In
what we take for knowledge, how far do we know truly? And how far is
our so-called 'knowing' mistaken? How far is it a confusing pretence,
where knowledge is mixed up with mistakes that we have made, through
errors of perception and belief? These are questions that we sometimes
ask, a little bit, so as to be a little clearer in our seeing and our
thinking.
These questions are asked in an enquiry that's called 'advaita' or 'non-dual'. But, in this enquiry, the questions are not asked just 'a little bit'. They are meant to be asked so thoroughly that nothing else but truth remains. The aim is to find a truth which is completely uncompromised, by any mixture with untruth or falsity.
Advaita questioning thus starts in duality, by carefully distinguishing between what seem to be two different things. But the investigation is not meant to maintain some compromised mixture of opposites. Instead, it's meant to be pursued so thoroughly that it reflects within itself, back down towards an unmixed truth where no opposition or duality remains.
In the modern world, this kind of questioning has now become more open. The questions are now asked more directly, in ordinary language that is closer to our everyday lives. There's less appeal to the traditional authority of old religions. And there is more questioning of ordinary words and ideas that we use today, as we apply them to our common experience.
This is the approach of some writings that are presented below, about advaita questioning and its relationship to educating disciplines that we have currently inherited.
The writings may all be downloaded for viewing and nearly all for printing. (It should be noted that their content often overlaps.)
The files are mostly in 'pdf' format, which
will require the Adobe Acrobat reader. In order to download, please
click on the title. (For downloading in Windows, best to right click and then select
'Save Target As...'.)
Shri Atmananda was a modern advaita philosopher
who lived in Kerala State, India, 1983-1959. The writings in this
website are inspired by his teachings. The following collection of
notes on his discourses was published by a disciple, Shri Nitya Tripta:
Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda
- with hyperlinks added to index and statements (518 pages, 2534 k)
Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda - alternative version,
with a selection of notes arranged by subject (291 pages, 1212 k)
An e-mail discussion of Shri Atmananda's approach is reported in the following document:
Some teachings from Shri Atmananda (64 pages, 253 k)
Some further information on Shri Atmananda may be found at:
http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/atmananda/atmananda1.htm
From the Upanishads (279 pages, 537 k)
Interpreting the Upanishads (219 pages, 475 k)
Above two books published in paperback version by:
Zen Publications: http://www.zenpublications.com
The Upanishads - Asking for simplicity (15 pages, 73 k)
See page "Upanishads - mahavakyas", on this website
The Upanishads - An introduction (20 pages, 78 k)
Nature and consciousness - Gargi questions Yajnyavalkya (26 pages, 105 k)
Om - from the Mandukya Upanishad (11 pages, 67 k)
Ways to Truth - A View of Hindu tradition (183 pages, 754 k, print disabled).
Book published in paperback and hard-bound versions by
D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd.: http://www.dkprintworld.com
Knowledge before printing and after - a view of the Advaita tradition (16 pages, 157 k)
See page "Advaita tradition", on this website
New science, old tradition (19 pages, 99 k)
Knowledge before printing and after -Learning and language - Some classical ideas (13 pages, 110 k)
See page "Learning & language", on this website
Language and science - Bhartrihari's questioning (9 pages, 69 k)
Bhartrihari's Vakyapadiya - some excerpts (37 pages, 211 k)
Old ideas of language (42 pages, 175 k)
Levels of language - from an old philosophy (18 pages, 112 k)
Objective science and impersonal knowing (7 pages, 53 k)
See page "Science and knowing", on this website
Scientific questioning (2 pages, 49 k)
New physics and old sciences (9 pages, 71 k)
See page "New physics, old sciences", on this website
See also "Slideshow" (8 Acrobat pdf slides, 128 k)
Physics and psychology (8 pages, 78 k)
See page "Physics & psychology", on this website
Scientific Disciplines (25 pages, 141 k)
See page "Scientific disciplines", on this website
Old sciences in India - An introduction (83 pages, 469 k)
Old sciences in India - summarizing questions, figures and diagrams (20 pages, 251 k)
Space, time and cause (8 pages, 67 k)
Environment and old sciences (10 pages, 77 k)
Educating sciences of life and mind (14 pages, 81 k)
Some old ideas of life and mind (23 pages, 114 k)
Nature and life - Old ideas, new questioning (22 pages, 180 k)
Elements of personality and world - some diagrams (3 pages, 69 k)
New science, old questions (127 pages, 442 k)
'Reality' in modern physics (23 pages, 88 k)
Three states and one reality - from the Mandukya Upanishad (8 pages, 58 k)
See page "3 states & one reality", on this website
Living nature (8 pages, 61 k)
See page "Living nature", on this website
Where thought turns back . . . A skeptical approach to truth (15 pages, 119 k)
See page "Where thought turns back", on this website
Ashtavakra-samhita (110 pages, 378 k)
Objective pictures and impersonal knowledge (26 pages, 98 k)
Old ideas of mind (16 pages, 86 k)
Doing and knowing (6 pages, 59 k)
The practice of reflective questioning - an advaita approach (4 pages, 101 k)
Questions of knowledge (15 pages, 61 k)
Nothing but truth - An interpretation of Jnyaneshvara's Cangadeva Pasashti (16 pages, 50 k)
Sat-cit-ananda - some diagrams (6 pages, 60 k)
Questioning back in - some articles (72 pages, 236 k)
Assorted verse (256 pages, 565 k)
Ananda Wood woodananda@gmail.com