Are There Prerequisites for Advaita? by David Frawley

Are There Prerequisites for Advaita?

Who can practice Advaita? What are the prerequisites for Self-inquiry?

One of the main areas of difference of opinion is relative to who can practice Advaita and to what degree? What are the prerequisites for Self-inquiry?

Some people believe that Advaita has no prerequisites, but can be taken up by anyone, under any circumstances, regardless of their background or life-style. After all, Advaita is just teaching us to rest in our true nature, which is always there for everyone. Why should that rest on any outer aids or requirements? This is a particularly appealing idea in the age of democracy, when all people are supposed to be equal.

In much of neo-Advaita, the idea of prerequisites on the part of the student or the teacher is not discussed. Speaking to general audiences in the West, some neo-Advaitic teachers give the impression that one can practice Advaita along with an affluent life-style and little modification of one’s personal behavior. This is part of the trend of modern yogic teachings in the West that avoid any reference to asceticism or tapas as part of practice, which are not popular ideas in this materialistic age.

However, if we read traditional Advaitic texts, we get quite a different impression. The question of the aptitude or adhikara of the student (read the sadhana-chatushtya) is an important topic dealt with at the beginning of the teaching. The requirements can be quite stringent and daunting, if not downright discouraging. One should first renounce the world, practice brahmacharya, and gain proficiency in other yogas like Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga and so on. One can examine texts like the Vedanta Sara I.6-26 for a detailed description. While probably no one ever had all of these requirements before starting the practice of Self-inquiry, these at least do encourage humility, not only on the part of the student, but also on the part of the teacher who himself may not have all these requirements!

Ramana keeps the requirement for Advaita simple yet clear – a ripe mind, which is the essence of the whole thing, and encourages practice of the teaching without overestimating one’s readiness for it. Yet a ripe mind is not as easy as it sounds either.

Ramana defines this ripe mind as profound detachment and deep discrimination, above all a powerful aspiration for liberation from the body and the cycle of rebirth – not a mere mental interest but an unshakeable conviction going to the very root of our thoughts and feelings (note Ramana Gita VII. 8-11).

A ripe, pure or sattvic mind implies that rajas and tamas, the qualities of passion and ignorance, have been cleared not only from the mind but also from the body, to which the mind is connected in Vedic thought.
Such a pure or ripe mind was rare even in classical India. In the modern world, in which our life-style and culture is dominated by rajas and tamas, it is indeed quite rare and certainly not to be expected.

To arrive at it, a dharmic life-style is necessary. This is similar to the Yoga Sutra prescription of the yamas and niyamas as prerequisites for Yoga practice. In this regard, Ramana particularly emphasized a sattvic vegetarian diet as a great aid to practice.

The problem is that many people take Ramana’s idea of a ripe mind superficially. It is not a prescription that anyone can approach or practice Advaita in any manner they like.

Advaita does require considerable inner purity and self-discipline, developing which is an important aim of practice which should not be lightly set aside.

Extract from : Misconceptions about Advaita by David Frawley

Vedanta is Living Experience & Pseudo-Vedantic Student

Vedanta is Living Experience

by Swami Sivananda

VEDANTA is today a much abused term. All sorts of vanity, hypocrisy and self-conceit have been masquerading in its name. It has become the fashion of the day to pass for a Vedantin as it is then convenient to give up all sorts of responsibilities, rituals and restrictions of the Varnashrama Dharma and enables one to lead a happy-go-lucky life to ease, lethargy and inertia. The Punjab is full of dry, lip-Vedantins. Punjabi women have also taken to Vedanta and they take great pride in calling themselves Vedantins, whether or not they understand the philosophy, whether or not they do any practice. All retired officers who have not done any selfless service or any Sadhana or worship or charity take to Vedanta as a sort of fancy.

Thus Vedanta has become a very comfortable philosophy, because one can do whatever he chooses and eat whatever he likes. Licentiousness is mistaken for a life of expansion. If a man can eat anything in any hotel in any part of the world, if he can move socially with any man or woman, that does not mean, he is a Vedantin. There is much tall talk of Vedanta now-a-days. There is idle Vedantic gossiping. But there is no practical Vedanta. Nobody wants to do any real solid Vedantic Sadhana. Man feels ashamed to call himself a Bhakta, but he takes great pride in calling himself a Yogi or a Vedantin, because he foolishly imagines he will respected by the public. Many ignorant Vedantins have mistaken the body for Brahman and hence there is corruption amongst the so-called loose Vedantins. This is not only lamentable but also highly deplorable.

Wholesale preaching of Vedanta to the Masses is not advisable. It will result in chaos, bewilderment and stagnation. Grasping of Vedantic principles and a right understanding of the philosophy and Sadhana are very difficult. Vedanta is for a select few who are equipped with the four means of salvation or Sadhana Chatushtaya and who have removed the impurities of their minds and mental oscillation through constant practice of Nishkama Karma Yoga and Upasana. The path of Vedanta is not so easy as it is generally supposed to be. It is a sharp razor-edge path. Therefore, those who preach Vedanta to the masses do more harm than any good. They are misleading the people.

It is very very easy to say, Soham - I am He, Sivoham - I am Siva, Aham Brahma Asmi - I am Brahman like a parrot, but to live in the very spirit of Vedanta, to feel the oneness or unity of consciousness, to become ‘That' in reality and to radiate the Brahmic Bliss, Joy and Peace is an extremely difficult affair. While repeating ‘Soham', if his mind is easily upset when another utters a single harsh word, and if he begins to fight with that man vehemently, there is no use at all in that repetition. It is mere hypocrisy. He will not be able to influence others. People will take him for a cheat.

Vedanta is not merely a concept or a dogma. It is neither a theory nor a dry philosophy for contention and argumentation. It is the actual life of perennial joy in Brahman or Truth. A single practical Vedantin like Sankara could move the whole world. A practical Vedantin will outweigh a thousand and one Sandows when weighed in a balance. A practical Vedantin possesses tremendous inner spiritual strength. The whole world rejoices at the sight of a real practical Vedantin. Practical Vedanta is a living experience, the melting of the individual self in the ocean of consciousness or the Supreme Self. The experiencer exclaims with inexpressible joy, All indeed is Brahman. All differences, distinctions, qualities have vanished. I see Brahman and Oneness everywhere. I am Brahman.

VEDANTA BEGINER

The mind should be pure and tranquil before starting Vedantic Sadhana. Keeping the Vasana in the mind is keeping a black cobra within and feeding it with milk. Your life is ever in danger. Kill these Vasanas through Vichara, Vairagya and meditation on the Atman.

Mind is Jagat. The mind moves the senses, the Pranas, etc. Mind is the cause of bondage liberation. A keen study of the mind and its works is necessary for the study of Vedanta.

Raga and Dvesha constitute the great Samsara of the Jiva. They have to be destroyed through the knowledge of the Supreme Brahman. Either through proper understanding and discrimination or through Pratipaksha Bhavana these currents should be destroyed.

Liberation is attained by simplicity, by carefulness, by purity, by controlling the passions and by following the footprints of saints and sages.


PSEUDO-VEDANTIC STUDENT

A young aspirant says: “I have taste for Vedanta only. I do not like either Bhakti or Karma Yoga. They are far inferior to Vedanta. Only Vedanta elevates me. Only Vedanta inspires me and raises me to the magnanimous heights of Divine Splendour and Glory.”

This foolish Vedantic student is like the greedy typhoid patient with ulcers in his bowels, who wants to eat and says, “I have taste for sweetmeats. I want to eat them now.” What will be the result if he eats Rasagullas and Laddus at this stage? The bowels will rupture and he will die of bleeding from the bowels or intestinal hemorrhage immediately.

He is also like the patient who selects himself a medicine from the almirah, Liquor

Arsenicalis or Tr. of Opium, and says, “I like this medicine only. I want to taste this now.” What will happen if he tastes this medicine without consulting the doctor? He will die of arsenical or opium poisoning. He does not know the dose of the medicine. Instead of taking a few drops he may take them in a large quantity and give up his vital breath at once. It is the doctor alone who can select the right medicine for the patient.

Everybody cannot want to become a Commissioner or District Collector or Governor without possessing the necessary qualifications. Can anyone become an M.A., Ph.D., without undergoing the course for Matriculation, F.A. and B.A.?

It is the Guru alone who can select the right type of Yoga for the aspirant and right kind of books for him. He knows the degree of evolution of the student and he alone can chalk out the right path for the aspirant. He will ask him to study first Atma-Bodha, Tattva-Bodha, Atma-Anatma-Viveka. But the raw self-willed student goes to the library and at once takes up the highly advanced books, Yoga-Vasishtha and Brahma-Sutras, for his study! He becomes a pseudo-Vedantin or lip-Vedantin within six months and enters into discussions with elderly aspirants.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. After studying Yoga-Vasishtha and the Karikas on Mandukya Upanishad for six months, he says: “There is no world in the three periods of time. Aham Brahma Asmi—Sivoham—Sivah Kevaloham.” He is puffed up with empty pride, vanity and hollowness, and walks in the streets with his head erect. He will never make any prostration to elderly Sannyasis and Sadhus, but chant the formula very often, “Sivoham, Sivoham.”

Such aspirants are formidable Asuras on this earth. They are a great burden on this earth. They pollute the atmosphere and create dissensions and quarrels everywhere, by entering into heated debates with sincere devotees and Karma Yogis. They cannot prosper in the spiritual path.

Vedanta in the hands of raw and unregenerate persons who lack purity and devotion and who have not removed the impurity of their hearts through untiring selfless service with Atma-Bhava and Kirtan and prayer, is perilous. It is like a sharp razor in the hands of a child.

Instead of expanding their hearts the Vedantic study will thicken and fatten their egoism. They fall into the deep abyss of ignorance. There is no hope, for them, of being lifted up, as their heart is filled with foolish, Tamasic, obstinacy, false Vedantic pride and self-superiority and false Tushti (satisfaction).

May this land be free from such impotent, pseudo lip-Vedantins! May this world abound with real Vedantins like Dattatreya, Yajnavalkya and Adisankara!


See also the essay of Timothy Conway about: Neo-Advaita or Pseudo-Advaita and Real Advaita-Nonduality : http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/neo-advaita.html

Peace love harmony

Om! Advaita vedanta - A living experience by Nityananda Atman

Advaita vedanta is a living experience

              by Nityananda Atman

Advaita vedAnta is not a philosophy or a theory for discussion and entertainment. It is the living experience of the oneness of life. It is the perception and realization of the true Self. It is the fulfillment of the deepest craving in man. It is the conscious union of man with the essence of the whole universe. It is the realization that everything is the eternal Being, pure awareness and bliss.

VedAnta is a way of living, not a field for intellectual argument and discussion. VedAnta is a powerful weapon to destroy the darkness of ignorance. VedAnta gives us the means to see beyond the phenomenon of sense perceptions.

All people live in the oneness of life. But they do not realize it. They live like separate individuals, which are in constant conflict between their minds and their nature. It is completely different for someone to live in oneness as a separate individual full of miseries, than experiencing the oneness moment to moment with peace, love and harmony with everything.

Dear brothers, arguments and discussions can never take you above the miseries of separation. Talking about advaita vedAnta is not going to help you much. Practice of vedAnta alone can give you freedom and the realization of oneness. vedAnta can be your savior, but only if you put the vedAntic principles in practice.

People usually like to speak a lot and practice little. They want to find answers in transcendental matters intellectually. They want to get things fast and without much effort. advaita vedAnta has become these days an 'easy craft' for Self realization. New age teachers and 'non teachers' talk to people about advaita vedAnta with no consideration. They speak little (if at all) about the fundamentals of spirituality. Purity of heart and mind, one-pointed mind, discrimination, dispassion, etc., are prerequisites for the practice of vedAnta. These qualities seem to be not so important to them.

Sri Ramana Maharshi says:

'Lectures may entertain individuals for a few hours, without improving them.'
'If those who are unfit even to live a life of religious morality, take to a critical study of Vedanta, it is nothing but a pollution of the purity of Vedanta.'
'For those who are very attached to their filthy bodies, all the study of Vedanta will be as useless as the swinging of the goat's fleshy beard unless, with the aid of Divine Grace, their studies lead them to subdue their egos.'

New age teachers and 'non teachers' seem to ignore that they speak to people whose minds are filled with rajas and tamas, clinging mainly to sensual life and who are , perhaps, at the beginning of spirituality (even if they are engaged in spiritual practices for many years). But Vedanta is for people endowed with dispassion, discrimination and self control.

Sri Adi shankaracharya says:

69. The first step to Liberation is the extreme aversion to all perishable things, then follow calmness, self-control, forbearance, and the utter relinquishment of all work enjoined in the Scriptures.
78. He who is free from the terrible snare of the hankering after sense-objects, so very difficult to get rid of, is alone fit for Liberation, and none else - even though he be versed in all the six shastra-s. (vivekachudAmaNi)

Sri Ramana Maharshi says:

'Only to such a mind which has gained the inner strength of one-pointedness, Self-enquiry will be successful. But a weak mind will be like wet wood put into the fire of jnana-vichara.'

Rajasic and tamasic minds are always agitated, anxious, desirous, distracted, fearful, extroverted, etc. How is possible for an impure mind full of rajas and tamas to do contemplation, meditation and Self-enquiry? How is possible for an impure mind to comprehend the principles of vedAnta and put them into practice? How is possible for an impure mind, which most of the time is dwelling on sense objects and can only perceive gross forms, to realize the Atman which is the essence of life and the subtlest of all?

Sri Ramana Maharshi says:

'If the aspirants have not one-pointed mind, which is possible for him who has pure mind full of sattva, dispassion, discrimination, etc., Self-enquiry is impossible.'
'It is easy, the concentration on the Self, for him who has qualities like dispassion, discrimination, one-pointed mind, renunciation, etc. For the rest, it is either less or more, depending on how much one has these qualities. For those who are not prepared, it is very difficult, if not impossible.'

Only sattva can make the mind serene, tranquil, discriminative, one-pointed, cheerful, introverted, etc. A sattvic mind has the inclination to enquire within for its source (pure awareness) and has the capacity to do it.

A rajasic-tamasic mind can be transformed in sattva, only after long-term sAdhana, self-discipline and a sattvic lifestyle. But this process of purification is very hard, unpleasant and thorny, especially in the beginning. The mind resists intensively to its transformation. It doesn't like to abandon its old habits and patterns and the pleasures of sense objects. It is a great battle between the higher or sattvic mind against the lower or impure mind.

This process requires great patience, perseverance, sincerity, steady determination, forbearance, faith, courage and a great thirst for the truth. That is why the majority of people doesn't like to pass through this process of purification. However, it is undoubtedly pleasant for them to hear that for Self-realization, it is not always necessary to pass through this process.

The fact is that only when the mind is purified to a great extent, it becomes our friend and a great instrument for Self-enquiry and meditation. Then Self-realization is very easy.

Sri Adi shankaracharya says:

Verse 181. Therefore the seeker after Liberation must carefully purify the mind. When this is purified, Liberation is as easy of access as a fruit on the palm of one's hand. (vivekachudAmaNi)

New age teachers and 'non teachers' used to say: 'You are already That'; 'Who is going to do sAdhana or spiritual practices?'; 'Just be here now.' These sayings may seem wonderful for tamasic-rajasic minds! But it is not easy for someone to still the mind and 'be'. Talks cannot destroy ignorance, vAsanas and samskaras that are accumulated from many past births. Only intense uninterrupted sadhana can make the mind one-pointed and still. They claim also that spiritual practices strengthen the ego and sAdhana becomes a prison for the seeker. How can that be so? They really don't know, probably because they never did real sAdhana.

Sri Ramana Maharshi says:

'Of course, everybody, every book says, "Be quiet or still." But it is not easy. That is why all this effort is necessary.'
'Self remains veiled by vasana-s and reveals itself when there are no vasanas.'

On the other hand, the masters say that even for wise men constant effort is necessary to destroy the ego. How can this can be easy for people addicted to sense pleasures?

Sri Adi shankaracharya says:

342. Even wise men cannot suddenly destroy egoism after it has once become strong, barring those who are perfectly calm through the nirvikalpa samAdhi. Desires are verily the effect of innumerable births. (vivekachudAmaNi)

Sri Ramana Maharshi says:

'One must be ready to sacrifice everything for the truth.'
'Effort is needed so long as there is mind.'
'Without spiritual practice (upAsana), there cannot be attainment. This is certain.'
'Firm resolve to discover the truth for oneself is important. It is the heart, it is necessary to hold on to enquiry till one's mind merges into its source, the heart. Ceaseless effort is needed.'
'But in all cases the effort must be ceaseless and untiring until the goal can be reached.'
'Effortless and choiceless awareness is our real state. But one cannot reach it without effort, the effort of deliberate meditation. All the age-long vasanas (impressions) carry the mind outwards and turn it to external objects...'

Great masters like Jesus Christ, Mahavatar Babaji, Swami Sivananda, vedAnta teachers like Adi shankaracharya, Sri Ramana Maharshi and scriptures like the upaniShad-s, the Bhaghavad Gita etc., tell us to purify our minds and hearts through sAdhana. If sAdhana and the purification of mind are not necessary, it means that the sayings of the great masters are false. And because all these masters are divine incarnations and the scriptures are divine revelations, that means that God himself is cheating us! Is that possible? mAya is very powerful and makes the impossible happen!

New age teachers say that everything is illusory, just a dream, that everything just happens. Then who is going to do what? Surely everything is an illusory appearance, a long dream. But only for those who have awaken from the dream! For the rest, it is a very solid reality.

This world is an illusory reflection of Consciousness; jIva is illusory, bondage and liberation are also illusory. But this is very easily misunderstood. The bondage is illusory, but this does not mean that sAdhana is not necessary. When someone is hungry or thirsty, he has to eat or drink something to relieve his hunger or thirst. In this illusory world, an illusory hunger can be satisfied by illusory food!

Similarly, illusory bondage can be destroyed by an illusory sAdhana. The illusory practices can destroy all the fancies of the mind at its root (ignorance and ego). This is impossible without practice. Only in very rare cases like Sri Ramana Maharshi can this happen instantly. But that happened because he did intense sAdhana in many previous lives. Similar is the case of Swami Vivekananda. Sri Ramana Maharshi said: 'Vivekananda was ripe. He was anxious to realize. He must have completed the preliminary in his past births.'

Keep in mind also that if the bondage were real, no power in the whole universe could destroy it.

To get out of this matrix of the mind is not so easy, dear brothers. Similarly, it is not so difficult. It depends on the maturity of the jIva. The jIva is necessary to do ceasesless and intense effort until the steady realization of the Self. Nobody knows when realization will happen. It is the divine will who rules everything. Practice accompanied with surrender is the surest and shortest way, 'Thy will be done, not mine.'

Radiant Immortal Self! You have to practise constantly with faith, steady determination and perseverance to purify your mind and heart. Simultaneously practise meditation and Self-enquiry to realize your true nature. You have to practise until the mind is empty from desires, attachments, egoism, all samskara-s and vasana-s, until you are established effortlessly to your true nature.

Sri Ramana Maharshi says:

'There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness. Until that is realized, effort is necessary.'
'...intense effort is necessary until the I-thought disappears completely in the heart (Self) and all the vasana-s and samskara-s are fried and do not revive again.'
' Knowledge (jnana) can only remain unshaken after all vasana-s are rooted out.'
'... if one has not rooted out the vasanas, he will not attain salvation.'

Sri Adi shankaracharya says:

317... the destruction of desires is Liberation, and this is considered as Liberation-in-life.
337. There is no Liberation for one who has attachment to the body, etc., and the liberated man has no identification with the body, etc.
299. So long as one has any relation to this wicked ego, there should not be the least talk about Liberation, which is unique.
303. As long as there is a trace of poison left in the body, how can one hope for recovery? Similar is the effect of egoism on the Yogi's Liberation. (vivekachudAmaNi)

Do real sAdhana dear aspirants, do real sAdhana. You cannot wake up from the dream of separation only by talking and listening. Do intense sAdhana from this very moment to realize your divine nature. Time passes by very fast. Tomorrow will never come. Every day there is a tomorrow. Do not waste your time in trifling illusory sense pleasures. Live every moment of your life, for Self-realization. Put Vedanta into practice. Destroy 'I-ness' and 'mine' that separate you from God and the world. Realize your real Self in this very life. Be an embodiment of peace, love and harmony. This is your birthright and the purpose you took for this human body.

Never think that you will fail in this attempt, that is a very difficult task or anything that can make you feel impotent. The whole universe is going to help you, because what you are doing is not only for you, but for the good of all. Life's main purpose is to be conscious of itself. So anybody who is marching towards Self-realization lives in harmony with the purpose of the whole of life. That's why life will give him everything he needs to to succeed in this endeavor. Never forget that God's Grace is always with you.

~Nityananda Atman

References for Sri Ramana Maharshi's quotations:

Guru Vachaka Kovai, Sri Muruganar

Daily Quotes from Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, compiled Sanjay Lohia

Jnana Marga in Bhagavan's Own Words, compiled Sanjay Lohia

Ramana Maharshi Answers 100 Questions, edited and compiled A.R. Natarajan

Quotable Quotes from Day to Day, compiled Sanjay Lohia

Day by Day with Bhagavan from the diary of A. Devaraja Mudaliar

Maharshi's Gospel Book I & II

Gems from Bhagavan, A. Devaraja Mudaliar

The Resplendent Sun - Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, A.R. Natarajan

All these books can be found in the bookstore of Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, India

Peace, love, harmony