Monday, January 24, 2011

Intro to Vedanta Videos

A set of videos has been created in the Second Life Urban Guru Cafe by Avastu Maruti - a 10-part intro to Vedanta and posted on YouTube. Avastu Maruti is the Second Life avatar for Randall Friend.

More on What is Vedanta can be read at the following blog page.

Full recordings of the weekly meetings in Second Life can be heard at Avastu Design. Information on the meetings can be found here.

Other meetings in SL are held by Jason Swanson.



11 comments:

No One In Particular said...

Hey Randall, nice job, looks like quite a project and a lot of work! Well done.

Randall Friend said...

Hey Suzanne - yes, the virtual character was worn out... ha!

Roeland said...

This is great. I have put up the video on my no nonsense site in Dutch about advaita and included a link to your summary about Advaita Vedanta.
http://www.spiritualiteitadvaita.nl/introductie-in-advaita-vedanta
You have friends in Holland.

Randall Friend said...

Roeland,

Nice site - you have managed to hit the nail on the head with this particular bit.

1. Of je bent inderdaad een afgescheiden individu en dan is het zinloos om eenheid te zoeken, want dat bestaat dan helemaal niet. De zoektocht wordt dan een verspilling van tijd en energie. Het is dan beter om iets anders te gaan doen. Waarom tijd besteden aan iets dat slechts een mooie fantasie is?

2. Of je bent geen afgescheiden individu en dan is die eenheid er al. Uiteraard hoef je niet te zoeken naar iets wat er al is.
Bovendien geldt dat als er alleen eenheid is er ook niets is wat gelukkiger zou kunnen worden van 'het ervaren van eenheid'.
In dat geval geldt eenheid is en jij bent die eenheid.

In zowel situatie 1 als 2 is het ondernemen van een zoektocht volkomen zinloos.

Either you are in fact a separate and finite existence, in which case seeking wholeness is really just a fantasy. Or existence never was separate to begin with. In the latter case, then what I am is actually not a separate existence but existence itself. In this case I only need to find out where I go wrong in my conceptualization about myself. The only issue is my ignorance of myself, and the only solution is self-knowledge or realizing what I am.

Chasing experience is not the solution. After a long time of chasing experience I may see through this as the solution and at some point settle down into inquiry directly into the nature of existence itself.

In doing so I may find that my taking existence to be separated is taking appearance or form as absolute, when it never was.


love to you and those in Holland.
randall

su said...

randall,

profoundly touched by the hugeness of this project and the gift it contains.
thanking you again for the concise, clear pointing.
in the waking dream of seeming collapse and hardship - it is always such a relief to be embraced by truth.

thanking you

su

Randall Friend said...

Su,

Hello again my friend. Good to hear from you.

love
randall

Anonymous said...

Beautifully expressed.Thankyou for these offerings.Peace and love to you brother - Suki

Randall Friend said...

Hi Suki - love to you brother.

Bez Imini said...

Oh my god! What a one-sided conversation you guys are having. Does anybody doubt Vedanta? I'm sure some do but none choose to speak here. People: don't let lost in a bunch of words and feelings. You know how sometimes you look back into the past and say to yourself, "Wow I can't believe I said/felt/believed that"?

It's just a bit disappointing that nobody is challenging anything here. It's all just "gifts" and "love" and "peace" and everything is just so lovely and wonderful. The desire to feel good is such a strong motivator. Beware of your own mechanisms which drive you to seek out happiness.

Randall Friend said...

Bez,

Thank you for your comment.

"Beware of your own mechanisms which drive you to seek out happiness."

Nicely said. Love to you.

Anonymous said...

If there is only SELF? then a one-sided conversation sounds about right...even though on 'this side' of the fence there is no side...'you' de-side.. ;)