Dear James,
The topics in the online satsang so far, from my point of view, are about understanding and learning the things that help us cope with the apparent reality. Eliminating ignorance to expose knowledge. Using our intellect, our mind, to understand and realize that we are deceiving ourselves and reconditioning ourselves on the path of karma and upasana yoga. So far, so good – I am on the path and I am sure it will work.
James: Good. One needs to start at the beginning.
Nevertheless, after the last Satsang, I am again preoccupied with questions that I had put aside for the time being. Maybe you can enlighten me?
About the questions:
1) Is there any idea in the Vedas about the way or process by which what we perceive as reality of life or apparent reality comes into being and perhaps passes away – and comes into being again?
James: Yes. The way it happens is carefully explained. Why it appears and disappears, is not explained except to say that it is a charade or joke. The answer to why is twofold: (1) nobody knows because the cause is too subtle for the intellect, which is a finite instrument, to understand and (2) it is what it is. Understanding how the apparent reality works is useful because it removes the belief that the world and the jiva’s conditioning is real, which sets it free. Consequently disciplined inquiry is necessary to dispel the erroneous notions that keep it tied to the wheel of samsara.
2) Maybe the self-perceiving being (identity being aware of itself) is a peculiarity. But why do I (individual) exist for example at all and why also the whole perceptible apparent reality? What sense does it have? Which purpose is pursued with it? Or, is no purpose pursued? Then, however, the question of the why arises from my point of view all the more.
James: You’re presupposing that life as we know it should make sense. When you see that it is a zero sum reality you quit trying to make sense of it, relax and enjoy it like it is. We have dreams that don’t make sense but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interesting and enjoyable.
3) Why at all does awareness/consciousness bind itself to the human form, for example? It is untouched by everything and yet it expresses itself – why only?
James: It does bind itself, but it doesn’t bind itself. The intellect is confined to dualistic thinking until it is refined by Vedanta, at which time it becomes capable of seeing how a thing and its opposite can both be true at the same time. The sun viewed from the earth seems to encircle it. The earth viewed from the sun seems to encircle the sun. Neither is true, nor is either false. I can accept both when I don’t insist on a single explanation.
And why is this form (human being), initially without the possibility to resist the conditioning acting on it, sent on the journey into duality; only to be asked – in order to lift the delusion and reduce the suffering – to start the way back with the knowledge and abilities learned in this process?
James: Because nobody accepts suffering. We are born ignorant, which guarantees suffering. When we get tired of it, we seek a way out. At some point Vedanta appears and shows the way out.
And, if the Vedas may not have answers to all this, have you encountered any ideas about it in the course of your life that would be acceptable?
James: The Vedas are the answer to all this. The many philosophies that have attempted to sort it out always come up with biased views because they are cooked up by the human intellect. Vedanta is not a philosophy. It is a revealed means of knowledge of existence shining as awareness.
Much love,
James
