From a site visitor: I am very pleased to discover your website and blog. I found them while googling for the relations between the teachings of Jesus and Advaita Vedanta which are the current focus of my advaitic explorations.
F.: An excellent place to start for one exposed to Christian dogma, which has nothing to do with the teachings offered by Jesus from age 31-33. Early on, he talked the "company line" because he was programmed with Jewish doctrine. After his desert years, where he was exposed to the teachings of the Gnostics and the Nazarenes (not citizens of a town as is mistakenly taught but adherents to a philosophy), the consciousness that had been corrupted by his early conditioning began to be purified when he received the Advaita teachings which he shared occasionally during his last three years. (As with all who share the Advaita teachings, pointers are offered at the level of the audience, so to one he talked about "a mansion with many rooms" but to the next he said that "no one will ever see heaven...it is within.") Too, the teachings evolved as the re-purification of the consciousness evolved, so some other supposed contradictions could be expected also. Without understanding Advaita and the way pointers are adjusted depending on the audience, so-called Christians haven’t a clue what Jesus was talking about, especially those trained in seminaries.
VISITOR: My first question is: why "become" realized? I can see its "benefit" in gaining an inner peace (but this is only a concept, therefore an illusion). Is it because realization leads to abandoning the fictions of samsara and rebirth, thus releasing one from this mind-body-world complex?
F.: Your question is one that is often raised and that sometimes ends when what is called "Applied Advaita" on this site is understood. What must be seen is that there is no duality involved in the I AM THAT; I AM. If that is understood, then it is known that You Are the Absolute, You Are presently abiding as the I AM, and the I AM THAT; I AM is not two. As long as the I AM continues (as long as the conscious-energy is manifested thusly) then “life” can happen either while awake or while sleepwalking.
VISITOR: My first question is: why "become" realized? I can see its "benefit" in gaining an inner peace (but this is only a concept, therefore an illusion). Is it because realization leads to abandoning the fictions of samsara and rebirth, thus releasing one from this mind-body-world complex?
F.: Your question is one that is often raised and that sometimes ends when what is called "Applied Advaita" on this site is understood. What must be seen is that there is no duality involved in the I AM THAT; I AM. If that is understood, then it is known that You Are the Absolute, You Are presently abiding as the I AM, and the I AM THAT; I AM is not two. As long as the I AM continues (as long as the conscious-energy is manifested thusly) then “life” can happen either while awake or while sleepwalking.
Sleepwalking can be problematic, but that is relatively speaking. In terms of the Absolute, whether the manifestation happens while awake or while asleep matters not at all and, yes, "benefits" are illusions. Relatedly, as far as "inner peace," Realization does not even guarantee that. The Realized, being awake rather than asleep, can still run the full gamut of feelings and usually do so more than those still asleep. So even that is not a "benefit." But to "apply" the teachings is to know that (1) there is no one to apply anything or to benefit from anything or to gain anything or to lose anything but that you can then (2) live AS IF, that is, can witness the happenings that happen, can know the lies, can know what is true, can be in touch with reality, and can witness all without becoming emotionally intoxicated.
Post-realization, the basic requirements of a "daughter" and a "wife" and "floyd" remained: food, clothing, shelter, etc. Since those basic requirements remained, work had to continue to happen in order for income to happen. What changed was that an ego-state ended that no longer determined what the body did. Yes, the "mind" was also released, as you imply. Yes, the world-complex dissolved after the illusory world faded. But the bottom line is that no one ever chooses to realize or not. The non-Realized cannot choose anything. Choice happens only post-Realization during the I AM, AS IF-phase of the relative existence that happens during the remainder of the manifestation of the re-purified consciousness. (The choice-no choice topic will be discussed in detail tomorrow.)
Rather than deciding if one will realize or not, therefore, see that it merely happens...or not. If it doesn't, then experiences will continue to be experienced by personas and misery will accompany those. If it does happen, feelings will still be felt but emotional intoxication will not. So you might find the answer to "Why Realize" on your own if you imagine for a moment that you're trying to do an intervention with a adult-aged child who is abusing alcohol, trying to escape, believing all his lies, clinging to the insane distortions that are generated by his warped mind, preferring to stay asleep rather than wake up to the truth, staying intoxicated, suffering the misery of conduct generated under the influence, and suffering the pain of hangover between drinking bouts. He might say, "Why stop drinking? What does it matter?" What would you answer, from the viewpoint of the Realized? Then, how would you address the relative existence part of the I AM THAT; I AM summation of the teachings? Just contemplate that rather than sending a response.
Rather than deciding if one will realize or not, therefore, see that it merely happens...or not. If it doesn't, then experiences will continue to be experienced by personas and misery will accompany those. If it does happen, feelings will still be felt but emotional intoxication will not. So you might find the answer to "Why Realize" on your own if you imagine for a moment that you're trying to do an intervention with a adult-aged child who is abusing alcohol, trying to escape, believing all his lies, clinging to the insane distortions that are generated by his warped mind, preferring to stay asleep rather than wake up to the truth, staying intoxicated, suffering the misery of conduct generated under the influence, and suffering the pain of hangover between drinking bouts. He might say, "Why stop drinking? What does it matter?" What would you answer, from the viewpoint of the Realized? Then, how would you address the relative existence part of the I AM THAT; I AM summation of the teachings? Just contemplate that rather than sending a response.
Next, the site is not used to try to persuade persons to awaken and see the lies and see the truth. It is available to the few who seek and would find. It is not advertised and visitations are not solicited. The consciousness speaks and what happens after that happens...or not. Why? Because most will remain asleep since persons have to be shaken to be awakened, since most do not want to be shaken or awakened, and since the Realized witness and the consciousness speaks via this site only to those that ask...as just happened here.
Your question about why Realize, therefore, can only be answered in terms of relative impact. All duality, all sense of separation, and all the BS that happens on the planet is rooted in ego. And ego is rooted in the acceptance of ego-states as identities. And the antidote for egotism and distortion (including the belief that that ego-states are real and the egotistical belief that some are “better” or “good” or “right” or “moral” while “others” are “worse” or "bad” or “wrong” or “immoral”) is Realization. But even Realization is of this relative existence. Post-manifestation, all is Absolute, there is nothing manifested that can be aware of anything, and thus all of this being discussed is irrelevant. If abiding as the Absolute, it is understood that all is irrelevant and that any discussion is really for entertainment only. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [TOMORROW: Requested Clarifications]
