[This is a raw unedited excerpt from my forthcoming book on nonduality and Mind-Only metaphysics. I just started the book and It won't be finished/published until 2024.]
What is Nonduality?
From my perspective, and that of the foremost spiritual traditions, there is only one true version of nonduality—that of a single uncreated, unmanifest Mind, or Being-Consciousness, or Divine Existent, as the Source, Substance, Condition, and Reality of reality (meaning the totality of manifest existents). In other words, nonduality as I, and the foremost spiritual traditions, define it, means Mind-Only, which means that this One Mind, or Being-Consciousness, has become everything; and yet, paradoxically, because it is forever unmanifest, and thus outside time and space, it has not become anything.
What can you say about this Mind?
Because Mind (or Consciousness), the single Reality, transcendentally (or timelessly and spacelessly), alone exists, it is Self-Existing as Supreme (or Divine) Being; hence, it isn’t just Consciousness, but Being-Consciousness. Moreover, because Mind is Divine (or Di-“vine”), it consists not only of the “vine” of Consciousness (or Awareness), but also the “vine” of Energy (or Spirit); hence, it isn’t just Being-Consciousness, but Being-Consciousness-Energy. In other words, Mind is Self-Existing, Self-Radiating, Self-Awareness, the Di-“vine” Existent that has become all existents.
When, in our discussions, we focus on uncreated Mind as Creator (or Creator God), we’ll consider specifics regarding its “action” in, and as, Maya (phenomenal reality, that which has been “measured” out from the Immeasurable, meaning Mind). And when, in our discussions, we focus on ways to yogically coincide with Mind, the Divine Existent, we’ll consider its en-Light-ening “action” as it pertains to the Enlightenment (or Self-Realization) project.
Why Did Mind Become Everything?
No one knows why Mind (a.k.a. God, Allah, Yahweh, Brahman, Samantabhadra, Siva, et al.) emanated the universe of existents. Per Kashmir Shaivism, the most esoteric Hindu yoga tradition, the answer is “because Siva willed it.” And the result is the universe as the “Dance of Siva,” with Siva as “Lord of the Dance,” meaning Conductor of His Divine Play in, and as, Maya.
How did Mind Become Everything?
It is impossible for us humans to know how Mind, the ineffable “Mental” “Substance” of the “Holy One,” the “All-Creating Monarch,” has become all energies, inanimate matter, and living organisms. Nonetheless, a couple of esoteric spiritual traditions—Kashmir Shaivism and Kabbalah—which we’ll focus on in our discussions, have provided us with impressive revelatory “maps,” or top-down schemas, that, to an impressive degree, explain the hierarchical descent of Mind, the Absolute, into the gradient planes of the relative. Moreover, other spiritual traditions, which we will also examine, have likewise provided us with worthwhile material regarding unmanifest Mind and its relation to manifest existence. Finally, we’ll consider the Mind-Only theories of the prominent contemporary academics Bernardo Kastrup and Donald Hoffman.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. This is excellent. I don’t know what else to say besides this – I’m really looking forward to this book and whatever else you write in a simile vein.
And I wanted to tell you. Even if you never reach widespread recognition in your lifetime, your guidance will live on in some of us. Myself included. And perhaps one of us will be able to spread fruit of the seeds of guidance wide and far.
I just wanted to tell you, even though I remain anonymous, that your work is not lost on me. It is not done in vain.
Thanks Anon, I appreciate your kind words. A friend of mine has suggested that I could end up like Gauguin, not recognized until after I’m gone. But I’m still optimistic that I’ll achieve some recognition before I kick off. I’m 71 now, and if I can stay functional and writing for another half-dozen or so years, I think I’ll receive some acclaim. Although I’m not that impressed with Evola (who wrote on Buddhism, Hindu Tantra, Hermeticism, and sociopolitics, subjects I’ve written on or will write on), I’m like him in that I’m “fluent” in multiple traditions. So I could eventually be recognized in the same way he now is.
Hey Ron,
Looking forward to the book. I got deep into Kashmir Shaivism after reading your blogs. I had a shaktipata experience sometime back and can feel the heart on the right side of the chest at all times. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi and Kashmir Shaivism are the only ones I know who talk about this Heart.
Adi Da’s books offer unique and profound descriptions of the heart-on-the-right and its function in the Enlightenment project. Robert Adams and Ramaji also talk this in their writings. Paul Muller-Ortega’s “The Triadic Heart of Shiva” is a Kashmir Shaivism text about the Heart.
I have read Paul Mullter-Ortegas book. In fact, I read it regularly as it is so deep and insightful. There is always something new to discover. Adi Da’s personal life somehow put me off his teachings though I know you recommend them. I have read Robert Adams and Ramaji briefly and could not find much that was profound though they do refer to the heart.
The truly profound, beautiful and powerful teachings are those of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi and Trika Shaivism. They are the words of Shambu himself.
Paul Muller-Ortega is a HUGE Adi Da fan. Just a few years before Da passed, when I was corresponding with Paul, I had a connected devotee-friend of mine arrange for Paul to attend a Satsang with Da. Paul raved about it, and wrote a foreword for Da’s book “The Gnosticon.” Here is part of what Paul wrote:
In The Gnosticon (which means “The Book of Knowledge”), Avatar Adi Da examines the Transcendentalist Teachings of the Great Sages, in light of His own Revelation of the Transcendental Spiritual Reality-Way of Adidam.
The Gnosticon includes His renderings of key texts from the traditions of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, together with essential texts of His own “Perfect Knowledge” Reality-Teaching.
“Adi Da Samraj has created a body of work that surpasses in its force and insight that of any other author and teacher of our time. . . .
The present book [is] a mature document that culminates forty or more years of reflection and articulation on Adi Da Samraj’s part. I can only add my own humble invitation to all to plunge into its ecstatic waters and savor The
Gnosticon.”
Mr. Ron Gardner,
This is the video on YouTube you may watch if you feel like it. It is on non-duality. The title is “ WHO wakes up? Confidence and authenticity after awakening.” The owner of the video is a middle aged Jewish gentleman named Daniel Shai who claims to be fully awakened and has realized his true Self.
He says he is not a new advaita guru or teacher like others and what he teaches is not neo advaita but genuine enlightenment of one’s true Self. His school is called Sun Ray Teaching – Daniel Shai Spiritual Awakening. He claims to be fully realized, fully enlightened and an awakened master. He has several other videos on YouTube.
Let me know what you think of him. I felt he is not any different from other neo advaita gurus since he does not go into serious issues like kundalini shakthi, samadhi, chakras, sahasrara etc.
Best wishes to you.
IJ.
Hi IJ,
Good to hear from you. I watched the video. He’s just another off-the-assembly-line neo-Advaita Vedanta teacher. I just posted the following comment in response to his video:
“I’m the foremost living expert on esoteric spirituality. Prove you’re the real deal (and not just another neo-Advaita Vedanta pretender) by explaining the function of Shaktipat, Kundalini, Anugraha Shakti, the Hridaya, and Amrita Nadi in the Enlightenment project and full Enlightenment. Nothing you said in this video moves beyond superficial, psychologized neo-Advaita Vedanta.”
Mr. Gardner,
I would love to see how he responds to your comment. He did refer to two other neo vedanta non dual teachers Ramesh Balsekar and Douglas Harding in the video. He appears to be nothing but a neo advaita vedanta teacher like you said.
Take care Mr.Gardner. All the best to you sir.
IJ.
Thanks IJ,
Yep, and he also referred to Papaji, another pretender. Any clown can clone superficial neo-Advaita Vedanta shtick, and make $$$ by offering spiritual coaching, as Shai does.
Mr. Gardner,
Yes. He even mentioned Poona. You are correct. I looked up that video to see how Shai responded to your comment but I could not find it. It looks like he has deleted it or blocked it. It seems he cannot afford comments which poke fun of him. None of his videos have negative comments but only the positive one which praise him over the top. That sounds real fishy. He can’t face honest criticism from people with spiritual experience and knowledge like you.
IJ.
He didn’t delete all my comments, just the one replying to someone who wanted to know where to find my article “Who Am I.”
Mr. Gardner,
If you don’t sign up and look in that video it will not show your comments. It is not visible to others. Only if you sign on to your YouTube and then see the video your comments will only appear to you and no one else. I looked up that video and could not see any of your comments there. Even otherwise why should he delete your comment replying to someone where to find your article? That fellow is cunning, dishonest etc. and he claims without shame to be full of love, joy, bliss, enlightened and other such nonsense. If your comments are still there then they should be visible to me but they are not. They are only visible to you. That is the new way of blocking comments in YouTube.
IJ.
I meant to say HWL Poonja and not Poona.
IJ, sure you did. Your comments betray an ignorance about the superlative mahatma that Sri Harilal Poonja was…He is Papaji to me!
I find your interpretation to be a form of critpo-vedanta. You are simply saying that Mind is sat-cit-ananda but with different terms. Nothing to object to. But if we affirm the teaching of “Mind only” we also affirm that this Mind is empty. Otherwise, it seems to me that we fall into an essentialist extreme, and start talking about “substantial reality”, “creator”, “transcendental”, “cause”, and things like that, which as metaphors, or figurative ways of speaking, even as ways of disarticulating nihilism, express a great truth, but which have no ultimate referent in themselves.
Xavier, I subscribe to an “essentialist” POV regarding Mind, or Being-Consciousness. Uncreated Mind, from my POV, is also the Creator God. Per Kashmir Shaivism (KS), Parama Siva, the Supreme Being-Consciousness has five tattvas outside time and space: Siva, Shakti, Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti, and Kriya Shakti. Strictly speaking. the “tattvas” Siva and Shakti are not really tattvas, and cannot be separated, but in the KS system they are classified as such.
Ron: thank you for your response, and especially for clearly and directly stating your viewpoint. I assume that in KS this is legitimate; as I see that you are also familiar with Buddhism and also Zen, I find this more problematic in these traditiones. I do not share with the prasangikas this accent on emphasizing emptiness without speaking of Tathata or suchness. But without forgetting that this suchness is empty. It is something that Vedanta also, curiously, considers in some sense. In the Ribhu Gita it is said: “the Self is the void” (10.20). I do not think that ultimately reality can be said to be Mind or consciousness, I think this is conventional, but it is nonetheless a necessary truth to counteract mistaken extremes, which are no doubt very common in certain literature. In any case, I thank you again for your very transparent answer.
Hi Xavier, sorry I missed your post until now. I view the Absolute as Sat-Cit-Ananda/Siva-Shakti. IOW, it’s Self-Existing, Self-Radiant, Self-Awareness/Mind.
Hello Ron!
I read all your books and I just wanted to say thank you so much!
I laughed and learned a lot, especially having Most-Perfectly-As-Given-By-Only-Me transcended the crybaby phase of entanglement in the brouhaha.
Half-Washed Dog Thunderbolt Chris!
Thanks Chris. Glad to hear you enjoyed and benefited from my books.