Nonduality in Hinduism

[Guest guest]

Dear Tim,

 

> I'm not discounting Cassandra's experiences... but I thought this list was

> dedicated to " Realization " or " enlightenment, " and I'm wondering what

> OOBE's have to do with either of those.

 

Out of the body experiences (OOBEs) are frequently reported by adept yogis

and people who are undergoing awakening. I don't have time to check these

references, but if my memory is working, you'll find examples in Yogananda

Paramahansa's " Autobiography of a Yogi " and Suzanne Segal's " Collision

With the Infinite. " Also, I think there may be a connection between

empirical OOBEs and the prescriptive yogic technique of letting consciousness

expand outside the body, which I believe you'll find in Patanjali's " Yoga

Sutras " and the Vijnanabhairava (although I may be wrong, I don't have

time to check).

 

> All I really said is that according to nonduality, everyone can't have an

> individual soul. There is one universal " soul. " This is clearly stated in

> Hinduism with the wording " Atman is Brahman " (Shankara, et al.). In

> Buddhism, by the " Buddha-Nature " shared by everyone. And since the

> concepts of " I, me, mine " are accepted as artificially created boundaries

> in all the nondual traditions I know of, who is it exactly that is leaving

> the body?

 

Actually, nonduality (Advaita) is only one of the six orthodox " darshanas "

of Hinduism. Not all of them are nondualistic.

 

The Yoga-Samkyha darshana itself, the one associated with Patanjali,

teaches the existence of a multitude of personal selves (purushas).

 

I don't know very much about Buddhism, but it's my understanding that

Buddha purposely refrained from saying anything about souls.

 

Laura