That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the

giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being

  -- I am that.

Amritbindu Upanishad

That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the

universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and

 without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman -- that thou art.

    Sankaracharya

 

The seeker is he who is in search of himself.

Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you

 are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not.

 Struggle to find out what you are in reality.

To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are

not.Discover all that you are not -- body, feelings thoughts, time, space, this or

that -- nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The

very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive.

The clearer you understand on the level of mind you can be described in

negative terms only, the quicker will you come to the end of your search

 and realise that you are the limitless being.

    Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Welcome to the Eternal Way (UK) 

First a quick note about posts - this will always be at the top and I'll add new material at the bottom.

What is the Eternal way?

The Eternal way is an approximate translation of the term 'Sanatana Dharma'.

Sanatana Dharma is the preferred name for the religion known in the West as 'Hinduism'. 

Hinduism itself does not actually exist. 

It's a western amalgamation of at least 4 different indian originated faiths. 

I say at least 4 because of you break it down even further there are hundreds of variations, but like the colours in the rainbow, they are connected and lead ultimately to the same... I was going to say place, but it's not a place in any sense of the word. It's more a state of mind, pure mind in fact; to become once again at one with the Supreme: known by some as Brahman or Krishna or (fill in the blank!) Brahman is the supreme the absolute the Eternal. But not in the same way the west views the Christian/Islamic/Jewish god. No Brahman is the universe 

Brahman is the universe 

Here's some good definitions from across the net.

Brahman is

 "The ultimate and impersonal divine reality of the universe, from which all
being originates and to which it returns" - personally one of my favourites

"The holy or sacred power that is the source and sustainer of the universe."

"The supreme being, the primal source and ultimate goal of all beings; atman."

When it speaks of supreme being this is not separate from the universe, it IS the universe - This quote also mentions 'atman' this is something I'll come back to. 

Atman - the spirit, soul within us - it is not a thing, it is consciousness itself



What is Vedanta?

Vedanta is a philosophical school based upon an understanding of 'Hindu' mythology and mysticism. Vedanta philosophy is based on ideas in three extremely important 'Hindu' texts namely 

The Bhagavad Gita  The Brahma Sutra and the Upanishads 

The Gita, which I personally love, is a 700 verse 'poem' in which Krishna explains to the warrior prince and Krishna devotee what is in effect the heart of all Vedic teachings.

The Brahma Sutra is an exposition of an interpretation of the Upanishads. It is an attempt to systematise the various strands of the Upanishads into an orthodox system of thought. (one which basically made sense!) but since the Upanishads are long complex and in some areas contradictory the Brahma Sutra is also pretty complex.

The Upanishads there are about 108 Upanishads (books) some of which are very ancient. they can range in length from only a dozen or so verses to hefty tombs and, as I mentioned above, they are not all in uniform agreement with each other. So to try to summarise them here is pretty difficult!

SO what then is Vedanta?

OK, I've not yet actually answered the question... 

Like the aforementioned texts it is not easy to summarise. But if I say there are three schools of Vedanta perhaps the descriptions of each would help to make sense of the whole. Here is a description I've borrowed from Wikipedia which for a change is good in this area.

The Upanishads form one of the three main sources for all schools of Vedanta, together with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma sutras. Due to the wide variety of philosophical teachings contained in the Upanishads, various interpretations could be grounded on the Upanishads. The schools of Vedānta seek to answer questions about the relation between atman and Brahman, and the relation between Brahman and the world. The schools of Vedanta are named after the relation they see between atman and Brahman

• According to Advaita Vedanta, there is no difference.
• According to Vishishtadvaita the ātman is a part of Brahman, and hence is similar, but not identical.
• According to Dvaita, all individual souls (ātmans) and matter as eternal and mutually separate entities.

Advaita Vedanta is popular both in India and in the West. It was popularised by the Theosophical society in the west in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and by the visit to New York by Swami Vivekananda (more about him later)  

Vishishtadvaita shares some similarities with Advaita, however, there are some important differences. A key one being the relationship between Brahman and atman (this is something I shall explore later)

Dvaita Vedanta is the least well know Vedanta and not particularly popular in the west.

There is also Acintya Bheda-Abheda which is represented in the West by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) or the 'Hare Krishna' movement. ISKCON is a movement that I've had some involvement with, although personally I bounce between Advaita and Vishishtadvaita, and part of the reason for writing this blog is that perhaps I'll finally make up my mind :)

Next up: That exactly is Atman?