Is This Advaita Guy Awakened?

Quesioner:


Is this guy _____ genuine? He lived in India for 20 years, and obviously has a great appreciation for Ramana.

gary weber

Gary:


What you sent was interesting and much of it was "correct", at least from my perspective...he is (however) really an advaitic philosopher and not a practitioner... if he works for you, that is what matters.


Questioner:


Okay....so what is the difference between a philosopher and a practitioner if both are Awakened/Realized ?


Gary:


Most folk believe that "awakened" is a yes/no event w/no different degrees. you have heard this before, but everyone is awakening, everyone, just at different rates. Even if there are great experiences, and profound changes in the functioning of consciousness, still the process continues.


we have over 100,000,000,000 neurons in our brains with something like 100,000,000,000,000 connections arranged in countless different networks and arrays. To believe that that all gets rearranged at one time, or that everyone has the same clarity and understanding is silly. If it all got rearranged at one time, it would be a catastrophe mentally. 


He is awake at some level, and so are you. He strikes me as someone who is well along the intellectual path, but needs some time to move into a more experiential, personal, non-intellectual understanding.


you appear to now have the perfect program arranged for you by "the Universe"/Ramana. This fellow appeals to your intellectual/mental side which is so predominant. As he has also imbibed Ramana's teachings and environment...that is a critical endorsement for your (also) using a bhakti/devotional approach to deepen your intellectual understanding into fuller awakening.


Ramana said many times that jnana (advaita, philosophy, scriptures) and bhakti (devotion, surrender, acceptance) lead to the same place...both are deeply necessary. It is too easy to get trapped in either one.


Hope this is helpful.