A Pathless Path
A. Conceit. The followingwords relate to an exaggerated sense of self-worth or self-importance: vanity, arrogance, pride, egotism, self-importance, narcissism, haughtiness, self-admiration, smugness, pomposity. Take your pick.
B. Opposite Thought is a heuristic: modesty, humility, self-effacement, deference, respectfulness, selflessness, empathy, approachability, friendliness, self-criticism, objectivity, unpretentiousness. Take your pick, one will do.
C. Why is Vedanta the Best Path?
1. Because it is the Only Path. There can be only one “path” because the world was created in only one way, by Ignorance. Loss of ignorance is the only path. It is a no-sum path because reality is non-dual .
2. It is a Complete Path.
We need a complete path because Ignorance is as complete as the Self. It is the
mirror-opposite of the Self. Path/paths are incomplete paths. They correct certain
things, but not the most important thing, ignorance. If you were to correct all specific
manifestations of conceit, you would never get to work out your karma, which is why
you are here.
3. It Solves All Problems
It confers complete security, limitless pleasure, full self-esteem. It gives
omniscience, removes fear and desire, which is why we seek. It removes doership,
resolves action and actionlessness. It removes duality, incompleteness, inadequacy,
separation, loneliness, comparison, competition aka all negative values. It
provisionally accepts doership. It is compassionate empathetic, sympathetic, etc.
D. Why are All Other Paths Inferior?
a. Because they are based on action, which does not remove ignorance. They are zero
sum because they reinforce ignorance. They lead to the Self (indirect knowledge) but
don’t let set you free (direct knowledge). They let you “in: because that “you” can’t
“get it,” like the proverbial camel can’t squeeze through the eye of a needle. “Getting
it” is losing the identity of the one that “gets it.” How? Transferring identity to
Awareness.
b. Why are the Other Paths Superior to Vedanta?
Because you can’t get rid of the doer by denying its existence. It survives the “I am
Awareness” moment. You must qualify the doer so Vedanta can remove your
self/Self ignorance.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zO_fUgBgfOErmbbzzn9v64tKlCBb0HZ1/view?usp=drive_link
Duality
By The Rivers of Babylon[1]
By the rivers of Babylon
…there…we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.2
Oh, the wicked carried us away
…captivity required from us a song.
How can we sing King Alpha’s song3
in a strange land?4
“Let the words of our mouths
and the meditations of our hearts
be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord.4
By the rivers of Babylon,
there we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
1. Babylon symbolizes power, wealth, corruption, decadence, atheism, adultery, prostitution, persecution, oppression, conquest and captivity (Revelation 17-18)
Revelation 17 and 18 depict the judgment and downfall of “Babylon the Great,” symbolized as a lavish, immoral woman and a great city, representing a corrupt, powerful system that seduces nations and persecutes God’s people. In chapter 17, an angel reveals to John a vision of this “great prostitute” riding a beast with seven heads and ten horns, signifying her alliance with earthly powers and her ultimate betrayal by them, as they turn against her, leading to her destruction, fulfilling God’s purpose. Chapter 18 describes the sudden collapse of Babylon’s wealth and influence, mourned by kings, merchants, and seafarers who profited from her luxuries, while heaven rejoices over her judgment for her sins, including the bloodshed of prophets and saints, as she is consumed by fire and cast down violently, never to rise again.
The material world…Babylon…is a foreign land to people with God consciousness. Spiritual people who associate with aggressive worldly people are susceptible to contamination. Preyed upon, they pray for relief from captivity.
2. Zion, literally “an elevated, fortified place,” a heavenly place where God, the protector, lives. The “promised (by God) land, a place of redemption. An eternal “city.” A place of freedom, spiritual purity, a return to our source (existence shining as unborn non-dual awareness).
3. Isvara 1. King Alpha, the one who was here before the creation began. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and refers to existence shining as consciousness, pure whole and complete uncreated being, the wholy spirit, which precedes creation. Isvara 2 or God is a seeming “mixture” of spirit and matter, caused by the creation. It is the intelligent designer, sustainer, preserver, and destroyer of the material world. Alternatively, heaven, the “home” of God.
3a. The name of God. The Lord’s Song refers to the difficulty of maintaining spiritual identity in an oppressive, alien foreign land. In Vedanta “The Song of the Self” i.e. The Bhagavad Gita, the essence of the Upanishads. From a worldly point of view, spiritual people march to the tune of a different drummer and are often considered aliens. From the spiritual point of view, worldly people alienate themselves from their eternal spiritual identity. They are captives of material desires and worship the material world like spiritual people worship God.
4. The innermost Self, existence shining as non-dual unborn consciousness.
