New member introduction: Ganga Karmokar

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 6 Oct 2000, sharon tang wrote:

> Namaste -
> In answer to you.... the intellect can only tell you what you are not...

Agreed.

> Then you must surrender all concepts... all pre-conceived notions... even
> those that you have on advaita....

Agreed.

Then go into the Silence... and KNOW the
> truth

Agreed.  But notice the order in which you put these steps.  You cannot
proceed to step two or three until you have mastered step one.  The
problem is that while truth is one, falsehood comes in many
varieties.  For instance in truth you are not "Ganga" and I am not
"Ganga" but I am not to a much greater degree than you are not!


> I speak from direct experience not the hearsay of books and writings...

How is reading a book or listening to the words of a Guru not a "direct
experience"?  One uses ones eyes and ears and feels and thinks when
reading or listening just as much as in any other situation.

> Your
> scholarly knowledge affords you nothing... except more to have to let go
> of...


Compared to what?  I'm not claiming Advaita Vedanta is not a waste of time
just that of all the possible wastes of time, it is the least wasteful :-)

Btw, a common mistake people make is to treat Advaita as a noun.  It is an
adjective which in this case modifies Vedanta.  By itself it is no more
meaningful than "loud" or "blue".

> Advaita is not an intellectual pursuit... it is the realization of the
> Source of Being....

How does that realization occur?  If we look at the history of India there
have been many philosophies that have arisen, some them have also had
interesting theories about the nature of reality.  But the reason they
have fallen by the wayside and Advaita Vedanta is still around for us to
discuss today is that Vedanta offers theory _and_ a practical way to
achieve that theory.

>i do not speak big on the internet... what i speak of is
> from direct experience... trying to be stated in the dualistic language of
> maya....

It is precisely because language is so slippery we have to try and be as
precise as possible.

> i will not engage with you in intellectual debate as it affords nothing...

It doesn't afford everything but there is a vast difference between not
everything and nothing.  Viveka, the ability to discriminate between the
real and unreal is the highest virtue of Vedanta.  Ignorance is the worst
evil.  To learn and know and then transcend that knowledge is one thing,
but to not bother knowing in the first place?  That's a waste of the gifts
God has given to mankind.


> you cannot explain an orange to one who has not seen nor tasted it... but
> when you taste it then you will know.....
>

Sure you can.  If you told me there is a citrus fruit.  I would get some
idea.  If you told me it is roughly the color of saffron, I'd understand a
little more.  And if you said it had an acidic taste and so on and so
on....

Now lets say one day I'm walking in some new place and I see a tree
with strange fruit hanging from it.  Without your partial, imperfect
description of an orange, I might walk past it without even bothering to
taste it.

> Love and Blessings on your search... i only joined to say that the truth is
> possible to know absolutely...

Why?  Those who abide in silence have no need for mailing lists or indeed
any other human activity.  But all of us (yourself included) are engaged
in other activities than silence.  So we need to take a good look at what
we are doing and why.

> not as a philosophy but as Reality... i do
> not quote any books why to promote hearsay? you can only speak of what you
> know directly....

How is reading your email any less hearsay than reading a book?

> spend your time in deleating all that is transitory... then go into
> the silence... that is all.... Prove me wrong if you think thi> is
> boasting... speaking the truth is not a boast...

Actually I agree with your goals 100%  I just think you are seriously
underestimating what it takes to achieve those goals.

> All are the same
> essence... i am no different from you... only i am awake to reality and you
> are still trying to intellectually reach... and intellect can only work in
> the relative world of maya... go beyond... go beyond...

Unfortunately you are just as entangled in the world of maya as anyone
perhaps more because sadly you do not seem to realize it.  To "go
beyond" we need to employ all the weapons in our arsenal, logic, language,
love of God, introspection, all are important and none can be so lightly
pushed aside.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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