I came across this exchange I had with Michael James, who is a disciple of late Sadhu Om, who in turn was a disciple of Ramana Maharshi, way back in May 2017, when my total conceptual clarity about Advaita was lacking.
It is interetsing to see how I was trying to make sense of some concepts in Advaita that were still not sitting quite right with me at that time. It was only when my mental agitation subsided towards the end of October 2017 with the understanding of acceptance and living in the now that the jigsaw puzzle of Advaita suddenly fell into place by the end of 2017.
That goes to show that while the truth of Advaita Vedanta is simple to understand, we miss understanding it fully and thoroughly because some part of our being or mind/heart is still restless or rajasic, and as we well know it is only the sattvic mind (a mind that is relatively quiet, still, contented, at peace, not frantically reaching for some satisfaction in the world) in which knowledge and happiness can find a place.
But if “the jigsaw puzzle of Advaita suddenly fell into place by the end of 2017”, then how come even after 10 years, I still seem to be seeking? Oh, oh, what a discomfiting question. Maybe I am no Buddha who realized in 6 years and Nisargadatta Maharaj who realized in 3 years. BUT SLOWLY GETTING THERE (IF THERE IS A THERE). But, maybe it is just this ignorance of feeling that “I am not there yet” thinking there is a “there” to get to. Because after all, we constantly seem to check “Am I there yet” forgetting that the entity that is asking that question can NEVER get “there” NOT ONLY because all the “here” and “there” are mere appearances BUT ALSO because the entity that is so wondering is itself a mere appearance in Consciousness. We keep taking the imperfections and shortcomings in the body-mind to be “our” imperfections and shortcomings because of our strong identification with the body-mind since instead of relocating our identity to Consciousness/Awareness we stay stuck in body-mind identity mainly because we feel that there is something lacking in our lives but in a very circular/vicious cycle way such a lack (imagined) is in turn only consequent upon the body-mind identity. If we somehow do not care about the body-mind’s weals and woes then we will be home, but what we think we are, we will naturally be tending to its weals and woes. What then is the breakthrough needed? ONLY greater clarity on who we really are, that is, why we cannot be the body-mind. How can that clarity be got? Initially through Sravana and Manana of course, but later through incessant and uninterrupted Nididhyasana. While such efforts are underway, the prarabdha thing will anyway keep unfolding for the body-mind, but we should stay unconcerned about what is happening at the body-mind level is how I see it. Is that easy to do? Try and see whether it is easy or difficult, and if it is found to be difficult, see what strategies and stratagems one can deploy to overcome those difficulties. But it seems to me that such a thing is not a tall ask.
Here is the link to my exchange with Michael James (I also engaged with him in the Comments section of this article):
https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com/2017/05/does-anything-exist-independent-of-our.html
