Mary: Hi, Ramji. Thanks again for major clarifications, knowledge and direction.
I listen to you and I am truly starting to get it. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.
Lately, I’ve had some great chances to form my language based on knowledge and my ego is rebelling less.
Mike and and I are listening to your talks, and I am loving them. He is “finding contradictions.” I don’t even hear them as such, but I can see why he does.
I think it is his ego rebelling.
Ramji: Vedanta’s a radical teaching, totally counter-intuitive, if you look at it from the mithyastandpoint, so there is always resistance, particularly if you are smart and accomplished like Mike. At the same time, he has got quite a bit of tamas, which causes the stubbornness. Teach by example, not precept. Your happiness and dedication is the best teacher. His mumukshutva will grow. He’s got an easy life, an adoring wife, great circumstances, etc., so there isn’t a lot of incentive to grow. But the pain will keep him plugging along. Maya is the best teacher. It’s not your job to make him happy. The formula for success is not known but trying to help others is a recipe for failure. He’s bright enough, but there’s just some attachment to his knowledge.
Mary: Oh, yes, I know Mary is just in the way. Thanks for another language lesson – whew!!! I see that nothing is real but the self.
Ramji: Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. When you write, edit for point of view.
Mary: I think I could use more instruction on the Isvara 2-Maya combo – it seems dualistic to have Isvara 1 and 2, but someone has to create – right?
Ramji: It seems dualistic, but the non-dual self and the world are not opposites. One is satya and the other mithya. Mithya doesn’t negate satya: satya negates mithya. If they were opposites, then one would cancel the other, so if you had satya you wouldn’t have mithya and vice versa. But that is not how it is. Your dreams don’t negate you, the dreamer. The exist simultaneously in different dimensions of reality. The waker and the sleeper are opposites because when you have one you don’t have the other. Day and night are opposites. When it’s day, it’s not night. When it’s up, it’s not down. However, what about twilight? Twilight is the presence of both day and night. Likewise, the self is not affected by duality. It illumines it. Isvara 1 and 2 are the same but different. Both are Isvara. One is Isvara without its power to create, and the other is Isvara with the power to create. So there is a difference, but there is no difference. For instance, is an artist the same or different from his or her art? The power of art is in you, but you don’t cease to exist when you are not creating art. So the self is free of Maya, but Maya is not free of the self.
Mary: I REALLY appreciate your advice to avoid small talk – taking it to heart! Great love and gratitude to you.
Ramji: Why waste time? The days pass and and every day we are one step closer to the grave. Samsarisjust fritter time away on the small stuff. Yes, they are all good people and they will wake up when Isvarawills it.