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Overview of Western Philosophy – Part 3

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(Read Part 2 of the series.)

Part 3 – Plato, Aristotle and the Cynics

Socrates is famous for claiming that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’. If we simply go through our lives seeking pleasures for their own sake without ever looking for some sense of purpose and meaning, then we might as well not have existed. The hedonist’s retort to this is that, if we spend all of our lives searching for significance and fail to find any (whether or not there actually is one), then we have wasted our opportunity to enjoy it while we are able. The fact that many claim that there is a purpose, and that they themselves have realised this, is not really any help. Most of such people will be held by us to be deluded religious fanatics and their opinions will carry little weight. If there is meaning then it does seem that we must discover it for ourselves, perhaps by systematically examining all of the claims and deciding whether they are in any way justified. Continue reading →

If we do not experience from within a body, then where oh where do we feel-think-do from?

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whirlpool

Image by valemngilda

Think of a whirlpool. There seems to be a definable shape that we can point to and know as a whirlpool, and yet there is nothing separate or fixed about its whirlpool-ness. All the water that constructs the thing we have labelled “whirlpool” is in flow, never the same water in any moment, and yet it appears to hold its shape/from so convincingly that we believe we can point to the moment our whirlpool began, measure it’s lifetime, and record the moment it ceases to be.

But what is it that convinces us that the whirlpool is separate and of its own causal relatedness to “other” forms we have labelled in the single field of All That Is?

For as much as we focus on the ways to practice into a consciousness immune to mithyA, we have the experiences we have as All That Is in constant flow, unfixed and inseparable, no matter how we might label that experience.

It seems prudent to mention at this point that we are prone to use the word experience to separate so-called “personal identity” from “other-ness”, so the concept of experience encompassing all that we have labelled inner, outer, before, present, and so on, is an unnatural leap… until one comprehends the arbitrary lines we have drawn (even in language being the means of defining ideas that can be fixed in objective transfer of meaning), and recognise these too as whirlpools in the ocean of All That Is.

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Image by Andrey Alyukhin

Of course, the analogy can only go so far. According to the assumptions of our current cosmology, to know-observe a whirlpool is to be separate from it, and to literally form a whirlpool the ocean must exist within an atmosphere. But in our present physics of a causal universe, we have no means of explaining an alternative conceptual reality with words. Even the term “reality” inspires our perceptual bias dividing existence as dimensional from that which cannot be known/named/defined.

Which also means that while it seems that we can be taught the Vedantic mokSha; that there are those who trust innately, and perceive (for want of a better word) the whirlpool in its ocean state. Those who seek to trust, and devote themselves to practices which might reveal an ocean in all things. And those who examine trust through chemical, experimental, and philosophical means in order to demystify that which defies explanation (which will ultimately allow us to speak of that which language is yet to adequately express)… we do not experience (learn/live/know) from within a body because the “body”, the “self”, and experience as a point of separation, are all whirlpools within an ocean of All That Is.

“There is no dissolution, no origination, none in bondage, none possessed of the means of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated.” Gaudapada (K2.32)

Webinars with Chinmaya International Foundation

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I have just received notification of the webinars which are being run by Chinmaya International Foundation. These are conducted on-line with audio and video content, covering both introductory and advanced texts – an opportunity to study with a traditional teacher when you do not have physical access to one! They are for serious students and feature Q & A sessions (in both directions!). Sounds excellent!

Here are brief details of current courses:

For more details about the courses and how to apply, look at their website.

If any visitor to this site takes up the offer, I would be interested in hearing back from them as to how they get on.

The Relevance of Kant’s Transcendental Idealism to Advaita Vedanta, Part III

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kant3

The Critique of Pure Reason is a long and intricate text. Most of what I discussed in Parts I and II is material covered just in the Introduction! In this final installment of our Kant series, we’ll briefly discuss the first formal section of the CPR, the Transcendental Aesthetic, where Kant elucidates his radical view of space and time. Also, from a later section of the critique, we will examine Kant’s notion of the transcendental synthetic unity of apperception, and I will argue that he is essentially talking about Atman in Western philosophical terms. Continue reading →

The Mystery – Part 3

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Continuing this new, short series presenting the booklet by Bimal Prasad, in which he answers some ‘Rarely Asked Questions’ on Life. Primarily from the perspective of Advaita, questions addressed include the nature of happiness, consciousness, mind and ego. There is also practical guidance on meditation in the final chapter. Answers are relevant and succinct, so that many of the issues of interest to the seeker are covered.

This third part is entitled ‘Pointers to Consciousness’ and answers questions about the nature of existence, reality, truth and consciousness. See the Contents List or go straight to Part 3 of the series.

The complete (electronic form) booklet may also be purchased from Amazon.

The Model of Insight

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It occurred to me whilst reading Joseph Campbell’s Pathway to Bliss, that if we have no models of nameless now, then, well, we have no models.

Whatever conclusions we draw from this are our own doctrine(s) making themselves visible. For some the need to qualify and argue with such a proposition is tantamount (regardless of whether or not the author suggests their words be broadcast as superior wisdom or truer truths). For others there exists a desire to understand what it means for their own insight-now-moment.

660467Swami Krishnananda says there is, “a transference of human attributes to the Divine Existence [when] one contemplates the Cosmos as one’s Body. Just as, for example, the one contemplates one’s individual body, one simultaneously becomes conscious of the right eye, the left eye, [and so on] and all the limbs of the body at one and the same time, and one does not regard the different limbs of the body as distinguished from one another in any way, all limbs being only apparently different but really connected to a single personality, so in [the Vaisvanar Vidya] meditation, the consciousness is to be transferred to the Universal Being. Instead of one contemplating oneself as the individual body, one contemplates oneself as the Universal Body… The limbs of the Cosmic Person are identified with cosmic elements and vice versa, so that there is nothing in the cosmos which does not form an organic part of the Body of the Virat, or Vaisvanara…” (p6)

He goes on to say, “[that] whatever our mind can think, becomes an object for the mind; and that object, again, should become a part of the meditator’s Body, cosmically. And, the moment the object that is conceived by the mind is identified with the Cosmic Body, the object ceases to agitate the mind anymore; because that object is not any more outside…” (pp6-7)

Then, perhaps, even though we have no models of it (at least none we recognise as such), the notion of the mind itself can be identified with the Cosmic Body, with the Cosmic Existence; and rather than ‘objects of the mind’ becoming part of the ‘meditator’s body’ (in order to transfer consciousness to the Universal Being), contemplation itself can be identified with the Cosmic.

This would ostensibly cut out the middle man, so our every moment is a cosmic contemplation, simultaneously one as the so-called appearance of not-one. Whence it would be a function of the one for what we have labelled the appearance of not-one to fathom itself however it fathoms itself (rather than a path taken or not taken by an individual). And all that is apparently different but really inter-conected to a single field or oneness, would be known-felt-explained in those terms – oneness as an organic contemplation of oneself, cosmically.

References
The Māndūkya Upanishad (1996) by Swami Krishnananda

Pathway to Bliss: Mythological and personal transformation (2004) by Joseph Campbell

The Brahman Experience

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Let’s discuss the possibility that Brahman is nityaptasvarupa, no exceptions. Let’s talk about what it means to truly live from a place where Brahman is all that is – our ideas, experiences, loves, violence. I’ll start with some of the comments made on a previous post, ‘Consciousness of Choice’, because let’s face it, Dennis made some great points!

Continue reading →

Vision Of Truth (sad darshanam – Part 22)

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धिये प्रकाशं परमो वितीर्य
स्वयं धियोSन्त: प्रविभाति गुप्त:
धियं परावर्त्य धियोSन्तरेSत्र
संयोजनान्नेश्वर दृष्टिरन्या—-२४

dhiye prakAsham paramH vitIrya
svayam dhiyaH antaH pravibhAti guptaH
dhiyam parAvartya dhiyaH antare atra
samyojanAt na ishvara dRiShTiH anyA

धिये प्रकाशं परमो वितीर्य = the self after having given sentiency to the mind;
स्वयं धियोSन्त: प्रविभाति गुप्त: = is itself hidden, as it were, and shines in the mind;
धियं परावर्त्य धियोSन्तरेSत्र = having turned the mind inward, here within the intellect
संयोजनान्नेश्वर दृष्टिरन्या = because of uniting, ishvara darshana takes place, not otherwise

The self, after having given sentiency to the mind is itself hidden, as it were, and shines in the mind . Having turned the mind inward, here within the intellect, because of uniting, ishvara darshana takes place, not otherwise

The mind which is a product of matter does not clearly have a sentiency of its own. The different states that the mind fluctuates into are enough to substantiate the fact that mind by itself is lifeless. In the waking state, the mind is fully aware, gaining impulses, reacting, reporting etc. It is alive to the world. In the dream state, the mind is partially awake. It has the capacity to manifest a dream world out of its own self; yet is oblivious to the outside world. It is in a semi -active condition. In the deep sleep, the mind is fully resolved. There is no interaction with the world nor is there a manifested dream world from the stuff of the mind. A mind which fluctuates into these conditions has to depend on something, since something that fluctuates can never be the absolute. This absolute which provides it with the aliveness is the self.
Continue reading →

Consciousness of Choice

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It is not uncommon to hear people speak of happiness as a choice, as a state of mind. But what happens when we make happiness a goal instead of an experience? And how can we know happiness through dedication, without attaching ourselves to the outcome itself? This is not a paradox. This is the nature of MokSha in the moment.

Although proponents of Advaita may conduct experiments, it is the wonder and glory of experimentation itself they have in mind. Choice is not used to bring about particular outcomes, for this would be manipulation of what is not into being; something a lived experience of Advaita cannot assume since the only ‘transition’ to be made is from not experiencing mokSha to a lived experience of mokSha.

Continue reading →

New Authors

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Just a brief note to announce (retrospectively!) the changes in our ‘blog role’.

I would like to thank Venkat and Shuka for all of their posts, support in the Q & A section, and participation in discussions over the past few years.

shuka
Shuka is busy with research on his doctorate until the end of next year. Hopefully we may see him rejoin subsequently.

 

venkatVenkat, too, has decided not to initiate any blogs for the time being, although he may continue to join in discussion (as can be seen from Charles’ first post). So hopefully we will not be without his earnest comments and fund of quotations.

 

In their place, I would like to welcome Melanie and Charles.

charlesWe have been seeing quite a few comments from Charles over the past months and it made sense, given their thoughtful and intelligent nature, to invite him to blog for AV, too. Though initially too busy to accept, he is now able to contribute, for a while at least.

melanie

Melanie is the first person actually to offer her services as a blogger. The quality of her writing and her obvious enthusiasm made this a foregone conclusion.