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Neo-Advaita Demystified
...These things, when they pour down or come in, present themselves with a great force, a vivid sense of
inspiration or illumination, much sensation of light and joy, an impression of widening and power. The
sadhak feels himself freed from the normal limits, projected into a wonderful new world of experience,
filled and enlarged and exalted;what comes associates itself, besides, with his aspirations, ambitions,
notions of spiritual fulfillment and yogic siddhi; it is represented even as itself that realisation and
fulfillment. Very easily he is carried away by the splendour and the rush, and thinks that he has
realised more than he has truly done, something final or at least something sovereignly true. At this
stage the necessary knowledge and experience are usually lacking which would tell him that this is only
a very uncertain and mixed beginning; he may not realise at once that he is still in the cosmic
Ignorance, not in the cosmic Truth, much less in the Transcendental Truth, and that whatever
formative or dynamic idea-truths may have come down into him are partial only and yet further
diminished by their presentation to him by a still mixed consciousness. He may fail to realise also that
if he rushes to apply what he is realising or receiving as if it were something definitive, he may either
fall into confusion and error or else get shut up in some partial formation in which there may be an
element of spiritual Truth but it is likely to be outweighted by more dubious mental and vital
accretions that deform it altogether.
These words by the Indian sage Sri Aurobindo, refer to what he called the Intermediate Zone, a
dangerous and misleading transitional spiritual and pseudo-spiritual region between the ordinary
consciousness of the outer being and True Realisation.
Although written in 1932 as cautionary words for his disciples, they are more relevant and important
today than they were then.
It seems that every other day another self-proclaimed 'enlightened' teacher of Neo-Advaita appears on
the scene. These Neo-Advaita guru's have reduced thousands of years of Advaita teachings into the
spiritual equivalent of McDonald's junk food. No longer is it necessary for the spiritual student to
engage in self-inquiry or inner work on oneself. Now all that is necessary to 'realize the Self' is a
constant repetitive denial of one's own identity and the (pseudo) 'understanding' that the ego and all
and everything else that happens in the universe (essence and belief systems included) is 'simply an
illusion'. Everything 'just happens, there is no path, no cause', so consequently there is absolutely
nothing to do.
It's really simple, just like it was for Shankara, Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj,
Rumi and the relatively few others who are generally agreed to have been enlightened.
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What? Wait a minute, I don't recall that it was easy for the above mentioned Masters. Didn't they
spend years, and sometimes entire lifetimes meditating, engaged in self-inquiry and inner work? Oh
yeah, they did. And this is the problem that exists now, because the Neo-Avaita movement claims
lineage from and history from Advaita, but advocates none of the work. In fact they continue to
espouse that it is simply not necessary. Merde!
No real work on oneself is necessary, only a constant repetitive denial of one's identity and the
'understanding' that the ego and all (and everything) that happens (essence and belief systems
included) is 'just an illusion'. Everything just happens, there is no path, so there is nothing to do.
Occasionally these self proclaimed 'enlightened or awakened masters' even believe themselves to be
superior or more advanced than their own teachers. For example Tony Parsons has declared that
Ramana Maharshi was obviously still living from duality and Andrew Cohen has said that his guru
Poonjaji was not enlightened in other words both Maharshi and Poonjaji were asleep and Parsons
and Cohen are awake. Yeah, right!
In addition to Parsons and Cohen, the best known English speaking Neo-Advaitin gurus also include
Eckhart Tolle and Ramesh Balsekar. Meanwhile there are hundreds of others in Europe, the United
States and Australia.
And they all have one thing in common, they declare that they have realized the Self, and awakened to
their true nature. And of course they all want to teach (and in some cases) prey upon Neo-Advaita
adepts in search of their own liberation. In the process these Neo-Avaitins have bastardized and
twisted the original tenets and practice of Advaita until it is no longer recognizable except by the most
discerning of adepts. Unfortunately it appears that most adepts are not able to discern the differences
between Advaita and Neo-Advaita. Perhaps this will help.
The Path of Advaita according to Shankara
For the purposes of this article, presented below is a very short summary of the pre-requisites needed
by a seeker before achieving Self-Realization or Liberation (as specified by Shankara in his
Vivekachudamani - The Crest Jewel of Discrimination translated into Tamil by Ramana Maharshi and
from Tamil into English by Sir Arthur Osborne).
In order to be qualified for enquiry into the Self, a man must have a powerful intellect and ability to
seize the essential and reject the inessential besides the various qualities enumerated in the scriptures.
What are these? He must be able to discriminate between the real and the unreal. He must have an
unattached mind. He must ardently desire liberation. And he must be tireless in practice Only such one
is qualified to enquire into Brahman. The qualifications are enumerated as follows:
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1. Discrimination between the real and the unreal.
2. Disinclination to enjoy the fruit's of one's actions.
3. The six virtues of tranquility, self-control, withdrawal, forbearance, faith, and concentration of the
Self.
4. Intense yearning for liberation.
The aspirant must indeed have these qualities in order to attain abidance in the Self; without them
there can be no realization of the Truth.
This then is the simplified version of Shankara's instructions for truth realization.
The Neo-Advaita Shellgame
Contrast this with what is necessary according to Neo-Advaita. Which is nothing. Absolutely nothing is
necessary except for a strategy of denial. Neo-Advaita teachers simply declare or fool themselves into
believing that their identity/ego doesn't exist, in fact, that nothing really exists and everything is simply
an illusion.
This can easily done by anyone, just give it a try and youll see. Take a few minutes now and start
rebuffing everything you perceive, everything that comes up in yourself, including yourself. If and
when you do this regularly, you may find yourself getting hooked by the fundamental Neo-Advaita
trickery. Of course there is also a bit of cheating necessary. You need to be ready and willing to deny
values and ethics and if you are ready and willing to cheat yourself then youre ready to be enlightened
the Neo-Advaita way.
Having integrated Neo-Advaita will bring up the joy of a constant feeling of superiority. You will also
be rewarded with the feeling of constant rightness and will never be proven wrong anymore no matter
what you say or do. Simply because nothing is real all is illusion. Who is there to be wrong? Merde !
Traditional Advaita says that the ego is an illusion. The Satsang Prophets emphasize this as THE
starting point, completely omitting that this realization may only occur at the end of years of self-
inquiry and work on oneself (and not necessarily with any certainty). Once this premise is understood
and the self-cheating is engaged, one obtains a constant very pleasant feeling of superiority and
invulnerability. This is what they regard as being the ultimate accomplishment and they believe that it
is the same as that lived and taught by Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and even Shankara,
although in reality its nothing but the Neo-Advaita version of nihilism. (If this is what youre looking
for Parsons, Tolle, Balsekar and their cohorts are a good choice for teachers.)
Giving satsang allows them the opportunity to meet obedient and easily hypnotized listeners to whom
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they can teach what apparently is so easy to understand: 'Everything is just an illusion.'
Below are other common features of these teachers:
1. "Uncomfortable" questions are evaded. The evasion strategy is easy because in the background there
is a safe haven: neither I nor the other exist.
2. Essence - Essential Value is seen on the same level as identity: as being non-existent.
3. An attitude of utter arrogance/vanity (How can I be wrong? The one who can be wrong doesn't exist,
only those who still believe that there is anything other than illusion are wrong).
4. Total absence of humility ("who cares?") and ethics.
The result is mind-f_____g at it's purest - spiced with some borrowed and misunderstood Advaita
wisdom.
A real seeker is one who has the desire, commitment and talent to 'make' it. But it's difficult for me to
say if a real seeker automatically has the discrimination to avoid falling into the Neo-Advaita trap.
There may be a question of destiny, luck and/or grace involved.
Some adepts who have difficulties in switching off the self-delusion have ended up in mental hospitals
(paranoid syndrome), others have had the courage to jump to the teacher role and give satsang which
gives their 'non-existent' ego the recognition and food for continued survival.
Life becomes a play between 'enlightened' nihilistics or between a self-declared nihilist and an ignorant
fool who just serves as 'confirmation-that-I'm-right' food. As this is so obvious, there seems to be a
kind of collective self-hypnosis that is happening on a relatively large scale.
Neo-Advaitins tend to evade inquiring questions because these types of questions challenge their
axiom 'that they don't exist and everything is an illusion.' Instead they use words that disguise: How
can I be wrong since I don't exist as a separate 'I'? Therefore I am always right.
This all occurs not as a result of work on themselves but as a starting point of all that is (re)presented.
Of course, at a certain point, one needs to cheat oneself in order to do this. When cheating oneself any
and all sincerity towards oneself is eliminated. This cheating arises when it comes time to deny the
humanness, what Jesus meant with the son of god and what Meister Eckhart said when he referred
to the Gottesgeburt im Menschen, the birth of God within man.
Through constant repeated self hypnosis (telling yourself that everything just happens, only here and
now exists, you then slip into a 'super-identity' based on overall denial of ego/identity. Sadhana is an
unnecessary burden because the one who does this has simply not understood that all is illusion, even
work on oneself (so "why care?").
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Instead of considering the realization that everything is just an illusion as the result of years of inquiry
and guided work on yourself, just take it as starting point, an axiom, a self-evident truth. Once this self-
generated ruse is accomplished you will automatically come to the conclusion that self-enquiry
(Ramana Maharshi) or work on oneself (Gurdjieff) or a guru (Nisargadatta Maharaj) are just
illusionary un-necessities.
If you feel offended by what has been written: Either you need to become a bit more tricky in denying
your own and the authors existence (isnt everything just an illusion?). Or youre not yet completely
hooked by the Neo-Advaita game and you might want to reconsider if this is the direction you want to
take.
I offer to you the following dialog from Nisargadatta Maharaj...
Nisargadatta: To go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect order. You cannot leave a
mess behind and go beyond. He who seeks Liberation must examine his mind by his own efforts, and
once the mind is purified by such introspection Liberation is obtained and appears obvious and
natural.
Q: "Then why are sadhanas prescribed?"
Nisargadatta: "Freedom to do what one likes is really bondage, while being free to do what one must,
what is right, is real freedom."
Q: "How can the absolute be the result of a process?"
Nisargadatta: "You are right, the relative cannot result in the absolute. But the relative can block the
absolute, just as the non-churning of the cream may prevent butter from separating. It is the real that
creates the urge; the inner prompts the outer and the outer responds in interest and effort." "You seem
to want instant insight, forgetting that the instant is always preceded by a long preparation. The fruit
falls suddenly, but the ripening takes time."
"The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must question your
most inveterate beliefs."
POSTSCRIPT
So by now, since you have chosen to read this through to end, I suppose that you might be asking
yourself, Why should I listen to you? Who the hell are you anyway? And the answer is that you
shouldn't listen me. Anymore than you should listen to Eckhart Tolle or Tony Parsons. At least not
without truly listening to yourself. What you can do is search into the very depths of yourself, not
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taking someone else's (anyone else's word) for anything. Instead listen to your heart and seek a teacher
who teaches you how to eliminate the unnecessary burdens and who at the same time promotes the
blossoming of your essence (your essential value), your divine nature, the best of the best that resides
in the core of your (and his) humility.
If you have found this article useful, interesting, stimulating, controversial or you just like to 'stir the
pot', submit and/or post it to the appropriate websites, forums and newsgroups; perhaps you and I
together can play a small part in awakening a few people from the Neo-Advaita trance.
-- Author unknown
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