The Mayavadi Philosophy Leads to Materialism part1
Thu, 04/10/2008 - 19:27 — admin
MICHAEL: I can see how a few nut cases might carry things to such an extreme, but I can’t imagine this sort of thing taking root on a very wide scale.
TEACHER: You seem to be missing my point. You’re implying that just a few people who don’t really understand “I am Godism” might end up in this state, but I’m saying just the opposite. It is the less advanced impersonalists who refrain from this-the ones who don’t really believe they are God. My point is that if you actually follow Shankara’s philosophy, this is what you’ll end up doing.
And, as bizarre as it may sound, it is not only being propagated but also practiced on a fairly wide scale, especially by the so-called “new age” gurus. This is the sum and substance of Werner Erhard’s EST philosophy, for example, and also that of many of his contemporaries. He teaches that the will of the individual is all-powerful-you can do whatever you want to do.16 Leonard Orr, another popular self-styled new age guru, has a similar teaching.17
The manner in which “I am Godism” leads to hedonism is an entire subject in itself and it’s really not necessary for us to go into it in depth at this time. Suffice it to say that the hedonistic so-called spiritualism being propagated by most new age gurus can be directly traced back to Shankaracharya’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra.
There is enough in the world to fulfill everyone’s needs, but not enough to fulfill everyone’s greed. In some parts of the world, people are dying from severe undernourishment, while in other parts of the world people are dying from obesity.From another angle, when one is in this hedonistic “I am God” consciousness, and he “knows” that everything is all one-all the same-then he can do whatever he wants to with no discrimination as to what is good, what is bad, what is moral, or what is immoral. Anything that he wants to do, he does, anything that feels good. When you’re God you make your own rules.15
Science of Identity Foundation – Chris Butler Speaks
MICHAEL: I can see how a few nut cases might carry things to such an extreme, but I can’t imagine this sort of thing taking root on a very wide scale.
TEACHER: You seem to be missing my point. You’re implying that just a few people who don’t really understand “I am Godism” might end up in this state, but I’m saying just the opposite. It is the less advanced impersonalists who refrain from this-the ones who don’t really believe they are God. My point is that if you actually follow Shankara’s philosophy, this is what you’ll end up doing.
And, as bizarre as it may sound, it is not only being propagated but also practiced on a fairly wide scale, especially by the so-called “new age” gurus. This is the sum and substance of Werner Erhard’s EST philosophy, for example, and also that of many of his contemporaries. He teaches that the will of the individual is all-powerful-you can do whatever you want to do.16 Leonard Orr, another popular self-styled new age guru, has a similar teaching.17
The manner in which “I am Godism” leads to hedonism is an entire subject in itself and it’s really not necessary for us to go into it in depth at this time. Suffice it to say that the hedonistic so-called spiritualism being propagated by most new age gurus can be directly traced back to Shankaracharya’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra.