A Non-Duality of Radical Agency

In this talk, we continue to unpack the Somānanda's Radical Non-Dual Revelation to show how Consciousness, the Absolute Reality which you yourself are is endowed desire, innately creative and always active. Also, we discover the profound implications of such a view on our spiritual lives and on our day to day interactions with the world!

You'll recall that in  our last conversation we compared a few different approach to non-duality to show how many non-dual traditions prefer a more quietistic approach where the Absolute is conceived of as perfectly silent and perfectly still without any desire or dynamism whatsoever.

And that's perfectly valid!

Notice however that this idealistic, world-negating approach might work for some people (especially monastics) but not necessarily for everyone and certainly not for those who desire to engage with the world and act on their inspirations and desires for creative expression!

As such, as an alternative to the more popular and mainstream non-dual presentations of Classical Advaita Vedanta and Classical Buddhism, we present the Tāntrik approach which argues for the innate dynamism of the Absolute such that the world is re-affirmed, desires are divinized and life is given a positive spin!

On this view, the world is no longer seen as an illusion to be dispelled or as an error to be corrected; life is no longer seen as suffering but rather as innately blissful since all this is verily the shining forth of ever-free, ever-blissful Consciousness!

PS: much of this conversation is also in dialogue with some of the observations we were making here in our What is the Sound of Absolute Silence? | Bagalā Jayanti talk where I argued that speech is always inherent even in silence!