A much awaited presentation of Sri Ramakrishna's philosophical outlook in the western word domonated by christian views. Thanks Ayon!

He makes theology seem vital and alive, as opposed to rigid, dead and dogmatic. This is a great service to the world.

@rajatchakraborty6381

4 жыл бұрын

exactly

@rajatchakraborty6381

4 жыл бұрын

its al started by sri ramakrishna

This is great.. go on the children of Ramkrishna.. Holy Trinity is with you all.. may Ramkrishna bless us all..

1:13:20 "God is more living than the people here". So beautifully you said Ayon Maharaj. Thank you so much for this wonderful lecture. Deep respect and love.

I wish I were 18 again -- So that I could major in Philosophy instead of Engineering

Maharaj is doing a great job... Thakur's grace...

Great to watch this and learn how modern philosophers are illuminating this ...

Really breath taking interpretation by the great young Ayon Maharaj. Jai Sri Viveka RamaKrishna Sharada. Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Sri Ayon Maharaj. Jai Jai Jai. .

Namaskaram Guru 🙏 🙏🙏 🙏🙏 🙏🙏 🙏🙏 🙏

A very informative lecture. Thank you sir. Beautiful scholarship.

Jai Sri Ramakrishna Jai Sri Ramakrishna Jai Sri Ramakrishna Jai Sri Ramakrishna Jai Sri Ramakrishna

Pranaam🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

I have always admired and liked Sri Ramakrishna's teaching that there are numerous ways in which to approach the Infinite. This teaching promotes open-mindedness and genuine respect for all faiths. It also discourages fanaticism. However, it is extremely difficult to defend this "pluralistic" position through logical arguments. There are many loose ends (e.g., nature of the Infinite, what is meant by salvation) as the discussion after Ayon Maharaj's talk revealed.

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Good talk, even if it was more like a speedy book reading. However, I don't know why he places Advaita Vedanta under the Inclusivism column. Actually, it should have a category of its own, such as, 'Universalism'. Advaitans believe everyone is already Liberated, but they just don't know it, because there is no one to liberate - there is only God. As Nisargadatta says: "Liberation is not of the person, but from the person." I would sure appreciate Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's comment on this.

@VidMaya999

5 жыл бұрын

Advaita includes the whole universe doctrines and faiths on it's way to God-realisation. In a way, it is Inclusivism. Isn't it?

@bradstephan7886

5 жыл бұрын

No, not the way Ayon Maharaj defines 'Inclusivism'. Otherwise, under a more broad definition of 'Inclusivism', yes.

@nancysutton7891

5 жыл бұрын

Brad, in the recent Q&A someone asked for Swami Sarvapriyananda's comment - see at 34 minutes.. kzread.info/dash/bejne/o4url7CuoLyefaQ.html

@AbhishekKumar-sz9fl

4 жыл бұрын

@@nancysutton7891 Thank You so much.🙏

I think the answer to the question of the salvific efficiency of a religion is implied in the parable of the earnest but ignorant pilgrim going towards the north of Calcutta to reach Puri instead of the south. Someone will guide him to the right path. The aspirant has to find out the efficacy of the religion he follows by his own experience. It is an adventure. And the nature of the ultimate realization also cannot be defined as God cannot be defined by any theological concept. Sri Ramakrishna hence gave the parable of the high sea "the black waters' ; "the uncharted sea'.

The lecture was great and an amazing job of explaining Ramakrishna's position. Although I would suggest Maharaj ji to do proper पूर्व पक्ष of abrahamic religions, before trying to give an उत्तर पक्ष from विज्ञान वेदांत. Bought the book, can't wait to read!

@vivekdas9771

3 жыл бұрын

Sir I think u might have already read it in 2 years. Can you plz share your gettings.

@vivekdas9771

3 жыл бұрын

I would also read the book myself.

Sri Ramakrishna's claim that all religions have salvific efficacy notwithstanding their contrasting doctrines and historical claims is I think the key point here vis a vis his harmonization of all religions. Thanks for that. Vijnana is like a second order claim over first order doctrines, it's not like another doctrine, how true. Never thought of it like that, thanks, that was deep. Yes pluralism is indeed defined in terms of salvific efficacy instead of doctrine, man, you're on fire here. Somebody says Russia doesn't exist and then someone visits Russia, you absolutely nail the argument, thanks again. The discussion following the last question is hilarious, with you trying to reconcile their own confusion with themselves, which is what it always degenerates to once the people concerned don't know what the heck they are talking. Regarding the mansion of mirth concept of Sri Ramakrishna, I somewhat beg to differ, the world as a mansion of mirth, really? With all the suffering and misery?

@prosenjitroy1614

3 жыл бұрын

Misery to whom? to what? If I see a puppy being kicked, who is the ultimate sufferer here? The puppy? Myself? Inquiry into this may potentially take us to what's being referred to as the mansion of mirth, where mirth is not an experience, but the ground of all experiences. I think.

@sombh1971

3 жыл бұрын

@@prosenjitroy1614 misery to both

Vijnana is a spiritual state that makes sense in Advaita Vedanta

Maharaj, pranaam. Excellent talk. Bhagwan Ramakrishna has provided the ideal and suitable medicine for each of the seekers, providing personalised, flexible religion ideally suited to the current times. I have two questions on the idea of all religions being able provide the same enlightenment to sincere seekers, at the same calling it a view of one aspect of supreme. If multiple paths of various religions all provide a glimpse of the Reality/Godhead/Absolute - then suffering still continues, as then the seeker, having seen only the one aspect, struggles with difference with others. Does enlightenment not provide liberation from suffering of limited self? Where do we then get to see the “big picture”? So then definitely there must be one more step to recognise the many different coloured lizards to one chameleon? Also why is only an Avataar capable of the Vigyaana viewpoint? As a Buddhist, following the Mahayana tradition, I believe that all beings contain the seed of enlightenment, so these questions. Pranaam

@ProsenjitRoy2k10

5 жыл бұрын

"...suffering still continues, as then the seeker, having seen only the one aspect, struggles with difference with others." Would it be that the said difference is only in the paths, not in the goal? And that, once that goal is reached, the path to the goal wouldn't matter (and suffering would stop)?

@DipanGhosh

5 жыл бұрын

Hi, here are a few things regarding your question. Does enlightenment not provide liberation from suffering of limited self? Though the path towards the ultimate goal varies, once the goal is attained, the perceived differences are dissolved. Having realized the ultimate, the seeker is no longer troubled by the variety (all the names and forms, the differences in various paths stems from this), becuase he relizes them to be One. The Master gives many beautiful examples: “A person can attain God by following any one path properly. Then he can learn about all the other paths. It’s like climbing up to a roof, whether you do it by a wooden ladder or brick steps or even by a rope. “When God’s grace descends, a devotee can know everything. You will know everything once you realize Him. You have to meet the landlord by whatever means possible - you have to talk to him. The he himself will tell you how many gardens, ponds and company securities he has.” -- Kathamrita Part 5, Section XIII Why is only an Avataar capable of the Vigyaana viewpoint? This is indeed a very difficult question. Swami Saradananda mentions in his book "Sri Ramakrishna, the great master" that the theory of Avatara, Avataravad, is one of the most difficult things to understand. In Gita, Sri Krishna says in one famous verse, that all actions of an Avatara is divine, and therefore cannot be interpreted by worldly logic. It may seem that this is escapism, just explaining everying away with mysticism, but the point is not all things can be explained, or even grasped by our mind. Having said that, Sri Ramakrishna himself said a few things on why such is the case. There are many stories, I would kindly point you towards Swami Sarvapriyananda's talk on "Avatara - Story of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Sarvapriyananda" kzread.info/dash/bejne/l2mWqY-RYdy6l7g.html

@Beginnerarttutorials

5 жыл бұрын

ProsenjitRoy2k10 : that was my understanding too but from Maharaj’s exposition it seems that a path provides illumination to one aspect of reality , somewhat like climbing one side of the mountain to see one part of the mountain, whereas I would think that an enlightened person sees the whole mountain

@partharaja65

4 жыл бұрын

What mahayana school do u follow? Tibetan? Or pureland?

Dry mental Speculation can't reveal anything. It's a roundabout way they flounder in the darkness of uncertainty. God is called Adhokshaja = who is deathblow to all empirical knowledge. He can only be approached through unconditional love. Those who lack love be him a monk or a householder he would never attain God realisation

@abyutb

4 жыл бұрын

By empirical knowledge what do you mean? who is talking about emperical knowledge here?? Both the infinite Brahman and personal god is beyond the snares of all emperical knowledge. The knowledge which Maharaj is speaking is that infinite knowledge which is our very own self.

Just wondering... if Nirguna and Saguna brahman are the same, Cause equals Effect. Therefore, there is no cause no effect. Hence... Advaita?

@stevelarson4925

5 жыл бұрын

I do not think he or Thakur is saying they are the same, they are saying they are equally true. Just as Christianity is not the same as Islam, but in the light or Sri Ramakrishna, they are equally valid paths to God.

@thrinethran2885

5 жыл бұрын

Has not Sri Ramakrishna also stressed Advaitha realisation for the desire-less state that eliminates reincarnation?

@stevelarson4925

5 жыл бұрын

@@thrinethran2885 Yes I do believe he has described that as a path. Ayon Maharaj's new book is trying to state that if we try to pigeon hole Thakur into only an Advaita box or a Shakta box or a Vaishnava box, then in order to do so, we have to remove him from some of his teachings. In order to understand Thakur's philosophy, not as advaita philosophy or as shakta philosophy, ect. but as his personal philosphy, Ayon Maharaj goes on to define what he is calling Vijnana Vedanta. This video and the satsang he gave at the Vedanta Society of New York shed light on this.

@thrinethran2885

5 жыл бұрын

@@stevelarson4925 All paths are valid, true , but no destination is ultimate?

@robcheerful

5 жыл бұрын

Gaudapada seems to say any cause is already an effect. That there's no causeless cause.

‘The God’ and all his/her manifestation can be argued to be true but not all methods in the name of worship ( read religions) have come into existence out of love for him/her. ALL religions are earnest ways to the same reality argument, hence is flawed and accommodative.

Am surprised that all those intellectuals didn’t know what resurrection means. A resurrected body is said to be what Jesus had between the time he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. That means not a normal human body but one that can go through walls, bi locate etc. I believe that some of the Indian yogis also these abilities. Have to admit it does require putting the rational mind aside for awhile!

I wish Christianity and Islam could allow philosophical debate like this without having to kill everyone who sees things differently. And for those of you who might argue Christianity is not murderous toward heretics, I refer you the the whole of Christian history until its political power was nullified. And I know that most of Islam today is tolerant.

@rajatchakraborty6381

4 жыл бұрын

try to concentrate on the realization, religion is just a tools

@SrikanthIyerTheMariner

2 жыл бұрын

I am ABSOLUTELY sure -- all religions have much to learn from each other ... It needs each of us to have open minds and a genuine spirit on inquiry .. Just as there is one reality underlying our physical world - there is no Hindu Proton or Muslim Neutron -- there has to be a single reality that underpins our moral and spiritual universe too...

@ananthan8951

Жыл бұрын

@@SrikanthIyerTheMariner From the Dharmic paths, possibly. But how to learn from ideologically exclusionary and eliminative creeds? You presume without studying doctrines and histories as they were acted out even in India.

@SrikanthIyerTheMariner

Жыл бұрын

@@ananthan8951 it only matters what YOU want to learn What I really meant is that Individuals from any Religion can learn from other Religions. I don't expect the Pope to learn form Upanishads and make it part of the Church canon. I have learned from Buddhism, Hinduism (obviously) , Christianity and even a bit of Sufism They all reinforce the Advaitic principle

@ananthan8951

Жыл бұрын

@@SrikanthIyerTheMariner Good for you. I see the West Asian prophetic faiths as not just insufficiently logical (all belief systems are) but supremacist and predatory as well. Sufis not an iota less.

Dear Ayon Maharaj, FYI, Going to heaven for eternity is the Christian’s goal and NOT going to eternal hell . Salvation means going to heaven and not hell for all eternity. I’m a Catholic from birth going to religion class all through grade school and high school; and college theology classes.

It seems that Maharaj is attributing reality to forms. If the forms are real then it is not just an appearance of Brahman but actually Brahman transforms into a form. If Brahman can change and transform then it is not infinite, if it is not infinite then why worship that which is finite and open for destruction. Does not make sense.

@Mo1hit

4 жыл бұрын

why restrict the absolute reality in order to satisfy your binary logic .these forms and no form qualities or no qualities can be the swarup lakshna of brahman. just like by the extreme stretching of logic and meaning, an advaitin posits sat chid ananda as not qualities but brahman itself without introducing swagat bheda, then in similar fashion these things can also be assimilated without violating advaita. now if you claim that this does not make sense and is violating logic , then is the concept of maya rational and logical ? which does not exist absolutely yet exists relatively and is the cause of this world. really strange thing that advaita has posited !! Clearly. there are inexplicability arguments in every philosophy . advaita does it by introducing the inexplicability at the relative level but shields brahman from it , but in the process makes a brahman very dry and inert like thing as it can't even know itself in the absolute plane. whereas ayon maharaj has brilliantly argued that absolute itself has inexplicability without introducing any defects.

@arjunrathore8950

4 жыл бұрын

@@Mo1hit It all boils down to the question is this world real or unreal. Advaita Vedanta has a clear definition of Real and Unreal. Real is that which exists by itself and has an independent existence. This is Sat, Brahman, Reality whatever you may call. Unreal/Mithya is a dependent reality, depends on Brahman for its existence. Brahman can exist by itself but unreal cannot. If you say this world is real, then you will destroy Advaita Vedanta. That will be duality. As soon as you admit there is another real, then Brahman is limited, can be destroyed. Not worthy of worship. As soon as you say there are 2 or more real Advaita Vedanta crumbles. If we cannot have a logical framework and can be defended by logic then it becomes Khichdi Vedanta. Once Swami Vivekananda was asked to write a biography of Sri Ramakrishna. He replied, "I cannot do it. In the hand of a bad artist even a picture of a Shiva may appear to be that of a monkey".

@Mo1hit

4 жыл бұрын

@@arjunrathore8950 "Real is that which exists by itself and has an independent existence. This is Sat, Brahman, Reality whatever you may call. Unreal/Mithya is a dependent reality, depends on Brahman for its existence." It sounds more like a bheda-abedha definition than advaita as va ,kashmir shaivism, shuddadvaita schools also maintain that world doesn't exist independently of brahman. No tradition. leave their varied semantic terminologies of real, assign the same level of satta to world. Its changing and exist temporarily. but advaita goes far beyond that . it ultimately says that world doesn't exist at all , and insist saying that world exist in relative plane is a teaching device, which is ultimately negated in apavda (ajativada). The disagreement is not on the definition of reality. Its a red herring. The contention is on the definition of absolute and its strange view of causation. The notion that brahman creates a temporary(unreal) without modification is not a uniquely advaita tenet. Vishistadvaita, shuddadvaita,kashhmir shaivism says that god creates the world as his body(temporarily or unreal) or expands himself without undergoing a change in essence or modification. But advaita here also goes far beyond it. It proposes that creation without modification is also adhyaropa as nirguna brahman never do any action and proposes a new being saguna brahman in the same level of reality as the world which does this mess with maya. Summarizing according to Advaita a relative entity(saguna brahman) is cause of this relative world. So either 1) resolve the cause of this relative reality to the parmarthik absolute through some inconceivability argument that ultimate brahman itself(not by swiching to lower order reality as saguna brahman) through its inherent power created this without violating advaita or introducing the swagat bheda. So the brahman can be nirguna ,saguna without any defects . Note i am not resolving world in the same level of reality . only equating difference aspect of ishwar. This i know is not possible to argue logically as how can it booth , but can be resolved by a higher being, as it can be suprarational. 2) or if literalist Advaita view is taken, then this world in any order of reality is impossible, as any order of reality if not resolved to cause implies ontological duality between order of reality, which would crush advaita . The only rational conclusion according to the premise of advaitic absolute is that this wolrd should'nt be possible or exist in any order of reality(repeating). You can believe that but its logical and rational absurdity. 1st point is agnostic of the explanation and is humble enough to acknowledge limited human faculties whereas 2nd point fixes the characteristic of absolute through its intellect , therefore has to accept in ultimate analysis the inane conclusion that world doesn't exist in any level of reality(modified ajativada).

@arjunrathore8950

4 жыл бұрын

​@@Mo1hit Ajatavada does not mean that there is no appearance. Dream has no bearing on dreamer, so also the appearance has no bearing on the absolute.That we experience all this is undeniable and is an appearance. Gaudapada bundles the waking and dream experience both as dream. The word is born of ignorance (bhrantijanyam). What is the cause of ignorance? No cause. It is beginning-less. That which has a beginning only can be an effect. That which does not have a beginning is not an effect so Brahman is not the cause. Why is ignorance beginning-less? If I ask you do you know the language of tribes in amazon. You say no. I ask since when? Your ignorance is beginning-less. Please listen to Swami Sarvapriyananda's lectures on Mandukya Karika for clarity.

@arjunrathore8950

4 жыл бұрын

Every night you dream and experience a dream universe (compare it to your waking universe), through a dream mind of a dream person having dream ego (consider this as Jiva in waking state) and come across sentient beings ( consider these as other jivas) and insentient objects ( consider these as objects of waking state). Everything looks real. What happens when you wake up? That dream mind of the dream person with dream ego is seen to be false, so also the dream universe and all its contents. Just like that your ego is false. On realization all this will be realized as a mere appearance.

@ 2:41 "the Bengali mystic Sri Ramakrishna" ,, shame on you Sadhu. You are propagating what your cult founder Vivekananda had done - He turned God's avatar Sri Ramakrishna into a mystic by using a great power vested in him by Sri Ramakrishna, what a treachery ... These Sadhu will fall to any level for a bit of worldly recognition...shame on you.