Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and his approach to Advaita Vedanta

[IntuitiveWanderer]

The illusion is the ideea that there is a illusion. IMO.

[3bob]

limited perception lends itself to such an idea, for ultimate perception only sees Truth (and or is Truth)

 

in the apparent meantime there is no getting away from dealing with everything

[IntuitiveWanderer]

You cannot escape, he he he he!

 

I bet that this enlightenment thing is like being high all the time...got to get me some of that.

[stefos]

 

@stefos: I’m not sure I understand your problem

Nisargadatta’s method from 2:45. If the method worked there was no need for the mind to ”overcome” anything. But it didn’t work for everyone. And since Nisargadatta is dead, I honestly think none of this really matters.

Hi Boy,

 

I would say that although he is "dead" per se that the teachings still exist and others besides him still teach!

 

Stefos

Edited November 26, 2014 by stefos

[wangchungman]

You cannot escape, he he he he!

 

I bet that this enlightenment thing is like being high all the time...got to get me some of that.

Free of suffering can make you high a little for a while. Imagine you have on your boots too tight overnight. In the morning your feet are sore. So you take off your boots. You get a sudden rush of pleasure. But it is only the pain leaving the feet. The body senses pain leaving as pleasure. This is one of the illusions. In subtle form there is a pleasantness known as absence of pain. Awakened beings know this can become a wrong turn in meditation. It's not the awakened state. The awakened state is what knows this was because of boots on too long. that sudden realization about the source of suffering.

[IntuitiveWanderer]

Free of suffering can make you high a little for a while. Imagine you have on your boots too tight overnight. In the morning your feet are sore. So you take off your boots. You get a sudden rush of pleasure. But it is only the pain leaving the feet. The body senses pain leaving as pleasure. This is one of the illusions. In subtle form there is a pleasantness known as absence of pain. Awakened beings know this can become a wrong turn in meditation. It's not the awakened state. The awakened state is what knows this was because of boots on too long. that sudden realization about the source of suffering.

 

Ah, yeah...so the boots are an analogy for the uncontrolled ego and the delusion resultant from it, while the realization is that the suffering was produced by delusion. Did I get it right?

 

If that is what you meant, then I agree. Also, the awakened has a new level of awareness and thus greater capacity for self-control and, most importantly, he takes refuge in Brahman.

But I am guessing that it also takes constant practice and dilligence in order to reach that state; the mind must be purged of impurities and kept clean through virtuous conduct in accordance with one's dharma so as to avoid getting chained by Karma, and the maintenance of that state must be performed through constant practice.

 

The boot analogy sounds like a passage I have read in a book about quitting cigarettes written by a guy named Allen Carr. He made the same analogy, saying that the pleasure from smoking derived from neutralization of nicotine withdrawal and the pain resultant from it. Thus, he said, smoking for pleasure is like wearing painfully small shoes in order to get the relief when you finally take them off.

 

It also reminds me of Schopenhauer's pessimism, Schopenhauer also argued that evil in fact is positive in its nature and that the good is negative, in the sense that we are in constant pain because we are always in need, impermanence being positive evil while the good is the negation of pain and the achievement of momentary peaceful equilibrium. Schopenhauer was heavily influenced by the Upanishads but ultimately his philosophy makes you want to kill yourself so it sucks.

And, like 90 percent of western philosophy (bold generalization indeed), it eventually deviates from the truth and starts making false assumptions until all that is left is a fashion statement. Maybe I am exagerating although I don't think so since it is clear that western philosophy has, after 2500 years, still not grasped the truth on the nature of the absolute, in fact it has degenerated more and more, since the ancient greeks were certainly aware of this truth.

Alfred North Witehead, the matemathician and philospoher, said that "the safest general characterization of the European tradition is that it is a series of footnotes to Plato." lol.

[wangchungman]

Ah, yeah...so the boots are an analogy for the uncontrolled ego and the delusion resultant from it, while the realization is that the suffering was produced by delusion. Did I get it right?

 

If that is what you meant, then I agree. Also, the awakened has a new level of awareness and thus greater capacity for self-control and, most importantly, he takes refuge in Brahman.

But I am guessing that it also takes constant practice and dilligence in order to reach that state; the mind must be purged of impurities and kept clean through virtuous conduct in accordance with one's dharma so as to avoid getting chained by Karma, and the maintenance of that state must be performed through constant practice.

 

The boot analogy sounds like a passage I have read in a book about quitting cigarettes written by a guy named Allen Carr. He made the same analogy, saying that the pleasure from smoking derived from neutralization of nicotine withdrawal and the pain resultant from it. Thus, he said, smoking for pleasure is like wearing painfully small shoes in order to get the relief when you finally take them off.

 

It also reminds me of Schopenhauer's pessimism, Schopenhauer also argued that evil in fact is positive in its nature and that the good is negative, in the sense that we are in constant pain because we are always in need, impermanence being positive evil while the good is the negation of pain and the achievement of momentary peaceful equilibrium. Schopenhauer was heavily influenced by the Upanishads but ultimately his philosophy makes you want to kill yourself so it sucks.

And, like 90 percent of western philosophy (bold generalization indeed), it eventually deviates from the truth and starts making false assumptions until all that is left is a fashion statement. Maybe I am exagerating although I don't think so since it is clear that western philosophy has, after 2500 years, still not grasped the truth on the nature of the absolute, in fact it has degenerated more and more, since the ancient greeks were certainly aware of this truth.

Alfred North Witehead, the matemathician and philospoher, said that "the safest general characterization of the European tradition is that it is a series of footnotes to Plato." lol.

 

Yes you get it. I had number theory teacher who was a strong proponent of Sankara. Specifically he believed there was an absolute ground of being. Mathematicians think of the world of mathematics as a separate and distinct objective world. Smart people can manage many views. Even contradictory ones. Yes because in the final analysis the mind has no basis means we muck it up or clear it up. We are doing it either way. Practicing daily mindfulness is very helpful. If you keep in mind that root of action is in the mind, and that actions have consequences with strong moral and ethical implications on many levels, One will feel more motivated to keep up to speed on what is happening in the mind. When the meditation is on cause-and-effect the mind becomes very motivated to keep up to speed on everything going on within itself.