Tag: Inquiry
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Vivarta Vada And Self-inquiry
You may have heard this line from Chandogya Upanishad: “May I be many, may I grow forth.” Hearing it, you may have fallen to wondering: “How did the many actually come from the One?” What if manifestation never really happened? In this connection, let’s consider just one doctrine: vivarta vada. This teaching draws upon the…
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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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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…
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The Practice Of Self-observation In 4 Simple Propositions
Proposition 1: The Observer Observation implies an observer. Argument: It must be established that all objective experiences are simply observations. Initially, it may seem as if a thought, a feeling, a sensation, or a perception is, somehow, just an independently existing event. But this is not true. A little reflection shows that a sight never…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 