Guest guest Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 I love Amma. The highlight of my year every since 1996 has been her visits to Australia. I'm also oriented to Advaita and self inquiry through the teachings of (in particular) Ramana Maharshi, Gangaji, and Ramesh Balseker. Apart from what's already in the Amma books - I'd be very interested to hear from others who have spoken to Amma re nondual approaches or self inquiry, or reflections from other Amma devotees who are drawn to self inquiry. One year in Sydney I heard Amma, in a talk, refer to the modern Advaita "fashion" as a form of "intellectual prostitution". I could understand that at the time - there can be a tendency to over intellectualism. But I've also met many really profound, loving people who have an Advaita approach. I also know some Advaita folk who characterise Bhaktas as being over emotional and cultic - which is I feel another unfair generalisation! I'D REALLY LOVE TO READ YOUR COMMENTS. Jai Ma Shane Keher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Namaste Shane: Amma is very advaita oriented; in fact is the very epitome of the end of Advaita Vedanta. But let us be practical - there is a vast difference between speculating on the nature of Brahman and attainment of Brahman. The vast majority of so called Advaitists are nothing more than speculators. If you look at Ramana Maharshi himself, the self-enquiry method was taught to a few advanced disciples; perhaps he recommended this to all people but the core practice was Bhakti (his songs to Arunachala Siva are so soul stirring), yoga (eg hamsa technique for concentration) etc. These Advaita speculators are rightly called armchair Vedantists, mostly without any practical experience. Advaita and Bhakti are not antithetical; in fact if you look at most outstanding Advaitins, they were supreme bhaktas (eg Adi Sankara, Ramana Maharshi etc). Amma does not waste time needlessly speculating about Brahman when it is so far beyond the reach of most people, after all one has to learn to crawl before running. This is not to say that a purely intellectual approach is not valid (as exemplified by the life of Tota Puri), but when there is a plane to reach Brahman, what is the need for walking all the way. -yogaman Ammachi, "shanekeher" <rehek@h...> wrote: > I love Amma. The highlight of my year every since 1996 has been her > visits to Australia. I'm also oriented to Advaita and self inquiry > through the teachings of (in particular) Ramana Maharshi, Gangaji, > and Ramesh Balseker. Apart from what's already in the Amma books - > I'd be very interested to hear from others who have spoken to Amma re > nondual approaches or self inquiry, or reflections from other Amma > devotees who are drawn to self inquiry. > > One year in Sydney I heard Amma, in a talk, refer to the modern > Advaita "fashion" as a form of "intellectual prostitution". I could > understand that at the time - there can be a tendency to over > intellectualism. But I've also met many really profound, loving > people who have an Advaita approach. I also know some Advaita folk > who characterise Bhaktas as being over emotional and cultic - which > is I feel another unfair generalisation! I'D REALLY LOVE TO READ YOUR > COMMENTS. > Jai Ma > Shane Keher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Hi Yogaman, Great post! I have several comments and questions, please see below. Jai Ma! Ammachi, "childofdevi" <childofdevi> wrote: > Namaste Shane: > > Amma is very advaita oriented; in fact is the very epitome of the end > of Advaita Vedanta. Silly comment here, but I found the adjectives going to the extent of redundancy! 'epitome' (the highest or final), then the 'end', then 'Vedanta' which means 'end of Vedas' or in my translation 'the crown jewel of the Vedas'. I guess sometimes redundancy drills home the meaning you intend to convey. . > But let us be practical - there is a vast > difference between speculating on the nature of Brahman and > attainment of Brahman. The vast majority of so called Advaitists are > nothing more than speculators. If you look at Ramana Maharshi > himself, the self-enquiry method was taught to a few advanced > disciples; perhaps he recommended this to all people but the core > practice was Bhakti (his songs to Arunachala Siva are so soul > stirring), yoga (eg hamsa technique for concentration) etc. Where can I get a copy of Ramana's songs to Arunachala Siva? The entire ambience around Sri Ramana Maharishi and the Arunachala mountains inspire me to a different level of existense.... > > These Advaita speculators are rightly called armchair Vedantists, > mostly without any practical experience. Advaita and Bhakti are not > antithetical; in fact if you look at most outstanding Advaitins, they > were supreme bhaktas (eg Adi Sankara, Ramana Maharshi etc). I would add Swami Vivekananda (a towering intellectual and a great Kali-bhakta) and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj here too. > Amma does > not waste time needlessly speculating about Brahman when it is so far > beyond the reach of most people, after all one has to learn to crawl > before running. This is not to say that a purely intellectual > approach is not valid (as exemplified by the life of Tota Puri), but > when there is a plane to reach Brahman, what is the need for walking > all the way. > > -yogaman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2004 Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 > Silly comment here, but I found the adjectives going to the extent > of redundancy! 'epitome' (the highest or final), then the 'end', > then 'Vedanta' which means 'end of Vedas' or in my translation 'the > crown jewel of the Vedas'. I guess sometimes redundancy drills home > the meaning you intend to convey. . Namaste Manoj! LOL. You have a knack for drawing out the subtlety in what was obviously a not so well thought out choice of words; but still that choice is not totally indefensible. Yes Vedanta means end of Vedas but not necessarily 'crown jewel of Vedas'; for Vedanta can mean Uttara Vedanta (also known as Mimamsa, the karmakanda portion) and Poorna Vedanta (the jnanakanda portion). Poorna Vedanta has many classifications again - Dwaita, Visistadwaita and Adwaita. Adwaita has some more categories (the pure and lofty Adwaita of Sankara, Shuddhaadwaita of Vallabha and some include even the Achintyabhebheda of Chaitanya among others). In my opinion, only the Adwaita of Adi Sankara qualifies as the 'crown jewel of Vedas'. So Amma you will agree is an epitome (meaning example, an instance) of Adwaita Vedanta, no?? In the case of an Avatar like Amma, no amount of redundancy can really convey reality. > > Where can I get a copy of Ramana's songs to Arunachala Siva? The > entire ambience around Sri Ramana Maharishi and the Arunachala > mountains inspire me to a different level of existense.... > I saw this in some book and also online (try out www.arunachala.org). I will search for the exact source (just remind me if i forget) -yogaman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 Ammachi, "childofdevi" <childofdevi> wrote: > Namaste Manoj! > > So Amma you will agree is an epitome (meaning example,an instance) > of Adwaita Vedanta, no?? > -yogaman Namaste Yogaman! I found this definition of epitome intriguing, because I had associated it with 'highest'. I checked www.dictionary.com and found that epitome means this: 1. A representative or example of a class or type: "He is seen... as the epitome of the hawkish, right-of-center intellectual" (Paul Kennedy). 2. A brief summary, as of a book or article; an abstract So I can see your point here, and was wondering why I mixed up eptiome with the 'Highest' THEN, I checked the thesaurus section and found that eptiome has these synonyms: apotheosis, archetype, embodiment, essence, exemplar, exemplification, illustration, LAST WORD, personification, QUINTESSENCE, representation, type, typification, ULTIMATE (emphasis Manoj's). So, my usage of epitome was not entirely wrong either! I love it when both sides win! Jai Ma! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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