Over the years, many seekers from all over the world have asked for my help to find a teacher. Rarely have I been able to do so. To paraphrase a common saying: a good teacher is hard to find. If there is one within striking distance of your home, you will be very lucky indeed! My new book, out this month, explains why, and endeavors to look at all of the ‘teacher resources’ available through books and Internet.
Self Seeking:- Finding a Modern Teacher of Advaita
Below is the Contents List so that you can see what you will be getting. For a general summary of its aim, I cannot do better than repeat the publishing summary: Are you interested in Advaita and want to become enlightened? How should you go about it? What will happen if you do? How can you know what works and what doesn’t? In particular, how should you go about finding a teacher? What books should you read? Author Dennis Waite answers all these questions and more, having communicated with many teachers and seekers over the past 25 years, accumulated around 1500 books on Advaita, and written more than 10 books himself.
In these pages, you will learn how to identify false teachers by spotting irrelevance, pitfalls, fallacies, and mystical mumbo jumbo. You will be warned against grandiose marketing claims, spiritual catchphrases, unclear language and poetry, and why you should be wary of various transcriptions and translations. For instance, the styles of Neo-Vedanta, Neo-Advaita, Direct Path, and satsang, in general, are compared with the original traditional teaching, and the relative values of scriptures, psychology, social media, and even AI are investigated. An attempt has been made to research all living teachers and organizations that claim to be teaching Non-Duality in the West and establish whether it is really Advaita. Do they help you to seek the Self or are they simply self-seeking?
The introduction to the section on ‘What is Enlightenment?’ was posted last week so that you can gauge the style and intention of the book.
CONTENTS………………………………………………… 2
Introduction…………………………………………………. 5
About this Book……………………………………… 5
Explanation of the Title……………………………. 5
My qualifications for writing this book………… 7
Background to Seeking and Advaita……….. 10
The Content…………………………………………. 15
Pramāṇa-s…………………………………………… 19
Some General Warnings……………………………… 21
You – the Seeker…………………………………… 21
Non-Advaita Practices……………………………. 21
Satsang……………………………………………….. 22
Teacher Names…………………………………….. 23
Organizations……………………………………….. 24
Effectiveness of Teaching………………………. 24
Sample material……………………………………. 25
Bling……………………………………………………. 25
Translation…………………………………………… 25
Recorded Talks…………………………………….. 26
Lineage……………………………………………….. 27
Modern Approaches……………………………… 27
Talking about reality………………………………. 28
Ignoring scriptures………………………………… 29
What is Enlightenment?…………………………………. 30
Experience……………………………………………….31
Presence………………………………………………… 33
Being Here Now………………………………………. 34
Presence-Awareness……………………………….. 37
Being Awake…………………………………………… 41
What Enlightenment is Not……………………….. 41
What Enlightenment is…………………………….. 42
Knowledge versus Belief………………………….. 43
Who is it who is enlightened?……………………. 44
Who am I?……………………………………………… 46
What do we do to gain Enlightenment?…………….. 49
You cannot do anything……………………………. 49
The Path………………………………………………… 49
Attend a satsang meeting…………………………. 50
Practice………………………………………………….. 51
Self-enquiry (ātmā vicāra)…………………………. 53
Destroy the mind……………………………………… 54
Destroy the Ego………………………………………. 55
Attenuated Ego……………………………………….. 57
Neti, Neti………………………………………………… 58
Stop thoughts………………………………………….. 58
Knowledge……………………………………………… 59
Knowing the Self……………………………………… 60
Śravaṇa, manana and nididhyāsana………….. 61
Teaching Advaita…………………………………………….. 62
Teaching in general…………………………………..62
Psychological Issues……………………………….. 63
Adhyāropa-apavāda………………………………… 63
‘False’ Teaching………………………………………. 64
Traditional Teaching………………………………… 65
Direct Path……………………………………………… 65
Neo-Advaita……………………………………………. 65
Accepting what is…………………………………….. 67
Need for References………………………………… 68
Explanation of the word mithyā………………….. 68
Teaching ‘through silence’…………………………. 69
Transmitting enlightenment……………………….. 71
You do not need a guru…………………………….. 73
You do need a guru………………………………….. 74
Finding a guru…………………………………………. 76
Dead gurus……………………………………………… 78
Crazy Mystics………………………………………….. 78
You also need Scriptures…………………………… 78
Saṃpradāya……………………………………………. 79
Advaita Resources…………………………………………… 81
General Points…………………………………………. 81
Social Media……………………………………………. 81
Old versus New websites………………………….. 81
General Warnings…………………………………………….. 82
Therapists………………………………………………. 83
Standard of website material…………………….. 84
Magazines……………………………………………… 85
Books……………………………………………………. 85
Organizations…………………………………………. 85
Language………………………………………………. 86
Typical Example……………………………………… 89
Teachers………………………………………………………….. 90
Traditional teachers………………………………… 90
The ‘classic’ modern teachers………………….. 90
Ramana Maharshi………………………………….. 91
Nisargadatta Maharaj……………………………… 93
Atmananda Krishna Menon……………………… 93
Self-help, ‘Spirituality’, etc……………………….. 94
Organizations………………………………………… 94
List of Modern Teachers…………………………………….. 96
Internet Resources…………………………………. 96
Caveats and Reservations………………………. 96
Lists Consulted………………………………………. 97
The List…………………………………………………100
Key……………………………………………………… 101
The List……………………………………………….. 101
Recommended Reading………………………………….. 168
Warnings……………………………………………… 168
Categories……………………………………………. 169
General Guidance…………………………………. 169
I. Best Books for Beginners…………………….. 170
II. Traditional…………………………………………. 172
III. Modern Age Teachers……………………….. 179
Bibliography…………………………………………………… 186
This book may now be pre-ordered from bookstores around the world. It will actually be available on 28th October but, from Amazon at least, there is a slight reduction if ordered now (normal price £19.99, pre-order £18.39; $27.95 with no reduction from Amazon US). The links to buy from Amazon are: UK and US. The ISBN is 978-1803418896. The Kindle edition may be pre-ordered also – £9.99 in the UK; $10.99 in the US.