Tag: direct path
-
What Is Higher Reason?
One can, with good reason, by puzzled by Sri Atmananda’s frequent mention of Higher Reason, an “organon” he distinguishes from lower reason. Lower reason is easy enough to understand. It’s concerned with objects, it starts with perception, and it operates according to inference. In short, we’re in the field of logic–the logic, perhaps, that we…
-
What Am I To Make Of A Blissful Or Horrifying Experience?
A common satsang-style question has to do with one’s having a non-ordinary experience. Perhaps the experience was blissful, or maybe it was horrifying. What is one to make of it? The simplest reply is: “Nothing. Just carry on and forget about it. Your true nature is complete, abiding, unchanging.” If this reply doesn’t do it,…
-
Ego In Two Senses: Covert And Overt
Question: The nondual teaching says explicitly that the Self is not the doer, and yet I’m still hung up on being the doer. How do I go beyond this idea? Ego In Two Senses In what briefly follows, I don’t mean to suggest that ego “in the two senses” is anything but a stipulative distinction.…
-
Is Atmananda’s Direct Path Teaching The Same As Ramana Maharshi’s?
Question: Aren’t Atmananda and Ramana Maharshi essentially saying the same thing, and can’t their direct path approaches be regarded as versions of the Witness teaching? Excellent question! And just the right one. In short: No! Atmananda’s teaching can be divided into “the lower” and “the higher.” The lower teaching employs the Witness in order to…
-
Maya As A Kind Of Seduction
Atmananda offers us a helpful clue when it comes to trying to understand the nature of maya. In Atma Nivriti, he likens bondage, or maya, to the captivation one experiences while being transfixed by “the beauty of the figure” carved into a rock. There are three key remarks to make about this metaphor: One, maya…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 