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#1916 - Thursday, September 9, 2004 - Editor: Jerry
This issue features an excerpt from a newly published book, The Nature of Man According to the Vedanta, by John Levy. This series will constitute the first lengthy quotation of Levy on the internet; there is virtually nothing at present. Also there are quotations from the thoughtful Alpha World list. And there is an installment of In Nonduality Salon.
The Nature of Man According to the Vedanta
by John Levy
http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/nature_of_man.php
Excerpt from...
Introductory Chapter
To Whom Is This Method of Inquiry Addressed?
The difficulties are immense in writing a book of this nature. Most Hindus have done it in the form of aphoristic verse, easy to memorize but needing interpretation in accordance with the living tradition. That in fact the reader had grown up in it and so would be on intimate terms with the subject they could take for granted until quite recently, when the printing of Vedantic works, and their publication in foreign tongues, at once did away with the old guarantees. As a result, it would be perilous now to presuppose any real familiarity even on the part of serious students, whether Indian or not; and therefore in writing this book, my only assumption has been that its readers seek knowledge of the ultimate truth; and as a rider, that they come with an open mind and the capacity to go beyond the written word. To such kindred souls I address the pages that follow. Therein I have endeavored to give a clear account of the highest Vedanta, known as Adwaita (Non-Duality), without stooping to make any of those compromises attendant upon the childish desire to convert others.
~ ~ ~
from Chapter II: Waking and Dreaming
The Waking-State
The waking-state is commonly held to consist of thinking and feeling in the presence of tangible objects. Tangible objects are perceived through the five organs of sensory perception. These organs we shall call collectively the bodily senses.
The Dream-State
The dream-state, from the standpoint of the waking, consists only of thinking and feeling. But the dreamer has no idea that he is dreaming, for according to his experience, tangible objects are also perceived. Thus the dream-state is definable in exactly the same terms as the waking.
A First Comparison of Waking and Dreaming
When we compare the two states, each being viewed from its own standpoint, no difference can be found. A difference appears, however, when we consider dreams from the standpoint of waking, according to which waking alone is a real experience. On waking, we know that the dream-world, together with the dream-body whose senses perceived it, were products of the mind. The question then arises whether the waking-man's thoughts and the dreamer's whole experience are not equivalent.
~ ~ ~
The Nature of Man According to the Vedanta
by John Levy
http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/nature_of_man.php
Alpha World
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlphaWorld/
Hidden...
“There are symbols hidden in places you would never imagined.”
(Robert Langdon) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code.
~ ~ ~
“What was totally clear to me was the unsuspected power
of the palette, a power which had
earlier been hidden from me, but which surpassed all my dreams.
Painting acquired a fairy
tale strength and magnificence. And unconsciously the
representational became discredited
as an unavoidable element of a picture.”
Wassily Kandinsky
~ ~ ~
”Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery
that it is. In the boredom and
pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch,
taste, smell your way to
the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all
moments are key moments,
and life itself is grace.”
Buechner, Frederick
~ ~ ~
"What is the main thing in love? to know and to hide. To
know about the one you love and
to hide that you love. At times the hiding (shame) overpowers the
knowing (passion). The
passion for the hidden -- the passion for the revealed."
Marina Tsvetaeva
~ ~ ~
“I am a mask, concealing the real. Behind me, hidden,
actuality goes on, safe from prying
eyes.”
Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, (1962)
~ ~ ~
http://firelight63.blogspot.com ICQ # 238728919
In Nonduality Salon
The Highlights of the Nonduality Salon list from between August,
1998 and May, 1999, the period of time prior to the creation of
The Highlights.
~ ~ ~
samuel
Lotus blossom?
Each day... Nelumbo nucifera unfold.
It is Divine* will... so I am told.
Though... what is really 'unfolding',
is Divine*... as ...saint and\or jinn.
Such is the fate of mere 'mortal' men,
simplicity... we can't seem to ken.
One day... all may come to 're-see',
Divine*... the only 'thing'... there BE.
(Divine* - use whatever 'word' you choose)
( /\ )
samuel
~ ~ ~
Samuel, you always know to say it well.
With the warmness of an expressive heart
You're the first nondual Western bard
And for a nondualist there's neither heaven nor a hell
Our Lobsterfriend would add :"Be well" [:>)
Jan
~ ~ ~
samuel
Another side... of the same 'coin'.
Some say that rain... is Angel's tears,
shed to release 'us'... from our fears.
This... it oft' may very well be,
if... 'Angel's tears'... we *choose* to 'see'.
Some say it's... 'Nectar' of the Gods,
sweat... from their naked... entwined bods.
(This 'imagery'... sure 'tickles' me,
but rain's more likely... just their p.. )
Elysian... or vulgar word?
Depends on... what we 'think' we heard.
But truly, truly, I say unto you,
Whatever rain is... it helped the 'grass' grew. :-)
( /\ )
samuel
(aka - rhyme... at any price :-)
~ ~ ~
Melody
Sweet sadness
So full, so all encompassing,
I delight in the intensity
and the vividness.
What a sense of 'aliveness'
you have...
even inside such pain.
Yet minute by minute,
measure by measure,
the song of sadness fades.
Until it is no more.
And another chord is struck.
Oh, how I love the music of life!
~ ~ ~
Jerry
You know what? I'm so sick of hearing about being conditioned
and
reacting and our false selves and what's wrong with us, that I
really
don't give a damn. SO WHAT if I'm conditioned and react and all
that? So
what? To worry about it, to acknowledge it, to improve it, isn't
any
better than having it. The problem is that people suffer it.
People
suffer it and then they suffer getting rid of it. And then they
suffer
its absence and then they suffer their coming realizations.
The problem is the suffering of it. Not it. I'm sure I've done
all kinds
of crazy things in my life, but one understanding has never
changed
since the age of 7. I AM. That plainly shines forth.
Being there. With I AM. Everything else falls into place. Whether
you
call I AM, Jesus or Guru or Your Guru, Sri (put his or her name
here),
or whatever. Abide in I AM. Do that first and last and during.
Why crunch the gravel on your path, when one stone, quiet and
whole,
awaits your full attention?
~ ~ ~
Ed Arrons
Avoidance of Intimacy
Sometimes intimacy is seen as the proximity to nakedness, or
as a roll in the hay, or as
falling in love, or as cooperative living, or as deep
understanding of others, or as
being in the flow or now, or as being with one's soulmate, or as
being in touch with
nature or with the divine; and sometimes with a combination of
the above.
But there is also a rare form of intimacy that is
overlooked...which could be more
fulfilling than any grouping of the above. And this is probably
the most feared and
unconsciously avoided form of intimacy. And that is the simple
act of being quietly in
the presence of another person...feeling the other's presence
within one's self.
Fondly, Ed ~ ~ ~
Gospel of Thomas
Hi dear Lovers of Truth,
Just wanted to share with you all some excerpts from the
Gospel of Thomas (GoT), an
ancient text found in a cave in Nag Hammadi in 1945. There was a
documentary aired on
Swedish TV recently about GoT and it is really revolutionary! The
GoT is not biographical
like the known gospels of John, Mark, Luke and Matthew, it is
simply a collection of
sayings in dialog form, questions and answers (like a 2000 year
old I AM THAT!).
The Egyptian authorities wouldn't allow researchers to examine
the texts until late in
the 1960's. At first, researchers thought GoT was a gnostic text
as it was buried
together with around 40 other gnostic texts. But careful research
revealed that the GoT
is much older and that it is at least as old - if not older than
the other gospels, that
is, written before 100 AD.
Half of GoT consists of sayings that can be found in the other
Gospels, another quarter
are obscure or esoteric but the rest is pure Satsang! It really
is astounding! No wonder
the established Church banned it.
Excerpts:
These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and
Didymos Judas Thomas
recorded.
1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of
these sayings will not taste
death."
2 Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking
until they find. When they find,
they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will
marvel, and will reign over
all.
3 Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the
(Father's) kingdom is in the sky,'
then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you,
'It is in the sea,' then
the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and
it is outside you. When
you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will
understand that you are
children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves,
then you live in
poverty, and you are the poverty."
5 Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and
what is hidden from you will be
disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be
revealed.
13 Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something
and tell me
what I am like."
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just
messenger."
Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to
say what you
are like."
Jesus said [to Thomas], "I am not your teacher. Because you
have drunk,
you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have
tended."
17 Jesus said, "I will give you what no eye has seen,
what no ear has
heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human
heart."
18 The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us, how will our
end come?"
Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you
are looking
for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is.
Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one
will
know the end and will not taste death."
22 ... Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into
one, and when you
make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and
the
upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a
single
one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female,
when
you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a
foot in
place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will
enter [the
kingdom]."
42 Jesus said, "Be passersby."
51 His disciples said to him, "When will the rest for the
dead take
place, and when will the new world come?"
He said to them, "What you are looking forward to has come,
but you
don't know it."
77 Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I
am all: from
me all came forth, and to me all attained.
Split a piece of wood; I am there.
Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
91 They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may
believe in
you."
He said to them, "You examine the face of heaven and earth,
but you have
not come to know the one who is in your presence, and you do not
know
how to examine the present moment.
108 Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become
like me; I
myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be
revealed
to him."
113 His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom
come?"
"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said,
'Look, here!'
or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon
the
earth, and people don't see it."
[Translation by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer]
WOW!! Love burning
Here forever,
Ananda
--
"Silent Sky, so radiant, so clear..."
http://welcome.to/Satsang