Pseudo-advaitins

[Gregory Goode]

Thanks Anand.  I'm going to forward this to some other lists.

--Greg

At 04:45 PM 7/10/00 +0000, Anand Hudli wrote:
>Here are some excerpts from the book "Enlightening expositions",
>a collection of discourses by Shri Abhinava Vidyateertha.
>
>We have to bear in mind that we are not really qualified to call
>ourselves advaitins unless we have actually realized the non-dual
>Truth. Until that time, we may call ourselves something like
>"aspirants" or "could-be-advaitins". On the other hand, those
>who simply behave as if they have had mystical experiences of
>the Truth, with no proper basis, are to be considered as pseudo-
>advaitins. I am not saying that we should necessarily point fingers at
>others and call them pseudo-advaitins. Some of the pseudo-advaitin
>qualities may be present even in ourselves. In that case, we should
>take care to see that such qualities are given up. Perhaps the first
>step in the process of becoming an advaitin is to be stop being a
>pseudo-advaitin!
>
>Anand
>
>=======================================================================
>
>True advaitins and Pseudo-advaitins are poles apart
>---------------------------------------------------
>
> ...
>
> Strictly speaking, a true advaitin is one who has realized as
> a matter of experience that one is the Supreme Brahman. Others
> who hold the advaita philosophy as right are also called advaitins
> but the usage is somewhat figurative.
>
> Those who have directly realized the Truth are called Jnanis;
> they are liberated even while alive. Such persons are most
> uncommon. Krishna points out in the Gita, " He who knows
> that Vasudeva is all is very rare to find." Unegoistic, such
> sages do not flaunt their wisdom.
>
> On the other hand, there are many who have not acquired such
> realization but who talk and behave as if they have attained
> liberation. We even find that they are not very regulated in
> their conduct. When questioned, they say, "After all I am
> not the body or the mind. I neither act nor am I affected by
> action. Further, the world is only unreal. So why should I
> bother much about what the body and mind are engaged in doing?"
>
> ...
> One should be true to one's conscience. One may deceive others
> by high-sounding talk on advaita but it will not be of any use
> if one does not mend one's ways. It is said, "He who is attached
> to worldly comforts but still says everything is Brahman is
> actually one who has fallen from Karma and also from Brahman.
> Such a person must be discarded like a lowly one." Because such
> a man fails to realize the Truth and procure liberation, it is said
> that he has fallen from Brahman. Because he is putting up a show
> that he is realized, such a man does not perform the ordained
> duties sincerely. Hence, there is the declaration of his having
> fallen from Karma.
>
> ...
>
> Such pseudo-Advaitins are not a rarity these days. They will do
> well to bear in mind the declaration of the Katha Upanishad, "
> One who has not desisted from bad conduct, whose senses are not
> under control, whose mind is not concentrated and whose mind is
> not free from hankering for the result of concentration
> cannot attain the Atma through knowledge." It is clear that
> true knowledge can dawn only after the mind has been rendered
> very pure by the practice of spiritual discipline.
>
> =====================================================================
>
>--
>bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam
>
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bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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