An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality / nonduality, your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: If the glass I drink from is not real, then how is it that I'm able to drink water from the glass? Michael
F.: Hello, Michael. Thx for the question, but understand that the Advaita-related question is not whether the glass is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what the glass is as opposed to what you, or most persons, think it is? The question is not whether the water is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what the water is as opposed to what you, or most persons, think it is?
The question is not whether the "I" who takes himself to be "The Drinker" is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what that is which you take to be "The Drinker" as opposed to what you, or most persons, think it is? The question is not whether Michael is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what this "michael" is as opposed to what you, or most persons, think he / it is?
It was ignorance that drove certain persons reading the last series to think that one pointer suggested that he who was called "The Christ" was literally an ass (one how-dare-you-complainant even concluding that he was being called "an asshole"). The point is that neither form nor shape identify the real. That which is real, and common to all, is "below" that which is outwardly perceived. "Form" is not reality, whether discussing a man, an animal, a glass or "michael."
The additional pointer, if you would understand the functioning of the totality, is that "jesus" and "a donkey" and "michael" and "floyd" and "maharaj" and "mohammed" and "a glass" and "water" and "persons" or "A Drinker" are never what they appear to be to those observing in ignorance. How is it, at the most basic level, that what is called "The Christ" and what is called "the ass" are the same?
You are invited to see that (a) everything named in the above paragraph, and everything not named but manifested in this relative existence, are all one thing at their most basic level and that (b) their appearances are seemingly different only as a result of variances in vibrational frequency. Again, persons are blocked from Realizing the truth because of ignorance, including ignorance of certain basic scientific principles and facts. Consider the example of the ice cube used in earlier posts:
To call a space or form "an ice cube" and end it there is to block the understanding of the fact that what appears to be an ice cube is really just H2O. Because the non-Realized erroneously believe that all which they are seeing is "different" from all other things or people that they are seeing, then they miss any understanding of the unicity.
When a child in ignorance looks at the varied forms that H2O can assume, the child concludes that a cloud and vapor and a river and a lake and rain and snow and sleet and mist and dew and waterfalls and streams and ponds and pools and puddles and hail are all very different things.
Children, and ignorant adults, will not know that they are looking at one thing that is temporarily assuming varied forms or shapes. They will not know that all of those supposedly different things are really one...really the same H2O + space. When persons are programmed and conditioned to believe in multiplicities, then the unity beyond the supposed multiplicity will remain a foreign concept.
When such misunderstanding and mis-perceiving are applied by "humans" to "humans," it become readily understandable why the ignorant people of the planet can look at their own white skin, for example, and conclude that the persons they perceive as having brown or black or yellow or reddish skin are "different." Once the ignorant reach that conclusion, then a sense of separation is fostered.
From there, false illusions flow; from false illusions, false identities flow ("I am a white person"); and from false identities flow an upgrading or downgrading of illusions and identities ("I am a wonderful white person and I am better than and different from those people who are not white persons.")
From there, perceived differences regarding race and religion and nationality are assumed to be "real." All such mispreceptions are prerequisites for judging and fighting and war and killing and abusing as the unicity is never understood but the multiplicity is taken to be real. From there, egotism always ranks the perceived multiples in a hierarchy of upgraded illusions and downgraded illusions (with the one doing the ranking always putting himself/herself at the top).
It is those illusions and those mis-perceptions that justify arrogance, a sense of separation, attacks, invasions, divorce, discrimination, religious wars, sectarian wars, political wars and all else in the relative existence than sane persons would see as insane.
In fact, all conflicts are based in the insane assumption of ego-states as identities and the attendant egotism that accompanies such assumptions. And that, Michael, is why it is significant (relatively speaking) to differentiate the real from the perceived.
During certain ages in the past, religious persons argued about how many angels could fit on the point of a needle. That was a nonsensical debate. So is the debate about whether a glass is real or not. Let the focus be instead on "What is 'michael,' really?" and "Where was 'michael' in the weeks prior to conception?" and "What was 'he' then?" and "What shall 'he' always be...which is not the form that 'he' sees when gazing into a mirror?"
Let the focus be on "How is it that all is the same?" and "How is it, then, that there is no separation?" and "How it is that I came to erroneously believe that some persons are better than others?" and "How has it come about that some persons believe they are 'better than' and 'different from' others in a way that justifies their judging and killing others?"
And "How is it that I have not only come to believe in illusions but that I also upgrade some of the illusions I believe in and downgrade others that I believe?" and "How is it that the relative existence is made miserable when I don't know the truth about What I Really Am as opposed to what my culture tells me that I am?" Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: If the glass I drink from is not real, then how is it that I'm able to drink water from the glass? Michael
F.: Hello, Michael. Thx for the question, but understand that the Advaita-related question is not whether the glass is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what the glass is as opposed to what you, or most persons, think it is? The question is not whether the water is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what the water is as opposed to what you, or most persons, think it is?
The question is not whether the "I" who takes himself to be "The Drinker" is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what that is which you take to be "The Drinker" as opposed to what you, or most persons, think it is? The question is not whether Michael is real or not. The issue is, do you really know what this "michael" is as opposed to what you, or most persons, think he / it is?
It was ignorance that drove certain persons reading the last series to think that one pointer suggested that he who was called "The Christ" was literally an ass (one how-dare-you-complainant even concluding that he was being called "an asshole"). The point is that neither form nor shape identify the real. That which is real, and common to all, is "below" that which is outwardly perceived. "Form" is not reality, whether discussing a man, an animal, a glass or "michael."
The additional pointer, if you would understand the functioning of the totality, is that "jesus" and "a donkey" and "michael" and "floyd" and "maharaj" and "mohammed" and "a glass" and "water" and "persons" or "A Drinker" are never what they appear to be to those observing in ignorance. How is it, at the most basic level, that what is called "The Christ" and what is called "the ass" are the same?
You are invited to see that (a) everything named in the above paragraph, and everything not named but manifested in this relative existence, are all one thing at their most basic level and that (b) their appearances are seemingly different only as a result of variances in vibrational frequency. Again, persons are blocked from Realizing the truth because of ignorance, including ignorance of certain basic scientific principles and facts. Consider the example of the ice cube used in earlier posts:
To call a space or form "an ice cube" and end it there is to block the understanding of the fact that what appears to be an ice cube is really just H2O. Because the non-Realized erroneously believe that all which they are seeing is "different" from all other things or people that they are seeing, then they miss any understanding of the unicity.
When a child in ignorance looks at the varied forms that H2O can assume, the child concludes that a cloud and vapor and a river and a lake and rain and snow and sleet and mist and dew and waterfalls and streams and ponds and pools and puddles and hail are all very different things.
Children, and ignorant adults, will not know that they are looking at one thing that is temporarily assuming varied forms or shapes. They will not know that all of those supposedly different things are really one...really the same H2O + space. When persons are programmed and conditioned to believe in multiplicities, then the unity beyond the supposed multiplicity will remain a foreign concept.
When such misunderstanding and mis-perceiving are applied by "humans" to "humans," it become readily understandable why the ignorant people of the planet can look at their own white skin, for example, and conclude that the persons they perceive as having brown or black or yellow or reddish skin are "different." Once the ignorant reach that conclusion, then a sense of separation is fostered.
From there, false illusions flow; from false illusions, false identities flow ("I am a white person"); and from false identities flow an upgrading or downgrading of illusions and identities ("I am a wonderful white person and I am better than and different from those people who are not white persons.")
From there, perceived differences regarding race and religion and nationality are assumed to be "real." All such mispreceptions are prerequisites for judging and fighting and war and killing and abusing as the unicity is never understood but the multiplicity is taken to be real. From there, egotism always ranks the perceived multiples in a hierarchy of upgraded illusions and downgraded illusions (with the one doing the ranking always putting himself/herself at the top).
It is those illusions and those mis-perceptions that justify arrogance, a sense of separation, attacks, invasions, divorce, discrimination, religious wars, sectarian wars, political wars and all else in the relative existence than sane persons would see as insane.
In fact, all conflicts are based in the insane assumption of ego-states as identities and the attendant egotism that accompanies such assumptions. And that, Michael, is why it is significant (relatively speaking) to differentiate the real from the perceived.
During certain ages in the past, religious persons argued about how many angels could fit on the point of a needle. That was a nonsensical debate. So is the debate about whether a glass is real or not. Let the focus be instead on "What is 'michael,' really?" and "Where was 'michael' in the weeks prior to conception?" and "What was 'he' then?" and "What shall 'he' always be...which is not the form that 'he' sees when gazing into a mirror?"
Let the focus be on "How is it that all is the same?" and "How is it, then, that there is no separation?" and "How it is that I came to erroneously believe that some persons are better than others?" and "How has it come about that some persons believe they are 'better than' and 'different from' others in a way that justifies their judging and killing others?"
And "How is it that I have not only come to believe in illusions but that I also upgrade some of the illusions I believe in and downgrade others that I believe?" and "How is it that the relative existence is made miserable when I don't know the truth about What I Really Am as opposed to what my culture tells me that I am?" Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
