The Problem with Advaita

The Problem with Advaita u You're just like the oil fields in Kuwait," he said to me emphatically, shaking his head. Confused, I turned to my student who was sitting next to me and asked, "Do you understand what he's getting at?" "No," he said to me equally confused. I was sitting outside the American Hotel in Amsterdam, having coffee with a well-known Dutch teacher of Advaita Vedanta, a disciple of the highly respected master of Advaita, Nisargadatta Maharaj. As I had been teaching there almost every summer, over the years we had heard quite a bit about each other. It was he who had initiated our meeting. As we spoke, the feeling between us was undoubt- edly warm, permeated by an unmistakable intensity as we were in the midst of trying to figure each other out. "You're just like the oil fields in Kuwait," he repeated. "What do you mean?" I asked. "After eight years of teaching you're still burning, you're still on fire!" The Problem with Advaita 1 15 "Yes," 1 replied. "Bui what you re trying to do won't work. You1l be disillusioned.'' "You're cynieal!" 1 said. "Of course 1 am," he responded without hesitation. "I've been teaching for fifteen years and nobody's changed, nobody!" I had met several of his students and he was right. In spite of the fact that many of them had indeed, with his help, experienced ghmpses of nonduality, that fundamental shift that brings with it a profound trust in life had not occurred. He was undoubtedly an awakened man, and from all the reports I had heard, a powerful teacher. He seemed to be simultaneously intrigued and shocked at the stand I was taking. The fact that I had spoken out about the inconsistent and often outrageous behavior of some modern spiritual teachers (including him) amazed him. With genuine sincerity and even a trace of innocence, he asked, "But how can you judge? How can anyone judge? From his perspective, the nondual teachings of Advaita philosophy, there is only THAT. There is no doer and there is no other. Beyond the mind with all its ideas, thoughts and conclusions, beyond shoulds and shouldn'ts, everything simply IS. From that pcrspccli\i\ drawing conclusions about anything can be seen as an expression of ignorance. Beyond good and evil, beyond cause and effect, beyond birth and death, tiicrc is onl\ THAT. i iO An ihuonduioual RclaUonship lo l.ifc "You and I and everyone here judge," I said as I waved my hand pointing toward the people seated at the tables nearby, and then to others walking across the square in front of us. "In our hearts we all know what the truth is." Shaking his head incredulously, he said, "I have com- passion for you. You're going to be crucified." "I don't need your compassion. I need your support," I responded. "You have it," he said to my surprise. Later I asked the Dutch teacher about his meeting with his guru, whom 1 had heard so much about but had never had the privilege to meet. "The first time we met, I told him that I knew a lot. I told him that intellectually maybe 1 knew more than he did. But then 1 said that in my heart 1 knew 1 didn't know anything and I asked for his help." He went on to describe to me how within a short time spent in the company of this extraordinary teacher, all of his questions were answered. This resulted in an explosion of awakening which brought his seeking to a sudden and final end. "After that," he said, "there was nothing left for me to do." Nisargadatta Maharaj soon asked him to teach others and then encouraged him to stay on for a while so that he could observe what was happening there, saying it would be of help to him in the future. "1 have only one desire left," he said. "1 wish I could The Pivblem wilh Achaita have the opportunity to sit and drink lea with him one more lime. Just to sit and drink tea together. Thats all." After a while I said something that apparently surprised the Dutch teacher: "1 don't feel that Advaita is a compre- hensive enough teaching to meet the genuine needs of most seekers." His instant reply w^as, "You obviously don't know what you're talking about." "Wait," 1 said. "There is no doubt it is a perfect teach- ing, a perfect jewel. But it is a teaching that can only work perfectly for someone who is already very pure, for some- one in whom the veil of delusion is very, very thin. Also, most seekers need a teaching that will embrace every aspect of the human condition," I went on to say. "The nondual teachings don't do that." "You've got so many assumptions!" the Dutch teacher said in a way that left me no doubt that he thought I was \e:Yy misinformed. For several years I had thought a lot about this. Indeed, my own teacher had been a disciple of Ramana Maharshi, and so I was not unfamiliar with his message or his non- dual teaching. As a matter of fact, the shocking experiential revelation that on\y the Self exists, along with my teacher's emphasis on letting go of all effort and striving, had cata- pulted me beyond the chains o{ memory, fear and dcniht. When 1 started to teach, this same message had been my 1 18 An Vmonchtumal Relationship to Life message also. It was after a few years of teaching though that I began to slowly reconsider these fundamental ideas as their efficacy had been brought into question by two events that began to occur in my life simultaneously. On one side, it became obvious that the complexity of the human condition demanded a teaching that was far more comprehensive in its approach than one that was based upon the ceaseless stressing of the unreality of anything other than a single, absolute principle. And on the other side, the fact that the glaring inconsistencies and outra- geous hypocrisy in the conduct of my own teacher could be so easily justified by him and those around him with the very same nondual teaching that he was using to set people free forced me to stand back and reconsider everything once again. Ceaseless insistence that the Self is the only reality indeed can have a powerful effect. That effect, of course, being the explosive insight into the ultimately undivided condition of reality Absolute. The shock that this kind of revelation has on the system can awaken a person in a dra- matic way. But because most individuals are usually not yet prepared for the depth of surrender necessary that allows that kind of experience to be the catalyst for true liberation from fear, ignorance and delusion, its result is usually short- lived and its ultimate significance is often overexaggerated. Most seekers, I had found, needed a teaching that not only stressed the inherent oneness of life, but one that The Problem ^vith Advaita 1 1 would also simuhaneously encourage ihem to look directly into ihc intricate relationship between thought and feeling. Insight that revealed the delicate interplay of the cause and effect that occurs between the subtle dimension of mind and the seemingly grosser manifestation the outer world needed to be cultivated in most through continuous contemplation and meditation. Precisely because the minds ability to endlessly create and recreate false notions of self is so staggering in its subtlety, this subtlety must be discovered again and again until the individual not only experiences temporary insight, but actually remains awake. Time and experience showed me over and over again that for most, mere insistence that the Self is the only reality was not sufficient to reveal the depth and subtlety of the nature of mind and its movement to the degree necessary to win deep and lasting liberation from confusion and delusion. Also 1 had seen and met far too many people over the years 1 had been teaching, students and teachers alike, who misused the nondual teaching as a way to avoid or deny aspects of themselves. This, surprisingly enough, was often done in the name of liberation itself. The nondual teaching inadvertently leaves loopholes that all too easily allow an imperfect attainment to masquerade as one that is perfect and complete. My Dutch peer was a good example oi this. When asked by one of his students if his womanizing in any way pointed lo the fact that maybe he wasn't Iree. his response was, "No. These are just my tendencies burning An Vmonditional Relationship to Life themselves out." In many ways he reminded me of my own teacher, insofar as the way he hved his hfe seemed to be such an extreme contradiction of the absolute nature of his own teaching. The fundamental tenet of the nondual teaching is that we are always already free. From that point of view, one whose motives are not yet entirely pure and yet who has attained a significant degree of awakening can easily justify almost any expression of ignorance with outrageous state- ments like "there is no doer" and "all is unreal—only the 5el/ exists!" Indeed, if one is already free, from the point of view of the nondual teaching there is nowhere to go, nothing to do and definitely nothing to change because everything simply IS. All too often, this absolute fact is used as a justification for allowing oneself to remain ignorant, rather than as a genuine vehicle for true emancipation. "1 admit I've made some mistakes," my Dutch peer said. "Fm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. Anyway, don't believe everything that you hear. As a matter of fact, I've heard that you are a homosexual!" My Dutch friend often punctuated his remarks by whacking me powerfully on the shoulder. In spite of the fact that there was obvious disagreement between us, the atmosphere remained lighthearted until the end. As we parted, we gave each other a big hug. The Problem with AdvciHa I, along with countless others, marvel at the unparal- leled manifestation of perfect purity, love and utter selfless- ness that the great Ramana Maharshi was and continues to represent. It has often occurred to mc thai the reason he has become so well known throughout the world over the last twenty years may be more because he has become a symbol of purity, proof of what is possible for all of us, than because of his teaching of self-inquiry— the passionate pur- suit of the question "Who am I?" Indeed, in a world that has become so deeply cynical and overburdened with mis- ery, one such as he stands out like the North Star on a clear night. Like a beacon of hope, the fact that he walked this earth so recently is living proof to all whose hearts have grown weary that perfect goodness does exist. The example of his Ufe, a perfect expression of undivided, absolute sim- plicity and pure motivation without a trace of selfishness, is what challenges even the most jaded observer to look into their own heart. What is important to acknowledge, I feel, is that it was his utter authenticity as a human being that allowed him to make the most outrageously absolute statements about life and death, love and truth, without one feeling in any way compelled to doubt their legitimacy. One who speaks only of that which is undivided, single and absolute must be an expression ol that which is undi- vided, single and absolute for their words to carry the weight of genuine authority From all I have heard trc^ii those who had the good fortune to spend lime in iiis An I 'ihonditional RcUuumship lo Life company, Nisargadatta Maharaj was also such a one. Indeed, a life without fundamental contradiction that speaks of love and unity dares us to become whole our- selves. A life expressing fundamental contradiction, yet that speaks of love and unity, does not and cannot truly challenge our hearts in such a way that would force us to rise up to meet it without conditions. The Problem with Advaita