Tag: Consciousness
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Going Beyond The Student-Spiritual Teacher Framing
We need a new, more deft understanding of “student” and “spiritual teacher.” In fact, ultimately both, rightly says The Avadhuta Gita, have to go. But first the promised understanding. The student in life–be he a spiritual practitioner, an entrepreneur, or (really) anybody–tells a story in which he, the protagonist, is struggling to follow the path.…
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Personal Peace Is Not The Ultimate Aim
The contemporary spirituality scene–be it New Age or Neo-Advaita–is lacking in many respects. Two such are pointed out by Swami Satyananda Saraswati in Rikhia: The Vision of a Sage, an account of the rural development project undertaken in Rikhia, India, starting in 1989. Satyananda, presumably speaking to younger disciples, asserts, “Personal shanti may be an…
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A Positive Thought Is Closer To Truth Than A Negative Thought
Listen very carefully to your thoughts and emotions. A negative thought or negative emotion, provided that you believe it to be true, is an energy sieve. From the point of view of energy, you should be able to confirm that such a thought or emotion is, in some metaphysical sense, false. Why so? A positive…
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Telling Apart
Paul Deussen understands very well that the first teaching of Advaita Vedanta is viveka–discrimination, separation, or telling apart. What is to be told apart from what? Deussen writes, “This aim [in essence, moksha] the Vedanta reaches by separating from the soul (the Self, atman) everything that is not soul, not Self, and is only transferred…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 