My posted question.
Greetings from one of the silent group.
> >
> To follow and learn from this forum is useful in several ways. The removal
> of doubts strengthens belief in Advaita. Reading great minds that hold these
> beliefs is a comfort, giving a feeling of legitimacy to those of us isolated
> from others of similar belief.
> >
> Attachment to intellectual knowledge can also be an obstacle to
> enlightenment Satisfaction taken from the intellectual understanding can
> lead to another home for elitism and narcissism... Can this removal of
> doubts also produce the purity needed to be awakened to unbounded awareness?
> >
> My question is: How can we use this intellectual understanding in a way that
> results in humility, innocence and purity of mind-heart?
Answer:
Namaste George,
Although I'm sure there are other members, much
more learned than I, who can address your concerns,
I will try to write out a response which your post
elicited from me.
First of all, if reading here helps to remove your
doubts, and increases your faith that the teachings
of advaita are true, that's very good, IMO.
As is said in the Bhagavad Gita, "the one who has
sraddha (faith pending understanding) is the one
who gains self-knowledge."
Many who write on this list must have that same
sraddha (IMO), and it is also my surmise that
many who write on this list, no longer need to
have sraddha that the teachings are true, because
they *know* that they are true.
Their sraddha, their faith in the teacher and teaching,
along with exposure to the teaching, and the grace of
the Lord, has 'done the job.'
Their sraddha has fructified into the direct and
immediate knowledge of the truth of that which
the teachings of Vedanta are pointing out.
So faith (or sraddha), trust that the teachings
and teacher are true, helps the student gain
knowledge, because sraddha allows the student
to stay around long enough, with the right attitude,
to discover that truth for him or herself.
But for many here, I would surmise that it is
no longer a matter of belief, but rather one
of direct immediate knowledge.
And this leads into your next question.
Above you are using the words 'intellectual knowledge,'
and implying that that is what one is gaining on a
list such as this. The word, intellectual, is a bit
of a problem, IMO, because actually self-knowledge
takes place in the intellect, in the buddhi, not
as an idea or a concept, but rather as the direct
immediate recognition of the truth.
If one were to replace the word 'intellectual,'
with the word, 'conceptual' in your question, then
I think that word might more accurately reflect
your concern.
But here's a question in return for you. Is the knowledge
which the teachings of Vedanta have to give conceptual,
in the form of ideas, or is it actual?
It is actual. It isn't that we listen to the teachings,
gain a lot of concepts about what they are saying,
and then get attached to our concepts. I suppose that
could happen, but that isn't the way the teachings are
intended to work.
The teachings are intended to work as a 'pramana,'
a direct means of knowledge for the gain of the
recognition of your self as atma/brahman, the nondual
reality of all that is.
Thus when the teaching is taking place, the mind of
the student is guided, as it were, by the teacher,
the teachings as a pramana, to directly apprehend
exactly what it is the teachings are pointing out.
The classic example often given is a person at dusk
being guided by another to see the small sliver of
a crescent moon rising at the horizon.
The one doing the guiding starts out by saying, "See
that tree over there? Now follow with your eyes up
the trunk of the tree. See that first branch on
the right? Follow with your eyes to the end of that
branch. Now see the little V shape formed by the two twigs
at the end of the branch? Right in the middle of those
two twigs, in the middle of the V shape, you will see the moon."
Now, my question to you is, is the person being guided
being given knowledge which is a concept, an idea,
or in your words 'intellectual' i.e. away from the
facts, or is the person being guided to directly
see the moon for himself? To see the exact same thing
that the person who is doing the guiding sees?
It is the later. The teacher, who knows how to use
the words of the Upanishads, as a pramana, as a direct
pointer to the self, is guiding the mind of the student
just as directly as in the illustration above, to recognize
the truth, that atma is brahman.
Therefore, in reality,(and ideally) Vedanta isn't giving
conceptual knowledge of the subject matter of advaita.
We may gain a lot of concepts along the way. And some
of them may be way off the mark. So a good teacher will
lead us out of our misconceptions, misconceptions of taking
ourselves to be samsaris in the first place, and any further
misconceptions which may possibly have been gained
as the result of misunderstanding what the teacher is saying.
We all misunderstand until we understand. We all have
concepts until we recognize the truth. The purpose of
clearing doubts, is to clear away all of our misconceptions,
so the truth stands clearly revealed.
We can also gain sraddha through clearing doubts, but
if the teachings are effective, eventually sraddha itself
will give place to moksha.
Then when I 'know' the truth, do I need to believe it,
or do I just know it?
If I see a flower held up in front of my eyes, and
my eyes are open, and my mind is backing my eyes, do
I need to believe the flower is there, or do I just
know that it is there?
In terms of the other things which you ask about
"humility, innocence and purity of mind-heart,"
these are the qualities which we need to embody in
order to gain jnana nistha.
The teachings of Vedanta explain and provide lots of ways
to gain these qualities. A person with these
qualities is an adhikari, someone whose mind is
qualified for self-knowledge.
My teacher would say that we all come to the teachings
with enough of these qualities already, or we wouldn't be
interested in the first place, and the teachings will
take care of the rest.
For some of us, the process may take a longer time,
and for others a shorter time, but in the end 'knowledge'
being stronger than any other thing will win in the end.
So in order to 'hang in there' we do need need sraddha
and the grace of the Lord, and lots of other things
as well. We need to apply ourselves in certain ways.
And on the other hand, I like something I once heard
my teacher say, 'the subject matter is sukha (pleasant),
the study is sukha, and the goal is sukha.' So we are truly
blessed if we see it that way.
All the best,
Dhanya
.
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