Simultaneously One and Different

BY: MAYESVARA DASA (ACBSP)

Nov 03, 2014 — OJAI, CALIFORNIA (SUN) — AVA, November 4th - Ojai, California

Haribolo Friends of the Vedas! Join Us on November 4, 2014 To Discuss:

Simultaneously One and Different! It will be discussed at the American Vedic Association Bhagavad Gita As It Is Fellowship: We DO share common qualities and yet we are all eternally unique expressions of the Supreme Lord. Learn about this esoteric truth at the next AVA meeting. 7:30pm 640-0405 Always Free!

Only Half the Truth!

A very popular half-truth promoted by the priests of the new age is the concept that: "We are all one."

"The manifest universe is the body of God ... all people are incarnations of the One Spirit.". - Ernest Holmes

Many people appreciate that regardless of what body, nation, time or place we were born all of humanity shares common needs, emotions, and basic instincts. That is what gives the Oneness movement its credibility. Vegetarians in particular are able to extend this Oneness doctrine to all other forms of life and those who study particle physics can even understand that it includes every molecule in the universe. That essential, distinct, quality which makes up the common unifying component of everything that exists in this universe is referred to in Sanskrit as "The Brahmana." In that sense… all of use, everything that exists is One. But does that ONE brahman force include God? Is it God?

The Neo-Advaita Non-Dual School

The answer to that question has been debated by the sages in India for a very long time and there are two schools of thought that have evolved from that debate. The Non-Dual school proclaims YES. When we understand this One underlying principal behind everything, we have arrived at God Consciousness. There is no independent concept of God in the Non-Dual school because, after all, God is just another concept that springs from the mind of man which originated from the particles of the universal Brahman energy. It's really just that simple.

In this tradition, all concepts of self, individually, or personal distinction are also part of the veil that separates us and must be given up to achieve full enlightenment. In the Advaita (Non-Dual) tradition there is no distinction between the people who we put in prison and the people we give Nobel Peace prizes to. The genius of great artists is no different from the chaos caused by the people we take off the streets due to insanity. This is why you will sometimes hear people who promote Oneness teachings say radical things like: "There is no difference between Mother Terrisa and Adolf Hitler!"

Non-dual thinking is so rigid that it is not uncommon to hear even those who promote it make all sorts of disclaimers about how difficult it is to follow. Some may accept the crass dismissal of common sense required to uphold the Neo-Advaita conclusions but others are not so ready to do so. Fortunately there is an alternative to the type of mumbo-jumbo double standards taught by the priests of Advaita.

The Bhakti Alternative

The alternative is the Bhakti path that was established by Lord Caitanya approximately 500 years ago and confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita. Lord Caitanya taught that while the entire cosmic creation does all come from the primordial cosmic stew called the Brahman which is part of God's energy, God Himself lies beyond and independent from it.

"And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everywhere, I am not a part of this cosmic manifestation; for I am the very source of creation." - Bhagavad-gita As It Is Chapter 9, "Knowledge of the Absolute" Text 5.

Here we discover that God exists independently from His creation and is not tinged by the affairs of this world. He doesn't need to mettle with the maintenance and sustenance of this material manifestation like the Greeks imagined the Demi-god Atlas did struggling to hold up the globe on his shoulders. God designed the world to function on its own like an extraordinarily machine and for the most part he remains aloof from all of its mundane affairs.

In the Bhakti tradition God exists independently from His creation in His own spiritual abode along with all His associates and friends etc. The only time he gets involved in this world is when he is attracted to do so by the love of his devotee.

"As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha." - Bhagavad-gita As It Is Chapter 4, "Transcendental Knowledge" Text .11

So this is where the mantra: acintya-bhedabheda-tattva explains that which is beyond the mundane mind to figure out on its own. In Sanskrit achintya means 'inconceivable', bheda translates as 'difference', and abheda translates as 'non-difference'. So with this mantra we understand that God is simultaneously One with, and yet completely independent (different from) this universe. Understanding God as a person is the other portion of the truth that the Oneness movement has no access to and therefor can-not explain. God reserves the right to reveal Himself to whomever he wishes and He can-not be cornered by philosophers, science, or sentimentalists who wish to imagine him in any number of creative ways. Krishna makes it very clear how He can be understood:

"My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can I be understood as I am, standing before you, and can thus be seen directly. Only in this way can you enter into the mysteries of My understanding." - Bhagavad-gita As It Is Chapter 11, "The Universal Form" Text 54.

The important difference between the Non-Dual path and the Bhakti path is that there is no loving exchange in the Neo-Advaita school. That is because in that tradition there is nobody to have a loving exchange with. Any sense of exchange becomes part of the entangling illusion of believing that there is something beyond the concept of the One brahman that even exists. This explains for why those who attempt to follow this half-truth are often frustrated and unfulfilled.

The full truth is that both God and the all the individual souls exist eternally. We are bound up in this world of illusions usually only thinking of our self while God exists independently waiting patiently for us to restore our lost relationship with Him. Those who realize this single point and begin the process of devotional service are the ones who are truly "Enlightened" .

"Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is the knower of everything. He therefore engages himself in full devotional service to Me, O son of Bharata." - Bhagavad-gita As It Is Chapter 15, "The Yoga Of The Supreme Person", Text 19.

Your servant Mayesvara dasa (ACBSP)

AKA: William Roberts MBA/MIS, CCP
Proprietor: Jagannatha Enterprises
687 West Villanova Road
Ojai, California 93023
(805) 640-0405 mdjagdasa @ gmail.com