About Advaita Vedanta....

[IndraDeva Ishaya]

Actually, I have little experience of Enlightenment, beyond my own. My path
has actually led me to a shunning of intellectual pursuits, I find that I
have less of a desire to "know" things and more to KNOW. And I must say,
the last thing I am is a religious zealot, that is why I am no longer a
Christian, well, in the publicly acknowledged sense of the word. I have
read a book on only the words of "Jesus", and I can't think of one thing
that I dissagreed with. The rest, well, is open to scrutiny and personal
interpretation, in my mind.

I was repulsed by that aspect of religion, that constant need to convert
everyone. It seemed to create endless debates :) because it's based on
intellectual knowledge, rather than true understanding. I remember as a
youth, being taken to "knock" as someone so aptly put it, and share
the "good news". Yeah, "Good News, I'm here to tell you you're going to
hell". I hated it. Seemed so silly. If what I had to say was the truth,
then the last thing I had to do was argue about it. If I know something to
be true, I rarely argue it, at least in my personal life. I just say,"Well,
whatever..." and let the person believe what they want. My friends have
even taken to not betting with me on anything, because they know that for
me to place wager on anything, I know that it is true.

I must admit, most of my "lashing out" was not aimed at anyone in general,
tho if you took something personally, of course, you can look at that for
yourself. It was just frustrating to look for information on Advaita
Vedanta and finally sign up to this board and then have my e-mail be
bombarded with debates. I don't live in my computer, so it is a kind of
hassle to have to read so much of each message before finding out that this
is important and that is just some people arguing. I guess that I would
like to see people who insist on carrying endless debates to their ends,
take said debates to personal e-mail, and clear up this board for more
educational discussions. That is all. Debate to churn up wisdom is one
thing, to banter back and forth personal opinions is another & not
productive, except to produce anymosity. I do see that developing@in some
of these debates, in the form of hooded personal attack, and I frown on it.
You should, too. It does nothing to cultivate Union.

I would love to share some of my experiences with meditating, tho. I have
asked in the past about meditation, or Self Inquiry I believe I used those
word, and Swaminarayan answered myself and another at the same time. I was
very greatful for that, thank you.

I had an interesting exp (experience) the other day. I have frequent
Samadhi experiences, I would venture to say at any time I can choose for
that experience where- or when- ever, sometimes more "solid", sometimes
less, but that inner Silence seems always accessible. But this was a bit
different, and altogether more..... stimulating.

I was on the subway here in Japan, where I am teaching stress reduction
techniques for 6 months (well, until October now, I've been here for
awhile), and I was meditating, having a wonderful exp of the Void within,
an endless Presense within myself, when I felt an queer sensation. Those
are the only words I can use to describe it, I think it was a bit too suble
for me to really analyze. So, I opened my eyes just a bit, and the first
person that I saw, it was almost like lightening, or something similar,
arched between our beings, and then suddenly I experienced The One in him
also. And the next person I looked at, zap, same thing, until "Mina-san",
everyone, was within my exp. It only lasted for about 20 seconds, I wasn't
sure about the time, the only thing that I could measure the time by was
the time between stops on the train. Maybe it was a bit longer, I don't
really know. Of course, it was completely satisfying, as you well know,
that type of exp .

I've had the same exp before but it was in a very controlled environment,
little external stimulous, a meditation retreat of sorts. And the room only
had about 25 people in it.
My Teacher, or Guru, MahaDeva, said that it sounded wonderful, he had had
similar exp's and that it was a limited Brahman exp, or "A Taste" I think
he said, "like a carrot before the ass, to keep it on the path". He rarely
tells me anything resembling an explanation for anything, most of the time,
just points me back inward and says that all I need to know is within. I
trust that now, but when I began on this path, hearing that was very
frustrating.

I understand why now, tho. Most of the exp's that I have had almost
completely defy words. I've gotten better at describing them, I think
because my conscious mind is closer to them now than before. When I first
began using the techniques I have now, the exp. that I had were so enormous
and complete, it almost seemed like sacrilige to even try and explain them.
I would just sit and look at everyone with this stupid grin on my face and
they would just chuckle and smile knowingly, the Teaches anyway.

I remember asking about it and the Teacher said, well, what happened? And I
said,"Well it was like the top of my head blew off, my body dissapeared,
and somebody poured the whole universe inside me but there were no stars or
anything. And why are my ears ringing? Can you hear that? What is that?"
I was embarrased, mostly because she was laughing so hard, later she told
me it was not at me, but at my distress.

One thing I love about Self Inquiry, it is so personal, and candid. It has
an almost "every day", matter-of-fact quality about it. It pulls the
unatainable from the sky and lays it in your lap, to play with. I really
love that.

I have found that sharing exp's that I have makes them more enlivening,
more real, and I enjoy sharing my exp with anyone that enjoys the sharing,
for it's own sake.

I am open to criticism, constructive or otherwise. Isvarapranidana....
I would also enjoy anyone to share their similar, or otherwise, exp's with
me, and the board.

Jai Isham Ishvaram...

IndraDeva

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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