Dear Ram,
Thank you for taking
your time for answering my question. Your answer as well as the treatise
on Ramana's teaching and the article "What is Vedanta" are incredibly
refreshing and, of course, deeply informative.
I haven't read anything as clear as your teachings on the subject. In particular the absolute
necessary discernment between the language of experience and the language of
identity. I have read some of
Swami Dayananda's works, including "Introduction
to Vedanta." However, according to
my understanding he wasn't able to pinpoint the MAIN DIFFICULTY for a student
of Vedanta: the clear discernment between the two languages.
Ram: It is gratifying
to me that somebody understands the importance of the role of language in the
quest for enlightenment. Although Swami
Dayananda and the many great mahatmas in his lineage understand this point, as
far as I know he has not spoken of it in quite the way I have. He’s dead center in a great tradition of
jnanis stretching back to Sankara and beyond and as
such would see Yoga as an important, but secondary issue. Yoga, in our tradition, is encouraged as a
means of anta karana suddhi (purification of the
mind) only and not as a means of Self knowledge so there is no reason to
consider its language. You do the
practices and you get certain results.
It is experience driven.
I’ve known him for
thirty three years and he has been using the language of identity exclusively
because our tradition views Vedanta as a pramana, a means of knowledge, not a
means of experience. The thousands of
students that come to him are taught the Self in the language of identity from
the beginning and never have the problem of seeing the Self in experiential
terms and becoming confused by the language of experience. Consequently there are many enlightened
mahatmas in his lineage. Ninety nine
percent of seekers come to the quest for enlightenment through Yoga and while
it is useful up to a certain point as a preparation, Samadhi cannot give you
what you already have. You are the Self
and the Self is sama-dhi, the vision of
non-difference.
The purpose of chasing
experience is to give you something you don’t have. But you cannot attain the Self because you
already are it. Only a means of knowledge
that indicates the identity of the seeker and what is being sought, will
work. In the Yoga tradition
enlightenment is conceived of as an attainment.
To attain something there has to be an attainer. So Yoga is for doers. It takes a non-existent entity, an
ego/individual, and it promises that individual something it thinks it doesn’t
have. So one is always
striving to gain a certain ‘state.’
Even though there are samadhi states, the attainment of them does not
end one’s search. The search continues
in the form of a need to make the state ‘permanent.’
I make the distinction
between these two languages because I live in the world and most people I meet
have Yoga-based notions that are preventing them from enlightenment so the need
for the language of identity is apparent.
But Dayananda is a sanyassi who wields the
Vedanta pramana exclusively. The people
who come to him in general do not come from the Yoga tradition…they come from
the Vedantic tradition either in this or in previous lives, and if they do come
from Yoga they are ready to surrender the way they see things to gain the
knowledge…or they leave immediately and dismiss Vedanta as merely
‘intellectual.’ This is why there are
not many Westerners appreciate Dayananda.
Deva:
I thank you from my heart. I must say that I agree whole-heartedly with
you in this regard. I have battled for
years with Papaji, Ramesh Balsekar, Lakshmana Swami, Annamalai Swami and even Gangolli. I just couldn't pinpoint where I was stuck
(and they are/were too). Today I feel a veil has lifted and now I am
truly ready to die (Let us see how that is when it really happens...). You
and your teachings are a gift beyond words. They are God-sent. I want to thank
you.
Ram: Well, it is to your credit that you have an
open mind after all the seeking you have done.
Most people who have been in the spiritual world a long time are very
attached to their beliefs and opinions and are not willing to actually consider
ideas that force them to re-examine their beliefs. So my hat is off to you.
Love,
Ram