Myths of Enlightenment and the End of Becoming (Roy Melvyn)
Mediocre Advaita Vedanta
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Myths of Enlightenment and the End of Becoming” by Roy Melvyn.]
Somewhere between the highest of the high and the lowest of the low lie books like this one by Roy Melvyn. Melvyn is an outstanding writer, on par with Rupert Spira (see my three-star review of “The Transparency of Things), but his discourse suffers from the same problems that plague Spira’s – a failure to account for Shakti, or Spirit, in the Self-realization project, a lack of esotericism, and epistemological ignorance.
Melvyn has read the same texts that the other contemporary Advaita Vedanta teachers have read – Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, J. Krishnamurti, and Zen – but if he wants to take his teachings to the next level, he will have to study Dzogchen, Kashmir Shaivism, Adi Da’s Daism, Ayn Rand’s Objectivist epistemology, and Ramana Maharshi’s esoteric (rather than just basic) teachings, exemplified in the texts “Sri Ramana Gita,” and “Sat Darshana Bhashya” (see my five-star reviews of these texts).
Melvyn informs us that “a table or tree exists only when it appears as a conscious perception.” This primacy-of-consciousness epistemology is pure poppycock. The table and tree will continue to exist exactly as they are regardless of your conscious perception of them.
Melvyn writes: “You are the Silent Background. When the notion ‘I am somebody’ vacates or is evicted from this address it is said to be enlightenment or realization.”What you truly are is not a mere “Silent Background”; it is Siva-Shakti, a radiant, dynamically Intense Being. Enlightenment is En-Light-enment, meaning that until your contracted self or consciousness is illuminated by Anugraha Shakti (Clear-Light Energy, called the Sambhogakaya in Tibetan Buddhism and the Dharmamegha in Yogacara Buddhism and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras), you will not realize the Self.
Melvyn attempts, unsuccessfully, to integrate J. Krishnamurti with Advaita Vedanta. He tells us to avoid resistance to What-Is, and also tells us to direct our attention inwardly, which is a form of avoiding What-Is – always already Being-Consciousness. Krishnamurti, who originated the popular statement that all resistance, or effort, is the avoidance of What Is, never advocated the exclusive-reductive inversion of attention as the means to Awakening.
It should be noted that Melvyn also writes under the pseudonym Wu Hsin, and has received criticism for creating this fictional Chinese sage as a front for his philosophical ponderings without disclosing this fact. This has marred his credibility in the eyes of some of his readers.
If you’re looking for a clearly-written, reasonably-priced surface-level consideration of Advaita Vedanta, this book will do the job.
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Myths of Enlightenment and the End of Becoming” by Roy Melvyn.]
Somewhere between the highest of the high and the lowest of the low lie books like this one by Roy Melvyn. Melvyn is an outstanding writer, on par with Rupert Spira (see my three-star review of “The Transparency of Things), but his discourse suffers from the same problems that plague Spira’s – a failure to account for Shakti, or Spirit, in the Self-realization project, a lack of esotericism, and epistemological ignorance.
Melvyn has read the same texts that the other contemporary Advaita Vedanta teachers have read – Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, J. Krishnamurti, and Zen – but if he wants to take his teachings to the next level, he will have to study Dzogchen, Kashmir Shaivism, Adi Da’s Daism, Ayn Rand’s Objectivist epistemology, and Ramana Maharshi’s esoteric (rather than just basic) teachings, exemplified in the texts “Sri Ramana Gita,” and “Sat Darshana Bhashya” (see my five-star reviews of these texts).
Melvyn informs us that “a table or tree exists only when it appears as a conscious perception.” This primacy-of-consciousness epistemology is pure poppycock. The table and tree will continue to exist exactly as they are regardless of your conscious perception of them.
Melvyn writes: “You are the Silent Background. When the notion ‘I am somebody’ vacates or is evicted from this address it is said to be enlightenment or realization.”What you truly are is not a mere “Silent Background”; it is Siva-Shakti, a radiant, dynamically Intense Being. Enlightenment is En-Light-enment, meaning that until your contracted self or consciousness is illuminated by Anugraha Shakti (Clear-Light Energy, called the Sambhogakaya in Tibetan Buddhism and the Dharmamegha in Yogacara Buddhism and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras), you will not realize the Self.
Melvyn attempts, unsuccessfully, to integrate J. Krishnamurti with Advaita Vedanta. He tells us to avoid resistance to What-Is, and also tells us to direct our attention inwardly, which is a form of avoiding What-Is – always already Being-Consciousness. Krishnamurti, who originated the popular statement that all resistance, or effort, is the avoidance of What Is, never advocated the exclusive-reductive inversion of attention as the means to Awakening.
It should be noted that Melvyn also writes under the pseudonym Wu Hsin, and has received criticism for creating this fictional Chinese sage as a front for his philosophical ponderings without disclosing this fact. This has marred his credibility in the eyes of some of his readers.
If you’re looking for a clearly-written, reasonably-priced surface-level consideration of Advaita Vedanta, this book will do the job.
