--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Dec 11, 2006, at 6:47 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: <snip> > > Not knowing whether I am remotely "knowledgeable" or not, > > but knowing that I didn't bother to weigh in on this > > "experiment" at the time, I'll do so now. :-) I agree > > with you that TM, and *most* other methods of meditation > > are dualistic. > > One of the most interesting reactions I heard (repeatedly) > was that I was presenting or claiming that some (unnamed) > Buddhist technique, which I supposedly practiced--despite > the fact I've never claimed to practice any such technique, > nor had I ever claimed to a Buddhist! > > As I was telling Tom T. offlist the other day, my knowledge > of this [i.e., that TM is dualistic--JS] fact was actually > from a visit I made back in the 80's to one of the peeths > of the Holy Shankaracharya Order. A pundit and yogin of that > order kindly asked what my path was, and I naively > replied "Adavaita Vedanta". He was delighted to hear this > and asked who my teachers were and I replied that it was MMY > and from SBS. He seemed puzzled by this and I then explained > that I practiced TM. He found that funny. > > He explained, in some detail then that TM was actually a > dualistic approach from tantra and was definitely not > Advaita. It was very clear at the time that he was simply > speaking the plain truth. As I later heard this also from > another Patanjali and Shankaracharya pundit, it's clear > this is common knowledge.
Except that the issue, of course, isn't whether TM is a "dualistic technique"--obviously it is, at least in the initial stages--but whether its ultimate outcome with regard to state of consciousness is dualistic. MMY has often spoken of "using a thorn to remove a thorn." He has likewise explicitly identified CC as the most dualistic of states. Obviously it would be wrong to characterize TM *as a practice* as Advaita Vedanta. Nor has MMY ever done so, at least that I've heard. Rather, the implication of what he teaches is that we use a thorn (a dualistic technique) to remove a thorn (a dualistic state of consciousness, including CC), thereby essentially proving experientially the truth of the Advaita Vedanta metaphysics of consciousness that is the basis of his teaching and the path TMers are indeed on. So it would appear the pundit to whom Vaj spoke was confused about the nature of MMY's teaching and its purpose, that confusion having been reinforced by Vaj's own lack of understanding of the path MMY outlines.
