With reference to “Spiritual Aspiration and Practice,” I came across the following eye-opening and enlightening words from Swami Krishnanada of the Divine Life Society (Swami Sivananda Group):
“This world is very valuable because this body is also valuable. It is a part of this world. As threads are connected to a piece of cloth or fabric, this body, this personality is vitally connected to the whole world of nature. This entire world is a large spread-out fabric, of which you are a thread. So when you speak of renunciation in the light of a religious enthusiasm or on account of a spiritual call from inside, when you think of renouncing, as every religion speaks of renunciation, ask yourself what you are going to renounce.
You say you are renouncing the world, but it is already mentioned that you are a part of the world. It is like a thread saying that it is renouncing the cloth. When the cloth goes, the thread also goes, so when you renounce the world, you are also gone. Would you like to place yourself in this condition where you too have to go, together with your renunciation? Mostly, novices do not understand this difficulty. They think that “the world can go, but they should not go.”
If the renouncer also goes, what is the purpose of the renunciation? Do you understand the difficulty before you? You cannot renounce the world unless you renounce yourself first because you are a part of it, organically connected with the very fabric of nature. But, who is going to renounce oneself? The meaning is not clear. What is meant by ‘renouncing oneself’?”
Memorable words indeed! Many tend to gloss over this conundrum. One does need to probe in-depth, free from bias, all sorts of priors and self-serving belief systems in order to fathom the profundity and gravitas of the really Real Advaita Message, IMHO.
It may not be incorrect to hold that the inability to give up the sense of mithyAtmA (me-ness – the sense of a separate ‘self’) and gauNAtmA (mine-ness – the sense of ‘ownership and doership’) is the single biggest impediment in “grokking” the Non-dual message. A seeker often feels that, though s/he has intellectually understood, the actual “Realization” appears to be slipping through the fingers eluding him/her.
Some teachers tend to prescribe repetitive devotional or other practices to remedy the situation. However, any “Practice” is a clever invention of the mind, a technique, for a subtle and camouflaged perpetuation of the sense of “me-mine,” creating a smug feeling of doing something “holy.” It engenders a false hope that “Through practice, I somehow get promoted to be brahman one day,” like a VP getting promoted to be the President someday in a bureaucratic set up!
Interesting post, Ramesam! Provoking objections, then questions and maybe some insight.
I hope everyone is keeping well. I went off for a holiday a couple of weeks ago but slipped in heavy rain on the second day, fell on my back and broke a couple of ribs. Spent the rest of the ‘holiday’ in hospital. (Not many photographs!) Another 4 – 6 weeks of gradually decreasing pain forecast. Fortunately, it’s only the body!
Best wishes,
Dennis
Thank you, Dennis, for the kind observations regarding the Post.
It is indeed true that I am looking for a healthy open discussion with courage to call a spade a spade, and I hope it will give raise to clear insights into the Non-dual message.
Our Venkat is never tired of pointing out how much corrupt and self-centered the current scenario of social life has become and, as a consequence, how every ecosystem and networking platform are twisted and battered to serve the individual’s depravity.
A “reverse flow” of this tendency of the modern man seems to be making inroads even into the supremely august abstract philosophical thought process of our ancient Sages. Many of today’s mushrooming Non-dual teachers do not appear to hesitate to ask, “Of what good is the Advaita teaching, if it does not bestow me with tangible benefits for my life in the world?” They like to perpetuate themselves as separate individuals (pramAtr-s) post-realization, while wishing for the unomfortable ‘world’ (prameya) to go!
Will that be possible?
***
Sorry to know about the accident that turned your holiday travel into a hospital stay. While the body and the bones are recovering, I am certain your well-informed and ever-young mind will have a lot to say on the issue that my Blog has raised.
We wish you a speedy recovery.
regards,
Hi both,
Dennis – sorry to hear about your mishap – hope you make a speedy recovery.
Ramesam – nothing to disagree with in your post.
Sankara wrote in Brihad Up, that neti neti and renunciation is the conclusion of all the teaching. They are essentially the boundary conditions for viveka and vairagya.
The body-mind is the most problematic to discriminate as not-self and to renounce. If that can be done, then it is evident that there cannot be desires or fears of the external world left.
In GVK 837, Ramana Maharshi:
“For those who have made the rarest renunciation, that of the ego, nothing remains to be renounced”
And Ulladu Narpadu 26:
“If the ego comes into existence, everything comes into existence; if the ego does not exist, everything does not exist. The ego itself is everything. Therefore know that investigating what this is, alone is giving up everything”
Nisargadatta’s words act as a commentary:
“When there is total surrender, complete relinquishment of all concern with one’s past, present and future, with one’s physical and spiritual security and standing, life dawns full of love and beauty; then the guru is not important for the disciple has broken the shell of self-defence. Complete self-surrender by itself is liberation.”
Best wishes,
venkat
I think I mentioned in another comment somewhere that, for my next book on finding a modern teacher, I endeavored to research all Western teachers via Google and relevant websites. I regret to say that it does seem that most of them are far more concerned with improving the day-to-day life of the seeker (and making money) than in teaching anyone about tradtional Advaita. And I agree wtih Venkat that this seems totally in accord with what most seekers want and the mercenary and selfish aims of corporate and political bodies. Maybe Kali Yuga-s are getting shorter and the end-of-the-world will be sooner than we thought…
Clearly we cannot avoid all of this while continuing to live in modern society. It seems that all we can do is seek Self-knowledge and, through doing so, learn detachment from it all.
Best wishes,
Dennis