The Confusion of Other Teachers

Dear Sundari,

Thanks again for your reply.

To answer the question about my teachings/teachers; First I met Krishnamurti when I was 21; his teaching is not discriminating anything about Isvara, Maya and the 3 gunas, only guiding attention to Awareness itself. Then I met Adi Da; who’s teachings where about the self not as the egoic state; confused for the Self.

So he offered a direct relation with him. This became very complicated in time, with all kinds of rules and payments.

I also had a teacher in my own neighborhood, Randolph, and Isaac Shapiro who came sometimes to the Netherlands, Alexander Smit, but he died early.

Ramana Maharshi’s teachings where the main ones; and he never spoke about Ishvara either; Just about who you are, the Self and about the Vasana’s who are unfolding itself as not to be tried to avoid or manipulate. He doesn’t use a lot of terms, but merely makes things clear as they are. 

Sundari: As I said previously, unless a teacher is a qualified Vedanta teacher – meaning one who is not identified with the teachings, who is able to unfold the whole methodology of the nondual teachings, it is likely that the inquirer will get confused. Krishnamurti like many other teachers over the millennia, had some good ideas, he had some very bad ones too. He took ideas from various sources and cobbled them together to form a ‘teaching’. In many cases the ignorance is obvious. In others the knowledge is right there next to the ignorance, so close it is hard to tell them apart, unless you have the clear non-dual vision of Self-knowledge.  

The problem is that what Krishnamurti taught was filtered through his vasanas, his conditioning. It was Krishnamurthi teaching as Krishnamurthi.  Maybe he was enlightened, maybe not.  Who knows, it is impossible to say.  One thing is certain though, he taught indirect knowledge of the Self, at best.  He talked about the self, not as the Self. He did not have an independent teaching so how would one who does not know what enlightenment is, know if what he was teaching was knowledge or ignorance?  

Alexander Smit was a self-obsessed (small ‘s’) Neo teacher with no teaching. As for Adi Da – he was a crazy wisdom guru with no moral sense, a narcissistic sexual predator among many things. Shapiro is a good teacher, but as with Ramana, he leaves out the most difficult and important part of the nondual teaching methodology – Isvara. Without that teaching, actualizing Self-knowledge is highly unlikely.

Patricia: The last visit to a teacher was James; he clarified for me the last questions/doubts, also in a private conversation. So my questions are about the terminology used, not about the teaching itself.

Sundari: I am very happy for you that you found James because he is not only a qualified teacher of Vedanta and teaches the whole Vedanta methodology, he is a brilliant teacher. If you would like to write to him directly, you are welcome to do so.

Patricia: The Singing is or has had the function of discipline and taking care of my daily life and my inner balance. Not to be confused as ’to be ‘it’.

Sundari: Excellent

‘Patricia: The explanation about the terminology of ‘Maya’ as ‘beginning-less ignorance’; mmm, doesn’t make ‘her’ more clear to me for now. That sounds like part of a duality where ‘knowing’ of ‘knowledge’ is the other part. 

For me it’s all ‘phenomena’; like sounds.

Sundari: Maya – or Isvara as the creative principle – does not have a gender. It is another word for duality – or as Vedanta calls it, the unconditioned superimposition of ‘otherness’ onto nonduality.  Ignorance = Maya.  As Awareness has all powers or it could not be unlimited, it also contains the power to apparently limit itself. The emphasis is on apparently because it is impossible for Awareness to be limited. Maya exists but it is not real – meaning, not always present and always changing (mithya). Only Awareness is always present and unchanging (satya).

So, as Awareness is beginningless, so is ignorance. But it is not endless because Self-knowledge (nonduality) has the power to remove your personal ignorance (avidya) permanently.

Love

Sundari

ShiningWorld.com