Guest guest Report post Posted April 12, 1999 Harsha: Thank you for sharing your letter Frank. It is articulate and the indication in it might be useful to some. I will take the liberty to forward it to two lists and will encourage people to carefully read through it. It has the touch of Ramana to it. f. maiello wrote: > "f. maiello" <egodust > > hariH OM! > dear List members- > > the following letter may be of interest to you. > it is the result of an inquiry by an inquisitive > and philosophically astute-minded individual > who was openly troubled with what was a genuine > understanding/insight into vedanta on one hand > yet an inability to reconcile it with what was > going on around him in his world, on the other. > he pushed me so far, and was so sincere with > his quest for relief, that through me [out of > compassion] came some, what i believe to be, > very effective insights into the paradox of > the human condition and how vedanta can assist > in addressing it. > > **************** > > dear sir- > > from what i'm seeing, my assessment of your > understanding [if i may say], is that you have > indeed found the 'answerless answer' to our > fundamental human dilemma, yet somehow seem to > talk yourself out of it. > > what i have discovered is basically the ability > to coexist alongside the mystery of Life, without > further speculation or inquiry. it's a matter of > the capacity to shut the door on the impossibly > vast and endlessly creative machine of maya. > this implies that all phenomena, including the > [apparent] dynamics of suffering and bondage, > are a very sophisticated product of this maya, > which therein hypnotize and entangle us, quite > automatically...*until* we investigate the matter. > the result is, as i said, the ability to be at > peace within the paradox of an imperfect world. > i no longer have any questions nor do i desire > to obtain solutions to problems like injustice, > starvation, disease, etc, not only because time > itself destroys everything anyway, but more > importantly, because what is being destroyed > isn't Reality, only the temporal/corporeal > manifestations of It. > > in fact, it goes *far* beyond even this. the above > technically only amounts to a dogmatic strategy, for > the purpose of [haphazardly] appeasing the relentless > intellect--which demands answers. for example, i can > also say this: "act as though everything matters; > be as though nothing does." yet this is also merely > a 'dogmatic strategy' [albeit one that has a very > practical application]. > > it goes actually to the place where the obsessive > flame of the ego-Mind has been blown out. this > latter is the best translation of nirvana. and it's > really no more complicated than that. nevertheless, > such primal simplicity is yet alien, and even repulsive > to the human intellect, which operates on the more > familiar ground of complexity and involvement-- > intrinsic to the paradigm of the analytical Mind. > > i can only say that, sitting with the ego-Mind > attenuated (either without thoughts or remaining > unaffected by them), enables the execution > of the experiment in pure Being, whereupon what > follows defies description or commentary, either > per itself (the experience) or per the matter of > what is said to be its own projection into Life. > and this has been my experience. although i'll > occasionally lapse into the old habit of > intellectual curiosity/bewilderment, until i > investigate the situation, and find it to be > naught but maya's incredible phantasm. > > thus, we are naturally the Self; only the Mind > somehow convinces us otherwise. > > OM shaanthi > > ------ > Did you know that we have over 85,000 e-mail communities at Onelist? > > Come visit our new web site and explore a new interest > ------ > Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. List Archives available at: /viewarchive.cgi?listname=advaitin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
