventually the “mind” will cycle out of “existence” either way. It will end, “NOW” or “later.”
4. Historically, persons gathered in groups for protection and completion of the tasks that were required for meeting the physical needs of the body. They owned no land or houses and they accumulated nothing. Eventually, fixed communities formed and then some 35,000 years or so ago, the Aryan influence began to be spread across the globe as they practiced their beliefs in colonialism, imperialism, conquest, and either control or destruction. The value they assigned to “accumulation” took hold, societies evolved, ownership of land and other property was claimed, complications followed, rules and dogma evolved that were intended to try to control behavior and reduce complications (all to no avail), societal problems became more and more complicated, and today you see the global results.
The same happened with Advaita Vedanta. Originally, there was a simple understanding eventually summarized (but in the early going not even expressed) in the phrase “I AM THAT; I AM.” Organisms intuitively sensed the I AM. By instinct and observation they came to understand that the I AM does not manifest eternally. They saw others “die.” They saw that the animating force cycled. It came, it stayed for a time, and then it went. During the time it stayed, it wanted automatically to extend itself. Approach a bird and it will fly away from you. Why? To protect the I AM…to extend the manifestation of the consciousness that It Is. “Human-like creatures,” and later “human creatures,” lived just as spontaneously. Later still, as language developed, men began to try to explain the cycling. Other men eventually assumed religious or spiritual roles and they began to dream up more and more complicated components to tack onto the simple understanding, again to try to control behavior and conduct. Some would eventually dream up male and female gods in charge of various parts of an existence that was becoming more and more complicated, so they fabricated gods that were in charge of rain and thunder and agriculture and fertility and war, ad infinitum. Then, as they developed the primary addiction of humans (a desire to control) they developed as well the secondary addiction (a desire for power in order to control). They began to believe in magical, supernatural explanations for completely natural events, and they dreamed up magical, personal gods that were controlling from another realm the happenings in this realm. They introduced prayer, whereby they would beg the gods to give them what they wanted to extend the manifestation of the consciousness and eventually to try to satisfy the imagined needs and desires of the ego-states that they assumed as (false) identities.
Later, a man named Abraham said “There’s only one god, and he’s a male,” so those who accepted that explanation combined all of their gods and their godly duties into one “supreme” God or “Supreme Being.” Thus they combined their gods of creation, their gods of sustenance, and their gods of destruction into one, thereby fabricating the current concept of a schizophrenia god of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions that is a creator, a lover, a sustainer, a destroyer and a punisher. He can “love you unconditionally” but still has “conditions” that, if not met, will inspire him to kill you and torture you for eternity. Religions evolved, subdivisions of religions evolved, sects and denominations evolved, and more and more separation resulted. "Theologic wars" evolved into physical wars that continue to this day. The complications reached a stage where the relative existence can now be seen to be tantamount to insanity. That is what being out of touch with reality is like, and the Advaita “path” is one that can put persons back in touch with reality, free them from their insanity, and bring about Full Realization; however, that can only happen if the entire "journey" is completed.
Reality is simple. Lies and beliefs and distortions and ritual are complicated and thus insane. For tens of thousands of years, there was an understanding. Even with no name for that understanding, it was still understood. Then, as language and printing developed, men tried to codify the understanding. Advaita Vedanta beame one of six systems of philosophy in India and originally meant literally, “the end of the Vedas.” Around 800 A.D., some persons began to ignore the fact that the truth and the understanding are beyond the Vedas, said that part of the Vedas got it "wrong" but that part of the Vedas got it "right." They stopped their cycling and fixated their focus at the end of the Vedas (at the last section called “the Upanishads”). Rather than allowing even their attachment to the Vedas or the last part of it to end, they fixated there and now they cannot focus on or see what is beyond the Vedas, what is beyond religion, what is beyond the spiritual. That which can be understood via being in the quiet and tapping into the inner guru--the inner resource--is instead ignored as the focus for some persons is on an outer guru or some text thought to be "special." The truth cannot be stated. What need for a text or a guru to be worshipped or devoted to? The truth is within, not without. So corrupted has the consciousness become that yes, the offering of a few pointers and then the invitation to take those into comtemplation, can result in the basic, simple understanding exploding into (re-purified) consciousness. Upon realization, no gurus are taken to be real, no texts are taken to be "holy" or "different" or "special." Complications end and simplification returns.
But at that point in the bastardization of the original teachings, a simple understanding became more complicated as it was given a label and became one of six classical systems of Indian philosophy and then was shifted for some persons into something that was further complicated into something that was very religion-like as a result of adding texts, gurus to worship or be devoted to, rituals, action and doingness. The beingness is not seen, the non-beingness is not seen, and THAT Which I Am and THAT Which You Are and Which They Are (which is even beyond the beingness and the non-beingness) is not understood. Their abidance is not in the Absolute but is very much focused on a worldly existence which is a fraud...an illusion. Yet they stamp about in their sound and fury, trying to give significance to that which means nothing. So it is.
So is Advaita a philosophy, a religion, or a spirtual movement? It is none of those. It is a “path” of a few simple steps that can lead to an understanding that allows the cycling to complete, allows for a shift back to the simple that was, allows persons to become free of the complications, and allows persons to know again the simplicity that was before man-made concepts were dreamed up, developed, codified, published, analyzed and discussed, ad infinitum. Those man-made concepts that have been dreamed up and added to the simple understanding are the very elements that now prevent the grasping of that simple understanding. They trap persons in their religious and spiritual roles (along with all of their other roles that foster more complications and rituals and doings and dogma that in turn prevent persons from seeing the dreamed-up lies as lies and thereby prevent persons from understanding the functioning of the totality). Like those six men in the Indian fable who were trying to “satisfy their minds,” blind persons fixate in the "mind" stage while believing that they are in a spiritual stage, while thinking that they can see, and while mistaking appearances and feelings to be the Real. Those who complete the cycle understand. The rest, as Maharaj said, mistake the dawn for the noontime. Please enter into the silence of consideration. [To be continued]
F.: Thanks for your question. Advaita Vedanta is taken by some to be any of the above, by some to be all of the above, and by the Realized to be none of the above. The level of nonsense and debate that has evolved around Advaita Vedanta is not unlike the fabled argument engaged in by six men from India who, trying to satisfy their minds, determined that they would observe an elephant by “feeling” and determine its appearance, though all were actually blind. The first touched the side and determined that elephants look like walls, while the second felt the tusk and said that elephants look like spears. The third, who touched the trunk, concluded that elephants feel like snakes. The next felt the knee and said that elephants look just like trees, but the fifth touched an ear and came to believe that elephants look like fans. The last who touched the tail determined that elephants look just like ropes. The poet John Saxe drew this conclusion:
“So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!”
Today’s “theologic wars” are the curse of the relative existence. How has an understanding, which once provided simple steps to be followed in order to remove distortion, become so distorted and a part of the "theologic wars"? That is easily understood if it is realized that everything cycles from simplicity to complication and then back to a simple “state.” Distortion happens when persons fixate at the complicated level rather than completing the cycle and understanding the simplicity. For example:
1. In a void—which is as simple as it can get—a single hydrogen cell sprang forth. After dividing four times and reconnecting, helium evolved. Those two interacted and exploded into this universe. Everything on this planet was originally one atom. Simple.
2. In birds, animals, plants, or humans, a single cell can unite with another single cell and trigger a reaction that results in a multiplicity of cell clusterings that come to be identified as a “body” or as a tree or as whatever label humans assign. From a single unit, a body can evolve, a forest can evolve, a flock can evolve, a herd can evolve, a race can evolve. But eventually the “body” and all else will cycle back to the elements in an act of simplification as another cycle “completes.”
3. Pure consciousness manifests, but because of programming and conditioning and indoctrination, a complicated “mind” results (which is nothing more than an accumulation of beliefs, lies, and distortions that trigger more and more complications). If the cycle of the “mind” is “completed”—if the “mind” is allowed to cycle out of its imagined existence and end while the consciousness is still manifested—then simplification returns. If not, things remain complicated, but eventually the “mind” will cycle out of “existence” either way. It will end, “NOW” or “later.”
4. Historically, persons gathered in groups for protection and completion of the tasks that were required for meeting the physical needs of the body. They owned no land or houses and they accumulated nothing. Eventually, fixed communities formed and then some 35,000 years or so ago, the Aryan influence began to be spread across the globe as they practiced their beliefs in colonialism, imperialism, conquest, and either control or destruction. The value they assigned to “accumulation” took hold, societies evolved, ownership of land and other property was claimed, complications followed, rules and dogma evolved that were intended to try to control behavior and reduce complications (all to no avail), societal problems became more and more complicated, and today you see the global results.
The same happened with Advaita Vedanta. Originally, there was a simple understanding eventually summarized (but in the early going not even expressed) in the phrase “I AM THAT; I AM.” Organisms intuitively sensed the I AM. By instinct and observation they came to understand that the I AM does not manifest eternally. They saw others “die.” They saw that the animating force cycled. It came, it stayed for a time, and then it went. During the time it stayed, it wanted automatically to extend itself. Approach a bird and it will fly away from you. Why? To protect the I AM…to extend the manifestation of the consciousness that It Is. “Human-like creatures,” and later “human creatures,” lived just as spontaneously. Later still, as language developed, men began to try to explain the cycling. Other men eventually assumed religious or spiritual roles and they began to dream up more and more complicated components to tack onto the simple understanding, again to try to control behavior and conduct. Some would eventually dream up male and female gods in charge of various parts of an existence that was becoming more and more complicated, so they fabricated gods that were in charge of rain and thunder and agriculture and fertility and war, ad infinitum. Then, as they developed the primary addiction of humans (a desire to control) they developed as well the secondary addiction (a desire for power in order to control). They began to believe in magical, supernatural explanations for completely natural events, and they dreamed up magical, personal gods that were controlling from another realm the happenings in this realm. They introduced prayer, whereby they would beg the gods to give them what they wanted to extend the manifestation of the consciousness and eventually to try to satisfy the imagined needs and desires of the ego-states that they assumed as (false) identities.
Later, a man named Abraham said “There’s only one god, and he’s a male,” so those who accepted that explanation combined all of their gods and their godly duties into one “supreme” God or “Supreme Being.” Thus they combined their gods of creation, their gods of sustenance, and their gods of destruction into one, thereby fabricating the current concept of a schizophrenia god of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions that is a creator, a lover, a sustainer, a destroyer and a punisher. He can “love you unconditionally” but still has “conditions” that, if not met, will inspire him to kill you and torture you for eternity. Religions evolved, subdivisions of religions evolved, sects and denominations evolved, and more and more separation resulted. "Theologic wars" evolved into physical wars that continue to this day. The complications reached a stage where the relative existence can now be seen to be tantamount to insanity. That is what being out of touch with reality is like, and the Advaita “path” is one that can put persons back in touch with reality, free them from their insanity, and bring about Full Realization; however, that can only happen if the entire "journey" is completed.
Reality is simple. Lies and beliefs and distortions and ritual are complicated and thus insane. For tens of thousands of years, there was an understanding. Even with no name for that understanding, it was still understood. Then, as language and printing developed, men tried to codify the understanding. Advaita Vedanta beame one of six systems of philosophy in India and originally meant literally, “the end of the Vedas.” Around 800 A.D., some persons began to ignore the fact that the truth and the understanding are beyond the Vedas, said that part of the Vedas got it "wrong" but that part of the Vedas got it "right." They stopped their cycling and fixated their focus at the end of the Vedas (at the last section called “the Upanishads”). Rather than allowing even their attachment to the Vedas or the last part of it to end, they fixated there and now they cannot focus on or see what is beyond the Vedas, what is beyond religion, what is beyond the spiritual. That which can be understood via being in the quiet and tapping into the inner guru--the inner resource--is instead ignored as the focus for some persons is on an outer guru or some text thought to be "special." The truth cannot be stated. What need for a text or a guru to be worshipped or devoted to? The truth is within, not without. So corrupted has the consciousness become that yes, the offering of a few pointers and then the invitation to take those into comtemplation, can result in the basic, simple understanding exploding into (re-purified) consciousness. Upon realization, no gurus are taken to be real, no texts are taken to be "holy" or "different" or "special." Complications end and simplification returns.
But at that point in the bastardization of the original teachings, a simple understanding became more complicated as it was given a label and became one of six classical systems of Indian philosophy and then was shifted for some persons into something that was further complicated into something that was very religion-like as a result of adding texts, gurus to worship or be devoted to, rituals, action and doingness. The beingness is not seen, the non-beingness is not seen, and THAT Which I Am and THAT Which You Are and Which They Are (which is even beyond the beingness and the non-beingness) is not understood. Their abidance is not in the Absolute but is very much focused on a worldly existence which is a fraud...an illusion. Yet they stamp about in their sound and fury, trying to give significance to that which means nothing. So it is.
So is Advaita a philosophy, a religion, or a spirtual movement? It is none of those. It is a “path” of a few simple steps that can lead to an understanding that allows the cycling to complete, allows for a shift back to the simple that was, allows persons to become free of the complications, and allows persons to know again the simplicity that was before man-made concepts were dreamed up, developed, codified, published, analyzed and discussed, ad infinitum. Those man-made concepts that have been dreamed up and added to the simple understanding are the very elements that now prevent the grasping of that simple understanding. They trap persons in their religious and spiritual roles (along with all of their other roles that foster more complications and rituals and doings and dogma that in turn prevent persons from seeing the dreamed-up lies as lies and thereby prevent persons from understanding the functioning of the totality). Like those six men in the Indian fable who were trying to “satisfy their minds,” blind persons fixate in the "mind" stage while believing that they are in a spiritual stage, while thinking that they can see, and while mistaking appearances and feelings to be the Real. Those who complete the cycle understand. The rest, as Maharaj said, mistake the dawn for the noontime. Please enter into the silence of consideration. [To be continued]
