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I arrived at Advaita/Nondualim by way of studying Vedanta, which is the philosophy part of the Vedas. The litteral meaning of Vedanta is ‘the end piece of the Vedas.” I knew in general terms what the Vedas were, prescriptive directions about rites and performance of rites and rituals necessary for the purification of oneself to attain heaven, but also for the welfare of the community as well. That did not interest me.
Vedanta on the other hand was all about the self, separate from rites and rituals, a state one arrives at after completing all obligations that the Vedas require.
Studying Vedanta led me to Advaita, which is one perspective of approaching liberation of the self. There are other perspectives and this section includes the hotly debated superiority of one perspective over all others. I stuck to Advaita which not only made sense to me, it inspired me to learn.
I was also diving into consciousness studies and Buddhist meditation for a decade and the consciousness studies was replaced by Advaita philosophy as it went further and explained experiences consciousness studies couldn't as for the most part it conflates mind and consciousness.
My encounter in deep meditation. It confused my intellect and motivated decades of study of science AND esoteric literature (what I call the spiritual fossil record of inspirations). I knew our consciousness is part of a Oneness that I believe is the source of intuitions and "Eureka" moments of discovery. It is and has always been there at the core of our developing conscious awareness so there is no specific time that "revelation" ever stops.
I found all the religious and ritual nonsense relatively uninformative until I encountered the works of Adi Shankaracharya. His insights led me down the path to discovery using science. It was not easy to reconcile the disparate experience of our conscious mind until the "delayed playback" aspect of it (e.g. "The Sting") guided my probe of the quantum theories. I found the ad hoc retrocausality theory most helpful in guiding my search for answers that actually made sense to me. I have great respect for Shankara but that does not mean he and his followers are not wrong about the unchanging Oneness, IMO.
I found all the religious and ritual nonsense relatively uninformative until I encountered the works of Adi Shankaracharya. His insights led me down the path to discovery using science. It was not easy to reconcile the disparate experience of our conscious mind until the "delayed playback" aspect of it (e.g. "The Sting") guided my probe of the quantum theories. I found the ad hoc retrocausality theory most helpful in guiding my search for answers that actually made sense to me. I have great respect for Shankara but that does not mean he and his followers are not wrong about the unchanging Oneness, IMO.
Shankara is credited with compiling the texts that are the foundation of Advaita, which means not-Two. It indicates there is no second, only God. Not only one god, but only God/Divinity and nothing else.
He wrote commentaries on all the important texts that comprise Advaita. He selected 12 of the 108 Upanishad (texts that are contemplations and inquires in the form of a student asking his teacher) and wrote commentaries on all of them. He wrote commentaries on commentaries written by his Guru, Govindapada. He travelled the length and breadth of India and established missions for teaching and service. He debated with several scholars and never lost one. He composed countless number original works of his own in Sanskrit. He died at the age of 30, and accomplished immense amount of work that is relevant and fresh today as it was in his day. He was afraid the nation would drown in what he saw as nihilism of Buddhism. The man was in a hurry with no rest.
When i first approached Shankara’s work i was put off by what I saw as misogyny and harsh words. When i read them now, after some amount of knowledge, I understand it is more complex than I thought and with unfolding meanings. It is an amazing life.
We are going to be traveling shortly. While the opportunity to do so is pleasurable, leaving my home always fills me with dread. The process of air travel by itself has become so much more uncertain and cumbersome that I become very anxious.
Getting deep into the teaching, and into that space before the mind (thank you JASG) the Witness Consciousness, along with prayer that is meaningful to me, has helped me a lot in getting over it and to regain composure.
We are going to be traveling shortly. While the opportunity to do so is pleasurable, leaving my home always fills me with dread. The process of air travel by itself has become so much more uncertain and cumbersome that I become very anxious.
Getting deep into the teaching, and into that space before the mind (thank you JASG) the Witness Consciousness, along with prayer that is meaningful to me, has helped me a lot in getting over it and to regain composure.
That space is like the silence after Om. It's also before and during Om too. But yeah, that "space/silence/stillness" Is the key that is right smack in the middle of all our experience, however we never pay attention to it. We pay attention to everything that arise in it, lingers for a time and then subside, and then we're off to the next arising.
From that space one can Witness the doings of Ahamkara (ego), or what we usually think of as ourselves. It really kind of disabuses one of that particular notion.
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