EL: Thank you so very much for your generous response. Everything you’ve written below is currently a major focus of my mental energy at this time. I guess like many others, I’m really trying to “get it”. Probably, trying in the wrong way (?), because when I watch James just laughing, it would seem to be all very easy… If only that were the case for me…
Sundari: There is only one way to ‘get it’ if by that you mean assimilate the meaning of the nondual teachings and put them into practice. That is to start at the beginning, review your motivations, values and qualifications, sign on to the nondual logic as a beginner, and methodically work your way through the steps of inquiry.
Vedanta is a progressive teaching for a reason: duality (ignorance) is highly tenacious and nonduality is counterintuitive because everyone is identified with being a person as their primary identity, to start off with. Vedanta tells you upfront that your true identity is the nondual Self. But until Self-knowledge removes personal ignorance, there is a long road to walk for Self-knowledge to be firm. However, the good news is that the steps to ‘get there are the qualities of being there’. Not that there is a ‘there’ there, I am speaking metaphorically because no matter what you think, you are never not the Self.
Vedanta gives you the tools to help you manage that fearful mind and bring it in line with the truth. If you really are tired of living with the kind of mind you have, it is up to you what you want most. We have provided ample guidance on what is required for self-inquiry on our website. See “New to Vedanta”, make sure you read through ALL of it carefully. Start at the beginning.
EL: I’m hesitant to venture an additional question, You’ve already been so generous with your time, writing with such care I can clearly see. But maybe I’ll be lucky and you’ll have a spare moment to write me back sometime on this follow up question.
Sundari: I am happy to help you with your inquiry, but you need to take time to properly digest what I have replied before immediately firing another question, such as you have. You have not answered any of the questions I asked you in my last email. To help you, you need to do your part.
EL: Intellectually, I probably understand what you’ve written having spent many hours listening and reading James. However it is a great challenge to live it, viscerally. My entire life has been spent as a jiva, I don’t know HOW to re-orient my entire self identification, though I realize – another James video reference – that it’s “idiotic” to remain ignorant. There is no long term peace this way.
Sundari: You have the wrong end of the stick, EL. Self-inquiry with a view to moksa, freedom from limitation, is not about reinventing your entire self-identification. It is freedom from bondage to the jiva and its limited conditioning, AND freedom for the jiva. Though Vedanta points out right up front that reality is nondual, for that knowledge to assimilate requires understanding the two orders of reality – that which is real – satya or Consciousness, and that which is only apparently real, mithya – the person and their world.
Freedom from bondage to the jiva identity is about discriminating what is real from what is not, as I pointed out at length in my last email but which it seems did not land for you. Self-inquiry is not about denying your jiva identity. Most of the ‘work’ of self-inquiry is about what stands in the way of Self-knowledge obtaining, which is understanding what the ego identity is, why it is programmed to think/feel the way it does, how it relates to the environment it experiences in, and what forces run it.
This is not to enhance or deny your personal identity, but to negate it by understanding that it is not real – meaning, not always present and always changing. Your true identity as the Self/Consciousness – capital S is what is real – meaning always present and unchanging. But to live that as your permanent identity requires first understanding and negating your personal identity as only apparently real. Vedanta does not say you do not exist as a person; the person does exist because you experience them. It is only identification with your personal identity as your primary identity that causes suffering.
Can you dispute that you are conscious, and that there is another factor always present no matter what, other than your mind and its contents, that knows your mind and its contents? What is that? It is Consciousness – that which shines on the mind making it conscious – small c. You cannot be what you know. Your fearful anxious mind is an object known to you, Consciousness.
EL: Here’s my follow up Q… Recently, my entire business and savings collapsed – a gym – with no clear recovery plan, while my wife’s health has worsened with a colitis diagnosis. A difficult situation existentially… I am fearful, deeply anxious. In general, I’ve had a tendency for easily triggered anxiety throughout my life. This is a big one.
I just watched a (quite humorous actually) video by James where he suggests we simply “poop out our thoughts”… great advice, but not quite how it works in the reality I know (psychologically or physically).
What can Vedanta guide a non-awakened person about this anxiety ? It is so tenacious and deeply intertwined with my psychology that I’m blocked seemingly from moving forward in the Vedanta teaching. If you have a moment to write me back on this I would be extraordinarily grateful.
Sundari; Everyone has problems in life as a jiva because nothing is ever guaranteed and loss is certain. Anyone identified with being a person experiences existential anxiety and stress as do you. There is no real solution to your problems until such time as you can objectify your mind and the typically fearful thoughts/emotions that run it. Vedanta offers the perfect tools to do this, but you need to understand their value and use them.
As I mentioned above, you have not answered any of my previous questions – you just ignored them. Did you think I could just provide you with a magic formula? Vedanta is a life changer like no other, and it will provide answers to all of your seemingly insurmountable life problems. But Vedanta is not a magic wand that will make your problems disappear. It is about how you relate to, identify with and objectify ‘your’ problems. Your only real problem is you – your identification with the body/mind or ego identity.
While it may inspire you to listen to James as he is a true embodiment of a free person and how to live nonduality, if you have a ton of psychological and worldly problems to deal with, it may be difficult. But Vedanta can help you to develop the values and qualifications that are lacking and to manage the mind, assuming you understand and apply the teachings to your life, along with being properly taught. It’s up to you.
EL: Thank you very much for this. It’s rare to get such a thoughtful response from people today on any topic.
You mention towards end my ignoring your previous question… that stung a bit, as it’s not by willful decision.
Sundari: t is not meant to irritate or ‘sting’ you, though we know nonduality is challenging. If it does sting, putting self-inquiry to work you would ask: who is it that got stung? It’s the ego identity. The ego does not like to be prodded. That is what you need to investigate with reference to the nondual teachings.
EL: I read carefully, multiple times, have been doing the reading and deep thinking and listening with earnest intent, but what is said simply does light up in me, or however best to word this I’m not sure. My awareness of all this right now, right here, as always, is freedom itself. I can say the words but cannot feel it. Well you’ve done more than enough to help. I will stay at it until I do “get it” (understand). Very best regards,
Sundari: You are correct – right now, as Awareness, you are freedom itself. ‘Your’ awareness seems personal, but it is actually not. Your personal awareness is only possible because pure nondual Awareness shines on the mind making personal awareness possible. It is not about feeling this, but understanding it. Self-knowledge has nothing to do with feelings per se because feelings are always changing and come and go. But you, pure nondual Awareness, do not come and go. You are always present and never change, regardless of what the mind is ‘feeling’
As teachers of Vedanta, we have a lot of sympathy for inquirers starting off on the path of self-inquiry. We know how counterintuitive nonduality is, and how difficult it is to step out of dualistic thinking. Vedanta is perfectly designed to help you with this, to take you right through all the stages of self-inquiry, meeting you at every doubt and answering it.
But as I stressed, Vedanta is not a magic formula. It is hard to face the ego and neutralize it. To do so, you need to follow the methodology of Vedanta or it will not work for you. When a new inquirer writes to us, we give you our full attention, and we ask questions regarding what you do or do not know so that we know how to help you.
I have given you the help I can but if you are not following our instructions and want some kind of quick solution to your problems, unfortunately, there isn’t one. Vedanta is the solution, and we are happy to help you. But it requires a lot from you, as I explained at length.
I wish you all the best with your life circumstances.
Hari Om
Sundari
