message to my friends

[f. maiello]

Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:
>
> The problem is this - if the answer that is given by the intellect and by
> logic is not the Truth, and also if Sri Shankaracharya uses "impeccable
> logic" - how does one decide that a particular logic is impeccable except
> through the use of the intellect? And how about the concept of "viveka"?
> Isn't it a reference to the right use of the intellect?
>
> The question I ask is not only not unfair, it is one of the most important
> concerns within all Vedanta. To say that the jagat is in me, again raises
> the same questions, which have been asked for thousands of years now. As I
> see it, the beauty of Advaita teaching is in using logic and the intellect
> to ultimately overcome logic and the intellect. This does not mean that
> you simply ignore logic and intellect.
>
> If one throws out logic and intellect completely, it is worse than
> throwing the baby out with the bathwater - it is a refusal to even bathe
> the baby in the first place. That is not very useful, is it? You bathe
> the baby, then you throw out the bathwater.
>

I have used logic and intellect to the pont where it has become evident
that logic and intellect are seen as major obstacles and diversions with
respect to abiding in the Self.  Of course viveka, sravana, and manana
are crucial in the course of one's training, but there comes a point
where
all systems of discrimination, categorization, and value judgments have
to
be abandoned.  And this doesn't imply recklessness or the endorsement of
intellectual inertia.  Quite the contrary.  It's enlightening the whole
mind, through pure chidakasa; through the dissolution of the egoic knot
in the Heart.  And it isn't either unfair to expond such among
advaitins.
Granted, the time for adopting this approach is critical, and I'm not
making light of that.  And one of the sure indicators that one has
reached
this threshold [being also an indispensible prerequisite] is the
criteria
that one possesses an effortlessly sustained proclivity for devotion
toward
all sentient beings, as well as toward life itself.  As Giri once
mentioned
(paraphrasing here), by default the jnani performs bhakti and seva.  It
is
simply inherent in pure Being itself, which is automatically
*intrinsically*
wholistic, universal, and magnanimous.

namaste