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Thread: Hoping for some personal guidance

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    Hoping for some personal guidance

    I've been trying to self educate on various topics and it has finally come time for me to accept that I'm not that great at it. But I really want to steep my self in Advaita philosophy so I thought I'd take a shot in the dark here and see if anyone would be willing to take me under their wing in the learning of the Advaita lifestyle. Thank you.

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    Ps there is a temple in my area but the teacher there places more emphasis on worship of Vishnu.

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    Dear shyas
    Quote Originally Posted by shays860 View Post
    Ps there is a temple in my area but the teacher there places more emphasis on worship of Vishnu.
    What is wrong with that? Worship of VishNu will help you understand tattva-dnyAna (the philosophy of VedAnta) even faster and betteṛ, because VishNu Himself will take you under His wing. He will also send a teacher to you.

    So many people (especially coming from other cultures) want to cirrcumvent the Lord Himself. To be blunt, they want to have nothing to do with Hiṃ. They want the Bhagvad GitA but want to ignore the author of those transcendental worḍs.

    Have you read the 11th chapter of GitA, shays?

    Adi ShankarAchArya was a Govinda premi (an elevated VishNu devotee). Look what happened to his following several generations lateṛ...
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    Quote Originally Posted by shays860 View Post
    I've been trying to self educate on various topics and it has finally come time for me to accept that I'm not that great at it. But I really want to steep my self in Advaita philosophy so I thought I'd take a shot in the dark here and see if anyone would be willing to take me under their wing in the learning of the Advaita lifestyle. Thank you.
    Vannakkam: I'm not sure what you want, a philosophy, or a lifestyle. There are lots of great Advaita books around.

    But very few are great at it. Intellectually, sure, but traditionally advaita comes from within as well. So it may take several lifetimes to become great at it.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    I'm really looking for the closest thing to a guru disciple relationship that can be approximated online. Again, I knew it was a shot in the dark but I have been trying to find and progress on a path for ten years and the little headway I'm making is making me crazy.

    Thanks

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    I've been trying to self educate on various topics and it has finally come time for me to accept that I'm not that great at it. But I really want to steep my self in Advaita philosophy so I thought I'd take a shot in the dark here and see if anyone would be willing to take me under their wing in the learning of the Advaita lifestyle. Thank you.
    Dear
    shays860,

    While I am not an Advaitin, I think it is a great philosophy. The best way to learn advaita is through a guru who is knowledgeable in Advaita. But not everyone has time and convenience to find a guru, so the alternate way is to read the work of great Advaitns. You can check out previous posts on this forum and try to learn from them. May be books and translations of Upanishads based on Advaita point of view will help. The Advaita lifestyle is basically path of Jnana (that is knowledge of self) and Advaitins usually do yoga, study of religious scriptures and then self contemplation. Hope knowledgeable Advaitins of the forum guide you better.

    Best of luck.
    Last edited by isavasya; 13 December 2013 at 11:25 AM.
    When the light has risen, there is no day, no night, neither existence nor non-existence; Siva alone is there. That is the eternal, the adorable light of Savitri, - and the ancient wisdom proceeded thence (Svetasvatara Upanishad IV-18). :)

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    Quote Originally Posted by shays860 View Post
    I'm really looking for the closest thing to a guru disciple relationship that can be approximated online. Again, I knew it was a shot in the dark but I have been trying to find and progress on a path for ten years and the little headway I'm making is making me crazy.

    Thanks
    Vannakkam: Can you define 'progress' in this context? I'm not sure if I understand. Maybe you can give me an example of before/after that will make it clearer.

    I'm of the opinion that 'progress' as you call it is difficult to see or measure in oneself. But if you went to a school reunion, or a family reunion, and someone said, "Gosh you've changed!" maybe that would be more convincing than attempting to self analyse.

    What is it that you want to see change?

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    I guess I just want to become more conscious of Brahman in myself, others and the world around me. I want to feel the spiritual permeate my existence to the greatest degree I can manage. I want to be a beacon of spirituality to those who like myself at this time are shrouded in ignorance...

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    I want to be calm, happy, productive. I am hoping that the equanimity I can gain from spirituality will help me more productively pursue my intellectual and activist aims of improving material conditions for others in the world so that they may too pursue their higher callings once their material and emotional needs are met. But right now I just feel generally stuck. Unable to accomplish much of anything.

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    Re: Hoping for some personal guidance

    Vannakkam: I honestly don't know what to say. One thing I can suggest, although generally I get in trouble for this, is to think action, not philosophy. For example, in about a half an hour, I'm giving out temple priest's wife a ride in the -20 weather. It will help her, and make me feel okay at the same time. Either that or I could go meditate and try to feel Brahman inside me.

    So maybe it's a matter of choosing a better route?

    Aum Namasivaya

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