Enigmatic Soul Matrix of Eight Principal Towers

Pondering the Great Enigma of the Sphinx of Heaven, the Soulless Soul-Seeker returned to the enigmatic labyrinth in search of a primal key to present for passage into domains unknown. Thirsty for the waters of the Stream of Infinity, Pogo held a long and silent vigil of contemplation. He was pooling strength and insight to take on the Towers of Confusion looming above the great and perplexing maze of reality.

≡ The Great Vision of the Sphinx of Heaven ≡
A timeless riddle of polarities and archetypes is reflected in countless models of systemization
and enlightenment across the ancient worlds. Some reach for the matrix by magic and mystery.
Others model it as elementary patterns. Despite our theories, the matrix grips us hard and fast.

Pondering the Great Enigma of the endless labyrinth of reality, Pogo gazed at the Sphinx of Heaven beyond twelve long cycles before the Sun. On the thirteenth hour of the final day of the introspective vigil, the sky transformed with Moon squaring Jupiter and imploding into itself. A pattern emerged from the third eye of the being in a vision of celestial splendor. Knock on the Sphinx, and the Sphinx will knock back. Listen to the Sphinx, and the Sphinx reveals the primal nature of the mind.

The cryptic matrix of patterns engulfed and embraced the Heaven above and the Earth below. Then Heaven and Earth merged into a united matrix of polarities, blessing Pogo with a worthy map for navigating the perilous paths of confusion in the great matrix of perceptions and premonitions. The formulae written in the sky were a blueprint of the obstacles ahead, a guide revered by sages and seers since the time sentience was first derived from the mirror of the cosmic hub.

The Eight Towers of Confusion are the domain of General Confusion, the iron-fisted ruler of all sentient beings. General Confusion is the binder of souls in tight and impenetrable nets of steel, the great puppet master in charge of wanderers in the enigmatic labyrinth of endless plurality.

The Principal Towers are eight in number, the Phenomenal Towers are four in number, and the Axial Towers are two in number. Each tower yields an axiomatic key for unlocking the secret treasure chests of the great matrix. The Golden Mirror at the inner chamber of the conjoining peaks of the Axial Towers holds the integral key for unlocking the primal riddle.

Pogo's progress through the Towers of Confusion was inscribed in the sky by the all-seeing Sphinx of Heaven, recording the greatest conquest in the history of being. The thoughts of all sentient beings are witnessed by the lamp-posts of light and darkness and stored in the endless book of deeds, a carefully guarded secret in the great repository of knowledge beneath the sphinx.

The Sphinx of Heaven mediates passage for those who seek the unseen and unheard spheres of infinity, acting as a reflective inquisitor for sentient beings on behalf of the evasive Prime Riddler of the worlds. This is the tale of Pogo's epic quest across the Principal Towers of Confusion, written across the ancient heaven in days beyond the grasp of human memory.

≡ Thundery Tower of Confusion: Fourth of the Eight Principal Towers ≡
Reaching for the key of thunder, Pogo has to plot a clever course around the obstacles.
They appear in all directions, flying in formations of Two-as-Four and Two-as-Three-in-Eight.

"Tower of Earth [---]. This tower is extremely tranquil and the pull of gravity is formidable. Each floor is filled with large and fearsome beings, proud of their position, unwilling and unable to move on their own. They become more cooperative when I contemplate on their primal stillness, humbled before the immovable solidity of fundamental being. When I absorb myself in the nature of their essence, they lift me peacefully upwards. If I have pride in passing one, the next one will bind me down. The peak of this tower conceals the key of receptive awareness.

"Tower of Mountain [--+]. This tower is a firm and imposing gigantic beacon of power. The stairways are swarming with brave and tall beings of great mental prowess, directing countless unwilling and idle beings to carry out their bidding, absorbed in controlling their subjects and objectives. They seem to leave me in peace when I move towards my goal with industrious and single-minded fortitude. Whenever I'm idle, they insist that I carry out their endless lofty biddings. The peak of this tower conceals the key of protective cognition.

"Tower of Water [-+-]. This tower is seamless but it fluctuates and flows. Countless beings run around the base of the tower, catching drops of water from the streams flowing above. Some of the beings drink too much and drown in their own streams, while others are parched with thirst. Drinking too much makes me bulge and fall down. Drinking too little makes me crippled. The streams of nature are modest and balanced. Forsaking gluttony, the flow carries me effortlessly onward. The peak of this tower conceals the key of natural awareness.

"Tower of Wind [-++]. This tower grows wider and lighter towards its peak. The four winds are blowing from the four directions, pushing me a step backward for every pair of steps I take forward. Battling the wind with furious anger is a futile fight against the machine. The wind blows as it blows, and the more you push, the more you will be pushed. When I become as light as the gentlest breeze of wind, touching the environment only when I must, the wind carries me upwards into the sky. The peak of this tower conceals the key of expansive cognition.

"Tower of Thunder [+--]. This boasting tower is shaky and flickering. The magical gem-studded walls are painted with ephemeral glitter, flashing day and night to entice the sentient beings. Infatuated beings race after countless attractions, bouncing off the walls and hurting themselves in their craze after the alluring sparkle that lasts but an instant. As long as I remain chaste to my path and refrain from chasing and clinging to the glitter, I see no hindrance. The peak of this tower conceals the key of obsessive awareness.

"Tower of Fire [+-+]. This tower consumes itself from both directions. The walls are lined with arrays of blazing and furious beings, kindling fires of their own creation, arguing and fabricating tales all day and night to produce more fuel. Giving away the excess fuel I carry, my journey becomes lighter and the fiery beings become pleased, illuminating the way forward. If I carry too much fuel or start too many fires, I will catch fire and be scorched in the flames of my own design. The peak of this tower holds the key of analytical cognition.

"Tower of Lake [++-]. Two thirds of this tower are buried deep underground. The expansive subterranean halls are a home to plumpy and jolly beings, who find joy in interacting with the slim and and stressed beings at the levels above the surface. Some of them laugh and despise the stressed beings while longing for the warmth of life above, while others teach the stressed beings to laugh along to the tune of the ebb and flow of life. The echo of kind laughter leads towards the peak, and the echo of envious laughter leads downwards to the bottom. The peak of this tower conceals the key of subconscious awareness.

"Tower of Heaven [+++]. This tower floats thrice its own height above the ground. Luminous beings of great power and vision soar the celestial mansions and coordinate the power of the seven lesser towers. Severing the mind from my corporeal being, I can soar as a dove of spirit on wings of faith and winds of hope, guided by the crystal patterns painted in the clouds. They seem to be the map the angels use in navigating to the eight corners of the world.

"A secret chamber in the Tower of Heaven hides the eight principal treasures. The eight great treasures are guarded by eight groups of celestial beings known as the Protectors of Life, the Recorders, the Inquisitors, the Tormentors, the Journeyers, the Kind Blessers, the Overseers and the Lords of Hades. I am called for a trial of soul before each group of angelic beings before the key of divine power and vision becomes accessible. The peak of this tower conceals the key of lucid cognition."

≡ Heavenly Tower of Confusion: Last of the Eight Principal Towers ≡
Pogo seeks the key of heaven in the Integrating Celestial Sphere of the Seven Towers.
Choirs of heavenly bliss can trap Pogo in a stagnating bubble of tickling light and joy.

Reaching the eighth key of lucid principal cognition, Pogo returned to the Sphinx of Heaven in great haste. In hopes that the greater part of the quest would now be over, our Soulless Soul-Soul-Seeker reported his success in a spirit of great jubilation, presenting the Eight Wisdom Keys from the Eight Towers of Confusion before the unwavering inquisitor.

"I am now guided by lucid cognition from the Tower of Heaven; I soar on the wings of the eight great angels. I have conquered the subconscious mind in the Tower of Lake and all my intentions have been purified. I can examine and consume all things under heaven in the flames of analytical cognition from the Tower of Fire. I have also overcome gross cravings and obsessive awareness in the Tower of Thunder, mastering the law of magical attraction.

"I have conquered the gravity of my environment, floating above the four domes of expanding cognition in the Tower of Wind. I have seen the streams and pulling currents of the Tower of Water, floating on the waves of natural awareness. I have conquered the Tower of Mountain and other obstacles with great fortitude, sparing no effort to cross beyond the matrix of confusion. I have touched the primal stillness of being in the Tower of Earth, reconciling the elemental underworlds.

"Here are the Eight Keys of Wisdom I have obtained — may I now pass beyond the gate?"

≡ Eight Wisdom Keys: Common Denominators Missing ≡
Eight separate keys would lead to a number of destinations. To complete his quest,
Pogo must journey further, rising beyond towers in the principal realm of particularity.

The Sphinx of Heaven glanced at Pogo with an ambivalent smile, estimating the mind and heart of the Soulless Soul-Seeker on his journey across the great labyrinth of soul's wisdom. Pogo's premature query received a stern and solemn negative reply, and the reflective ancient riddler continued with an added enigma of fourfold-spinning towers in four directions and four dimensions.

One should not be hasty in proclaiming final conclusions, for premature conclusions lead to premature destinations, and premature destinations are a long and scenic route down to the trampoline and back up again. When potent seeds fall into fertile soil in nature's womb of wisdom and when the season is right, sweet children of enlightenment are born and made all day long.

"You have conquered but a quarter of the towers of the Primal Riddle. Do you expect eight keys to be a match for a single lock? If your heart were child-like and pristine, your thoughts would be simple and pristine, and your key would be simple and pristine too. Eight mysteries become four mysteries, four mysteries become two mysteries. The two axial mysteries reveal a key in the quantum mirror of the secret chamber at the conjoined twin peaks of the great labyrinth.

"Three quarters of your quest remain unfulfilled. Return to the maze to seek for the key once again. One door opens with one key, two doors open with two, four doors open with four, and eight doors open with eight. How many destinations do you seek? Used wisely together, the eight keys will lead you to the Four Phenomenal Towers that spin wildly in four dimensions on a binary axis.

"I am the Sphinx of Heaven, the chief inquisitor at the Gate of Infinity. I riddle the world on behalf of the unknown mystery lurking behind the mirror of manifold being. Who is who? Where is where? Answer to pass."

Sphinx of Heaven and the Soulless Soul-Seeker

The Sphinx of Heaven halted a Soulless Soul-Seeker, addressing the knocker at the Gates of Infinity with the following words:

"I am known to you. Before the beginning, I was without a center. When I was still, I became the word. When I moved, I became the world. At my birth, I grew two great limbs and danced in harmonic joy. In my youth, I grew four limbs that fell out of balance. As I matured, I grew eight limbs that became entangled in themselves. Who am I?"

As the mysteries of being are simultaneously simple and complex, they should be sought for both directly and indirectly, at all times and in between times. Therefore, the Sphinx of Heaven first posited the question in its essential form, and then continued with the mysterious perspectives of the human collective, singing the same hymns to the same primal tune in the scattered symbols and expressions of the world.

Seeker, halt! Hear these Four Primal Mysteries from the Sphinx of Heaven —
Zero-One, Two-in-One, Two-of-One, Four and Eight, One in Many and Many in One.

"I am known to you from before the beginning of time. I sought for my center, and I became the Axis for Two-in-One. I sought to integrate, and I became Immanence. I sought to spin, and I became the Golden Wheel. I sought to adore myself, and I became the Mirror. I sought to live, and I became the Experience. I sought to measure myself, and I became the Pi.

"I sought to expand, and I became the Great Explosion. I sought to travel, and I became the Way. I sought to bond in union, and I became Love. I sought to fragment myself, and I became the Ego. I sought to unite myself, and I became the Cosmic Mind. I sought to connect, and I became the Covenant. I sought to nourish, and I became the Tree of Life.

"I sought for distance, and I became the Two-of-One. I sought to see the unseen, and I became the Light and the Darkness. I sought for space to fill, and I placed myself Above and Below. I sought for a caleidoscope, and I became the Chaos and the Logos. I sought to interact and procreate, and I became the God and the Goddess. I sought to write, and I became the Alpha and the Omega.

"I sought to live forever, and I became the Father and the Son. I sought to care forever, and I became the Mother and the Daughter. I sought to love forever, and I became the Man and the Woman. I sought for balance, and I gave the Man a Woman's eye, and the Woman a Man's eye. I sought for ignorance, and I became the Doubt and the Confusion. I sought for argument, and I became the Premise and the Objection. I sought for truth, and I became the Question and the Answer.

"I sought for direction, and I became the Two-and-Two-in-Four. I sought to culminate my rotation, and I became the Sacred Square. I sought for room to move, and I became the Four Directions. I sought to conquer time and space, and I became the Four Wisdom Powers. I sought for universal force, and I became the Four Fundamental Interactions. I sought for endless variety, and I became the Four Seasons. I sought for finity, and I became Birth, Growth, Maturity and Decay. I sought for infinity, and I became the Four Immeasurable Virtues. I sought for enlightenment, and I became the Four Cardinal Wisdoms.

"I sought to experience threefold, and I became Two-as-Three-in-Eight. I sought for room to expand, and I became the Eight Directions. I sought to express the great matrix, and I became the Arachne to weave. I beheld the darkness, and lit the worlds with the Seven Torches and a Sea of Crystal. I sought to orbit my transforming power, and I became the Eight Planets. I sought to behold the vastness of my domain, and I soared as eight groups of Arch-Angels. I sought to feel my own fabric, and I became the Eight Emotional Essences.

"I sought to tangle my eightfold web, and I became Corrupted Spirit and the Seven Deadly Sins. I sought for my own nature, and I became Divine Zeal and the Seven Cardinal Virtues. I sought for synergy, and I became the Son of Man and the Seven Churches of my congregation. I sought for focus and power, and I became the Kundalini with her Seven Energy Wheels. I sought for good direction, and I became the blueprint for the Noble Eightfold Path.

"I sought to expand the spread of my infinite splendor, and I became the Heavenly Hub with Seven Rays, teaching as One across the Seven Worlds of beings. I sought to display the primal rainbow of my being, and I spread as the Five Great Rays above the highest heaven. Four great rays shine in my higher domain, the fifth a conduit to my lower abodes. Since beginningless time, countless beings of splendor have ascended the Five Great Stairs in bodies of luminous essence, passing through Two Blazing Eyes into the ultimate spirit of my being.

"At the seat of the Thirteen Cosmic Rays, I rest forever at the heart of the Wheel of Balance. Still I am not there, nor I do revel in the world derived of myself. I am not that which was before, nor am I that which was not before. Some think of me as Paradox, some seek for me as Wisdom, some pray for me as God, some resolve in me as Dissolution, some analyze me as Singularity. These labels are my trail and reflections, seen from across the great and endless abyss I have dug — but they are not me, nor am I of them, nor do I bond with them, for my nature is unbound by definition."

Seeker, halt! Answer these Four Primal Questions from the Sphinx of Heaven —
The Four Answers and the Four Cardinal Cycles in the Quest for Eight and Zero-One.

"Who am I? Where am I? Where are you? Who are you? Answer these questions from the Sphinx of Heaven to gain your passage beyond. Submit the four essential answers, cross the four cardinal cycles, join the Sphinx of Heaven on the path, enter past the gates of Unknown Mystery. Fail the four essential answers, revolve in the four cardinal cycles, battle the Sphinx of Heaven at the threshold, wander in the matrix of Unknown Mysteries.

"Solve the riddle and you may drink of the stream of Infinite Wisdom. In the great beyond, find the Primal Fountain in the Ancient Cave. The fountain and the cave sing and echo my nameless name, their melodies soothe my soulless soul, their environment beautifies my faceless face, and their end is the end of your endless questions. Pass the riddle now, or pass it later as you may: I and the Sphinx of Heaven are indifferent to the natural flux of human desire. Those who know me shall freely come and pass; and those who know me not shall return to their class.

"The tangled web of Unknown Mystery is my labyrinth of confusion. Wander around and grow younger to better learn its ways. Forgetting how to read and hear the perplexed words of many human minds, you will behold the natural patterns of my maze. Ripe and simple thoughts of child-like pristinity can forge a mighty key of wisdom, opening the riddle of the Sphinx of Heaven and I. Unripe and complex thoughts of weary, tangled souls expand the fabric of a self-sustained labyrinth, enmeshing the enmeshed still deeper in the mire of their own design.

"Mold well your Inner Key of Heart and Thoughts to enter the Boundless Mysteries of I who am that I am, and who am not that I am — for I am neither the I am, nor that which is that, nor that which is not the I am. I am that I am not I am. Entering me, you will see how you are that you are, how you are not that you are, and how you are not the knowledge of being or not being of I, or that, or you. I am not you, nor are you I, for my primal nature is not a domain for I and you. Who are we? Where is who? Answer to pass the gate."

Continued: Enigmatic Soul Matrix of Eight Principal Towers »

North of the Moon - Old Yule Series

With the holidays approaching, a double announcement is in place. First of all, Uma's new blog: North of the Moon, exploring spirituality, old Nordic and European pagan traditions, the ancient Scandinavian-Aryan connection, and the general mysteries of life.

Second, a series of articles on the Old Yule, the pagan and Aryan predecessor to Christmas, glossing the age-old midwinter festival of fertility and new birth, the Yule observances, the Tree of World, the original Father Yule and a host of angels, goblins and others of old yet remembered. First in the series:

• Old Yule 1: The Mother and the Deadly Midwinter

And good Yule and a happy new year to all!

Buddha Blast: Conquering the Cosmic Winds

The following text originates in Maharatnakuta-sutra, an excerpt from the legend of Magician Bhadra's attainment of buddhahood. It holds interest in a number of ways, perhaps the most intriguing the highly superlative description of the Buddha's powers. The description is particularly fascinating in the light of the fact that neither the Buddha nor his followers ever declared him to be anything equivalent to a creator-god or other cosmic godheads or avatars, but rather depicted him as a man who worked his way up the cosmic ladder over eons and eons of time.

Extracted from Garma C.C. Chang's translation under the title "A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras", Motilal Banarsidass, 1991 (online). Subheadings mine. In contrast to the Pali scriptures, the Mahayana canon is decidedly more juicy and abundant in its descriptions of the Buddha, even if it causes the scene of the narratives to switch from a more history-flavored one into a world of magic and mysteries.

aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān

ātmāsya jantor nihito guhāyām /
tama-kratuḥ paśyati vīta-śoko

dhātu-prasādān mahimānam ātman //

"Smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest,
the self is hidden in the creature's heart.
Crosser of darkness, conqueror of pleasure and pain,
In elemental tranquility, he perceives the majesty of the self."

The anatman-doctrine (teaching of no permanent self) of the Buddhists notwithstanding, the narration that follows is almost a perfect commentary as if it were on this classic aphorism of Katha-upanishad (2.20), an early philosophical work seminal to the teachings of later Hindu philosophers. The exposition of ten cosmic wind wheels reflects the elemental principles of derivative causation found in both Buddhist and Taoist schools of metaphysical and analytical thought.

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Powers of the Tathagata

When the magician saw that the World-Honored One had accepted his invitation, he thought, "Gautama does not know my intention; he is definitely not an All-Knowing One." Then he bowed and took his leave.

The Venerable Maudgalyayana was in the asembly at that time and saw what had happened. He approached the Buddha and said to him, "Bhadra intends to deceive the Tathagata and the monks. May the World-Honored One decline his invitation!"

The Buddha told Maudgalyayana, "Do not think in this way. Only those who have desire, hatred, and ignorance can be deceived, but I eradicated those defilements long ago, for I realized that not a single dharma ever arises. I have been firmly abiding in right action for many kalpas. How can anyone deceive me?

"Now, you should know that the magician does not perform real magic, but the Tathagata does. Why? Because the Tathagata realizes here and now that all dharmas are illusory. Even if all the sentient beings were as skilled in magic as Bhadra, all their magical powers combined could not compare with those of the Tathagata, even if their powers were multiplied by a hundred, a thousand, or any amount, numerical or figurative."

Producing Billion-world Universes

The Buddha asked Maudgalyayana, "What do you think? Can the magician magically produce a billion-world universe and magnificently adorn all of it?"

Maudgalyayana answered, "No."

The Buddha said, "Maudgalyayana, you should know that I can magically produce magnificently adorned worlds, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, inside a hair's tip, and even this does not exhaust the Tathagata's miraculous powers.

The Great Cosmic Wind Wheels

"Maudgalyayana, you should know that there is a great wind-wheel called Breaker that can break a billion-world universe to pieces.
   "There is another wind wheel called Great Hurricane that can ruin worlds and then rebuild them.
   "There is another wind wheel called Propeller that can revolve worlds.
   "There is another wind wheel called Secure Abiding that can blow as high as the Akanistha Heaven.
   "There is another wind wheel called Scatterer that can whirl away and scatter Mount Sumeru, the Black Mountain, and other mountains.
   "There is another wind wheel called Fierce Flame that can blow fierce flames up to the Brahma Heaven during the raging conflagration at the end of a kalpa.
   "There is another wind wheel called Quencher that can quench the raging conflagration at the end of a kalpa.
   "There is another wind wheel called Cool that can cause a cloud to cover a billion-world universe.
   "There is another wind wheel called Universal Downpour that can pour down heavy rains on the worlds during the raging conflagration at the end of a kalpa.
   "There is another wind wheel called Drying Up that can dry up the spreading flood at the end of a kalpa. There are so many wind wheels that I could not finish enumerating them even if I spoke until the end of this kalpa. All this, Maudgalyayana, you should know.

Conquering the Great Wind Wheels

"What do you think? Can the magician dwell securely in any of these wind wheels for a moment?"

Maudgalyayana answered, "No."

The Buddha told Maudgalyayana: "The Tathagata can walk, stand, sit, and lie undisturbed in the wind wheels.  The Tathagata can also put those wind wheels into a mustard seed and display their motions without the mustard seed either expanding or contracting, and without the wind wheels in the seed obstructing each other. Maudgalyayana, you should know that the feats of magic accomplished by the Tathagata have no limit."

When the Venerable Maudgalyayana and the assembly heard the Tathagata's words, they were all overwhelmed by wonder and awe. They all bowed down before the Buddha and exclaimed in unison, "Because we have now met the great Teacher who has these awe-inspiring miraculous powers, we are greatly blessed. One who has the opportunity to hear of the wonderful miraculous powers of the Tathagata, the World-Honored One, and generates profound faith and understanding will certainly gain great blessings adn bring forth a vow to attain supreme enlightenment."

Diwali for Shiva-Shakti

Stories on the background of the Diwali, or Deepavali, festival are manifold, and the celebration spans even across religions. For some, it's about Rama's return to Ayodhya. For others, it's about the killing of Narakasura. Many Hindus, especially in northern India, celebrate the birth of goddess Lakshmi with pompous festivities. For the Jains it marks the parinirvana of Tirthankar Mahavir, the last of their prophets, and for the Sikhs — how entertainingly typical — it's about their struggles and conquests.

A less known story is told in the Skanda-purana, the story of how Ardha-Narishvara, or the half-Shiva, half-Shakti deity, came to be. To become Shiva's half, the legend tells, Shakti undertook a 21-day austerity called Kedar-vrata, concluding with success and union on the Diwali day. A beautiful ancient temple of Ardha-Narishvara is found at Kedar Ghat in Varanasi, impregnated with some of the most intense energies I have ever experienced in a shrine.

The Peak of Arunachala

Posted 1st of April, 2008 @ Vraja Journal.

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Tiruvannamalai, a city in Tamil Nadu, has the sacred mountain Arunachala as its divine hub. Its latest master of fame being Ramana Maharshi, the giant of Advaita-vedanta from early 1900's, this awe-inspiring mountain has been a home to countless jnanis and siddhas over the millennia. It is one of the pancha-bhuta-sthalas, abodes of the five elements, representing fire-element.

In the origin story of Arunachala, the old Puranic narrative tells of Brahma and Vishnu having a disagreement over who of the two was the highest divinity. Amidst the quarrel, a vast beam of fiery light sprang forth, a pillar of splendor penetrating the cosmic extremes. Both humbled before the insurmountable challenge, they concluded this cosmic splendor, the presence of Siva, to be the highest reality. This halo materialized as the mountain Arunachala.

We spent one night in the well-maintained guesthouse, and one night at the holy mountain itself. I suppose it was inevitable that I was to be drawn, as if pulled by a magnet, to the highest peak of this 2200 feet manifestation of cosmic radiance. The climb barefoot was a challenge enough, but having come so far, I wanted to spend the whole of the twelve hours I had, from dusk until dawn, at the sahasrara or the thousand-petaled crown of the mountain, as attaining sahasrara alone the supreme non-duality and integration is realized.

Soon enough after the sunset a thunderstorm set in motion. Sitting alone in the solitude of the peak atop a three-meter boulder, the fierce winds were rocking me back and forth even in the steadiest of postures. Rainfall was very minimal, but the atmosphere was very humid. Dark rainclouds were flying past me all around, both beneath and above, at a fierce velocity. It was as if Arunachala, this living mountain pulsating with an otherworldly halo, wanted to give the best of its shows for me.

The weather soon became too extreme to bear while sitting, and I found myself curled up inside the thick shawl I carried. There was little chance for conventional meditation. I spent the better part of the night, aside the few hours of rest, observing the rise and fall of sensations and feelings, their interplay, their intrinsically empty nature. Let no more be said of the night, a night that brought a certain objective to fruition, for some things are to be hidden in the cavity of the heart.

It was in a book by Swami Rama, "Living with the Himalayan Masters" (highly recommended), that I read a wise note of reconciliation on Advaita-vedanta and Buddhism, the two non-dual traditions that have been a source of much insight to me as of late. Narrating the story of his visit to his grandmaster in Tibet, he writes of an encounter with a wise lama:

"While in Gangtok I lived in a monastery, which still exists on the northeast side of the city. There I visited a lama who was a remarkable man. He was a genuine Buddhist yogi and a learned Sanskrit scholar who had lived for many years in Bodhigaya in India. Usually the scholars of Buddhism criticize Shankara, just as the swamis from the order of Shankaracharya criticize Buddhism.

"But this wise man, citing references from many texts, taught me a synthesis of Buddhism and Shankara's advaita system. He said, 'There is no difference between these two systems of philosophy as far as the ultimate Reality is concerned. There are verbal differences, but no experiential differences. Cast off all sectarian influences and attain the highest state of consciousness or nirvana.'"

I heartily agree with the above message. It is in vein that scholars describe and criticize philosophies that are beyond their realm of direct experience obtained through application. Even the best expositions are only approximate estimations of experiential realities that transcend common levels of experience and rationality.

In the Buddhist theory, all of reality is characterized by three factors, anitya, duhkha and anatma — all objects are temporary, sources of discontent, and non-self. The root of existence is avidya or ignorance, and the continuance of conditioned existence arises from trishna, or craving. The concept of nirvana or final cessation transcends all non-self conglomerates and is indescribable. The liberating factor is prajna or wisdom, arising from vipascana or wisdom-perception.

In Advaita-vedanta, the problem is in adhyaropa or superimposition of illusory concepts on the nature of objects. Adhyaropa arises from avidya, or ignorance. Existence unfolds with the interplay of raga and dvesa, or attachment and repulsion. The agocara-tattva or ingraspable final reality is understood within the formation world only as neti-neti, "not this, not this". The liberating factor is jnana or wisdom, arising from nididhyasana or meditational wisdom-contemplation.

Contrasting Buddhism and Advaita-vedanta is a fascinating field, better explored on an experimental basis than in dry academic comparisons, or expositions by biased in-tradition scholastics. For the interested, I'd like to share a link to David Loy's Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, an excellent essay comparing the enlightenment-concepts of Buddhism, Advaita and Sankhya, three classical traditions positing the basic three approaches to the matter-spirit dichotomy.

The visit to Ramanashrama and Arunachala left me with fond memories. I will, no doubt, be revisiting the place with more time at the opening of a suitable future opportunity. I can see why Ramana would have considered Arunachala the greatest of his teachers.