The vedanta of vedanta

[Miguel Angel Carrasco]

As there do not seem to be many posts these days, I will write a couple of
questions that Egodust^Òs latest mail aroused in my mind:

A)  ^ÓLike wood or stone, remain free from thoughts.^Ô  This sounds to me
like a very attractive motto. I wish I could follow it. Just a question:
What is then the place of viveka? Aren^Òt we supposed to use our intellect
to investigate and discriminate the false from the true? Can we do that
without thoughts? Can we always remain in meditation? Is it really possible
to live our daily lives with an empty mind? I^Òve been trying to but haven't
had any success.

B) A quite different question, which has nothing to do with the contents of
Egodust^Òs post : On seeing the expression ^Óthe vedanta of vedanta^Ô, and
his explanation of it, I wonder:  Isn^Òt ^Óthe vedanta of vedanta^Ô not
properly vedanta after all? I mean, isn^Òt the essence of Advaita beyond the
Hindu culture? Is Vedanta necessarily based on the Vedas? This may seem an
academic question, but it^Òs something I^Òve often wondered. Krishnamurti
(and Nisargadatta) held that truth is a ^Ópathless land^Ô. That all religions
and philosophies could help only in the beginning, by indicating the
direction, but then they became burdens. I have the impression that in all
religions there is an inner core which very few reach. This heart is free
from cultural accretions, free from traditions and from scriptures. This
essence is the same in all systems, or rather it is beyond all systems. And
it can be expressed in very few words (if any). That^Òs why I^Òve been
searching for jnanis from different cultures, to see what they have in
common. But outside the Hindu orbit there don^Òt seem to have been many.
Maybe due to the traditional Western dogmatism and intollerance. Anyone
knows any?

--Miguel Angel