Advaita Vedanta is the direct discovery of the freedom, peace and happiness that you are, which is inside of you, all around you, and free of you.
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RSSLeesburn, VA (PRWEB) January 13, 2014
Advaita News is launching a new website by featuring a raw, real, and unapologetic review of Andrew Cohen who announced last May he was taking a "hiatus" from his global organization under a cloud of accusations by former students of corruption and abuse. This ruthless examination of what really happened to Andrew underlines what many consider to be the primary fallacy of what is being called Neo Advaita—the satsang movement attributed to Andrew’s guru HWL Poonja, better known as Papaji.
Advaita News also introduces two teachers that are relatively unknown, but represent the power and purity of Advaita Vedanta. Her Holiness Sri Amma Karunamayi and her student, the emerging new Advaita Vedanta teacher known simply as Kosi, who is the long time student of Gangaji that produced the widely viewed YouTube video Who Are You…Really?
Kosi is not new to the spiritual realm. She is an ordained minister who has studied with the Dalai Lama, Sogyal Rinpoche, as well as Gurumayi, but in 2001 a deep prayer for an enlightened teacher led her to Gangaji. She spent years studying with Gangaji and dove deep into the teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi. But after meeting Sri Amma Karunamayi, she realized the western perspective of inquiry ultimately is rendered useless simply because this psychotherapeutic form of inquiring does not address the root cause of the suffering nature of the egoic mind or the genetically infused conditioned patterns of behavior known in India as vasanas.
Based on her direct experience, Kosi realized that unless you also incorporate the four primary aspects of yoga described in detail in the Bhagavad Gita and also by Ramana Maharshi: Jñāna Yoga (divine wisdom), Ashtanga Yoga (meditation on the heart), Karma Yoga (selfless service), and Bhakti Yoga (Devotion of God)—the vasanas or enlightened ego will remain in control.
Kosi began using the mantra in satsang last year, which is an important part of these primary aspects of yoga. Her use of the mantra is a very direct and simple form of inquiry that produces astounding results. She recognized that the mantra is more than just a song, it is a powerful vibration infused with silence that has the innate ability to bypass the mind completely and direct your attention to the source of the mind itself. The results of using the mantra as a form of inquiry are so dramatic that you can actually feel a profound shift in the room during satsang with Kosi.
Deepak Chopra actually offered a scientific explanation for this phenomenon at the Science and Non-duality conference held in San Jose California last year. He explained that the different aspects of yoga described in the Bhagavad Gita are essential for liberation. This is primarily due to the fact that the ancient Vedic teachings are a science, which is intentionally designed to affect different parts of the human brain.
Her approach demonstrates the power of Deepak’s scientific perspective. It is perhaps the most essential aspect of inquiry that seems to be elusive to many Neo Advaita teachers—or the the truth that until the vasanas are fully addressed the ego can disguise or cloak itself as the awakened mind. It is this insidious nature of the ego to hide or cloak itself that makes it extremely difficult to break free of the very strong tendencies and conditioned behavior of the egoic mind. Kosi explained in a recent satsang that this cloaking or co-opting ability of the mind leaves the ego in charge on both a subtle and gross level. This simply means anyone whose ego has been steeped in the truth, can easily be tricked into a kind of conscious trance that continues cycles of suffering or, as is the case for Andrew Cohen, can transform into megalomania.
As an ordained minister, she is very well versed in the scriptures of the Bible as well as other sacred texts and sutras. The satsangs she offers are an infusion of the ancient and the modern. She is known to quote Jesus and Buddha one minute and the next show a movie, or play a violin as a radical and direct pointing to the living truth in the core. Her satsangs can be very serious and intense as well as very funny and entertaining—very much like Gangaji—she has a sharp wit and deep sense of humor. She is a natural bridge between the ancient teachings and the problems that we face in today's world.
If Kosi is the bridge than her Holiness Sri Amma Karunamyi is the embodiment of the ancient teachings and rituals that are infused with the science of the Vedas. In Neo Advaita awakening and liberation are often viewed as one and the same, but Sri Amma Karunamayi is an Avatar with eons of experience who in a gentle, but direct way explains that awakening, liberation and self-realization are not the same.
Perhaps the greatest fallacy of the Neo Advaita movement is the heavy emphasis on the mental inquiry, which does not address the deeper issue of the vasanas. It is the focus on the mental inquiry that opens the door for abuse and feeds the deep seated belief that the teacher's actions and words are infallible and beyond question, which Andrew Cohen, and many other western teachers, clearly demonstrate.
This new online magazine confronts these harder issues of awakening and liberation and unapologetically reveals what is essential for true liberation. It represents a fresh new perspective that invites us all to deeply examine the core question of Advaita Vedanta:
Who Are We …. Really?
