[Advaita-l] Sadhana and neurological disorders

[ramesam vemuri]

My question is, how does a person in this horrible situation do sadhana? Even regular life is upset by such disorders, so how will he practice 
bhakti, karma, jnana and such lofty things when he constantly feels 
cramped? Also, how does an advaitin see karma in this case?

An answer (There could be other answers too):

First and foremost is the fact that Advaita is not a marketing slogan for sale  as a commodity or for proselytization or as a sadhana for mental illnesses or pathological conditions caused by malignancy, lesions in the brain etc.

There is no Advaita teaching unless there is a specific question by the spiritual aspirant spurred by Subhechcha.
The seeker should have a priori a healthy and fit body and mind so that Self-inquiry can be pursued by him/her.

Neurological and pathological conditions of the body/mind need to be attended at their level. Cognitive behavioral therapies, dialectical behavioral therapies etc. utilizing some of the preliminary instructions of Advaitic teaching may prove useful for some patients but that is not equivalent to arriving at an unswerving Advaitic understanding.

Non-duality of there being no "sufferer" as such are promoted by some of the Western teachers (e.g. Scott Kiloby) for de-addiction, depression and similar problems.  There are a host of psychotherapists who are utilizing Non-dual teaching (the absence of a separate "me") for such purposes and I can provide a list of therapists on request. But they cannot treat all ailments. OCD is being treated by Dr. J. Schwartz applying mindfulness meditation developed based on Buddhistic teachings.
But getting ameliorated by these techniques is  not equivalent to, ipso facto,  an Advaitic realization of Self-Knowledge.

Concepts of karma, vasanas, prarabdha are all explantory artifacts to satisfy a curious mind and have no true significance. That is why even ignorance is considered to be because of ignorance in Advaita or in other words Ignorance is also Brahman because there is no scope for other "thing" to 'be' other than Brahman!

regards

 


________________________________
 From: Suresh <mayavaadi at yahoo.com>
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org 
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 7:37 PM
Subject: [Advaita-l] Sadhana and neurological disorders
 
Namaste,

This is a sensitive matter. Let's say a person suffers from various neurological disorders like asperger's, ADHD, OCD etc. It is not physically taxing but mentally and emotionally so. It cramps him, keeps him away from normal life - can't make friends or do regular work and earn a paycheck, must be indoors most of the time, depend on others even as an adult, face ridicule as a result etc. etc.

My question is, how does a person in this horrible situation do sadhana? Even regular life is upset by such disorders, so how will he practice bhakti, karma, jnana and such lofty things when he constantly feels cramped? Also, how does an advaitin see karma in this case?

Regards,
Suresh
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org