What is the difference between intellectually understanding Vedanta and embodying it?
Do you embody it??
Really?
If not, how can you possibly understand it?
From the outside looking in, one cannot understand Vedanta.
In the depth of one’s being, everyone knows Vedanta.
To live it is another thing.
And that does not align with one’s preconceived notions of what that looks like (Not even you… no disrespect intended). Vedanta is not a philosophy or religion… It is a physiological state of being.
I just posted a new article on my Medium.com blog. It begins:
I was once asked the following:
“People say that Mantras are different names of God. Not being particularly religious, I’m uncomfortable with that. Is it true that Mantras are all different names of God? When we meditate on a Mantra, are we being indoctrinated into some religious approach without even being told?”…
Today is Mahashivarathri and the feeling at Mount Soma is wonderful. Everybody is outside preparing for the festivities. Right now, it almost feels like Fourth of July here at Mount Soma: friendship, community, spirituality, festivities, springtime… we have it all!
Try as we might, we are unable to put into words the deepest subtleties of another’s personality. It is in one’s jyotish chart, but such profound subtleties are not totally accessible even to the best of jyotishis. Of course, the jyotish chart is a map of one’s karma. It is like a weather reading and forecast. We do have free will, yet on any particular day the weather determines if we might be sunbathing, bundled up, holed up, or under an umbrella.
Traditionally, a jyotishi and his family cultivated a relationship with other families over the generations. In so doing, through observation and personal interactions, the jyotishi developed a feeling for the subtle qualities of the family karma that played out through the personified influences of the grahas. As a result, their insights and predictive abilities became far more honed-in and accurate than if they were giving a reading to a complete stranger.
Each graha has its qualities. But how they play out in an individual is as unique as is every individual’s personality. Generalizations about a person’s personality always fall short of who that person really is. Families flow along a karmic stream of personified influences of the grahas that color with shades and hues the subtle qualities of the personalities of the people involved. Hidden deep within one’s jyotish chart is the understanding of the subtle nature of how Mars, for example (or any of the grahas), influences a persons life. But it is a far more effective approach to see how the influence has carried the family through the generations. Though it is in the chart, it is less accessible there for even the finest of jyotishis. Of course, it can be argued that a totally enlightened jyotish master, like a Rishi, could find it in the chart by transcending on the chart with total clarity. Yet such great beings are a tremendous rarity, particularly in this age of Kali Yuga.
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"This blog helps bring the reader to a level of understanding that few are willing to take the time to comprehend. It is extremely important to be very attentive to the subtle difference between what you have learned in the past and what is being said here, and not allow things to get blurred. Vedic Knowledge is a profoundly beautiful topic – my life is one of dedication to pure Knowledge." – Michael Mamas
What is the difference between intellectually understanding Vedanta and embodying it?
Try as we might, we are unable to put into words the deepest subtleties of another’s personality. It is in one’s jyotish chart, but such profound subtleties are not totally accessible even to the best of jyotishis. Of course, the jyotish chart is a map of one’s karma. It is like a weather reading and forecast. We do have free will, yet on any particular day the weather determines if we might be sunbathing, bundled up, holed up, or under an umbrella.
