Dear James,
I thank you and all your team for your teaching and dedication.
Our meeting was not full of magic. I was looking for podcasts from a non-dual teacher and found instead your podcasts, from Bhagavad Gita. I began to listen to them and since then Shining World and me are together.
I teach Asanas and before I met Shining World I followed the Yoga master Yogananda, from Self Realization Fellowship. I dedicated about 6 years to the teachings of this master and learned some Kriyas Technics. Do you know Yogananda’s work?
James: Yes. He was a mystic and a yogi. Kriya yoga is not karma yoga although it looks like it. One of his disciples, Swami Kriyananda, tried to recruit me back in 1970.
I have read many Shining World Satsangas, especially those that talk about the difference between Yoga and Vedanta. I begin to understand what you say about the experiential line and the path of knowledge. About the experiential language in Yoga. That we should not trust what we feel – Feelings are Mithya, they are not real.
James: You shouldn’t necessarily distrust them either. You should stop and think about actions what feelings imply. If I am an addict and I feel like quitting, that feeling will be helpful, assuming that I realize that my addiction is working against me. Vedanta suggests that you keep your highest value in mind all the time…freedom and non-dual love…and evaluate the feeling with reference to it.
I have studied the Yoga Sutras, but it was not a good course. I read or listened to it in one of his videos that perhaps Patanjali confused Satya with Sattva. I see clearly that many in the spiritual world confuse a spiritual experience with enlightenment. Until I met Shining World I thought that enlightenment was a spiritual experience.
James: Yes, most of the so-called modern “enlightened” non-dual teachers are dualists because they confuse sattva with sat, existence shining as consciousness. When the mind it sattvic it mimics consciousness, which is a very nice experience but when rajas and tamas change the mind, the sattva disappears and with it the enlightenment turns to endarkenment. Temporary enlightenment is just unmanifest ignorance.
I wonder why an enlightened master uses experiential language. If non-dualism is the ultimate truth, why does someone who has realized the Self use experiential language?
James: Good question. A lot of Self realized people who use experiential language are not Self realized according to Vedanta’s definition of Self realization, which is the hard and fast knowledge “I am existence shining as consciousness.” Obviously this means that the I is not endowed with instruments of action and a willful I-notion.
On the other hand it is possible to express knowledge with action words if you take the implied meaning of the words. Vedanta also uses action words in this way more or less to inspire doers to seek the Self, since people are actually seeking the Self when they are doing things…they want freedom from want and they want to enjoy the momentary bliss of reflected awareness when they get what they want.
At the same time Vedanta makes simple statements of fact like You Are That or I am Consciousness or Consciousness is All There Is, which are not action words. You can only understand them…or not. Nothing you can do can prove them because the one who wants proof doesn’t understand that he or she is only a conceptual entity born out of ignorance of these facts. I’ve just finished some commentaries on Ramana Maharshi’s Sat Darshanam which uses action words and I explain how to see them. I’ve attached it to this email so you can get a better idea of this issue.
I even began to wonder if Patanjali knew who he was. I wonder if someone who teaches with experiential and dualistic language actually knows who he is. Is it a mistake to think that way?
James: He may have been Self realized because yogis sometimes become inquirers and get the knowledge. He obviously wasn’t taught by a mahatma or he would have presented the fact that you…consciousness is samadhi, meaning the Self values every object with the same value; they are all mithya. If samadhi is a statement about your nature then what can you do to get it, except know it?
He probably wasn’t Self realized, however, because he connects removal of the vrittis with the appearance of the Seer. Obviously, the Seer exists prior to the doer (the remover) so he must mean that freedom is gained by doing i.e. sadhana, which it isn’t. Karma is gained by doing sadhana. It doesn’t really matter if he was or wasn’t because the idea he is famous for contradicts the logic of existence. This is not to say that the removal of unhelpful vasanas isn’t an extremely and necessary tool to prepare your mind for Self knowledge
Perhaps, among the people who follow Shining World, there are many who have dedicated many years to Yoga. Wouldn’t a Shining World course on Yoga Sutras be useful for people like us? At least we don’t pass on erroneous information to our yoga students… What do you think about it?
James: It’s a good idea. I will do it. I was just thinking about doing another text and maybe this is Isvara giving me a hint.
I talked with a friend, also Yoga teacher, and she told me that Vedanta is not practical, it is too mental. I said that I practice Vedanta. I observe what I think and I try to separate what is real from what is not real. Consciousness is real. What I am. Everything that changes is not real. This is a practical exercise or not? And when I observe my thoughts and feelings and see that I am too connected to them, I also practice Karma Yoga. I offer to Ishvara. I try to offer, everyday, as much as I can to Ishvara, also myself, my good feelings, my satisfaction, my love…
James: Vedanta is totally practical. There is no contradiction between knowledge and action. Do action for the things that need changing and inquire to gain knowledge. You have the correct view. Yoga people are doers first and foremost. They are goal oriented. Mainly the goal is to be heathy, which is a good goal. However, what do you do with your energy once you are healthy? Yes, a good portion goes to maintaining one’s health, but what about the mind and intellect? What are you doing to make them healthy? The goal of the mind is to remove ignorance. It is naturally curious. It doesn’t like ignorance. It needs good food and Vedanta is good food. It will make the mind strong and flexible. So it’s a both/and, not an either/or.
Love,
James
