Quote
newagesurvivorI've had terrible trouble with advaita philosophy. Reading about it and reading a little bit of Nisargadatta's 'I am that' did serious damage to my emotional side. So the best thing to do would be to deal with it with purely analytical reasoning, I think.
<snip>
Quote
helpme2times
Thanks for reminding me about "I Am That". Maybe I will take a look through it and try to find some of the contradictions.
Could you do that? Would you please do that?
Hi again NAS,
I was able to go through "I Am That" for a little while this afternoon. I will share a contradiction or two, as well as some things he said that could make a person feel crazy!
Regarding God...
On p. 36, Nisargadatta says, " God is not running the world."
However, on p. 44, he says of the world, "God is my devotee and did all this for me."
But then on p. 83: "If the world is false, then the plan and its creator are also false."
Regarding the concept of karma...
On pp. 511-512: "Karma, or destiny, is an expression of a beneficial law: the universal trend towards balance, harmony and unity. At every moment, whatever happens now, is for the best. It may appear painful and ugly, a suffering bitter and meaningless, yet considering the past and the future it is for the best, as the only way out of a disastrous situation."
Yet on p. 339, here is a Q&A he engages in re karma:
"Q: What I am is the result of my karma.
M: What you appear to be, you are not. Karma is only a word you have learnt to repeat."
On the same page:
"Q: Did not karma compel me to become what I am?
M: Nothing compels."
And here are some crazy-making statements:
p. 153: "...my Guru made me see that birth and death are mere ideas."
p. 339: "You have to give up everything to know that you need nothing, not even your body."
p. 84: "...deny existence to everything except yourself."
p. 226: "All illness begins in the mind."
p, 253: "M: Realize your real self and even drugs will have no power over you.
Q: You smoke?
M: My body kept a few habits which may as well continue till it dies. There is no harm in them."
p. 50: "Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
p. 37: "When you believe yourself to be a person, you see persons everywhere. In reality there are no persons, only threads of memories and habits."