It was over two scores and a half years ago. I remember an experience when I was living in that part of India venerated by the name AryAvarta, the holy land. The cows and other cattle had a right of way even on the so-called main roads, affectionately christened ‘M.K. Gandhi Marg’ ‘P.C. Chatterji Panth’ or some such tongue twisters by the locals. The citizens or rather the bodies of the inhabitants have a natural agility and ability to automatically adopt all the tricks of an expert contortionist in walking on the road avoiding the animals or their heaps and spurts of fragrant fresh just-in-time deliveries – made, as though, just for you. When you are all focused on keeping your balance as you never know where your next step may have to land, a hearty greeting jolts your auditory senses. You take time to locate the source of that sound, because there is obviously no face visible nearby. You see at a distance a half raised single hand, as a mark of showing respect for you. Adept practitioners of Zen may not know the clap of a single hand, but every one over there knows a salutation by one hand. Their shout says ‘su prabhAtaM,’ a literal translation for “Good Morning.” Continue reading
‘Ego’, self, and metaphysics – Part V
From these considerations it may be seen that the boundaries between the normal and the abnormal, psychology and spirituality, medicine and metaphysics are not so well defined after all; they are not so (separate and apart) in principle, despite the attempts of modern Western science at so dividing and separating them. Our age is one in which empiricism, along with individualism and humanism (these last two almost equivalent, interchangeable terms), its ideological or philosophical underpinnings, still holds sway, although perhaps in its last, declining, phase. Continue reading
Vedanta the Solution – Part 24
VEDĀNTA the solution to our fundamental problem by D. Venugopal
Part 24 examines the three states of experience – waking, dreaming and deep sleep and, in particular, the distinction between waking and dream.
There is a complete Contents List, to which links are added as each new part appears.
Tattvabodha – Part 9
Part 9 of the commentary by Dr. VIshnu Bapat on Shankara’s Tattvabodha.This is a key work which introduces all of the key concepts of Advaita in a systematic manner.
The commentary is based upon those by several other authors, together with the audio lectures of Swami Paramarthananda. It includes word-by-word breakdown of the Sanskrit shloka-s so should be of interest to everyone, from complete beginners to advanced students.
Part 9 looks at the makeup of the subtle body, its functions and purpose, from one birth to the next.
There is a hyperlinked Contents List, which is updated as each new part is published.
Dreaming of God
Here is an article I was asked to write recently for my publisher’s blog. It discusses my approach to writing about Advaita, with particular emphasis on my last book, ‘A-U-M: Awakening to Reaility’. It also touches upon that perennially thorny issue – experience versus knowledge!
A philosophically-inclined wit once inquired into the difference between having God speak to one in a dream and dreaming about God. This metaphysical query is the basis of this article on Mind-Body-Spirit books in general and my own writing in particular.
Let’s assume for a moment that I am a ‘successful’ author (by which I mean that I have written books that are acknowledged as ‘worthy’ rather than that I have made much money from the pursuit!) There are effectively two elements to this success:
A) being able to write, and
B) being knowledgeable about the subject-matter of the books.
If I am deemed to have achieved those accomplishments, what were the principal factors? Continue reading
Serialization of Yogavasishta
Professor Sri Kuppa Venkata Krishna Murthy, Chairman and Managing Trustee of I-SERVE, the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas, has kindly given permission for Advaita Vision to serialize his 6-volume ‘Musings on Yogavasishta’. Written in Telugu, the work has been painstakingly translated by our Dr. Ramesam Vemuri and published by Avadhoota Datta Peetham.
Rather than reproducing successive extracts from the books each month, as has been done with our other two serializations, the books themselves will be made available for download in PDF format. Each part will be associated with a page at the main website, which will contain a Contents List for that volume. Links to all of the volumes will be provided on a general Contents Page.
The first part to be published is Part VII Book – II of NIRVANA (LIBERATION). We begin with Part 7 of the Series as it provides an overall summary of the Non-dual teaching and is a better introduction than simply jumping in at Part – 1. This (first posted) part also contains the Author’s submission and the Word Glossary. These will not be repeated in the other parts.
Please go to the Contents Page to read the Announcement and general introduction from Ramesam. The page for this First Volume, Part VII Book – II of NIRVANA (LIBERATION) also contains the download link for the PDF file (1.4MB).
New Authors
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 is busy with research on his doctorate until the end of next year. Hopefully we may see him rejoin subsequently.
Venkat, 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.
We 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 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.
What Does the Matrix, Advaita and Oneness Have in Common?
5am Monday morning. One month ’til Christmas and three weeks to moving house.
All this measurement for planning seems inane, arbitrary; part of some busy work we do to fill the spaces where growing, tending and making used to be. For somewhere we remember that even aristocracy was once classless, digging in the dirt for yams or some such thing. Nobody was truly separate in the beginning.
Except there was no beginning. No first man; no first tribe. In non-duality we are all continuations of something in yet another form, and these labels used to draw lines between species, and borders between nations… these arbitrary cultural definitions that tell us we can put that group in a bubble of meanings, and this group in another. It’s all made up. And if that’s true, if the world is a fabricated collection of labels, then how do I know who I am?
Reflections on Body-Mind and Liberation
There has been much healthy debate recently on the Advaita Vision Blog about Liberation, who or what is a jnani or jivanmukta, and what it means to follow traditional Advaita. The theme of this post is that we cannot resolve such questions without first gaining a clear understanding of the body-mind and its role in the context of Liberation. What follows are some reflections inspired by a spirited discussion with Ramesam, with due credit to him for stimulating many of the thoughts below. Any errors or possible misunderstandings are entirely my fault. Or perhaps not, since “Words fall back from it.” Continue reading
An Ode to Vedantic Teaching
Visitors of this site will have noticed that I am not as active any more blogging and taking part in the discussions as I have been for years. The reason is mainly because I am very occupied with teaching and I simply do not have enough energy left for a lot of activities on the site. So I am happy to be able to post a blog today. It is in fact a blog that one of my students has posted on his own website and I felt that it was a veritable hymn about Advaita Vedanta. With his kind permission I offer it to all seekers who may be in a similar situation as the author was before he discovered the treasures of Vedanta.
You know that moment, at the end of the night and u wake up, knowing, determent, clearheaded, when u realise things fall back into place, yes fall back into, as u come back to knowing that u realise stuff, more, when information has made sense. As the wind gently howls across the building in late autumn. Continue reading