spirituality

Q. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEO-ADVAITA AND ADVAITA?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Tom: Neo Advaita says all is already one, there is already no ego-self, and no need for any practice. In fact, any practice just perpetuates and strengthens the illusory notion of an ego-self. Suffering and worldly happenings are just things that occur to ‘nobody’.

Advaita says all is already one, there is already no ego-self, but due to ignorance there appears to be a world consisting of many people and things, of which you are one. Through self-enquiry, in which one places ones attention onto ones own self, the Subject, and ignores/turns away from objective phenomena, one can destroy this ignorance and realise that the apparent mutiplicity is an unreal illusion and there is only the formless self which is devoid of suffering. It is then seen that ignorance never actually occurred and there were never any actual people or things at all.

My own experience is that neo-advaita, whilst sounding intellectually coherent, does not lead to liberation at all and suffering, duality and egotism all actually continue, whereas Advaita, whilst appearing to be dualistic in some ways, is totally liberating and ends suffering and duality completely. They are actually quite distinct teachings that both claim to be ‘non-duality’.

Note that in my experience many prominent Advaita and Advaita Vedanta teachers actually teach distorted teachings, and that the genuine teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi are the best teachings I have come across to point the way to liberation.

Is the most important thing to love another and to be good to each other? Is this ‘true spirituality’?

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

The happier and more secure in ourselves we are, the more we are able to love others and receive love ourselves, the more able we are to deeply listen to others and be deeply present with others.

As we go towards the Absolute, the Subject, the Self, the Pure Consciousness that we ARE, the happier and more secure we become in ourselves, and the more loving and balanced we naturally are.

There are some who say no need to go towards the Absolute, or rather this is not so important, but instead loving each other is more important, being able to deeply listen to each other is more important, being able to deeply be present with someone is more important…

…not realising that the two are related, and that without going more and more towards the Absolute, either consciously or unconsciously, without more and more realising ourselves as THAT, we will be limited in our ability to give and receive love, we will be limited in our ability to deeply listen, to deeply receive, and to deeply be present with others.

When we ultimately discover ourselves as That Absolute, then all that is left is Love and Presence, giving and receiving become One, outside and inside disappear, and the thought of another as opposed to I or me also vanishes. There is only Eternal Love and Bliss.

Hence the most important thing, from a spiritual point of view, especially if you value kindness and love and deep listening and being present, is to go towards the Absolute and discover that Truth that we ARE.

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, he said the most important was to love the lord our God with everything we have, (which I like to interpret as meaning to go towards the absolute and know your identity with that), and he said that the second most important commandment was to love each other. He did not say the most important commandment was to love each other, as I suspect he knew that we cannot love each other truly and fully unless we know our own Divine Nature as Absolute Love

Put simply, we are often told to love each other and be present with each other and be good to on another, but we are not told HOW we can love each other more or HOW we can be more present with each other.

The secret is to more and more know yourself as you truly are, ie. as Pure Formless Consciousness, as the Absolute.

🙏

No need to convince others | Non-duality & Advaita

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Everybody has their own path. Traditionally one is encouraged to follow one’s own path and allow others to follow their path, trusting that the One Power is guiding us all in the way that is most beneficial for each of us.

We are therefore encouraged NOT to convince others to adopt our own point of view, for this becomes another distraction on our own path as well as a dissipation of our own energies. Ultimately there are no others, and so this kind of discourse in which we try to convince others as to the superiority of our own view becomes a grand detour into illusion.

This does not mean that we cannot share our own spiritual insights and thoughts, but that we should tread lightly and lovingly in how we share. We can acknowledge that we do not necessarily have all the answers for everyone else, and that different teachings suit different people at different times.

All teachings and teachers have their place, even the ones we may not like!It is said in the Bhagavad Gita:

3.26 Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.

and

3.29 The person of knowledge should not confuse the mind of those people of imperfect understanding who, deluded by the Gunas [Energies or Forces] of Nature, are attached to action in the material world.

❤️❤️❤️ 🙏🙏🙏 ❤️❤️❤️

Spiritual, emotional and non-dual guidance & counselling with Tom Das

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

For the last seven years I have been actively guiding people in their spiritual, emotional and human journeys. From non-duality and spiritual experiences, to helping people through relationship and practical issues, I have met with hundreds of people and have pretty much seen it all!

It’s a deep honour and privilege for me to assist people in this way.

If you feel moved to, you can now book a 1 to 1 session with me directly using this link.

To find out more about what I offer, pricing, etc, please see this link here.

Namaste & best wishes

Tom

Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic Spirituality | Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

(Understanding this can be a great help on the spiritual journey, my comments are in red)

Question. What is the difference between the Sattvic, the Rajasic and the Tamasic ways of worship?

Sri Ramakrishna:

The man who worships from the very depth of his heart without the least ostentation or vanity is a Sattvic worshipper.

Tom: the sattvic (peaceful) worshiper is the highest form of worshiper, pure of heart and of intent. They do not make a great grand show of their spirituality and care not for outer forms, unlike the rajasic one:

The man who gives much attention to decorating his house, makes much fuss about music and dancing, and makes all costly and elaborate arrangements for a rich feast when celebrating the worship of the Deity, is a Rajasic worshipper.

Tom: the rajasic (passionate) worshipper tends to be concerned more about appearances, pleasure and activity. They may pay great attention to decoration, dress, ceremony, outward appearance and what others think of them. They may tend to wear spiritual-looking clothes and have spiritual-looking paraphenalia and accesories and make a show of spiritual-looking rituals. They may look and sound more spiritual than they actually are. Still lower than them is the tamasic one:

The man who immolates hundreds of innocent goats and sheep on the altar, has dishes of meat and wine for offerings, and is absorbed only in dancing and singing while conducting worship, is a Tamasic worshipper.

Tom: The tamasic (dull) one here is essentially shows to be a hedonist, one who is interested in sense-pleasures and, for this end, they are willing to abuse their own body (eg. with excessive food and wine) and engage in immoral activity (eg. the unnecessary slaughtering of animals) in order to satisfy their wants and apetites.

~ Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna no. 239

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Tom: whilst the above may perhaps sound judgemental, I think it is better not to think of it in this way: we can instead see them as descriptions of stages of spiritual growth that many of us often go though, and each stage often has a role to play:

eg. in the tamasic stage, we are often dealing with supressed emotional pain and trauma, in the rajasic stage we are often developing self-esteem and self-worth, and in the sattvic stage we are learning to be more peaceful and pure, perhaps having already healed ourself of many of our psychological traumas and developed a healthy sense of self-esteem.

We can also use this as a way to guage where spiritual teachers/groups/teachings themselves are – are they sharing a tamasic, rajasic or sattvic type of spirituality?

These 3 (sattva, rajas and sattva) are known as the 3 energies of Maya or the 3 gunas.

Have you found this teaching to be helpful for you? Please leave a comment to let me know…

Also see:

The three energies (three Gunas)

A True Teacher Doesn’t Foster Dependence | The Three Gunas | Shedding Negative Self-Concepts

Q. I genuinely understand the teachings but still egoic tendencies arise. What can I do?

Ramana Maharshi: The path to Self Realisation (includes teachings on the Self, the mind, rajas and tamas, vasanas and Samadhi)

Pure sattva is the Self | Ramana Maharshi