It seems Sahara was saying similar things to what I have just been reflecting on. Well spoken Sahara. Spot on and useful references you made. Thank you.
Sahara71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some interesting points:
>
>
Advaita Vedanta as a belief system has a
> strong ethical component. I mention this because
> someone posted on here that they were not
> interested being "good" but merely in being
>
"free". As though being "good" is a little
> old-fashioned and restrictive. How can you ever be
> "free", and therefore in a constant state of
> "bliss" (I presume), if you have to be
good> as well?
>
> In seems to me like contemporary spirituality has
> gone down the road of being entirely self-serving
> and introspective in the worst possible way. In
> doing so, it has to completely disregard history,
> the scriptures, thousands of years of practice and
> the tidal wave of religious/spiritual scholarship
> that points to "being good" and consciously "doing
> good" as being
essential to spiritual
> liberation.
>
> I refer to this article by Dr. N. K. Srinivasan:
>
> [
www.advaita.org.uk]
>
> He writes:
> "The three gateways to ‘hell’, according to the
> Bhagavad Gita are lust, anger and greed. Avoiding
> these gateways would be the most essential step in
> the practice of advaita. Advaitins, as a group,
> are given to intellectual arguments and ‘logical’
> reasoning. They can easily invent ways to
> circumvent the moral injunctions. Herein lies the
> danger in the practice of advaita."
>
> And later he writes:
> "It is alright to have glimpses of “Reality’ or
> advaitic experience or anubhUti . But that is
> fleeting indeed. If one wishes to be ‘stabilized’
> in advaitic or Vedantic experience as a j~nAnI or
> Advaitin, one needs the tail plane of ethical
> practice. Otherwise an advaitin may have a
> tail-spin leading to depravity, as many
> philosophers and new-styled gurus have experienced
> in mythical times as well as in modern times - in
> our living memory."
>
> In other words, without knowing right from wrong
> and putting this into practice, you will end up
>
'depraved'. I suppose there is some kind of
>
freedom in
depravity, but if
> depravity is what you are after, why embrace
> spiritual practices at all? You may as well be a
> depraved atheist and save yourself time and
> energy!
>
> Swartz and others who brag about being a
> "lothario" or whatever, without any remorse or
> insight into their actions, will not progress
> along a spiritual path, be it Advaita or any other
> path. If they believe that they can, then that is
> a very unhealthy misunderstanding of the teachings
> and they will only lead others into unhappiness.
>
> I refer also to
> [
newworldencyclopedia.org]
>
> Quote:
> "Ethics has a firm place in Advaita; the same
> place as the world and God. Ethics, which implies
> doing good Karma, indirectly helps in attaining
> true knowledge. The Shruti (the Vedas and the
> Upanishads) constitute the basis of merit and sin.
>
Dharma infuses truth, non-violence, service of
> others, and pity while adharma (sin) infuses
> lies, violence, cheating, selfishness, and greed."
>
> Also take a look at
> [
liveanddare.com]
>
> Quote:
> "It is true we are not bound and that the real
> Self has no bondage. It is true that you will
> eventually go back to your source. But meanwhile,
> i
f you commit sins, as you call them, you will
> have to face the consequences of such sins. You
> cannot escape them.> If a man beats you, then, can you say, ‘I am free,
> I am not bound by these beatings and I don’t feel
> any pain. Let him beat on’? If you can feel like
> that, you can go on doing what you like. What is
> the use of merely saying with your lips ‘I am
> free’?"
>
> -
Ramana Maharshi