Tag Archives: books

More Confusions

Posted on by
Reply

CONFUSIONS IN ADVAITA VEDANTA – Ignorance and Its Removal: (Reflowable Kindle Edition)

It has previously been announced that the hardback and paperback versions of this book, published in India by Indica Books, are not expected until the new year. Since they will not themselves be issuing any electronic versions of the series, I have been permitted to do so through Advaita Vision.

The versions of Vols. 1 and 2 that have already been issued are facsimiles of the print versions. This means that the full contents list and index of each book are included, since the page contents are identical. Thus, those versions are ideal for ‘academic’ study on

laptops or PCs. Unfortunately, reading on a tablet or phone is much less convenient, since text may be too small at full-screen to be comfortable.

Continue reading →

Q.457 Using meditation to ‘find the self’

Posted on by

Q: Undaunted by my belief that meditation to find the self (soul) is difficult, I would like to try, but there are no teachers in my area. Therefore, in the first instance, I would really appreciate your advice regarding a book to follow for this type of meditation that is suitable for a beginner.

A: The purpose of meditation is to help gain control of the mind and senses so that you can cultivate dispassion and discrimination and still the mind when listening to the teacher.

Meditation cannot enable you to ‘find the self’. You are already the Self – you just have not realized this. What has to happen is for the mind to receive knowledge about the Self, clear any misunderstandings, resolve any doubts etc. Ideally, you need a qualified teacher for this – someone who knows the truth and is able to convey the relevant steps (via story, metaphor etc.) to help someone else come to the same understanding.

As an introduction to Advaita, there are three books I would recommend:

1. ‘Introduction to Vedanta’ by K. Sadananda – see https://www.advaita-vision.org/vedanta-introduction-sadananda/;

2. ‘Book of One’ (2nd edition) by myself – http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/thebook/thebook.htm;

3. ‘VEDĀNTA the solution to our fundamental problem’ by D. Venugopal (This is serialized at the website (https://www.advaita-vision.org/vedanta-the-solution-part-1/).

Q.490 Consciousness and the Brain

Posted on by

Q: My question is one I can’t seem to clarify through any book, teacher or teaching:

How do we know that the brain isn’t responsible for consciousness? While we can observe mind with all of it’s contents as objects and then say we cannot be that which we observe, how can we be sure that there is not just some part of the brain which does the observing that is giving us this ability to watch thought? How does Vedanta address this? How can we know that the brain isn’t simply the one observing all phenomena?

Side note: I lost consciousness once due to a fall and blacked out, and all I can say is that there was complete absence of being and no one there to be aware of the non-beingness. No observer nor observed. Beyond no-thing. Absolutely no experience beyond the concept of the word. Continue reading →

Q. 479 What should I read?

Posted on by

Q: I am new to Advaita I am currently reading Drg Drsya Viveka and the works of Swami Vivekananda. I also sometimes listen to commentary from Swami Sarvapriyananda from the NY Vedanta Society. And I frequently read thru your website, but my internet connection is poor.

Which book of yours and maybe others would you recommend to help?

A: Don’t read Vivekananda. He is, unfortunately, a source of much confusion in Advaita, rejecting some key aspects and embracing teaching from Yoga (which is a dualistic philosophy). Here is a list of recommended books for beginners that I produced recently for someone: Continue reading →

Free Ebooks

Posted on by

Many books (transcription of talks) by Swami Paramarthananda are available at www.arshaavinash.in. This includes a number of Upanishads (Mundaka, Mandukya, Brihadaranyaka, Kena and more), Bhagavad Gita, Brahmasutra with Shankara bhAshya and many other key scriptures such as upadesha sAhasrI, vivekachUDAmaNi, dRRig dRRiShya viveka etc. These cannot be recommended too highly.There are also books on Sanskrit grammar and a biography of Pujya Swami Dayananda.

There is an associated Google goup – https://groups.google.com/group/arshaavinash – and members are informed when new additions are made to the library.