Vedanta and Nondualism

This essay discusses Swami Vivekananda’s unduly neglected critical remarks on Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy, which are contained primarily in lectures delivered in America and England between 1895 and 1896.  I argue that Vivekananda, one of the first commentators to critique Schopenhauer’s doctrine of the will from a Vedāntic standpoint, occupies a unique place in the late nineteenth-century reception of Schopenhauer’s philosophy.  To set the stage, I outline briefly in Part I the interpretations of two of Vivekananda’s contemporaries, Paul Deussen and Max Hecker, the pioneers in the field of Schopenhauer’s relation to Indian thought.  In Part II, I discuss Vivekananda’s critical remarks on Schopenhauer’s doctrine of the will and place them in dialogue with the views of Deussen and Hecker.  In contrast to Deussen and Hecker, Vivekananda claims that Schopenhauer equates the will with the noumenal thing in itself.  According to Vivekananda, Schopenhauer’s conception of the will as the noumenal reality is mistaken for two main reasons: first, the will is at least subject to time and hence cannot be identified with the Kantian thing in itself beyond time, space, and causality; second, Schopenhauer’s conception of the will as the noumenal thing in itself conflicts with the soteriological thesis that the will can be transcended through self-denial and asceticism.  Vivekananda also reproaches Schopenhauer for misinterpreting Vedānta, which conceives the noumenal reality not as the evil will but as the transcendental Ātman/Brahman beyond all willing and suffering.  In Part III, I argue that many of Vivekananda’s views on Schopenhauer’s doctrine of the will and its relationship to Vedānta and Buddhism find echoes in recent scholarly interpretations of Schopenhauer’s philosophy.

This article, divided into two parts, traces and discusses two pairs of analogies invoked in Sanskrit(ic) literature to articulate the paradox of God's oneness and multiplicity vis-à-vis the souls and the manifest world, reflecting the philosophical positions of pariṇāmavāda (and bhedābheda/dvaitādvaita or, in some cases, viśiṣṭādvaita) and vivartavāda (and abheda/advaita). These are, respectively, the analogies of fire in wood and dairy products in milk, and moon/sun in pools of water and space in pots. Having introduced prevalent ideas about the status of the supreme principle(s) vis-à-vis the souls and creation in Śaivism, Sāṅkhya, and Vedānta, and having investigated instances of the first pair of analogies in multiple textual genres in Part I, here I turn to the discussion of the second set of analogies. Having proposed that the first set reflects the influence of pariṇāma-Vedānta on an early strand of the Śaiva textual corpus, I argue that the second set, attested prevalently in relatively late sources, betrays a (post-)Śaṅkarian origin (even if it was used in a pariṇāma-sense), thereby suggesting a vivartavāda-Advaita Vedānta influence on the Śaiva corpus after the 9th or 10th century.

Addressing the Yogasūtra योगसूत्र, or 'the point of view' codified in the Patañjali system, is a difficult task. We are faced with an Opera written in a sacred language, to which we approach with due respect. The text is hermetic, as it is typical of the writings of every initiatory Tradition, where the 'transmission' takes place exclusively through the direct relationship ('mouth-ear') between Master and disciple. Like all the writings of Tradition, the language used is highly symbolic, therefore a vehicle of multiple meanings, the decoding of which is almost impossible if you do not have the opportunity to make them "living them from the inside". Taken alone, it remains a text whose understanding is not only inaccessible for a layman, but also substantially indecipherable for the specialists of the academic world themselves

Affrontare gli Yogasūtra योगसूत्र, ovvero ‘il punto di vista’ codificato nel sistema di Patañjali è impresa ardua. Siamo di fronte ad un’Opera scritta in una lingua Sacra, alla quale accostarsi con il dovuto rispetto. Il testo è ermetico, come peraltro è tipico degli scritti di ogni Tradizione iniziatica, dove la ‘trasmissione’ avviene esclusivamente mediante il rapporto diretto (‘bocca-orecchio’) tra Maestro e discepolo. Come tutti gli scritti della Tradizione, il linguaggio utilizzato è altamente simbolico, quindi veicolo di Significati multipli, la cui decodifica è pressoché impossibile se non si ha la possibilità di realizzarli ‘vivendoli dall’interno’. Preso da solo, resta un testo la cui comprensione è non solo inaccessibile per un profano, ma anche sostanzialmente indecifrabile per gli stessi specialisti del mondo accademico.

These are slides I used to teach students the Ishavasya Upanishad. One can easily understand the whole Upanishad with Shankara Bhashya after studying the slides thoroughly. Like my students, hope the readers will also understand this Upanishad clearly. Thank you.

Anteprima dal testo Pātañjala Yogasūtrāṇi, gli Yoga Sūtra di Patañjali, Il ‘punto di vista’ Yoga Vol I, a cura di Fabio Milioni. Il testo, in fase di redazione, sarà pubblicato il prossimo autunno.
Dall’Uno della Tradizione ai Sistemi Aperti
Nel corso della sperimentazione, che ha sempre visto speculazione teorica e operatività quotidiana legati in modo indissolubile, sono emerse e si sono consolidate due ispirazioni fondamentali:
 La Tradizione, al di là delle forme che assume al variare delle dimensioni spazio-temporali è unica.
 Conoscere sé stessi è un processo lungo, complesso, irto di ostacoli e cadute; progredire nel cammino è impossibile se non ci si affranca da ogni forma di dogmatismo e dualità. Per andare oltre l’orizzonte occorre superare ogni confine, aprendosi a dimensioni sempre più ampie.
L’Unicità della Tradizione ed i Sistemi Aperti rappresentano quindi le due colonne portanti che costituiscono la soglia da oltrepassare, lo spartiacque tra la dimensione profana e gli stati superiori dell’Essere.
Essendo manifestato in Occidente, le radici sono i grandi Adepti: Parmenide, Pitagora, Platone, Plotino, Pletone.
In questi tempi di crisi e degenerazione, purtroppo, la complessità del loro insegnamento è in larga misura perduto, essendosi interrotta la continuità della trasmissione diretta da Maestro a discepolo. I frammenti che sono giunti sino a noi, pur fondamentali, sono carenti rispetto al ‘metodo operativo’. Dalla grande crisi del ‘600, assistiamo ad una biforcazione del sentiero su linee divergenti rispetto all’Axis-Mundi: la deriva speculativa e quella magico-teurgica.  Avendo ben presenti i rischi e gli aspetti deleteri del sincretismo, non possiamo non riconoscere che solo la Tradizione Orientale ha conservato intatto il metodo operativo. La Visione dello Yoga è parte integrante di essa.

Bozza preliminare dal testo:
Dall’Uno della Tradizione ai Sistemi Aperti
Patañjali Yogasūtra – Il ‘punto di vista’ Yoga Vol I -Yama e Niyama, i Doveri (astensioni e osservanze) III^ ed. in corso di preparazione.
dal Capitolo: I commentatori moderni degli Yogasūtra

This essay offers an interpretation of the “Laws of Chaos," one of the most mysterious and unsettling but profoundly illuminating of the teachings from A Course in Miracles. The account is found near the beginning of Chapter 23, which is titled “The War Against Yourself.” I say disturbing because they point out, with a directness which I personally feel is unmatched in the great spiritual-metaphysical literature of the world, the very root of our self-denial. As such, they also offer great insight into the key to recover awareness of True Self. Every metaphysics, every theology, every human story has an account of the origin of the Self. In the Laws of Chaos, we find A Course in Miracles’ baffling nondualistic version of the Creation - an account of a momentous cosmological event which actually never happened.

"George Derfer, Zhihe Wang and Michel Weber (eds.), The Roar of Awakening. A Whiteheadian Dialogue Between Western Psychotherapies and Eastern Worldviews, Frankfurt / Paris / Lancaster, ontos verlag, 2009. (251 p. ; ISBN: 978-3-86838-039-2 ; 89 €)
The primary goal of this volume is to describe the contemporary state of affairs in Western psychotherapy, and to do so in a Whiteheadian spirit: with genuine openness to the relative ways in which creativity, beauty, truth and peace manifest themselves in various cultural traditions. To do so, it chooses to explore afresh a cross-elucidatory path that was born with the field of history of religion (and Religionwissenschaft): what have we, and can we, learn from a dialogue with Eastern worldviews? In order to generate meaningful contrasts between these different systems of thought, all the papers address the following core issues. On the one hand, how does the given system understand the interaction of individuality, society, and nature (or cosmos)? Especially: what is its standpoint with regard to the nature of consciousness and with regard to the mind/body problem?; how far is it dualistic?; how are destiny and historicity assessed? On the other hand, what is the paradigm of all mal-adjustment (or pathology) and what is its typical tuning-in (or curative) pattern? What are furthermore the ins and outs of the diagnostic and therapeutic assessments involved? Wherever possible, some (meta)theoretical and clinical issues are addressed from the vantage point of selected material from abnormal psychology or psychiatry.
Table of contents
Contents
Contributors
Foreword — George Derfer, Zhihe Wang and Michel Weber
Introduction — Michel Weber
I. The View from the East
1. Consciousness: The Vedantic Approach to Life and Reality, Francis-Vincent Anthony
2. Dual-Aspect Framework for Consciousness, RamLakhan Pandey Vimal
3. The Paradoxes of Radical Asceticism: Jainism as a Therapeutic Paradigm, Jeffery D. Long
4. Yoga Therapeutics: Philosophical, Scientific and Humanistic Approaches, Ashok Kumar Malhotra
5. Can Indian spiritual practices be used in psychotherapy?, R L Kapur
II. Transcultural Dialogue
6. Ineradicable Frustration and Liberation in Tiantai Buddhism, Brook Ziporyn
7. An Exploration and Analysis into Chinese Traditional Psychotherapy Ideas—A Concurrent Comment on the Integrative point of view of Whitehead’s Organic Philosophy, Fengqiang Gao and Yingmin Chen
8. The Kyoto School and self-awareness in the field of the absolute nothingness —A comparison with Whitehead’s philosophy, Eiko Hanaoka
9. Jung and Hisamatsu Re-envisioning Religiosity: Jungian Psychotherapy and the Kyoto School, Tokiyuki Nobuhara
10. Reconstructing the Meaning of Being Human: A Postmodern Reinterpretation of Frankl in the Framework of Whitehead’s Philosophy, Yoshihiro Hayashi
11. The Development of Binswanger’s Daseinsanalysis, Shoji Muramoto
12. The Intercultural and Daseinsanalytical Psychiatry of Kimura Bin, Bernard Stevens
13. A Certain Form of Psychotherapy (Kenosis, Prajna, Jung, and Hillman), David T. Bradford
14. Vedanta, Process and Psychotherapy, Joseph Grange
15. On Zen Buddhism, Clive Sherlock
"

A word-by-word explanation of the translation of the so-called creation hymn of Rigveda. The translation is very different from traditional ones.

As I demonstrate, the hymn has been completely misunderstood by previous translators.

The hymn has nothing to do with the origin or creation of the Universe. It is in fact, simply a prayer to God.

Abstract-Mundaka-Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads and also one of the classical Brahmanic texts dealing with the ultimate reality (Brahman) and its relation to the Universe. Its ontological approach considers the reality as unique, as substantial, the dynamic and multiple Universe being a mere emanation of the real. The cosmogonic scheme takes over some Vedic emanationist theories, accounting for the manifestation of the Universe through a mysterious " heating " (tapas) process undergone by reality. Traditionally, Mundaka-Upanisad is included in " Jnāna-Khanda " division of the Upanisads, namely it is considered a text which extols the liberation by knowledge (jñāna). Several scattered verses deal with the Karmic process stirred by desire (kāma) and deed (karman) and the second section of the first chapter engages in a fierce refutation of all human realizations. Human states and accomplishments are blamed for being transitory and for not providing a final realization of human beings. Further, the text extols the renunciation to all worldly affairs and the pursuit of the absolute knowledge as the sole desirable goal of humans. Knowledge of the unique reality is presented as being rather an ontological act, a total dissolution of the individual being into the uniform and universal absolute. It is rather an act of " becoming " than one of " knowing ". The high esteem of knowledge is to be found also as a kind of " cult " of the Veda, inherited from the pan-Indian religious tradition. The text starts with exposing the way Vedic texts are revealed by the divine to humankind and with the lineage of their transmission. Scattered throughout the text, there can be found elements of Pantheism, Idealistic ontology, meditation techniques.

Negli ultimi anni abbiamo assistito ad una proliferazione di nuove edizioni degli Yogasūtra, spesso con traduzioni e commenti a cura di studiosi occidentali. Alcune pregevoli, altre meno. Abbiamo scelto di porre al centro dell’attenzione, come esempio positivo di serietà, rigore e correttezza, l’opera di Michel Angot .
Con questo breve intervento, destinato soprattutto ai lettori italiani, riportiamo uno stralcio in bozza tratta dal testo, in corso di redazione:
Dall’Uno della Tradizione ai Sistemi Aperti, Patañjali Yogasūtra. Il “punto di vista” dello Yoga Vol I -Yama e Niyama, delle astensioni e delle osservanze.

This paper summarizes central themes within the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. Key concepts are defined such as Brahman, Atman, maya, karma, moksha, AUM, and the cycle of rebirth. The founder and reformers of Vedanta are reviewed including Shankara, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, and Aurobindo. Shankara’s system of Advaita focuses on non-duality, meditation, study of sacred texts, and communion with the Godhead. Ramakrishna modernized Vedanta into a cohesive theology. His student, Vivekananda introduced Vedanta to the West. Aurobindo stresses the importance of compassion and performance of good works. Vedic knowledge leads to an understanding of Deity, cycles, and evolution of consciousness. The primary goals for Vedantins are performance of good works, daily mediation, achieving transcendence, and experiencing self-realization.  Primary source material: "Vedanta: Heart of Hinduism" (1991) by Hans Torwesten.

In a letter written in 1927, the French writer Romain Rolland asked Sigmund Freud to analyse the “oceanic feeling,” a religious feeling of oneness with the entire universe. I will argue that Rolland’s intentions in introducing the oceanic feeling to Freud were much more complex, multifaceted, and critical than most scholars have acknowledged.  To this end, I will examine Rolland’s views on mysticism and psychoanalysis in his book-length biographies of the Indian saints Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, which he wrote just after he mentioned the oceanic feeling to Freud in 1927. I will argue that Rolland’s primary intentions in appealing to the oceanic feeling in his 1927 letter to Freud—intentions less evident in his letters to Freud than in his biographies of Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda—were to challenge the fundamental assumptions of psychoanalysis from a mystical perspective and to confront Freud with a mystical “science of the mind” that he felt was more rigorous and comprehensive than Freud’s psychoanalytic science.

This paper analyses how Vidyāraṇya, a fourteenth-century Advaita Vedāntin, reads and re-tells life stories of exemplary sages to determine and establish duty, or dharma, on the Advaita Vedāntic path to liberation. Drawing on his Jīvanmuktiviveka, I show how Vidyāraṇya’s extrapolative, exegetical approach to life stories is shaped by hermeneutical concerns of the Dharmaśāstra tradition, which entails a narrative theology sensitive to the details of canonical life stories. In particular, the paper closely examines Vidyāraṇya’s interpretation of episodes in the life of Yājñavalkya from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad; Rāma, Śuka, Janaka, and Bhagīratha from the ‘Laghuyogavāsiṣṭha’; as well as the story of Nidāgha from the Viṣṇupurāṇa. I demonstrate how Vidyāraṇya’s reading of these narratives, including his diagnostic assessment of the soteriological status of the protagonists, engenders and authorises orthopraxy on the path to liberation. While setting out these issues, I pay particular attention to the way in which narrative accounts serve not only as theologically rich sources from which praxeological and theological positions are determined but also as examples in Vidyāraṇya’s argumentation.

Delivered in 2015 at the AAR. Journal of Dharma Studies, October 2018, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp 11–30.

Downloadable version with pages numbers available here: 

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs42240-018-0005-5.pdf

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42240-018-0005-5

This article proposes to examine in detail Aurobindo’s searching—and often quite original— criticisms of Advaita Vedānta, which have not yet received the sustained scholarly attention they deserve. After discussing his early spiritual experiences and the formative influence of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda on his thought, I outline Aurobindo’s philosophy of “realistic Adwaita”. According to Aurobindo, the sole reality is the Divine Saccidānanda, which is not only the static impersonal Brahman but also the personal, dynamic Cit-Śakti (Consciousness-Force), which manifests as everything in this universe. At various points in his corpus, Aurobindo criticizes Advaita Vedānta on three fronts. From the standpoint of spiritual experience, Aurobindo argues that Śaṅkara’s philosophy is based on a genuine, but partial, experience of the Infinite Divine Reality: namely, the experience of the impersonal nondual Absolute and the corresponding conviction of the unreality of everything else. Aurobindo claims, on the basis of his own spiritual experiences, that there is a further stage of spiritual experience, when one realizes that the impersonal-personal Divine Reality manifests as everything in the universe. From a philosophical standpoint, Aurobindo questions the logical tenability of key Advaitic doctrines, including māyā, the exclusively impersonal nature of Brahman, and the metaphysics of an illusory bondage and liberation. Finally, from a scriptural standpoint, Aurobindo argues that the ancient Vedic hymns, the Upaniṣads, and the Bhagavad-Gītā, propound an all-encompassing Advaita philosophy rather than the world-denying Advaita philosophy Śaṅkara claims to find in them. This article focuses on Aurobindo’s experiential and philosophical critiques of Advaita Vedānta, as I have already discussed his new interpretations of the Vedāntic scriptures in detail elsewhere. The article’s final section explores the implications of Aurobindo’s life-affirming Advaitic philosophy for our current ecological crisis.

Many similarities and correspondences are found in Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) and Hindu mysticism (Vedanta-Advaita). In both traditions, the ultimate goal is to experience communion with a Divine Source. To reach this level of transcendence, each system speaks of an individualized soul with three characteristics that merge with a Godhead. Through deep meditative practices, the soul experiences a divine influx of the Infinite. The Hindu Upanishads and the Jewish Zohar speak of similar methodologies for achieving a mystical experience. Vedantin Adi Shankara and Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia created esoteric systems for advancing mystical practices. Additionally, metaphysical beliefs on Being and Non-Being are comparable in both traditions. The cyclical nature of universes and transmigration of souls offer a unified theory of microcosm and macrocosm. Throughout the centuries, spiritual leaders contributed new knowledge to cosmology, esoteric interpretations, and daily practices for attaining higher consciousness. The contextual evolution of Vedanta and Kabbalah has been corroborated and finds support in modern scholarly discourse. Conclusions are offered on the benefits of mystical experiences including assimilation of wisdom, achieving transcendence, and living in a continual state of illumination.

Foreword The theme is extremely complex and deserves a study in its own right, aimed at the clarification of the relationship between the two paths, identifying both points of contact and divergence, mostly with regard with the final aim. Currently, it is easy to verify with reference to available texts, the two paths are often mixed together, as if they were part of the same vision of tradition. And is not for sure they share the same goal. A critical edition, in this case, is foreseen as a priority.

A Vision of Peace explores the emergence of the interfaith movement and the role that Sri Swami Satchidananda played in its evolution. A pioneer in the movement, he participated in and organized interfaith gatherings and seminars; he created innovative interfaith programs, retreats, and worship services; and he founded communities where people from all backgrounds and diverse traditions could live and serve together harmoniously. Swami Satchidananda’s unique contributions helped to establish the interfaith movement as a veritable path to peace. He envisioned a peaceful planet, a heaven on earth, and he shared that vision with one and all. We can make it a reality.

Lo Shivaismo del Kashmir è stato il mio "primo amore" filosofico indiano e continua tutt'ora ad essere un sistema di pensiero che mi affascina moltissimo. Nonostante la sua complessità e deframmentazione presenta un nucleo speculativo solido ed evoluto che, a mio parere, rappresenta l'ultima grande realizzazione del pensiero teoretico indiano. In Italia abbiamo la fortuna di poter leggere in traduzione alcuni dei suoi testi fondamentali grazie al lavoro di Gnoli, Torella e dei loro allievi. Ciononostante manca ancora uno studio sistematico che affronti lo Shivaismo kashmiro dal punto di vista filosofico. Anni fa ho provato a realizzare una cosa del genere - pensando ad un testo comunque sintetico e relativamente "breve" - sapendo bene che in Italia sarebbe stato impubblicabile per svariate ragioni, non ultima l'inevitabile complessità del testo. A distanza di cinque anni dalla sua stesura non esistono ancora, a quanto ne so, cose simili nel panorama italiano. Ecco perché ve lo presento qui come draft, con tutte le sue lacune, imperfezioni e sbavature, alcune anche gravi, ne sono consapevole, ma con una sostanziale completezza intrinseca che mi pare possa essere utile a chi voglia prendere confidenza con una scuola filosofica come quella kashmira, estremamente difficile da approcciare senza una preparazione specifica, eppure estremamente importante per la storia culturale dell'India. Si tratta, lo ripeto, di un lavoro incompleto dal punto di vista editoriale, che necessiterebbe di un lungo lavoro di revisione dal punto di vista anche bibliografico prima di andare in stampa. Mi si perdonino quindi, lo spero, tutti gli errori e le ingenuità di cui è costellato, e si guardi, lo auspico, al suo contenuto e alla sua struttura, che mi paiono, pur nella loro precarietà, strumenti di studio e basi di partenza per futuri e più fecondi sviluppi.

Delivered in 2013 at the AAR.

This paper problematizes the prevalent model of studying the “Neo-Vedānta” of Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) principally in terms of an influx of Western ideas and nationalism. In particular, I demonstrate how scholarly constructions of “Neo-Vedānta” consistently appeal to a high culture, staticized understanding of “traditional” Advaita Vedānta as the alterity for locating Vivekananda’s “neo” or new teachings. In doing so, such studies ignore the diverse medieval and early modern developments in advaitic and Advaita Vedāntic traditions which were well-known to Vivekananda and other “Neo-Vedāntins”. Redressing this discursive imbalance, I propose that close attention to the way in which Swami Vivekananda drew from Indic texts opens up a wider frame for understanding the swami and the genealogy of his cosmopolitan theology.

What is a person? This essay will examine the great Hindu Srivaisnava theologian Ramanuja's answer to this enduring question. Ramanuja provides a nuanced answer that asserts God's permeation of the cosmos and all souls residing therein, while simultaneously maintaining the distinction of God, the cosmos, and its resident souls. In so doing, Ramanuja articulates a worldview that sacralizes all of reality, while also encouraging personalistic devotion to a transcendent God.

his paper is a commentary (bhasya) on an ignored book on contemporary Indian Philosophy, Bharatiya Samskrti o Anekanta Vedanta (Indian Culture and Theory of Many Perspectives in Fusion with Vedanta, 1982), where the author, Kalidas Bhattacharya, of the book discussed (a) the problems of fundamentalism as well as foundationalism; (b) the problems of formal Model-Theoretic Approach and negation of such armchair games; (c) the basic fundamental theories of global philosophy and their possible fallacies;(d) dissolved the problems of non-/association of intelligence with nature: are human beings extra-natural?(e) and introduced the fusion of two opposite schools of Indian Philosophy: Vedanta and Jaina Anekantavada with reinterpretations of the basic methodological conjectures, especially with the validation of secular metaphysical concepts by introducing the theory of alternity (inherited from Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya). Lastly, the politics of tolerance is introduced in accordance with the concept of theory of many perspectives.
The present reviewer, after summarizing the whole book in details, introduced his own position on this theory of many perspectives by distinguishing between pluralistic methodology (Feyerabend) and the theory of many perspectives.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 9

Keywords: Anekantavada, akhyativada, Vedanta, alternity, intelligence (alpha), accepting as legitimate possibility (asvikrtigrahana), accepting with commitment (svikrtigrahana).

Read this paper at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2293479

David R. Loy gehört zu den derzeit renommiertesten buddhistischen Denkern mit westlichem Hintergrund. Mit seiner an unterschiedliche religiöse Traditionen anknüpfenden Philosophie der Nondualität beansprucht Loy eine interreligiöse Grundlage, auf der er zugleich eine auf die konkreten Herausforderungen der Gegenwart abzielende Sozial- und Umweltethik etabliert. Neben einer chronologischen Einführung in das Leben und Werk Loys bietet das Buch nicht nur eine umfassende systematische Analyse seines Denkens, sondern zugleich auch eine Einführung in die Bewegung des sozial-engagierten Buddhismus sowie die von Loy behandelten Diskursfelder der Mystik, Transpersonalen Psychologie, Psychohistorie, Tiefenökologie und Buddhistischen Wirtschaftslehre.

The ontologic framework of Fundamental Awareness proposed here assumes that non-dual Awareness is foundational to the universe, not arising from the interactions or structures of higher level phenomena. The framework allows comparison and integration of views from the three investigative domains concerned with the understanding nature of consciousness: science, philosophy, and metaphysics. In this framework, Awareness is the underlying reality, not reducible to anything else. Awareness and existence are the same. As such, the universe is non-material, self-organizing throughout, a holarchy of complementary, process driven, recursive interactions. The universe is both its own first observer and subject. Considering the world to be non-material and comprised, a priori, of Awareness is to privilege information over materiality, action over agency and to understand that qualia are not a “hard problem”, but the foundational elements of all existence. These views fully reflect main stream Western philosophical traditions, insights from culturally diverse contemplative and mystical traditions, and are in keeping with current scientific thinking, expressible mathematically.

E’ importante cercare di comprendere o cogliere l’essenza di questo problema metafisico, questo problema cosmico dell’anima individuale imprigionata in una struttura fatta di carne e ossa, in un labirinto, una rete di incessanti costanti pensieri, fantasie, immaginazioni, memorie e proiezioni nel futuro.
            Questo costituisce un intreccio interiore o una rete in cui siamo catturati e trattenuti fermamente perché l’identificazione con la dimensione psico-fisica della nostra personalità è così totale e completa, che è diventata normale. E’ diventata l’unica e sola coscienza che conosciamo. E’ diventata la nostra naturale condizione, sebbene la psicologia Vedantica l’abbia descritta come anormale. Essa è una aberrazione.

From the Publisher's note:
'We are immensely happy to bring out some of
Sri Swamiji Maharaj’s discourses in booklet form
as our worshipful offering at his holy feet on the
blessed occasion of his Birth Centenary. The present
booklet, ‘Meditaton According to the Upanishads’,
consists of two discourses given by Sri Swami
Krishnanandaji Maharaj on 14th January 1973 and
February 1997 respectively.'
©The Divine Life Trust Society

In this chapter James Madaio draws out salient ways that emotional experiences are accounted for within Vidyāraṇya’s fourteenth century Jīvanmuktiviveka, an important work in medieval Advaita Vedānta.  The chapter demonstrates how attachment or involvement with emotional states is considered as constitutive of saṃsāra, and how this problematic condition serves as the alterity for the one who is liberated-while-living (jīvanmukta). While pursuing key analyses and metaphors that contrast the “tainting” and “burning” of emotional states with the uninvolved “coolness” of the jīvanmukta, Madaio also shows how the activation of embodied conditioning—or, broadly, vāsanā—may overcome the stability of non-dual knowing in sages who are enlightened but not yet perfectly liberated.

Since scholars have interpreted the Upaniṣads and Śaṅkara’s views on deep sleep in a variety of ways, it is necessary to analyze the Upaniṣads and Śaṅkara’s commentaries to determine what position they actually hold regarding the presence of ignorance (avidyā) in deep sleep. I will argue that the Upaniṣads hold that in deep sleep, one experiences the pure bliss of Brahman without any kind of ignorance. Śaṅkara, in his commentaries, seems ambivalent about whether there is ignorance in deep sleep. However, I will argue that this ambivalence is only apparent. According to my reconstruction, Śaṅkara consistently holds that ignorance exists in a latent form in deep sleep. I will also examine the philosophical assumptions that compelled Śaṅkara to accept the presence of ignorance in deep sleep, even though the Upaniṣads explicitly hold the opposite view.

This book compares Hindu nondual philosophy to that of Baruch Spinoza, demonstrating the similarity of Spinoza’s ideas to Kashmiri Pratyabhijñā Shaivism. The book is well researched, but it is written in an informal style suitable for both scholars and the educated general public. There is already some scholarly literature comparing Spinoza’s philosophy to Śaṅkara’s Vedānta, but none of it has focused, as this book does, on philosophy of mind, and none of it has included nondual Kashmiri Shaivism in the comparison. Among other things, the important distinction between Śaṅkara’s Vedānta and nondual Kashmiri Shaivism is brought to the fore by looking at those two philosophies through the lens of Spinoza.

“I liked James H. Cumming’s The Nondual Mind a lot. It is beautifully written, thoughtful, and very clear.” (Prof. Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Charlotte Bloomberg Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University)

“James H. Cumming’s scholarly interpretation of Spinoza’s works, persuasively showing how 17th century European ideas that ushered in the Enlightenment find a precursor in 10th century Kashmir, is a masterpiece of reason and philosophy that will leave the reader with profound thoughts on the meaning of history, God, and life itself. As a senior staff attorney in my chambers for many years at the California Supreme Court and a top scholar of ethics and philosophy of law, Mr. Cumming never ceased to amaze me with his outstanding research and intellect. This scholarly book is a must read for all who want to know why Spinoza continues to influence contemporary philosophy and how his work is still relevant in today’s challenging, interconnected world.” (Hon. Ming W. Chin, Associate Justice (Retired), Supreme Court of California, 1996–2020)

In Chapter 6 James Madaio explores the transformative strategies that underpin some of the stories and dialogues in the Yogavāsiṣṭha. The central framing story of the Yogavāsiṣṭha depicts a conversation between the enlightened preceptor Vasiṣṭha and the dejected prince Rāma. Vasiṣṭha repeatedly instructs Rāma about the nature of non-dual reality through a series of fantastical narratives, many of which feature dialogical encounters. Madaio argues that certain characters in these narratives mirror Rāma’s condition, while also reflecting the state of the reader. Within this mirroring context, Madaio contends that the story-worlds of the Yogavāsiṣṭha simulate in the reader methods of dialogic inquiry or vicāra, which probe the nature of self and world. Focusing on the gnoseological dialogue featured in the story of the enlightened princess Cūḍālā and her stubbornly object-oriented husband, king Śikhidvaja, Madaio examines how the dialogue works to disrupt core beliefs of a dualistic worldview, not only in Śikhidvaja and Rāma, but also in the reader.

Dedicated to all Seekers of Truth from Sri Svami Sivananda.
Vedanta is the culmination of the Vedas. It is entering into the study of Brahman. It is the science which raises man above the plane of worldliness. It is the rational method of meditating on the Supreme Absolute, the Eternal, the Infinite. Vedanta is the culmination of human experience and is the end of the faculty of thinking. It is the greatest and the highest knowledge. This wisdom was revealed to the ancient sages.
The Rishis and sages of yore have made experiments and researches in meditation and given to the world their spiritual experiences. These are all authoritative. You must not spend much time in making the preliminary experiments once more. Your whole life-time is not sufficient for making these experiments and researches. The experiences of sages are like ready-made compressed tablets. You will have to simply follow their instructions implicitly with perfect, unswerving faith and devotion. Then alone can you make any progress in the spiritual path and attain the goal of life. In order to practise Sadhana for the attainment of absolute freedom, you should know in the beginning itself its technique and method. You should know the nature of bondage, the cause of bondage and the way of getting rid of bondage. You have to make a searching study of life and know its mysteries.
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition: 1999
WWW site: http://www.SivanandaDlshq.org

Axis Mundi (http://www.axismundi.biz/)  ha rappresentato per anni un punto di riferimento sapienziale di rara profondità.
Gli invisibili autori, completato il ciclo di sviluppo, hanno silenziosamente chiuso il sito. Accettando solamente, rare volte, contributi esterni.
Con questo contributo proseguiamo con la sezione dedicata ad Alchimia, spirito e neuroscienze, con
I chakra mistificati: da principi formativi a metafore psicologiche
Il lettore assiduo potrà verificare il Significato della monumentale quanto complessa Opera di AXIS MUNDI: “Operazione” tesa a proporre, suscitare “operatività”.
Ogni ordine tradizionale che mantenga la continuità della trasmissione assume tale compito operativo come base fondante, se non addirittura di prerequisito per iniziare la Via. È una proposta di meditazione finalizzata all’operatività.
NOTA: il curatore, che segue lo Yoga classico codificato dalla Darśana Yoga, conforme all’ortodossia vedica, non necessariamente condivide le valutazioni espresse. Il testo viene comunque reso disponibile in versione integrale, senza commenti, nel rispetto della fonte originaria. Si propongono alcune letture integrative sul tema, attuale nel tempo del Kaliyuga:
https://www.academia.edu/39479660/Lo_Yoga_della_Tradizione_-_Newsletter_Il_suono_dello_Yoga_Eliminando_le_mistificazioni_sulle_basi_dello_Yoga
https://www.academia.edu/40537808/Non_gettare_le_perle_ai_porci_ovvero_della_tutela_dellinsegnamento_Tradizionale_dai_profani
https://www.academia.edu/39860404/Dall_Uno_della_Tradizione_ai_Sistemi_Aperti.__Guénon_in études_sur_Hindouisme
https://www.academia.edu/39095390/La_Via_dello_Yoga_nel_tempo_del_Kaliyuga