WORDS AS POINTERS

Words are not truth, but they can point to truth. As it is said in Zen Buddhism, the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon, or as the semanticist Alfred Korzybski put it, the map is not the territory.

Unfortunately we get hung up on the words. It is like throwing a stick across the yard, pointing at it and saying to Fido, "fetch." The dog stares at the finger. We stare at the words.

It is similar with ritual. A religious service shows the way to something, rather than is that something itself.

Regarding words, once the truth is recognized, the words pointing to it may be discarded. The Taoist sage Chuang Tzu wrote:

Fishing baskets are employed to catch fish, but when the fish are got, the men forget the baskets; snares are employed to catch hares, but when the hares are got, men forget the snares. Words are employed to convey ideas, but when the ideas are grasped, men forget the words.

The Buddha said in a like way that when the raft of his teachings has been taken to the opposite shore (enlightenment), there is no need then to carry the raft across the land.

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI AND SELF-INQUIRY

Sri Ramana's teachings about Self-Inquiry, the practice he is most widely associated with, have been classified as the path of knowledge (jnana marga). Though his teaching is consistent with and generally associated with Hinduism, the Upanishads, and Advaita Vedanta, he gave his approval to a variety of paths and practices from various religions.

Although he advocated Self-Inquiry as the fastest means to realization, he also recommended the path of bhakti (devotion) and self-surrender, that is, to one's deity or guru, either concurrently or as an adequate alternative to Self-Inquiry, which would ultimately converge with the path of Self-Inquiry.

What is Self-Inquiry? It is a method for recognizing not the body and/or the mind but that which experiences the body and the mind. It is awareness, that awareness that is aware of itself, the unlimited, free, Self (Atman).

Sri Ramana's method of teaching was characterized by the following:

1.He urged people who came to him to practice Self-Inquiry.

2.He directed people to look inward rather than seeking outside themselves for realization. ("The true bhagavan, that is, the supreme one, Brahman, resides in your heart as your true Self or Atman. This is who you truly are.")

3.He viewed all who came to him as the Self rather than as lesser beings. ("The jnani, that is, a self-realized person, sees no one as an ajnani, or a not self-realized person. All are only jnanis in his sight.")

Sri Ramana charged no money and was adamant that no one ever ask for money (or anything else) in his name. He never promoted or called attention to himself. Instead, he remained in one place for 54 years, offering spiritual guidance to anyone of any background who came to him, and asking nothing in return. He considered humility to be the highest quality. He said the deep sense of peace one felt around a jnani was the surest indicator of a jnani's spiritual state, that equality towards all was a true sign of liberation, and that what a true jnani did was always for others, not for themselves.

SHANKARA

Shankara, or Shankaracharya, was one of the greatest philosopher-saints of India, and chief exponent of Advaita (nondualistic) Vedanta. The dates assigned to him vary form the 6th to the 8th century A.D.

Shankara was born in western Malabar, South India. At the age of eight, when he renounced the world, he was thoroughly conversant with Vedic literature. During his brief life span of 32 years, he organized a system of monastic denominations which is still in existence today.

His enormous literary output includes commentaries on the Vedanta Sutras, on the principal Upanishads, and on the Gita. Two major philosophical works, the Upadeshasahasri and the Vivekachudamani (the Crest Jewel of Discrimination), are attributed to him. He wrote, as well, many poems, hymns, prayers, and minor works on Vedanta.

Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He founded four mathas (monasteries), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

Advaita (nondualism) is often called a monistic system of thought. The word "Advaita" essentially refers to the identity of the Self (Atman) and the Whole (Brahman.) Advaita Vedanta purports that the one unchanging entity (Brahman) alone exists, and that changing entities, all forms in the material world, do not have absolute existence, much as the ocean's waves have no existence separate from the ocean. A quote that succinctly summarises his philosophy is:

"Brahman is the only truth. The spatio-temporal world is an illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and the individual Self (Atman)."

PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF VEDANTA

The three primary schools of Vedanta are Dvaita (dualism), Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism), and Advaita (nondualism).

Dvaita, as taught by Madhva (1199-1276), holds that matter, human souls, and Brahman are absolutely different from one another. Here salvation is not thought of as union with Brahman, but as drawing close to him and dwelling forever with him in the contemplation of his glory. Brahman saves souls entirely by his grace, without which even the intensest devotion and strictest morality are of no avail. Dvaita is the only branch of older Vedanta in which Christian influence is almost certain.

Vishishtadvaita was taught by Ramanuja in the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. and states that all living creatures and non-living matter are parts of Brahman, who is their sole and controlling power. Vishishtadvaita is "the way of devotion," as opposed to "the way of works" and "the way of knowledge." It believes that liberation is only to be gained by intense devotion to Brahman, until the worshipper realizes fully that he is but a fragment of Brahman and wholly dependent on Brahman. Only by completely abandoning oneself into the hands of Brahman, and humbly awaiting his grace, can one's salvation be realized. The emancipated soul is one with Brahman, yet separate.

The philosophy of Advaita is the premier and oldest extant among the Vedanta schools. As taught by Shankara (circa 750 A.D.) it maintains that there is a complete and essential identity between Brahman and Atman, between God and the individual soul. When this identity is fully realized, not merely as a logical proposition but as a a fact of one's inmost consciousness, the soul is raised above the illusions of this transitory world and is lost forever in the one final Truth that is Brahman.