ADVENTURES IN ADVAITA VEDANTA...

Adventures in Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy and science of spirit. We are one you and I; are you curious why?..


Examples We Live By

Hari Om

Each 'Choose-day' we will investigate the process by which we can reassess our activity and interaction with the world of plurality and become more congruent within our personality.

We are reading the small booklet called "Not Too Loose, Not Too tight - Just right!" This is written by Swamini Vimalananda, and gives a very general overview of Vedanta for the beginner, with emphasis on the sattvic, rajasic and tamasic approaches to life. Remember, we are a mixture of all; use this as your mirror.

मान्यताः /maanyataaH - values (ideals)

All of us have ideals (the highest of values) and we will always hold in esteem a person who exemplifies those ideals, or if not a person, any cause which personifies them. Prompted by our ideals we become what we idolise, as we are influenced by and change in the mould of our 'idols'. What we respect, revere, idolise or worship reflects our qualities and our qualities, in turn, reflect what we idolise.

Sattvic; a person with dominant sattva guna reveres the great, exalted and the noble.  He or she respects good qualities in others, follows the world of the wise, surrenders to noble causes and dedicates his or her life to them. Such people follow the footsteps of the great and turns to them for inspiration and strength. They will worship saints, sages, great leaders, God and the scriptures.

Rajasic; a rajasic person reveres the rich, famous, glamorous, powerful and those in high positions. Such a one will seek to emulate the behaviours of these materialists, their lifestyles and habits and will seek out the people they that are attempting to copy, seeking recognition by them. By seeking the company of these materialists, the rajasic one is trying to impress - you will gather that the sorts of people being 'worshipped' here are rock stars, sports elite, politicians and other such celebrities.

Tamasic; the person who lolls in tamas is likely to admire behaviours which are vulgar, rough, cheap, tasteless, terrible and even criminal. They will be lured by the 'dark side'. There will be a tendency to worship ghosts, dictators, smugglers - a general glorification of the disruptive elements of society and the associated perversions will show in the tamasic personality. Such a one will be rigid in opinion, hold prejudices and perpetrate hatred.

Image result for om