Friday, July 20, 2007

THE FOUR METHODS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA VEDANTA, Part Five

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FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Please see “Part One” of this series for the visitor's initial comments]

F.: Next, the nisarga yoga approach shall be discussed. It has been employed by many Direct Path teachers and is observable in the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (especially via the pointers offered at the end of his teaching "career"). Many systems of yoga are used by various teachers or instructors: hatha yoga, kundalini yoga, power yoga, mantra-yoga, raja-yoga, bhakti-yoga, etc. The nisarga yoga is used with the Direct Path Method on this site. Many yogis or yoginis are involved with yogas that encourage going and doing and zooming and adherence to their prescribed practices "for life."
To the contrary, nisarga yoga encourages the use of any system only to the point of Full Realization; thereafter, the pointer is to merely witness natural living as it happens. Nothing in nature (except for programmed, conditioned humans) believes that it must live supernaturally and read, pray, implore, kneel, study, chant, hum, plead, ring, burn, meet, supplicate, tithe, serve, solicit, wish, hope, and proselytize in order to be happy or content or fulfilled or "good" or "better."

As a result of believing all of those activities are required for "right living," scores of systems of yoga have evolved. But if you were to study them after exposure to the Direct Path Method and the nisarga approach, all of their doingness would be promptly rejected; however, the long and arduous road taken by “floyd” led to exposure to most of the other types of yogas before nisarga yoga was found. At that point, all nonsense became recognizable as nonsense, but here are the experiences that happened along the way that led to abandoning the practices of the other yogas.

A. Some jogis/yoginis claimed to be able to connect persons with a god or gods or “Cosmic Mother” in order for persons to have another power source to tap into or in order for persons to become totally devoted to a Lord.
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? There are no persons; there is no individuality, only the unicity; there is no god or “Cosmic Mother” or “Cosmic Father” or “Lord”; there are no multiple gods or goddesses; there is no “one” to gain power; it is duality to think "I worship him/her" or "I follow him/her"; and there is no “one” to gain, period.

A. Some claimed that their followers must practice self-disciplines daily.
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? There is no need to practice anything once Full Realization happens; there is no “one” to practice; natural living happens, without practicing and without doingness, and all unnatural and supernatural living ends automatically; the self is false and cannot be disciplined because self prefers to destroy discipline; the Self, on the other hand, does not need disciplining.

A. Some yogis/yoginis claimed that persons must chant and/or activate their centers.
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? Once a person Realizes fully and abandons personas, there is no do-er to chant or to activate or to do anything else. Instead, AS IF living happens spontaneously and naturally; human types have walked the planet for 14.5 million years and they never chanted and never had to activate their centers until the last few thousand years, so it is not “natural”; finally, that which is limitless and without bounds can have no “center.”

A. Some yogis/yoginis said that persons must unite their body and mind and emotions and spirit so that they can focus on nothing but “the Lord.”
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? There is no “Lord”; body and mind and emotions and spirit are all illusions, so to try to unite them is as senseless as trying to go into the desert and connect four mirages; the entire notion of things being separate and needing to be united is dualistic; and "Advaita" means “not two” and deals with the unicity…not with the two-ness, the three-ness, the four-ness, etc.

A. Some yogis/yoginis claimed that there is a goal for all persons and the goal is to gain knowledge.
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? Concepts are only used with the Direct Path Method to remove religious or spiritual knowledge (also know as, learned ignorance) and then all concepts are discarded and natural/nisarga living happens.

A. Some yogis/yoginis taught two-ness, that there is "a Lord" and "his beings."
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? Again, "Advaita" means “not two” and deals with the unicity…not with the two-ness, the three-ness, the four-ness, etc.

A. Some yogis/yoginis focused on immediate cause and effect and on the related concept of karma.
B. Why would one following the Direct Path/nisarga yoga dismiss that approach? Advaitins know that the cause of all is all...that the cause of anything is everything that has happened before any given moment or happenings under discussion.
As far as being giving or kind in order for your karma to get you a payoff, to “give” in order to get is self-ish giving and reveals that self-absorption continues; to believe that a “Cosmic Record-Keeper” is balancing out all of that giving and receiving (and not knowing that “The Givers” are trying to manipulate the universe and gain) is naïve and driven by self; post-Realization, it is de-accumulation, not accumulation, that happens; and, finally, the Realized know that they were not even born once, so they surely cannot possibly be "born again." Please enter the silence of contemplation. ( To be continued)
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