Concept of personal God and Advaita

Ashish Chandra ramkisno at HOTMAIL.COM
Fri May 24 13:19:47 CDT 2002

On Fri, 24 May 2002 11:13:58 -0500, Stephanie Stean <cerebral_rose at MAC.COM>

>The English word "experience" also has many definitions.  One involving the
>senses, but one specifically meaning: "to participate personally in,
>undergo."  So to experience something also means to personally participate
>in it or undergo it.
>When I use the words perceive and experience (especially when we discuss
>these topics), I'm using them in the latter definitions.


I am sure Rama would answer your questions but one thing that did strike me
was your sentence above, esp. the part I have pointed out. To experience
something means to be in a state of non-experience, then get into a state
of experiencing whatever it is we are talking about here, and then revert
to the older state of non-experience, or some other state. This is not, at
least in my understanding of Advaita, a correct interpretation of this
system. The seer and the seen are one so "who is it that sees and who is it
that is seen (all being Brahman)" is proclaimed by one of the Upanishads. I
believe this is pointed out in Drk-Drshya Viveka. So there cannot be such a
thing as experience nor an experiencer in the finality of things.


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