Kiera: Just wanted to share one experience of mine
The most difficult sticky patch in understanding Vedanta through the teachings of this book was the paragraph in Essence of Enlightenment under ‘Definition of Real’ on page 12. It was totally Greek and Latin to me. This was a major obstacle. This may be the reason for me to jump from book to book.
Then I read few pages of the book ‘The Direct Path’ by Greg Goode referred to in this paragraph. I tried few experiments given there. Somewhat understood.
Then I reread the para ‘Definition of Real’ again and I suddenly discovered that I understood each and every word of both the books. Maybe this was due to a slight shift in the habitual mental thinking process.
And when one big knot is untied many smaller knots open without much struggle.
Sundari: I strongly advise you to stick to traditional Vedanta. If you are serious about self-inquiry and this is not just an intellectual exercise to satisfy some curiosity, then you need to get on board with the requirements for self-inquiry. I sent you the document outlining them. There is no way around this. If you insist on hopping from teaching to teaching, then self-inquiry will not work for you. You cannot just dip your toes in the water. You need full immersion. Vedanta is serious business. It is only suited to people who are sick and tired of being seekers and want to be finders. They have a burning desire for freedom from limitation and suffering. If your faith in the scriptures is not strong enough it means you do not understand the value of Vedanta. Faith in the scripture is one of the main qualifications required for self-inquiry to bear the fruit of Self-knowledge. It is not blind faith but faith pending the outcome of your investigation.
Gregg Goode’s Direct Path has some strong points, and the exercises he offers seem to help some people. But they are designed to give epiphanies, an ‘experience’ of nonduality, they do not have a valid teaching for the Self. People who have these epiphanies then believe they amount to ‘enlightenment’. The problem with that is when the experience of ‘enlightenment’ ends, as do all experiences, so does the ‘enlightenment’. If you are identified with the experience and the person having the experience, where does that leave you when it ends? Unless you can discriminate between what is real, meaning non-dual Consciousness/the Self, and that which is apparently real, meaning all objects whether subtle (experience/thought/feelings) or gross (material), you are still a limited entity stuck in duality. The ability to discriminate between that which is real and unreal is what Vedanta teaches and what moksa is all about.
The fundamental point that Vedanta emphasizes over and over again is that freedom from limitation, moksa, is not an experience, it is about actualized Self-knowledge. It is not that there is anything wrong with experience. We will never stop experiencing as long as the body lives. But all experiences happen in time, they are impermanent and always changing. While you may assimilate knowledge from the experience if you understand what it is meant to deliver, most do not. The experience ends and the opportunity for knowledge to obtain is lost. The knowledge that all experience is pointing to is that you are the knower of the experience, the Self. You are not the experiencing entity nor the experience, both of which are only apparently real, they are objects known to you, the Self.
In a nutshell, the definition of ‘unreal’, what we more accurately refer to as apparently real, is this: not always present and subject to change.
Just think about it. What can you name in your experience of life that is not subject to those two factors, impermanence, and change? All things in the apparent reality come and go, nothing is permanent. There is only one factor that is permanent and does not conform to those two factors: Consciousness, You, the knower of the experience, and the knower of the experiencing entity, the individual. That which always knows what you are thinking and feeling, is always present, available, and never ages. Take that one step further and you realize that Consciousness is unborn and never dies. Even science has arrived at this point with the latest discovery of the particle the muon. Even the staunchest atheist among the scientists has to grudgingly agree that this particle is eternal. But what came before the particle and made the creation possible? Consciousness comes first because no object can exist without a subject. Science cannot explain Consciousness because scientists think it is an object, not the subject.
But even though Conscousness is the most obvious thing, you may not have thought this through, as is true of most people under the spell of Maya, duality. But nobody can deny that they are conscious and so is everyone else. There must be Consciousness present for the body to live and the mind to experience anything. If Consciousness is not present you, as the body/mind, are dead. Even in deep sleep, in a coma, or under anaesthetic, there must be Consciousness present or its tickets for the body. Consciousness is the only factor that can never be negated.
So, here is your definition of real: Always present and not subject to change.
The question is: What is Consciousness, what does it mean to say it is the true nature of life? That is where all the teaching of Vedanta comes in. It is not enough to have an intellectual appreciation of this fact; that will not liberate the mind. As I explained to you previously, you cannot just jump straight to the Self, even though it is true that you are the Self. Self-knowledge must first work on the mind to remove ignorance or Self-realization will not stick.
For Self-Actualization to take place you need qualifications, a valid means of knowledge for Consciousness, a qualified teacher and the grace of Isvara. Vedanta is a valid means of knowledge for Consciousness, an impersonal science like any other because it is not based on anyone’s beliefs or opinions. It is just the logic of existence and as such points out the unexamined logic of your own experience. You do not need another teaching if you have Vedanta. No other spiritual path, book, or teaching espoused by an individual has a complete and independent means of knowledge. Vedanta is the court of last appeal, the knowledge that ends the quest for knowledge.
Vedanta explains not only why this is a non-dual reality, that there is only one factor from which everything in existence originates and dissolves into, and that is Consciousness. Unlike any other teaching, Gregg Goode included, Vedanta teaches what the apparent reality is, what forces govern it, and why it is only knowledge of these factors and not experience that makes it possible for a qualified mind to free itself of the hypnosis and limitation of duality.
Gregg Goode is not a qualified Vedanta teacher because like the Neo-Advaitin’s, he does not teach the whole methodology. He only has his own version of a ‘teaching’ based on a mixture of non-dual teachings. He has concocted his studies by blending teachings he garnered from many sources with his own ideas and experience. A qualified Vedanta teacher never interprets or changes the scripture because it is perfect as it is. It cannot be improved and stands independent of all personal ideologies. Vedanta works to remove ignorance and set you free, assuming qualifications.
Gregg Goode does not teach what the apparent reality is, how it functions, why the individual is stuck and suffers, how to be free of it. As the title ‘Direct path” implies, his teachings attempt a shortcut to ‘enlightenment’, and there is no such thing. He teaches mostly experience mixed in with some knowledge, and if you cannot tell the difference because you do not have the means to discriminate, you will swallow both and get very confused or misled.
My only advice to you is to stick to the teachings of Vedanta, as I have said to you before. As you are already experiencing, Self-knowledge itself does ‘the work’ of releasing the knots of ignorance. It is already working in your mind. You can trust the scripture, it never fails because it is the truth about you.
Om and prem
Sundari