ADVENTURES IN ADVAITA VEDANTA...

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


Going Beyond

Hari OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
The Narada Bhakti Sutra is our guide for a while… the nature of Love (with the capital 'ell') and a full exploration of it. As always, you are encouraged to seek out the full text from Chinmaya Publications (links in side-bar); but for those who prefer e-readers, this version is recommended. Whilst awareness and interest can be raised by these posts on AV-blog, they cannot substitute for a thorough reading and contemplation...and practice!
 
Chapter Eight; Section 1 - Obstacles and Remedies; Avoid Arguments. The first suutra of this section made clear that we ought to be discerning and 'pick our fights' wisely; that is to say, don't seek to enter debate where there is no likely outcome that satisfies both parties. The next suutra says further;

bahuLyavkazTvadinytTvaCc.75.
Baahulyaav-akaashat-vaada-niyatat-vaacha ||75||
(vain arguments are to be given up) because there can be endless, diverse views and all mere arguments become ultimately inconclusive only.

An affirmation of the aforesaid futility of debate where all sides are certain of their views and not prepared to give ground to commonality.

A sincere devotee should not argue simply because there is some validity to be found in all views and all parties will have their logical examples and 'proofs'. If you put five people into a darkened hall containing an elephant and ask them to describe what they find, each will be at a different part of the creature and can only describe their part of the whole - one the trunk, another the tail, yet another the leg, fourth the ear and fifth the underparts. Each of them would actually be correct - for as far as they could reach. Unless one had the ability to find their way around and over the entire beast, none would hold the complete description of that whole.

In the same way, the physicist of today says that the world of matter is all the play of the positive and the negative electric charges. The biologist claims it is nothing but evolution. All the scientists have their area of speciality and some of it to a wide degree - but not one of them has the whole and complete answer to 'life, the universe and everything', no matter how much they may try to convince us otherwise. Each aspect is definitely a truth, but none of them are The Truth.

Trying to understand the Brahman by argument is impossible. Argument is at the intellectual level alone. Only on transcending the intellect is The Truth, the Supreme Reality, comprehended as the Higher Consciousness.

To transcend the intellect, the maddening circumference of our whole personality must be controlled, disciplined, transmuted and transcended. We must resist the temptations of the flesh, fight down the fallacies of the mid, and soar above the persuasions of the intellect. Fighting them all down, we move towards the Centre of Consciousness, where alone the experience of Divinity is possible. Reality is not confirmed by argument, since reason, a product of the intellect, is not conclusive in realms beyond physical phenomena.

Spiritual experience is beyond the intellect - it is that by which all else is known, that which is behind all thought, which is the Consciousness behind all experiences. "I am not in them, they are in Me"…"Though I am with you in every thought, you know Me not for you are preoccupied with your physical passions"… This great Reality, Krishna, the Aatman, the Infinite, the Self, is being indicated here - and the devotee is warned; arguments cannot prove It, rational thinking cannot reach It.

How then to cultivate this Love Supreme?