
The surprising and continuing influence of Swami Vivekananda (2012) - signa11
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303404704577305581227233656
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duncancarroll
If you're interested in someone who both loves Yoga & meditation, and tends
toward a rational bent, you should also check out Gopi Krishna.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopi_Krishna_(yogi)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopi_Krishna_\(yogi\))

He was a pretty normal guy living a pretty normal life in the 1900's, and in
his 30's through meditation he had a textbook enlightenment experience which
resulted in a metamorphosis of sorts that he ultimately came to believe was
biological / physiological in nature and could be repeated in others. He's one
of the first if not the first person to suggest that what we think of as
enlightenment is actually a biological event that the human body can perform
given the right triggers, rather than simply a different state of mind or
frame of thought. This is a revolutionary idea if you think about it; talk
about "hacking the brain". The great thing about him is he's very relatable
and not aloof, he kept his job as a government clerk and aside from selling a
small handful of books, was clearly not interested in making money off his
ideas.

He tried for years to raise interest in the scientific community to study the
phenomenon, but of course grant money is hard to come by, and doubly hard if
you're doing anything remotely unconventional, so his research foundation
never took off and he passed away in I think it was 1981.

A lot of people don't know about him, but they've started putting his books on
Kindle so you can go check them out. All of them are extraordinary reads,
although I'd start with his prose, and then move to his poetry if you're
interested in that.

[http://www.amazon.com/Gopi-
Krishna/e/B00IPU7XD4/ref=sr_ntt_s...](http://www.amazon.com/Gopi-
Krishna/e/B00IPU7XD4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1411864845&sr=8-2)

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dominotw
Maybe this is a wrong context to ask this question. Can someone tell me what
exactly is a mystical experience and how it differs from normal human
experience. When does one consider himself enlightened?

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alphaandomega
A mystical experience happens through unity, an everyday human experience
through duality.

Duality is when you unconsciously make a distinction between you and your
thoughts and perceptions. "I think therefore I am" is the subject observing
his thoughts, this is duality.

When you silence your mind, you just are and then there is no opportunity for
you to define yourself, to make distinction between what you are and what
you're not. "I am all that is" is the subject realizing there is no separation
between him and his perceptions, this is unity.

Yoga is one systematic way of cultivating this silence that is required to
access those mystical states of mind.

As for enlightenment, I could not say because I'm not ;).

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th3iedkid
Some brilliant quotes from this :

>> Faith, he wrote, must be based upon direct experience, not religious
platitudes.

>>More presciently, he warned that India would remain a vanquished,
impoverished land until it "elevated" the status of women.

So apt with current state of affairs in india!In fact (am from india) , every
time any female from family (female) has to go out , a male always accompanies
them!Sadly even kids are not spared from this!Hope the everyone learns to
respect them in india rather than look at them as on object or thing!

>>'If there is a God, we must see him. And if there is a soul, we must
perceive it.'

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dominotw
>>Faith, he wrote, must be based upon direct experience, not religious
platitudes.

If one can objectively establish something by their own experience doesn't
that just become a fact? Why do we need faith in the first place.

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shadowfox
Not defending the particular point of view above.

But to me it looks like a lot of personal experience is just personal; it is
subjective and it is hard to establish a particular experience as "fact"
without widespread consensus. So faith might be necessary in the meantime.

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slurry
Vivekananda also lives on as an icon for the RSS and other extreme right wing
Hindu groups.

Here for example is RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat speaking in front of a big
Vivekananda picture:

[http://samvada.org/files/Independence-Day-Bangalore-
Aug-15-2...](http://samvada.org/files/Independence-Day-Bangalore-
Aug-15-2012-761.jpg)

Maybe they claim him wrongly? IDK.

~~~
srean
All I would say is, do not let those scumbags distance you from reading about
this guy. They have been trying to 'churchify' hinduism since ever and playing
fast and loose with history and building this identity of "a racially and
spiritually superior never-did-nothing-wrong majority that has been repeatedly
wronged" that now needs to collect its dues and reclaim its prestige. It is
striking how often that line works.

But yeah, expect downvotes because many people believe that crap. More true
among Indians outside of India and in particular regions within, perhaps
fuelled by the urge to connect with their roots. That is a perfectly
legitimate emotion, just spoiled by the presence of these people who try to
make some quick religio-political capital out of it.

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anizan
Maharishi Ramana is someone who truly was a maharishi and attained atma
gyan(enlightenment). [http://bhagavan-ramana.org/nanyar.html](http://bhagavan-
ramana.org/nanyar.html) [http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/...](http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/Talks_Exract.pdf)

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shnt
this lecture [http://goo.gl/Fo1ZLJ](http://goo.gl/Fo1ZLJ) has a whole lot of
detail about the influence of yoga in the west.

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dschiptsov
The amount of nonsense which has been written about yoga (Vedanta and
Buddhism) is, ironically, matches the amount of nonsense about OOP and Java.)

Yoga, at least according to the yoga sutra of Patanjali is *unity with the
whole (That)", through unity of mind and body via breath as a preliminary
practice, without which any further "realizations" are impossible (training
routine).

Vedanta, which is rather mediocre "systematization" of Upanishads has been
profoundly summarized by Ramakrishna - "Wanna see God? Look between two
thoughts." (at the source/origin of thoughts). This is enough for realizing
one's "true nature" (which is popular culture associated with a ray of light -
pure energy).

The essence of Buddha's teaching is "life is shaped by our mind, we become
what we think", which directly points to the mind as the ultimate source of
all "suffering". (Problems doesn't exist outside one's head. Just physical
processes).

There is also Rumi, who had the same realizations, but put them in different
words.

The problem with all these fine and subtle teachings is, like Sartre pointed
out, "the other people" with their stupid ambitions and flawed actions.

Instead of yoga we have gymnastics (in some cases even acrobatics) and whole
industry of yoga pants and joints when they are sited for $30/h. Instead of
Vedanta we have the same mysticism, where all the deities are morphed into the
one. Instead of Buddhims - tons of narcissistic graphomany published by Snow
Lion and the others.

So, no, so-called piece of mind comes not from yoga courses or a crowded
retreat, but form realization of being an inseparable part of the whole, of
That (or being in accordance with Tao, or "letting God/Love in", etc, etc.) It
is in being "in balance" (in Eastern terms), non-contradicting with the whole.

I am guide for Himalaya and Tibet region for a few years now - and I could
tell that all the magic and miracles, mantras, mandalas, sacred rituals or any
form of shamanism "working" only in the realm of one's mind, and does not
exist outside it.)

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LeicaLatte
spam!

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houseofshards
Not sure why this article is on Hacker News.

~~~
dang
History is in scope here.

