Katha upanishhad verse I.2.23

[Cameron Reilly]

At 18:41 03-04-97 -0800, Vidyasankar wrote:

>> Ramesh Balsekar has written:
>>
>> "Yes, there must be an intensity in the seeking, but that intensity is
>> non-volitional."
>>

>I see Balsekar's statement as saying that the intensity of the seeking is
>non-volitional, not the seeking itself. Your other statements again bring
>up the question, who decides this destiny whether the realization of the
>Self will happen or not? Do you allow for a cycle of births so that the
>knowing the Self is always an eventual possibility?

"Who" decides? There is no "who"! There is *no* duality to accomodate a
"who". The Destiny of a particular organism is created by everything that
has happened in the history of the universe. The actions and thoughts of
this particular organism have been defined by everything that came before
it, its biology and its conditioning... which are both out of its control.

As for the cycle of births, what is there to be re-incarnated? As there is
no individual separate from the rest of the universe, who or what is there
to be re-born?

Energy is neither created nor destroyed (see - I *did* listen in Senior
Physics!). And so the energy which makes up a body today will, in one
hundred years, make up something else. Perhaps eventually another body. And
somewhere, sometime, perhaps one of those bodies will realize it is not
separate.

My experience has lead me to believe in *total* non-volition. I cannot for
the life of me see how any organism can *ever* choose to think a single
thought.

>The acceptance of non-volition should not lead to lethargy. We are back to
>the "there must be an intensity in seeking" bit.

Yes, there *must* be an intensity. But whether or not one has that
intensity, is entirely out of one's hands. If there is to be intensity, it
will arise spontaneously.

There is the common mis-conception that the acceptance of non-volition will
lead to lethargy or anarchy - "Well, if I don't have any control, that
means I can become a mass murderer and nobody can blame me!".

I continually point out to people that they have *never* had any volition -
and have they been lethargic? Have they felt anarchic?

Respects,


Cameron Reilly
The Robert Adamson Centre for Non-Duality/Advaita Studies
Direct Lineage of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Melbourne, Australia
Email: cjreilly at ozemail.com.au