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Re: Advaita
kstuart@snowcrest.net (Ken Stuart) wrote:
>On Sun, 25 Feb 1996 17:00:43 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
>>kstuart@snowcrest.net (Ken Stuart) wrote:
>>
>>>On Wed, 21 Feb 1996 23:23:10 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
>>>
>>>>kstuart@snowcrest.net (Ken Stuart) wrote:
>>>>
>My personal observation is that, if you look at the various
>organizations, the ones with a current or recent realized guru, are
>the ones where the teachings have had the least deviation from
>santhana dharma. In those organizations where the guru dies without
>appointing a successor, things start deviating really fast ! :-)
>Various self-appointed leaders each put their own personal ego-driven
>twist into the teachings. In my opinion, the inclusion of the "Book
>of Revelations" into the Bible is the biggest and most troublesome
>example of this process.
Yes. Anything set up as an organization finally deteriorates or does not offer
much after sometime, just because it is an organization. Organization attracts
money and you know what money will attract, everyone who is out to make a quick
buck, or even worse power-hungry people. But getting a self-realized soul to
teach oneself is more or less impossible :-). Ofcourse, the scriptures say that
there are many of them, but that there is no surefire way to identify them. Not
very helpful IMO :-).
>So, the only way to avoid this problem is to contact our Inner Self
>which is beyond the ego. But, if we do this without any external
>reference whatsoever, then we can still be under the ego's
>interpretation of whether or not we have succeeded - which is why
>there are so many self-proclaimed masters. :-)
In my view, the best way to avoid this situation is not to try to teach
anyone before becoming realized. This was the vow which the Zen master Bassui
took. Ofcourse you might say that the ego might mistakenly identify itself as
being a realized soul. You are right, hopefully it won't happen. Also being
firm on not hankering after siddhis will help, IMHO.
>>enquiry. I don't know about Western devotees, but for the Indian advaitin,
>>worship forms a MAJOR role in sadhana. So your arguments do not hold for me or
>>most Indian Advaitins.
>
>Probably true.
>
>Do any of those disciples write in English?
Certainly. I would strongly recommend both Devaraja Mudaliar's and G.V.
Subbaramayya's books. I think they can be obtained from the New York address or
SAT.
>Advaita in the U.S. consists mainly of books of various talks by
>Ramana, Nisargadatta, Balsekhar, etc. compiled and edited by
>Westerners, such as Robert Powell, the Osbornes, etc. Thus it tends
>to be very Zen-like.
I haven't read Osborne's book. Maybe he was trying to present Ramana's teachings
as a system and hence wrote the book that way.
Ramakrishnan.
--
Sitting quietly doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
http://yake.ecn.purdue.edu/~rbalasub/
