EMERSON AND VEDANTA

Ralph Waldo Emerson, (1803-1882), was an American poet, essayist, and philosopher.  After a studious but undistinguished career at Harvard, and a brief period of teaching, he entered the ministry. 

He was appointed to the Unitarian, Old Second Church of Boston, his native city, but soon became an unwilling preacher.  Unable, in conscience, to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, he resigned his pastorate.

In 1836, he published an essay entitled “Nature,” considered the moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement.  

Emerson’s philosophy was characterized by its reliance on intuition as the only way to comprehend reality.  Like Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, he was attracted to mystical Indian literature and philosophy.

His introduction to Indian thought came with his reading the French philosopher Victor Cousin.  Emerson went on to read the Bhagavad Gita and Henry Thomas Colebrooke’s Essays on the Vedas.  The nondualism of Vedanta colored much of his writing afterward.

His 1841 essay “The Oversoul” reflected this: “We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles.  Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE.  And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one.  We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul.”

NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

"In reality, there is no death because you are not the body.  Let the body be there or not be there, your existence is always there; it is eternal."

"Discover all that you are not -- body, feelings, thoughts, time, space, this or that -- nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you.  The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive."

"There is nothing to practice.  To know yourself, be yourself.  To be yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be.  Let your true nature emerge.  Don't disturb your mind with seeking."

These are among the sayings of Nisargadatta Maharaj, an Indian spiritual teacher and guru who lived in Mumbai between 1897 and 1981.  He was born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli and became renowned for his teachings of Advaita (non-dualistic) Vedanta.

With his direct and minimalistic explanation of non-dualism, he is considered the most prominent teacher of Advaita since Ramana Maharshi.

He gained worldwide recognition and followers with the 1973 publication of his most famous and widely translated book I Am That, an English translation of his talks by Maurice Frydman.  A free PDF version of the book is available on the internet.

THE BRAHMIN

In his book Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Christopher Isherwood describes the caste system as it existed in India at the time of Ramakrishna (1836-1886 ). His discussion of the priestly caste, whose members were and are still called Brahmins, is particularly interesting.

Isherwood says that originally the Brahmin was much more than a priest.  According to the Bhagavad-Gita, he must be the seer of the community, the man through whom the community maintains its spirituality. 

In India, the religious ideal has always been to obtain knowledge of the Atman, the divine nature within man, through direct experience.  Such revelation has never been the property of a Church, as in the West.  It is not towards any religious body but towards the individual seer, the knower of the Atman, that the community turns for guidance. 

That enlightenment can actually be obtained by an individual, that the Atman can really be known in the sense of self-knowledge, is the fundamental proposition of the Hindu religion. 

How can the Atman be known?  By meditation and self-disciplines which open the eye of the spirit.  Therefore, Isherwood says, the Brahmin must be chaste, austere, truthful through and through, and compassionate towards all living creatures.

The Brahmin's faith in the Atman must be based on direct self-knowledge, not credulity.  He may be a scholar and interpreter of the sacred books, but his interpretations must be drawn from his own experience, not merely from academic knowledge of former commentators.

WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE?

What exactly is a spiritual experience?

A spiritual experience can only properly be assessed by its intensity, which is to say by the intensity of its after-effect on the experiencer.

Attempting to analyze the circumstances of the event in an effort to decide whether it was spiritual or not is a waste of time, for some quite external cause, such as certain drugs or an illness may have been behind it.

Some will want to know whether the experience was a hallucination, but it is better to ask what the experience has left one with, now that it is over.  A true spiritual experience, even one that is not particularly intense, must at least slightly affect the experiencer for the rest of his life.

The highest spiritual experiences can only be known in "samadhi."  Samadhi is quite unlike the other states of consciousness--waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep--for it is really a kind of superconsciousness.  In samadhi, a person knows his absolute identity with the Atman, who he really is.

VARIETIES OF SAMADHI

"A super-conscious state in which an individual experiences his identity with the ultimate Reality, Brahman," is the general definition of samadhi.  However, there are technical variations of it depending upon whether it is in Vedanta philosophy or in Yoga philosophy.

Savikalpa samadhi in Vedanta philosophy is the first stage of transcendental consciousness and is where the distinction between subject and object persists.  The spiritual aspirant in this state may have a mystic vision, with or without form.

Nirvikalpa samadhi means, literally, "changeless samadhi," and in Vedanta philosophy refers to the transcendental state of consciousness wherein the spiritual aspirant becomes completely absorbed in Brahman, so that all sense of duality is erased.

Savichara samadhi in Yoga philosophy refers to the state in which the mind achieves identity with a subtle object of concentration, mixed with awareness of name, quality, and knowledge.

Nirvichara samadhi is a term in Yoga philosophy referring to the state in which the mind achieves identity with a subtle object of concentration, minus name, quality, and knowledge. 

Nirbija samadhi means, literally, "seedless samadhi," which in Yoga philosophy refers to the state in which all thought-waves are entirely stilled and all sense of duality ceases.

THE TAOISM PART

The Indian scholar and teacher Bodhidharma is credited with founding the Ch'an school of Buddhism in China in the 6th century A.D.  This came at a time when Buddhism had already claimed an imperial convert, the Emperor Wu Ti of the Liang dynasty.

Buddhism was rapidly becoming accepted by the Chinese population as a simplified version of Taoism.  As it happened Buddhism and Taoism shared many philosophical similarities, making Chinese adjustment to Ch’an much easier.  And the more dogmatic ways in which Buddhism was practiced helped it to get the fast track on becoming the predominant religion in China.  The Ch'an sect was a blend of Buddhism and Taoism.  The word "ch'an" is the Chinese attempt at the Sanskrit word "dhyana," meaning meditation, as is the Japanese word "zen."

But now what exactly is this Taoism that Buddhism merged with?  Chinese thinkers wanted to account for the apparent harmony and order in nature.  They developed the concept of the Tao.  The harmony and orderliness of heaven and earth were, they said, the result of the cosmic energy of the Tao, which literally means "a way" or "a road."  Sometimes it denotes the "channel" of a river.  In general the Tao means "the-way-to-go," the "natural way."

The Tao is conceived to be eternal.  Taoists concluded that the way in which the universe runs must have existed before the universe itself did.  They believed that this way of nature's functioning is a way of perfection, a pre-established pattern into which all things ought to fall if they are to be in their proper place and do their proper work.

The Tao is emphatically a way of harmony, integration, and cooperation.  Its natural tendency is toward peace, prosperity, and health. This would quickly become evident were it not for perverse human beings who refuse to adjust themselves to it.  In fact, if the Tao were ever to be followed everywhere, heaven, humankind, and earth would form a single, harmonious unit, every part cooperating toward universal well-being.

Central to Taoism is "wu-wei."  This has been translated variously as "inaction, quietism, non-aggression," but it more accurately means non-interference.  It means not getting in the way of things.  The culprit is the human ego and its analytical mind which sees as its purpose the control and manipulation of the world, which is like creating a dam in a river that is flowing along naturally.  This is an important understanding in Ch'an.  The controlling self and mind are the trouble.

The two names most often associated with Taoism are Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu.  Lao-tzu, who may have been several people who used that name to write under, was the apparent author of the TAO TE CHING or TREATISE OF THE TAO AND ITS POWER.  In lines that were at times obscure and cryptic, he laid out his view of the universe, whereupon he completely vanished.

Chuang-tzu, who most certainly did exist solely as himself, went on to popularize Lao-tzu's teachings.  He produced thirty-three essays, most of which were by his own hand.  Among his views were that yin and yang, springing from the Tao, produce each other, influence each other, and destroy each other in a never-ceasing process, reminiscent of Buddhism’s "mutually arising opposites."

Neither Lao-tzu nor Chuang-tzu could have foreseen the decline of Taoism over time.  It so happened that the people who had been attracted to the thoughtfulness of Taoism became discouraged by it, turning finally to magic and potions in what turned into Taoism the cult. 

Some found in the contemporary Confucianism a more direct and practical help, and adopted it. Those drawn to the meditative aspect of Taoism found the same, and more, in the spreading varieties of Buddhism.

DETACHMENT

"Detachment" is a key concept in Zen Buddhism.  It is defined by the technical Chinese term "wú niàn," which literally means "no thought."  This does not mean the literal absence of thought, but rather the state of being "unstained" by thought.

Detachment is being disengaged from one's thoughts. It is to separate oneself from one's thoughts and opinions in order to not be harmed mentally and emotionally by them.

The Vedantist view of detachment is based on the understanding that existence is transient, impermanent.  The solution is to live in the moment so that one does not worry about the past and the future.  It is detachment from the past and the future.

This concept of detachment is cited extensively in Puranic and Vedic literature.  The Bhagavad Gita states, for example, "One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus is untouched by water."

In Buddhist and Vedantist texts alike the opposite of detachment is upādāna, translated, as seen in the previous quote, as "attachment."  Attachment is the reluctance or inability to practice detachment and is considered the primary obstacle to a serene and fulfilled life.