Revision of ‘Review of article on Shankara’ – Part 5

A tarka (reasoning, argumentation) is required for the analysis of anubhava, as both SSS and RB (the author) agree – consistent with Shankara’s position. That is, language and thought, needless to say, have a role to play, chiefly for exposition and analysis.

However, after two long, dense paragraphs RB contends: “If the tarka required to examine anubhava is itself completely dependent on ´sruti, then by no means is anubhava the ‘kingpin’ of pram¯an.as.”

Prior to this, SSS was quoted as maintaining that “for this unique tarka all universal anubhavas or experiences (intuitive experiences) themselves are the support.” The author states that this affirmation involves circular argumentation, and that to say that Shankara interprets the Vedas as being consistent with anubhava is wrong, the truth being the other way around, anubhava is consistent with the Vedas: “it should be clear that according to Sure´svar¯ac¯arya, the direct realization is directly from just ´sruti itself, thus satisfying the criteria for it to be a pram¯an.a…. The direct realization of the self is from ´sruti alone.” Continue reading

The Focus of Attention…

Quote

I find that somehow, by shifting the focus of attention,

I become the very thing I look at,

and experience the kind of consciousness it has;

I become the inner witness of the thing.

I call this capacity of entering other focal points of consciousness, love;

you may give it any name you like.

Love says “I am everything”. Wisdom says “I am nothing”.

Between the two, my life flows.

Since at any point of time and space I can be both

the subject and the object of experience,

I express it by saying that I am

both, and neither, and beyond both.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

http://mysticson.blogspot.de/2010/04/focus-of-attention.html

Revision of ‘Review of article on Shankara’ – part 4

Under the section ‘Tarka vs Sruti’ the more or less unconscious devise (upadhi) of removing the subject from the ‘picture’ aimed at understanding the world is broached, and the author (RB) quotes E. Schrödinger in that connection: “It became inherent in any attempt to form a picture of the objective world such as the Ionians made”. And so, “…the desire for understanding the world through our imperfect sensory knowledge invariably leads to certain, frequently overlooked, assumptions”.

It is curious that the first sleight of hand – by ‘primordial man’, the demiurge of mythology and Platonic philosophy – consisted in carrying out a scission within reality so that subject and object would emerge in opposition to each other: God and man (the Garden of Eden), the One and the many. A second scission was done by philosophical, or ‘thinking’, man, by removing the human subject altogether – provisionally, for the Ionian ‘physiologoi’ knew what they were doing, though, it is related, Thales of Miletus fell once into a ditch while absorbed looking at the firmament’s stars in utter wonder. Certainly, this device – or both combined – made possible all the empirical sciences, literature, art, and everything we know about the world. If there were no division or separation (no adhyasa and it’s attending ‘names and forms’), there would be no ‘world’. Allusion was made to this parallel mythological account previously, as well as to the kind of ignorance that became knowledge (with small case). Continue reading

Attending to the work

Quote

“Attending to the Self means attending to the work. Because you identify yourself with the body, you think that work is done by you. But the body and its activities, including that work, are not apart from the Self. What does it matter whether you attend to the work or not? When you walk from one place to another you do not attend to the steps you take and yet you find yourself after a time at your goal. You see how the business of walking goes on without your attending to it. So also with other kinds of work.” Ramana Maharshi

Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, David Godman, Arkana,
ISBN: 0140190627. Buy from Amazon US, Buy from Amazon UK

Effort of attention.

Eskimo story — In the eternal darkness, the crow, unable to find any food, longed for light, and the earth was illumined.
If there is a real desire, if the thing desired is really light , the desire for light produces it. There is a real desire when there is an effort of attention.
              Simone Weil – Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God.

Sharpness of Attention

Quote

Karl-Heinz Laube@pixelio.de

Arise, awake, and learn by approaching the excellent ones. The wise ones describe that path to be as impassable as a razor’s edge, which, when sharpened, is difficult to tread on.

Katha Upanishad 1,2,15

photo credits: Karl-Heinz Laube@pixelio.de

A Unique Form of OCD

One of the great ironies of life in a world that is almost wholly preoccupied with the profit margin of any business transacted within its context – which in more personal terms equates with the degree of personal happiness that is the intended product of any action that one performs – is the fact that most people squander the greatest natural resource at their disposal for procuring the bounty of contentment they seek.

 

Duped by maya and suffering an innate condition of ignorance, the vast majority of people remain so preoccupied with the alluring objects calling for their attention in the surrounding world that they fail to realize that they themselves – i.e. the quality and texture of their own mind – are the source of the peace and happiness they experience through their acquisition of items, accomplishment of ends, and/or achievement of ambitions.  They fail to see that it is not the objects themselves they desire, but rather the sense of fulfillment they feel so sure these objects will afford them.  Instead of reveling in the joy that is their inherent nature as the limitless self, they dissipate their inner tranquility by training their attention upon objects – both subtle and gross – that they believe are the founts of satisfaction.

 

However, as Lord Krishna, speaking as the self, says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Fixing your mind on me, you shall pass over all difficulties, through my grace; but if, through egoism, you will not listen, then you shall perish” (18.58).  Rather than an ultimatum issued by a jealous god, this assertion is simply an appeal to practicality.  As long as the mind is distracted by objective phenomena it will be incapable of discerning the true nature of reality and remain unable to discriminate between the real and the apparent, the self and the not self, that which is inherently limitless, free, content, and blissful and that which is inherently limited, bound, agitated, and to a greater or lesser degree anguished.

 

Therefore, if such discrimination – i.e. atma-anatma-viveka – is the heart of self-inquiry, we might say that attention – and more precisely the ability to turn one’s attention “inward” and train it on the self – is its backbone.  It is no arbitrary coincidence that samadhana, the ability to sustain concentration on a given topic for a long period of time, is one of the fundamental qualifications for a seeker of self-knowledge.  Focused attention is indeed the foundation of all three aspects of the process of self-inquiry – i.e. hearing (shravana), reflection (manana), and meditation (nididhyasana) – that leads to the assimilation of self-knowledge and ultimate inner freedom (moksha).  It requires a mind with a unique form of OCD – a mind whose attention is characterized by the qualities of openness, critical thinking, and determination.

Continue reading

The Purpose of Life, Part 6

 

Inquiry 6:  What is the Purpose of the Apparent?

 
And even if reality is non-dual, why this seeming duality? Why does this mithyA of life exist?

 

As has already been established, there is no creation.  The word “creation” implies that something that previously did not exist has been somehow brought into existence, that something new has entered the arena of the old or already-previously-established.  Since, however, there exists nothing other than consciousness/awareness and therefore such is the sole substratum of the entire field of manifestation and all the objects inhabiting it, it is not possible for anything new to arrive on the scene.  All apparent objects, including those making their first appearance in a given form, are nothing other that a reconstitution and/or reconfiguration of the same one substance of which the entire apparent reality consists.

 

From perspective of both the apparent individual and God/Isvara/the macrocosmic causal body (though it should be understood that the latter is not a personal entity) there is, nevertheless, an apparent creation.   There is, however, a difference between the apparent individual’s projected interpretation of reality (i.e. jiva shrishti) and God’s appearance as “creation” (i.e. Isvara shrishti).

Continue reading

Attention – ad tendere

The word “Attention” is derived from two Latin words, ad tendere, meaning “to stretch towards.”

Rupert Spira explains very clearly how attention turning towards itself is the ending of the mind.

1.  Attention Falling Back to its Source (From Rupert at Parmoor in Dec 2013) – 8:35 min:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJzIz31rt4I

2.  Attention and Awareness (From Rupert at Santa Sabina in Oct 2013) – 8:38 min:  http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/attention-and-awareness

3.  The Sinking of Attention into Itself (From Rupert at Santa Sabina in Feb 2014) – 13:07 min:  http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/the-sinking-of-attention-into-itself

4.  Attention is Awareness Plus an Object (From Rupert at Mercy Center, CA in Apr 2013) – 14:53 min:  http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/attention-is-awareness-plus-an-object

The message in these Videos is beautifully crystal clear and truly meditational, I submit.