UG Archive

By Mukunda Rao Enlightenment Demystified Salvation Is Physical The Body Is Immortal The ‘Calamity’ India boasts of a strong, 3,000-year-old enlightenment tradition. The Yogavashista speaks of seven steps to enlightenment, the seventh and final stage being moksha – the extinction of the individual, which sounds similar to the concept of nirvana, the final ‘extinction of the self’. Moksha also means release from the cycles of births and deaths, or complete and ultimate liberation from all ignorance and duality through realization of the Supreme or Universal Self and its identity with Brahman . There are, of course, various other descriptions of what constitutes moksha , depending upon the spiritual tradition one belongs to. Are they all speaking of the same state of being, in different words? Is there an ‘essence’ to moksha or liberation? How can realization of the Supreme Self be the same as ‘the extinction of self’ or nirvana? Are there different kinds of enlightenment? Are there le

By Mukunda Rao The Selfish Gene The Meme Machine Alternative Theories or Towards a Unified Theory of Life UG's Response: Mind is a Myth The Brain is Only a Reactor Is There a Soul? Whenever Sri Ramana was asked any questions relating to God, atman and the meaning of life, his usual response used to be: ‘Who is asking the question? Who or what is this “I”? What is mind? Enquire into it; find out...’ How does one find out? There is no asking ‘how’, JK would say, yet, do inquire, be aware, and see ‘what is’. On the other hand, UG would assert that the whole business of self-inquiry is a joke. But in the first place, why do we ask these questions? Who am I? What is man? Is there a God? Is soul different from the body? What is the meaning of all this? But are these really our questions? Or, are we repeating the questions already asked by others in the past, sometimes rephrasing them this way or that? Or, are we asking these questions because our traditions and Gurus have told us that t