tom das
Your faith will lead you to REALISATION
Don’t worry about your THOUGHTS
How to Surrender in daily everyday life | Sri Ramana Maharshi
Liberation is possible FOR YOU
The path of the Brave and Fearful | Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad | Guru Vachaka Kovai |
Thank you for those who attended Satsang with me yesterday. It was wonderful to be with you all 🙏 Here is a video from the meeting:
Here are some the verses that I mentioned during the Satsang that I wasn’t able to fully remember and quote verbatim at the time, plus a few extra verses at the end (the last 3 verses):
Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad, verses 211 & 212:
211. Only two paths are laid down for the aspirant to deliverance: for the valiant, the quest of one’s own Self, and for the fearful, self-surrender to God. In these two all the paths are included.
[Commentary by Lakshmana Sarma: A great many paths are known and followed, but all come under these two. The valiant one has been already described. The other is the one who is afraid of samsara, but is unable to take to the quest taught by Bhagavan as being the direct path. On this direct path all preconceived notions are dropped, as will be seen later. Self-surrender is the final step in the practice of devotion to God, which is the only other alternative to the direct path.]
212. This two-fold path has been taught by the most holy one, Ramana, thus: ‘Either seek the root of the ego-sense [the ‘I’ that rises within the body] or surrender that ego-sense to God to have it destroyed [by His grace].’
Verses from Guru Vachaka Kovai:
745.
To say that someone practising
Sustained enquiry for the Self, the God
Who is all Awareness, suffered from
Mental derangement, would be like
Saying that some poor fellow died,
Alas, by drinking nectar.
354.
Don’t ask in fear and doubt, “What, what
Will happen if I once for all
Give up this separate self of mine?”
Whoso lets go the bough he clings to
Lands safe on solid earth. You are bound
To reach the real Self.
394.
Forgetfulness of Self is real death.
To overcome the fear of body’s death
We needs must constantly remember
The Self. For self-enquiry then,
There is no fixed rule of time or place.
834.
Courageous ones who know no fear
Find and renounce the world as worthless,
And so gain wisdom true. Others
Are foolish folk by falsehood blinded.
174.
In meditation deep, while yet
A trace of ego lingers, fear
And trembling may sometimes occur.
But when the ego dies at last
In Pure Awareness, quaking stops.
Stillness alone prevails.
Q. Why does traditional Advaita Vedanta reject Ramana Maharshi’s Self Enquiry as a method to attain liberation
Question. Why do the traditional Advaita-Vedanta schools based solely on the Upanishads and Vedanta scriptures, etc, reject Ramana’s Self-Enquiry approach as a method to attain liberation?
Tom: I do not think this is true. Ramana’s teachings are the same as those found in the Upanishads and Vedanta Scriptures & Ramana teaches us the true Vedanta in my opinion.
However, there are several teachings that claim to teach Vedanta in a traditional way but do not really go beyond the mind or beyond duality, and so suffering and ignorance does not end. Their teachings distort the scriptures in my view. My advice therefore is to stick to Sri Ramana’s teachings. However, what teachings you prefer is of course for you to decide.
Namaste
Tom
A Guided Meditation/Contemplation: ‘What you are’
You are here for Liberation
What’s wrong with ‘neo- advaita’? Why is it so fiercely attacked and mocked by traditional Advaita followers?
For the most part we can define ‘neo-advaita’ (or radical non-duality) as those teachings/communications that state all is already one/whole and there is no separate individual self, and as there is no separate self, there can be no useful practice as all practices reinforce the notion of an individual self that is carrying out the practice; therefore, according to neo-advaita, there is no path to liberation, no practice that can help one attain liberation, and no separate self to be liberated, and to say the contrary is fine but inaccurate.
This is in contrast to traditional-type Advaita teachings that for the most part acknowledge all is already one, but often state there is some kind of process or path that one can engage with and engaging with this teaching and path will in some way help ‘you attain direct realisation/liberation’ of the oneness/Self that is already present. Sri Ramana Maharshi explains this more fully here.
Which view is correct?
I think most seekers that have explored this can see the potential benefits of both approaches, but most neo-advaita types reject the practice/progress orientated paths, and vice versa.
My own view is that the neo-advaita types for the most part have only a very superficial realisation and they also do not usually point to suffering ending (unlike traditionally orientated paths), but that does not make neo-advaita entirely worthless of course, as different things resonate at different times in our journey.
I have written several posts on this which may be of interest to you, best wishes:
The evolution of Tony Parsons | Radical non-duality | Neo-Advaita | Advaita Vedanta
The problem with radical non-duality or neo-advaita
Ramana Maharshi on Neo-Advaita | Radical Non-duality | Are practices really required?
Neo-advaita myth: The ‘me’ is an energetic contraction
Tom Das 