The Rise of Secularism in Self Inquiry: Why do Modern Teachings Disregard God?

The essential component of any valid spiritual path is devotion to God. The famous saint Ramana Maharshi gave devotion to God, meaning glad acceptance of the fruits of action, equal status with Self Inquiry as a spiritual path because devotion to God exhausts vasanas and breaks down the concept of doership. "Not my will, but Thine." It also teaches that God, not the ego, is the dispenser of the fruits of one’s actions. But Neo-Advaita sees devotion as duality and has nothing to do with it. In fact, devotion works just as well as the idea of nonduality to prepare the mind for Self realization, because the Self functions through the chosen symbol or practice to bring the necessary qualities for Self Inquiry into full flower.  

One view that needs to be examined in this context is the notion that enlightenment can be transmitted in some subtle experiential way via the physical proximity of a master. Traditional Advaita disagrees with this view for the reason that ignorance is deeply entrenched in the aspirant’s thinking and that it is only by deep reflection on the teachings that the ultimate assimilation of the knowledge is achieved. This assimilation is often called full or complete enlightenment. On the other hand, the transmission fantasy fits nicely into the Neo-Advaita conception of easy enlightenment, as it does away with the need for serious practice. One needs to do nothing more than sit in the presence of a master and presto! "I wake up for good." If this were true, however, the thousands who sit at the feet of enlightened masters everywhere would be enlightened.  

Another half-baked idea that has gained currency in the Neo-Advaita world is the notion of awakening. While sleep and waking are reasonable metaphors to describe the states of Self ignorance and Self knowledge, Neo-Advaita assigns to them an experiential meaning that is not justified. Just as anything that lives, dies, anything that wakes, sleeps. The Self never sleeps nor does it awaken. The mind does. This waking up and going back to sleep—all of which takes place in the waking state incidentally—is a consequence of the play of the gunas in the mind. When the mind is sattvic, the reflection of the awareness shining on it causes the individual to wake up, i.e. to experience the Self; but when rajas or tamas reappear, as they inevitably do, the mind is clouded over, the experience is lost and the mind sleeps. Until the extroverting and dulling vasanas are purified, the seeker is condemned to a frustrating cycle of waking and sleeping.