The Dalai Lama said somewhere that if the teachings on Emptiness do not turn your life upside down then you are not taking them to heart strongly enough.
The same can be said for the teachings on Nonduality.
Following are the Advaitic and Nondual teachings that can (and should) revolutionise your life.
- If all is Nondual then there is no distinction between self and other
- Also this is a reason for having no preferences. There is a saying in Buddhism that the path is easy for those who have no preferences
- There is no reason for pursuing self improvement or enlightenment
- No reason for self centred striving.
- You are better able to act without concern for the outcome. This is the ideal aimed for by Karma yoga. Practising Karma yoga is necessary to purify your mind. You may not need Karma yoga if Jnana yoga can do the job for you.
- You are better able to accept and deal with likes and dislikes which arise. This is a difficult concept to understand for a lot of people. Unless your mind is already purified you will experience likes and dislikes. Accepting and dealing with these likes and dislikes is part of having no preferences.
- You are able to act without fear of the world’s disregard for your self interest.
Now all these actions are very good but how do you become a person who is capable of doing all this? The challenge and task is to be choicelessly aware. There are some comments later in this blog but first look at the answer below.
The answer is a bit complex. There are all sorts of people in the world and spirituality caters to them all. Different strokes for different people:
- If you have a pure and focused mind then Jnana yoga alone is enough. This is the highest teaching.
- If you do not have a pure and focused mind then do Karma yoga to purify the mind. And Raja yoga (meditation) to focus the mind.
But the ultimate goal is Self Inquiry. All the seven points mentioned above can be regarded as the sales pitch for doing spirituality. All that is required for you to do is self inquiry.
Aiming for these seven points will amount to another bunch of shoulds and should nots that will actually make the ego stronger. That will amount to striving for the golden egg.
Doing self inquiry is like finding the goose (that lays the golden egg).
I don’t know where Bhakti yoga fits into this mix. It does fit but I do not remember the concept.
And you can do all these different yogas together. Any combination of the above at any time.
The Tao is self evident
To those who live in choiceless awareness
When you perceive everything objectively,
Your path is clear and unobstructed.
Do manana on the concept that the sense of a personal “you” is a delusion. That should make it easier to live in choiceless awareness. The seven points mentioned above also can be practiced by letting go of the sense of a separate self.
Concepts of good and bad, tranquil and disordered can be let go of.
The all contains each,
And each is the essence of the all.
To live in this understanding
Is the essence of Tao.
The understanding mind
Is undivided.
No explanation is needed
Where there is no “mind”.
The third and the fourth couplets are descriptions of events or experiences or attainments (for the want of a better word). No justification is required.
That the all contains each and the each is the essence of the all – the justification for this concept is explained in detail in the first chapter of Living Nonduality by Robert Wolfe. Link is below:
Or maybe it is in this book (also by Robert Wolfe):
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