Practicing Vedanta By James Swartz

[Guest username]

James is a very lucid teacher, giving both a captivating and well-structured lesson on the basics of vedanta.

I highly recommend this video series.

I, of course, have many curiosities, but the big ones that come to mind are this:

1) I wonder how his view of the universe as an orderly, logical place relate to the more common notion among people with higher awareness that reality transcends the rational paradigm, and at its essence, is more of a mystical possibility field, rather than an ordered logical space.

2) I get the feeling that he may be too dismissive of other traditions despite his high level of inner development and knowledge of his own path. It makes me wonder how many of his qualms are well justified vs. how many are too short-sighted. I suppose investigating these matters on my own is the only means of better judgement.

3) I find it interesting the vedanta presents liberation as a knowledge or an insight. I'm supposing this is the equivalent of the "shift in consciousness" other teachers talk about, not a purely conceptual type of knowledge.

4) I think he underestimates the power of meditation for attaining a sattvic mind, but I have practiced karma yoga, as he has subscribed and found that it works VERY well when coupled with the mindfulness practice. 

Edited April 13, 2017 by username

[Guest username]

3 minutes ago, Dingus said:

I'm no expert on Vedanta but I looked into it for a while, so here's my take on it as regards the points that you mention.

1 - The point is that creation is not random or chaotic or whimsical, which is how it seems to most people. It is highly structured and follows discernable rules. I don't know what anyone means by "mystic possibility field" but that sounds to me like new age quantum voodoo babble.

This largely follows from some mystics contending that reality is not accurately modeled by the rational paradigm alone, and it transcends logic.

This seems to be the view of many people who use psychedelics.

For example: 

 

[Leo Gura]

@username When comparing spiritual teachings, you have to be extremely careful about terminology and language use.

Terms like "logic", "free will", "God", "consciousness", "mind", "the self", "you/me/I", could have 180 degree difference in meanings. You have to look at the context they are being used in.

Yes, you could say there is a certain "logic" to God and reality. But that's just a manner of speech. Like I could say there's a certain logic to operating a Windows PC, or a certain logic to playing beer pong, or a certain logic to psychedelic trips, or a certain logic to meditation, or a certain logic to suicide bombers. But that's a very loose use of that word.

Yes, there is a certain logic to the Neti Neti method, where you realize that if you're having an experience, it cannot be you.

To your other point, I noticed that his understanding of Buddhism is very limited. And his criticism of the Neo's saying they don't exist also fails to address their true meaning. When the Neo's say you don't exist, they mean the personal human self, not the Absolute self. The Neo's are teaching from the point of view of the ego, whereas Vedanta teaches from the point of view of the Absolute. It actually makes a lot of sense to teach from the ego's point of view, because the student is identified with ego. If you tell the student he exists, he's likely assume, "Yeah, of course I exist. I'm this body/mind right here. I got it! Duh!" But when you tell the student, "You don't exist!!!" he immediately gets scared and put on the spot. Now he has to come up with evidence for his body/mind identification, which he starts to see is impossible. And that creates an opening.

James is a great teacher, but he suffers a bit from being a Vedanta hardliner. He feels old-school Vedanta is the ultimate teaching. Well, that's a relative judgment. And it certainly won't be true for all his students. For example, I was frustrated by his lack of giving actual self-inquiry technique. All that talking turns into mental masturbation very quickly without a clear, explicit practice method.

[Benjamin Curtis]

Nice to see Indian concepts being used here

[Guest username]

@Lavender We study everything here. Personal growth is the goal.