Dear Ramji and Sundari
I hope you are both well and enjoying being back home again.
Let’s talk about that question you’ve posed over the past couple of weeks – the one about how the teachings are assimilating and what the sticking points are.
I must say I had a bit of trouble with this question. At first I struggled to find anything to struggle about. Life has been good, calm and peaceful for many years, with no dramatic issues to confront or upset the mind. It just flows from day to day, without much seeming to happen. Perhaps this is because I have spent years managing the mind dealing and negating thought tendencies. To the extent that it seems that days & weeks can go by without any troublesome vasana thoughts taking up residence. So, I thought, let me have another look see if there is anything to trouble about.
Here’s one thing – I am a bit bored with many of the topics covered in Sunday satsangs and seminars. For example, the creation story you’ve been teaching quite a bit lately. I think the Oss seminar was most recent – I listened to it half -heartedly. I’ve heard and listened to this topic many times, I think I am more enamoured of your enthusiasm in teaching it than any real interest in the story anymore. Enthusiasm is very catching. Some other topics, like karma, dharma, cause/effect, and three gunas are where I think I have understood and assimilated the principles. I wonder frequently if I need to carry on attending satsangs. I came away from the May seminar in Spain with the firm conclusion that there is no further need for in-person seminars, or even online ones. If I contemplate an aspect of the scripture and teaching hard enough, I do come to a clear understanding. Doesn’t there come a time when one becomes one’s own guru? Or what sort of hubris is this? Perhaps you can give some guidance here?
My mind has become a bit lazy over the past year or two. Sometimes I watch myself consuming Vedanta teachings – and not really contemplating them. I think this is partly because I am a bit bored with them (see above). So, now I target specific topics or scriptures that I am interested in, even if from a purely technical perspective. I dont really need t o “know more” – more hubris?
Sundari: Great email! The question we posed about how Vedanta is or is not transforming your life was meant for people to assess their lived lives with reference to nonduality. It was very helpful for many who have not worked out their jiva stuff. We will continue to plug away with the same teachings, and as long as there are inquirers who need assistance, we will be there to give it to them. But the whole point of self-inquiry and having a teacher is to free you of dependence on objects. While you do need a qualified teacher to guide your inquiry, and surrender to the teacher/scripture is paramount assuming moksa is your aim, if the teacher is doing their job, the student is dedicated, and the teachings have assimilated, the teacher and the means of knowledge should become obsolete.
Vedanta is a means of knowledge to remove ignorance, which it does by negating all dependence on objects for your happiness. If you still you need us, either we have not done our job, there are qualifications missing and the teachings have not assimilated or been put into practice, or the jiva program is still impeding access to Self-knowledge. So perfect satisfaction is missing. This is OK if you are happy with on-off satisfaction and your personal life still being stressful, there is no problem. After all, you are never not the Self. But as we say so often, this is ultimately, not very satisfying. Why not go the whole distance, and fully negate the jiva/doer? It is on offer, and in reach.
But if you have no problems and rest in perfect satisfaction, you do not need the teacher or the scripture anymore. Once nonduality has assimilated, you are the scripture. The scripture is the only guru, after all, and once you know who you are, the job is done. Though it is always a pleasure to read the scripture, you do so not because you need a guru, but because the subject matter is what is most enjoyable: you, the Self. That is why we still teach Vedanta.
It has been clear to us for a while that you are happy with your life, and with Nicole. Your life is a reflection of this. I don’t see any hubris anywhere in your email, just the Self speaking. Once you know, you know. I fully relate to you getting bored with the satsangs and not needing to attend live seminars anymore. Why would you, if the Self-knowledge has actualized? From everything you say, this is true for you. Vedanta is a means of knowledge to realize and actualize the Self, not another object to add to your spiritual CV! It is a throw-away once it has served its purpose.
As Ramji said, Vedanta is only a means, not the end. The end is a satisfied person. You’re one of the least arrogant people we know. You stuck with the spiritual impulse and it paid off. We can’t see that you need a teaching. As I said, You are the teaching. So let it go and let’s see what comes up. We hope you’ll keep in touch. We think of you as a friend and enjoy your company very much. Ramji thought your observation about his enthusiasm is perspicacious. He is tired of teaching too…it all sounds hollow to him, though of course, it’s not. People are transformed by the words. But he is not tired of being the Self. At the end of the day, it’s not what one says, although it is; it’s what we are. So, job well done. You’re welcome to visit any time.
Nicole: And another – You’ve talked often about devotion and devotional practices. I found this at first difficult to visualize or feel. I found a certain mechanical emptiness in devotional ritual simply for sake of it. It’s a tough subject in the western culture, even with a catholic convent upbringing where devotion to Mary as mother of Christ played a daily role and the reason for the existence of that order of nuns. So I went to India to see for myself. The trip was useful, but only scratched the surface. Anyways, is there any need for specific practices when the jiva knows what it is and behaves accordingly? I don’t find I need visual clues, although they are nice to have, and neither do I find devotion to be a ‘feeling”. If I go about my life as a walking talking act of devotion, isn’t that what its all about? So in the end, I don’t think about devotion as a practice, I am it.
Sundari: Devotional practice is like gratitude – it benefits the one doing it more than the one receiving it. Nondual devotional practice is nothing like standard dualistic religious practice. It is the Self blissing out on itself. If that feels mechanical to you in the form of ritual, I am sure there are other ways for you to practice it – such as hiking in the mountains. Devotional practice is merely a recognition that life is a gift that needs to be reciprocated, but how you practice it is up to you. Enjoy life, you are a walking altar. Living life as the Self is a devotional practice. We practice devotional practice in many ways, including ritual, not because we need to but because it brings joy to the jiva. Life is made more beautiful by paying attention to it as the Self in the form of devotion.
Nicole: Thank you for your teaching – and for ShiningWorld – which I found by chance when I needed an answer to a specific question and found it there, nowhere else. This was the distinction between self- realisation and self-actualisation. I would not be writing this had I not found the answer to that question.
Sundari: Ramji sends his love, and I send mine. It’s been wonderful getting to know you. Don’t be a stranger
With much love
Sundari and Ramji
