[Advaita-l] FW: How to control the mind (without meditation)?

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear Vidyasankarji,

Even in Yoga we have the Vivekakhyati. We have to look at the things deeper. Like your  example of wood Lord Buddha gave  a beautiful example. It is, though not exactly verbatim, like this. He took a fallen leaf and said this leaf needed sunlight for its growth. The leaf needed water that came from the rain provided by the clouds, which in turn needed the Sun's energy for evaporation of water. It is nourished by the soil etc. This shows that the leaf does not have a separate independent existence of its own. In this world nothing is separate and independent and everything is linked with each other. This is one way one can see the oneness in all.

Regards,

Sunil K.  Bhattacharjya



--- On Sat, 3/7/09, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com>
Subject: [Advaita-l] FW:  How to control the mind (without meditation)?
To: "Advaita List" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009, 6:49 PM

I meant to send this response to the list earlier, hence I'm forwarding it.
 



> 
> Can you please explain this with an example? If I see objects of this
world, how else will I know they're mithya (if not through assumptions based
on advaita philosophy)? For instance, when I see objects of this world, say a
chair, I can only assume it's mithya based on what I know about advaita. How
is it possible to 'realize' and not merely assume that the chair is
mithya? 
> 
> Our eyes are only going to perceive the chair in the exact same shape,
size, form, and color, no matter what we do. That being the case, wouldn't
it be impossible to have any other type of perception with respect to the chair?
But, based on this perception, the chair will always be a chair and not mithya.
Which means, we'll be stuck in the same position that every worldly person
is.
> 
> 

The process to be followed is not to simply see a chair and repeat, "this
chair is false."
A mental repetition of such a form will not really lead to true insight and is
not the
recommended meditation in advaita vedAnta.

Rather, it goes like this. One should seek to know the reality behind the
chair. Say it
is completely made out of wood. Then behind the chair lies the reality of wood.
Behind
the wood lies the reality of the tree that gave the wood. Behind the tree lies
the reality
of the seed from which the tree grew. Behind the seed lies the fruit, behind
which lies
another tree, in infinite regress. But this seed - tree cycle has another
reality behind it,
which is the soil that supports them. If we keep analyzing every cognition this
way,
then we are taking the first steps in moving away from assumption towards
realization.

So much for external objects. advaita teaches you to apply a similar process of
examining
the reality hidden behind the appearance, not only of external objects, but
also of one's
own self. It is through a contemplation of the true reality of oneself that one
arrives at
conclusions regarding the true reality of the entire universe.

Regards,
Vidyasankar



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