Traditional Advaita, Neo- Advaita, and TM

[Hondo]

Traditional Advaita, as taught by the Adi
Shankaracharya, has sadhana requirements.
Not everyone will be accepted into the
Saraswati Order. Most people won't have
access to the initiation performed for the
Sannyasin of the Saraswati tradition.

However, although the Shankaracharya
sannyasins adhere to the Advairta Vedanta,
at the same time, they all worship the Divine
Mother - Sri Vidya, and that is why they are
termed Saraswati. They are Sri Vidya
proponents who follow Shankaracharya's
Advaita Vedanta.

Ramana Maharshi changed all that - he
established the Direct Path teachings. He
taught that Realization is open to everyone,
and that a long series of preparatory
studies was not a requirement - that the
non-dual Reality can be realized without
a long series of activities, yogas, and
sadhanas.

MMY seems to agree with much that Ramana
Maharshi has said, as do Poonja, Nisargadatta
Maharaj, Papaji, Atmananda Krishna Menon,
Swami Chinmayananda, and Ramesh Balsekar,
the New-Advaitins.

Read more:

Subject: Guru Dev's Sadhana
From: Willytex
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental,
alt.meditation, alt.yoga
Date: August 15, 2003

Advaita Vedanta:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta

Ramana Maharshi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi
http://tinyurl.com/ydzz8as

[willytex]

[willytex]

What you need to understand, is that we are talking
about non-theistic Vedanta. In Adwaita Vedanta, the
Creator is not the ultimate reality, so TMers aren't very
concerned with the names or nicknames of the Devas,
Gods or deified heroes of Hindu mythology.

For those who ascribe to Adwaita Vedanta, the
ultimate reality is the Absolute, which transcends all
categories, including time, space, causation, and
name and form.

According to David Frawley, "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's
Transcendental Meditation follows a Vedantic view of
consciousness and cosmic evolution" (Frawley 4).

Work cited:

'Vedantic Meditation: Lighting the Flame of Awareness'
by David Frawley
North Atlantic Books, 2000

Other titles of interest:

'Inner Tantric Yoga: Working with the Universal Shakti:
Secrets of Mantras, Deities, and Meditation'
by David Frawley
Lotus Press, 2009