Traditional vs Neo-Advaita

This section has been added to try to clarify the differing teaching methods of traditional Advaita and so-called 'Neo-Advaita'.

Rather than simply express my own views on the subject, a number of essays are presented and an open invitation is extended to anyone else, teacher, writer or seeker, to submit their interpretation. The only criteria are that any essay should be on topic, reasonably well written (grammatical and logical) and respectful of opposing views.

As pointed out by myself and Tony Parsons in two of the following essays, the very meaning of the word Advaita tells us that the purport of any Advaita teaching must be the same. The difference lies in the way that this message is transmitted, i.e. the 'Teaching Method'. Ideally, any essay should clearly define how they understand the terms, since there does not seem to be any concensus view. To set the scene and provide a provocative provisional definition, the following was suggested recently on the Advaitin List:

1. Traditional Vedanta = Right Method
2. Neo-Vedanta = Right Method Misunderstood
3. Pseudo-Vedanta = Wrong Method

But then I do not want to bias opinions in any particular direction...

The following are the essays so far contributed on the topic. (Note that links to them are also provided from the 'Discourses by Teachers and Writers' pages.)

1. Advaita and Western Neo-Advaita - Alan Jacobs.

2. Traditional versus Neo-Advaita - Dennis Waite.

3. The Divine Misconception - Tony Parsons.

4. Why ‘Traditional Advaita’ is relevant to liberation - Chittaranjan Naik.

5. The Problem and the Solution - Durga.

6. From the Age of the Guru to the Age of the Friend - Greg Goode.

7. The Three Faces of Advaita - Aja Thomas.

8. Ego and Seeking - Shawn Nevins.

9. Both=One - John Greven.

10. The Final Understanding (Not) - Charlie Hayes.

11. Meaningless Words - Liz Jones.

12. What is Neo-Advaita? - James Swartz.

13. Perfect Brilliant Stillness - Comments on the book by David Carse.

14. Spiritual Humanism versus Neo-Advaita - Möller de la Rouvière, Tony Parsons and Alan Stoltz.

15. Traditional vs neo-Advaita - Dr. N. K. Srinivasan.

16. Neo-Advaita = Suffering; Self-enquiry = Freedom - Charlie Hayes.

17. A Dialog with Jeff Foster - Jeff Foster and Dennis Waite.

18. A Dialog with Charlie Hayes - Charlie Hayes and Dennis Waite.

19. Second dialog with Charlie Hayes - Charlie Hayes and Dennis Waite.

See the complete list of discourses sorted by Topic.
See the complete list of discourses sorted by Author.