21 October 2012


Dear Edji, I recently came across your website, and after reading several of your essays, and blog posts I decided to write to you in hopes of gaining some insight into my current state of awareness.

The problem is I feel half-baked. My understanding of Advaita seems to be there, but it only seems a head knowledge that has not yet fully penetrated my heart. 

Lately however I have begun to feel fraudulent and sense a need for some kind of spiritual practice, some devotional practice perhaps. It can't all be in the head, the heart must have a say in the matter.

I realize this is all a relative position and that ultimately consciousness is all, but without heart felt conviction, knowledge only goes so far.

You strike me as a man of conviction and more importantly a man of compassion  What the neo-avaitins teach seems to be right on but there also seems to be a depth missing that I just can't find, but sense that it is  essential to the proper transmission of the teaching. 

When I was in the Christian church we had a term that referred to what most people were willing to settle for.

That term was "cheap grace" No sacrifice no commitment just fire insurance. Head knowledge;no heart knowledge This seems an equivalent of what the neo's are offering, and I'm tired of it. Will you help me? 

I would like to continue this discussion and welcome any questions you may have that will lead to clarity in our conversation.

Ken


RESPONSE:


Dear Ken,

From my viewpoint, the neo-advaitins stay on the surface, waking consciousness and seeing no entity which is I, then conclude there is no separate I, just this beingness.

But they have not penetrated very deeply into consciousness, deeper than the mind, as you recognize, to the heart and even deeper, although on the level of the manifest, it will always be felt as living from the heart.

There are two ways to deepen: self-inquiry on the I Am sensation (not the I-thought or I-object) but the sensation of I.  Or, complete love and devotion to another, a guru, a woman, a cat.

I mean total love, complete self abandonment.  This is the most difficult route, but the fastest.

You can do a middle way of using the book, the Nisargadatta Gita by Pradeep Apte as a meditation guide. 

You can download it from my website.  Read only 2 pages a day, ponder what it says, then dive into the I Am.  After a while you will find it readily. Then start practicing loving the I Am.  Read the book.  It gives instructions.

Then also read Siddharameshwar’s The Master of Self Realization.  Mostly just read the 86 page introduction.  That will give you the theoretical framework for everything.

Read all the material on my website, wearesentience.com, and my blog to get an idea of who I am.

I can take you if you are diligent.

Ed

8 comments:

  1. sorry for the one anonymus who think we are always turning around our navel but i need to say that thing then i do !
    with love presence of Edj in my heart , many things around me are changing . one of my best friend is having a cancer in the brain and she has chimio to cure that and she is very tired . During a time i could not bear her because she was like death near and in me ! it was horrible because i was very guilty and shamed and in the same time i feeled she grasped me with her in the death and i did'nt want that !
    so i was staying very very strongly in the love presence of Edj and calling him his help .
    And the last time, it happened very strange thing like this love of Edj in me was spreading over the others people next to me like this ill friend ! suddenly i was feeling very much love for her and that love was climbing in my back until the heart . And i had no fear about death but i could love my friend and stay with her to share what she is living .
    And several other things with other people around me are happening like that . Love is going from me towards them and i can help them for different things !
    But i was very afraid last week because with Amma-energy in Paris i could not feel the presence of Edj . It is in the same time marvellous and terrible to be completely vulnerable to someone as Edj because it sounds like we are without any protection , only him ! .One moment we are so happy ans another moment we are so frigtened to lost this love .
    much love for you and for Edj
    sylviane

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  2. to Ed - have you seen the new design of the latimes yet?

    check it out:

    cat.latimes.com.meowbify.com

    i know you'll like it :DD

    hope Bodhi is feeling fine and doin' better!

    ALex

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  3. Sylviane says "It is in the same time marvellous and terrible to be completely vulnerable to someone as Edj because it sounds like we are without any protection , only him !".
    I feel this too. But how can I trust him? He seems so vulnerable to every frailty too, or is he playing games with us? I don't know. And I feel to surrender to Edji would be to betray my beloved SB, it feels like adultery. I'm fucked if I don't and fucked if I do!!!
    I'm scared of the (rare) silence and I hate the constant noise.
    And like Ken I feel I need to DO something. HELP!!!

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    Replies
    1. David, yes Ed is vulnerable. That's why you can trust him.

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    2. I am ok with you Waldo !!!
      to be completely vulnerable as he feels is so incredible !
      as strong as to be a samourai .
      we are so little scared mouse beside him , just a bad emotion feeling in you and we scurry in our hole and call for help !
      much love
      sylviane

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  4. Hello David,
    what i am feeling with Edj is how we are wrong with spiritual seeks as you do usually , as you write ! we are always seeking some security in materiel and in emotionnal way because life on earth is so frigtening and so painfully but it is an illusion : no security anywhere !
    Edj is pointing it so clearly with what he is living that it is very difficult for us to accept that truth . We prefer to be shut to our feelings , to our frailty and no see that reality .
    what i am seeing with him is only total opening to love and other feelings can make us free but it is hard !
    So it seems very important to seek deeper in the self and be in his love to across all that stuff .
    No protection , no security ,no permanence ... all that illusions!
    and when we see people we love are dying near us , we see that very strongly and we are naked !
    to be aware and love , what else ?
    with much love
    sylviane

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  5. maybe Robert Adams and others are right when they say to stay in the self . Maybe after being awaked it is too much hard to go again on the market place : too much violent for their sensibility
    S

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  6. David, I finally feel you....you are doing something.

    With Love,
    Lila

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