Hari Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days; Q&As; a general page reviewing the week so far...
A little more on the 'whys and wherefores'. In a face-to-face study group it is often easier to ask 'why?' or to say 'I see it differently" then have the teacher help you to think more deeply, search more widely. In the format set up here, it may be simpler to hide! Let it not be so. The purpose of Vedanta is that the student should begin to light his/her own 'fire' for gaining understanding. The fire-stick of the shishya's intellect, rubbed by the fire-stick of the aachaarya, held over the 'tinder' of the shisya's curiosity first brings smoke. At this level we are talking about shravanam.
Once the smoke is well established, it must be fanned with mananam; deep and meaningful thinking. This is followed by sitting with the understanding which has been reached; dhyaanam.
Shravanam, the listening, can be the first hurdle. In this modern world particularly, where we are constantly bombarded with all sorts of informational input. Determining what is worth our while and what is not, and what is downright rot, is a daily activity. Then, when it comes down to it, how much do we remember of what was just watched or heard? How 'present' were we with the item? How important was it to our living?
Listening is not the same as hearing, remember. To hear is the physical, receptive action. To listen is to work intellectually with what has been heard. True listening can only by practiced by being 'present' at the hearing, focused on the task.
Reading is 'visual hearing'. What the intellect does with what it reads equates to what it does if listening has been properly exercised. It takes the words in and works them over, holds them up to the light, applies the blow torch of enquiry and comparison, bubbles them in the flask of semantics and elucidation. Well, that is if the subject deserves it. It goes without saying, perhaps, that if one is in constant perusal of comic books, the intellect is unlikely to be brought into greater heights, whilst reading works of philosophy, history or science are more likely to make us start to ask 'why is it so?' This is not to 'diss' comics. Everything has its place. However, one of the first steps in discipline of the unruly soul is to make it pay attention to what really matters.
How often, too, do you reach the end of a paragraph or page and find that you have absolutely no idea of what has just been read? Perhaps you dropped off to sleep, or a word at the top set the mind off on a tack of its own so the eyes saw the words without mind registering them. If you are properly present in the action of listening or reading, you not only will find that understanding is improved, but that your own thinking is deeply stimulated.
These pages are for your shravanam through the visual means of reading. Hurry not. Print them off if you feel the need. Read. Re-read. Take notes! Be not afraid to ask questions. Above all, be present.
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days; Q&As; a general page reviewing the week so far...
A little more on the 'whys and wherefores'. In a face-to-face study group it is often easier to ask 'why?' or to say 'I see it differently" then have the teacher help you to think more deeply, search more widely. In the format set up here, it may be simpler to hide! Let it not be so. The purpose of Vedanta is that the student should begin to light his/her own 'fire' for gaining understanding. The fire-stick of the shishya's intellect, rubbed by the fire-stick of the aachaarya, held over the 'tinder' of the shisya's curiosity first brings smoke. At this level we are talking about shravanam.
Once the smoke is well established, it must be fanned with mananam; deep and meaningful thinking. This is followed by sitting with the understanding which has been reached; dhyaanam.
Shravanam, the listening, can be the first hurdle. In this modern world particularly, where we are constantly bombarded with all sorts of informational input. Determining what is worth our while and what is not, and what is downright rot, is a daily activity. Then, when it comes down to it, how much do we remember of what was just watched or heard? How 'present' were we with the item? How important was it to our living?
Listening is not the same as hearing, remember. To hear is the physical, receptive action. To listen is to work intellectually with what has been heard. True listening can only by practiced by being 'present' at the hearing, focused on the task.
Reading is 'visual hearing'. What the intellect does with what it reads equates to what it does if listening has been properly exercised. It takes the words in and works them over, holds them up to the light, applies the blow torch of enquiry and comparison, bubbles them in the flask of semantics and elucidation. Well, that is if the subject deserves it. It goes without saying, perhaps, that if one is in constant perusal of comic books, the intellect is unlikely to be brought into greater heights, whilst reading works of philosophy, history or science are more likely to make us start to ask 'why is it so?' This is not to 'diss' comics. Everything has its place. However, one of the first steps in discipline of the unruly soul is to make it pay attention to what really matters.
How often, too, do you reach the end of a paragraph or page and find that you have absolutely no idea of what has just been read? Perhaps you dropped off to sleep, or a word at the top set the mind off on a tack of its own so the eyes saw the words without mind registering them. If you are properly present in the action of listening or reading, you not only will find that understanding is improved, but that your own thinking is deeply stimulated.
These pages are for your shravanam through the visual means of reading. Hurry not. Print them off if you feel the need. Read. Re-read. Take notes! Be not afraid to ask questions. Above all, be present.