Neo-Advaita

[guruyoga]

[Tibetan_Ice]

Hi GuruYoga,

 

Thank you for pointing out this article. James Swartz has touched upon some issues which I believe are the result of the two vectors coliding; the 'top down' approach versus the 'looking upwards' approach. You can't mix the two otherwise you end up with nonsensical statements like "if we don't exist we are not responsible for our actions", or "what is wrong with right now unless we think about it".

 

The neo-advaitists that I'm familiar with are John Wheeler, Sailor Bob and Rodney Stevens. After reading their books I was left with a feeling that still something was missing.. You have to do some kind of action to precipitate the understanding, to realize it experientially, otherwise the concepts just don't stick.

 

And it is funny, but I recently came accross this ebook called "Autobiography of a Jnani".

link: http://www.rajivkapu...-of-a-Jnani.pdf

 

In Zen, masters talk about the need to balance Joriki with Prajna. Joriki is the power of meditation, Dhyana, Samadhi, while Prajna is the penetrating wisdom concerning the nature of self and reality—Consciousness.

The concept is that concentration, or Samadhi power must move in step with wisdom, otherwise the attainment is incomplete.

 

Perhaps the neo-advaitists have just some of the wisdom part but they have missed the 'samadhi power' part.

 

This is what Edji says about neo-advaitism in that ebook:

 

RAJIV:

I am very fortunate and lucky to have you as my Guru. Your

teachings may be understood by advaitins today but I can already

foresee many bhaktas, yogis and advaitins and all class of seekers

benefiting from your teachings in time to come My Lord.

 

EDJI:

They will not be appreciated by the new advaitins today.

Advaita today has been so diluted and watered down so that it

appeals to everyone because it promises so much for doing so

little. It is like a disease that has attacked the spiritual world

halting real individual progress.

 

Neo-Advaita is everywhere, but it asks you to do nothing but listen

to whatever guru is talking, read that guru's books, and realize that

"I" does not exist. What results can be oneness, but that is just the

tip of the iceberg. But more often it winds up being just a

distraction into using the intellect to dismantle the intellect, which

never works.

 

My own teacher Robert always talked about going deeper. He

would say, if he were alive, that the deeper experiences contradict

the prevailing Neo-Advaita viewpoint. Even back then, the common

knowledge of Advaita was that consciousness was everything, and

he told me much hostility would be directed his way if publicly he

taught the deeper teachings I am giving you and others, namely,

that consciousness itself does not exist. To the uninitiated, this

would seem like an unappealing existence of nothingness--

something to be avoided at all cost—rather than a place of

complete rest and peace that it is.

 

TI