The Mayavadi Philosophy Leads to Materialism
Thu, 04/10/2008 - 19:22 — admin
TEACHER: Actually, Shankaracharya’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra opens the door to gross materialism. The practitioner comes to regard himself as the One Supreme Lord. He also comes to regard the cosmic manifestation as an expansion of his dream. As we discussed earlier today, Shankara taught that the world came into existence due to the wish or desire of the Supreme Lord, and this doctrine has been developed by Shankara’s successors to mean that God created the world for His pastime or enjoyment.13 The next step in this sequence of thought is when the person begins to think, “Since I am God and I created this world for My own enjoyment, let Me enjoy without restriction. Everything and everyone is meant for Me to enjoy. I am the Supreme Enjoyer.”
Shankaracharya only remained on this planet for 32 years and then he left his body, so he did not develop or carry his philosophy to this point. But today it has not only been developed thusly, it is actually being put into practice. Many “new age” impersonalists enter a particular space where they begin to feel, “If I am God, then I should act like it.” When they begin to think in this way, then they simply become hedonists, trying to enjoy whatever they can with no regard for others. They are not even controlled or regulated any longer by the Vedic injunctions and prohibitions. Since they are “God”, they consider themselves beyond such instructions. For example, if I feel I am God, then I don’t have to respect anyone else, do I? If everyone else really doesn’t exist-if they are just apparent realities, or manifestations of my “dream”-then why should I be concerned with them? As Shankara himself stated:
Whom should the knower of the Self salute if He is established in His own glory, which is infinite, non-dual, and beyond name, etc.?14
Thus, the “perfected” impersonalist simply begins to see others as objects for his own personal enjoyment. After all, he feels himself to be the Supreme Brahman, the only substantial reality-everyone and everything doesn’t really exist-so he gets into enjoying his “illusion.”
This is why people in modern Western societies are still not satisfied, even though they are so economically advanced and thus have so much facility for sense enjoyment. They always want more. As the late British economist E. F. Schumacher points out:The Mayavadi Philosophy Leads to Materialism
Is there enough to go round? Immediately we encounter a serious difficulty: What is “enough”? Who can tell us? Certainly not the economist who pursues “economic growth” as the highest of all values and therefore has no concept of “enough.” There are poor societies which have too little; but where is the rich society that says: “Halt! We have enough”? There is none.*
What’s really needed is to recognize the need for spiritual as well as material happiness. A society that has great material prosperity but lacks spiritual purpose is really a poor society. A body without the soul is a dead body—even if it is nicely decorated with fancy ornaments.
Science of Identity Foundation – Siddhaswarupananda
*E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 25.
TEACHER: Actually, Shankaracharya’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra opens the door to gross materialism. The practitioner comes to regard himself as the One Supreme Lord. He also comes to regard the cosmic manifestation as an expansion of his dream. As we discussed earlier today, Shankara taught that the world came into existence due to the wish or desire of the Supreme Lord, and this doctrine has been developed by Shankara’s successors to mean that God created the world for His pastime or enjoyment.13 The next step in this sequence of thought is when the person begins to think, “Since I am God and I created this world for My own enjoyment, let Me enjoy without restriction. Everything and everyone is meant for Me to enjoy. I am the Supreme Enjoyer.”
Shankaracharya only remained on this planet for 32 years and then he left his body, so he did not develop or carry his philosophy to this point. But today it has not only been developed thusly, it is actually being put into practice. Many “new age” impersonalists enter a particular space where they begin to feel, “If I am God, then I should act like it.” When they begin to think in this way, then they simply become hedonists, trying to enjoy whatever they can with no regard for others. They are not even controlled or regulated any longer by the Vedic injunctions and prohibitions. Since they are “God”, they consider themselves beyond such instructions. For example, if I feel I am God, then I don’t have to respect anyone else, do I? If everyone else really doesn’t exist-if they are just apparent realities, or manifestations of my “dream”-then why should I be concerned with them? As Shankara himself stated:
Whom should the knower of the Self salute if He is established in His own glory, which is infinite, non-dual, and beyond name, etc.?14
Thus, the “perfected” impersonalist simply begins to see others as objects for his own personal enjoyment. After all, he feels himself to be the Supreme Brahman, the only substantial reality-everyone and everything doesn’t really exist-so he gets into enjoying his “illusion.”