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    The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta
    The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta
    The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta

    By Berthold Madhukar Thompson

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    About this ebook

    Guru: Yes. My definition of enlightenment is what colour is for the blind man. We can describe colour to him and he will understand and know it intellectually, as a mental concept. But what it really is as an experiential experience, he will only know after eyesight has been given to him. Or, say we have a glass of water in front of us. The water exists as it is; waterness is its nature. Speaking of it, is water in terms of the mind. Such water is a concept. The word water is not water. No matter how detailed we describe it-even if it is described by 100 Einsteins-such a description will never be what water really is. We have the triad: the subject (the seer), the object (water) and the process of perceiving water. We can know water only when we drink it, shower with it, etc. That knowing then is a direct existential experience. That knowing is drinking is quenching thirst, therefore, is blissful. The three-fold aspects knowing, drinking and being blissful are one in the event called drinking. It is an impersonal event that occurs as part of the functioning of Totality. It is not an act of an individual "me" embodied in a body-mind organism with the sense of personal volitiona and doership. While drinking, the triad drinker, water, and the process of drinking is dissolved. Drinking occurs as one impersonal event, comprising the drinker, the water and the process of drinking. In this case drinking is the impersonal "What-is." The actual drinking of water is not a concept. At the moment of drinking there is no individual, separate "me"-entity, a drinker drinking water. The "me" comes in afterwards as a further, additional "me"-thought as in "’I’-drank water. ‘I’ experienced drinking water." The fact is, while drinking water happened there was no "me." A body-mind organism was drinking water as part of the functioning of Totality. When we inquire closely, we find that such a "me"-entity does not exist, except as a thought, as a notion, as a concept.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXinXii
    Release dateMay 27, 2016
    ISBN9783959267267
    The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta

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      Book preview

      The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta - Berthold Madhukar Thompson

      The Nature of Happiness According to Advaita Vedanta

      A rare interview with Ramesh S. Balsekar

      by

      Berthold Madhukar Thompson

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from the author or publisher.

      Copyright ©2015 (Madhukar Thompson)

      Copyright © 2015 by Dr. Joji Valli

      ebook edition

      E-Book ISBN: 978-3-95926-726-7

      GD Publishing Ltd. & Co KG, Berlin

      E-Book Distribution: XinXii

      www.xinxii.com

      www.creativentures.in

      Dedication

      To the reader—may you realize in this lifetime your buddhahood.

      Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

      (May all beings everywhere be happy and free and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.)

      Guru: What can I do for you? What are you seeking?

      Disciple: I’m seeking the Truth, the ultimate Reality.

      Guru: These words can hardly mean anything. The ultimate Truth, whatever it is, cannot be worded or rationalized. Whatever we say about it will be a concept, an idea.

      Disciple: I feel such a hunger and drive within myself to seek and enquire. This seeking is too strong to be ignored. Actually, I could call it the hunger for peace of mind, the desire for lasting happiness. I am looking for a final solution called enlightenment. What is enlightenment for you?

      Guru: My definition is: The totality of manifestation is an appearance in Consciousness like a dream. Its functioning is an impersonal and self-generated process in phenomenality. The billions of sentient beings are merely the instruments--dreamed characters without any volition--through which this impersonal process takes place. The clear apperception, the clear direct intuitive understanding of this truth, means enlightenment. (Ramesh S. Balsekar)

      Mind you, what I have just said about enlightenment is a concept.

      Disciple: Because this definition is not one’s direct, existential, experiential truth? What you said is a thought, a description, an explanation, a concept.

      Guru: Yes. My definition of enlightenment is what colour is for the blind man. We can describe colour to him and he will understand and know it intellectually, as a mental concept. But what it really is as an experiential experience, he will only know after eyesight has been given to him. Or, say we have a glass of water in front of us. The water exists as it is; waterness is its nature. Speaking of it, is water in terms of the mind. Such water is a concept. The word water is not water. No matter how detailed we describe it—even if it is described by 100 Einsteins—such a description will never be what water really is. We have the triad: the subject (the seer), the object (water) and the process of perceiving water. We can know water only when we drink it, shower with it, etc. That knowing then is a direct existential experience. That knowing is drinking is quenching thirst, therefore, is blissful. The three-fold aspects knowing, drinking and being blissful are one in the event called drinking. It is an impersonal event that occurs as part of the functioning of Totality. It is not an act of an individual me embodied in a body-mind organism with the sense of personal volitiona and doership. While drinking, the triad drinker, water, and the process of drinking is dissolved. Drinking occurs as one impersonal event, comprising the drinker, the water and the process of drinking. In this case drinking is the impersonal What-is. The actual drinking of water is not a concept. At the moment of drinking there is no individual, separate me-entity, a drinker drinking water. The me comes in afterwards as a further, additional me-thought as in ’I’—drank water. ‘I’ experienced drinking water. The fact is, while drinking water happened there was no me. A body-mind organism was drinking water as part of the functioning of Totality. When we inquire closely, we find that such a me-entity does not exist, except as a thought, as a notion, as a concept.

      Disciple: You used the term What-is. What is this What-is?

      Guru: Non-duality appears as the witnessing consciousness whenever objectivity seems to appear. Whatever is presented to witnessing consciousness at any given instant--any thought, concept, feeling, percept, including the me-thought,--can be called the What-is. It is also referred to as present moment or here/now. The me itself often being the "What-is, it cannot be experienced by the itself but is object to the witnessing conscious principle.

      Disciple: I heard you say, Everything is a concept—whatever any sage said down the ages. Why? Aren’t all wise men speaking words of wisdom and truth? How is it that their words are merely thoughts and not the Truth?

      Guru: The Truth cannot be spoken. What is expressed in words is not the Truth. A concept is anything that can be agreed to or disagreed about—any thought, idea, experience, name, thing, entity, or nothing. Words are only symbols or pointers to the Truth. The Truth has no aspects or qualities. It cannot be conceptualised but it is given a name so it can be indicated or pointed out. It is referred to by many names: God, Truth, Totality, Self, Reality, Potential, Tao, "I-I, Subjectivity, Unicity, Noumenon, That, Potential.

      Disciple: Is there anything that is not a concept then?

      Guru: The only thing that is not a concept is the impersonal sense I am, I exist.

      Disciple: Why is this I-am, I exist not a concept?

      Guru: Let us analyse your own experience. By doing so we will find that the ultimate Reality is subjective and not objective. What is the basis of all your experiences and knowledge?

      Disciple: It must be I.

      Guru: Yes, it is I, but not as an embodied being, a body-mind organism, as the conscious principle which is the basis of all our experiences and knowledge. Consciousness, Truth, God, Self, Subjectivity, Reality, our real Nature cannot be known objectively. We are Subjectivity. What we are is spontaneously apprehended as the Self, as one’s own true nature in the impersonal sense of I am, I exist, whose basic meaning cannot be communicated directly by any mode of expression. However, it is something that all experience. That I am, I exist I know for certain; and everybody knows that he is. Should anyone, however doubt his being, we may ask him who it is that doubts. His only positive answer must be, I do. And this means, I am conscious of the kind of objective experience called a doubt, which therefore he transcends. The impersonal knowledge "I

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