A candid look at what’s been unfolding
Simply Vedanta didn’t begin as an attempt to live out something I’d already understood. What’s actually happened over the past month is something more dynamic: all three aspects — understanding, reflection, and integration — are changing. They’re reshaping each other. Sometimes deepening, sometimes flipping entirely.
Take mithyā, for example. I thought I got it. But sitting outside one afternoon, sandwich in hand, the whole thing landed differently. Not as a concept, but as a lived moment — a quiet recognition that this sandwich, this day, even this body, are all “borrowed,” yet nothing is missing.
Or take my shift away from previous projects. Writing When the Work Wasn’t the Problem helped clarify what I thought was going on. But what followed — actually doing the work of SV, showing up daily — was deeper than I expected. I’m currently all-in. And I hope that doesn’t fade.
A Natural Arc That Wasn’t Designed
Looking back, the posts seem to have fallen into a rhythm that loosely maps to the traditional arc of śravaṇa (hearing), manana (reflection), and nididhyāsana (assimilation):
- Vedanta Shelf posts have leaned toward śravaṇa — exposure to foundational ideas.
- Living Vedanta has often felt like manana — personal contemplation and testing.
- Living Contexts has been where I bump into nididhyāsana — life exposing gaps between understanding and actual response.
- Meta-Reflections like this one are where I step back to see what this whole thing is becoming.
None of this was planned. But it’s been consistent enough to take seriously.
Not Just Non-Dual, Not Just Advaita
My orientation is Advaita. But there’s a tension with the way some in the tradition treat bhakti and karma as “lesser” paths on the way to non-duality. I don’t feel that. Not in how the journey is unfolding for me.
I seem to relate more to a flatter field — Advaita at the center, but with full openness to other modes of engagement. Devotion and service aren’t pre-realisation crutches — they’re part of the living expression. This view is already visible in a few posts, and I expect it to show up more.
Spontaneity Over Structure (for Now)
Most traditional approaches to Vedanta emphasize structured study. Simply Vedanta has gone the other way. Daily life — small dilemmas, small joys — is leading the way. Even where scripture shows up, it’s in response to something real and present, not as a fixed curriculum.
That said, I’ve been wondering: should there be a little more intention? Could a single verse — say Gita 2.20 — ripple across three posts, one in each category, to reflect the full śravaṇa–manana–nididhyāsana arc? Or could we start tracking the big questions that keep arising? Not as planning tools, but as quiet markers of where the real heat is.
Is There a Loose Method Behind the Madness?
One thing I’ve been wondering is how the questions themselves arise. Not just “what triggers a post,” but what kind of confusion or pull keeps showing up again and again.
It’s not a structured list, and I don’t want one. But maybe there’s a kind of orientation — something that loosely holds these reflections together.
For now, a possibility I’m testing is this:
Maybe every post, in its own way, touches one of two classic aims of Vedanta:
- ātyantika duḥkha-nivṛtti — complete freedom from sorrow
- paramānanda-prāpti — discovery of lasting fullness
I didn’t start with that frame. And I’m not forcing posts into it. But it might be a quiet current beneath what’s been unfolding. Not a roadmap. Just a compass.
And maybe that’s all the structure I need.
Keeping It Honest
I sometimes wonder if all this reflection is taking me away from the actual practice. But so far, the opposite seems true. The reflection is the practice. The writing is the staying-with. Noticing which thoughts stick, which reactions repeat, and where silence opens up between them — that’s the point.
If this project helps anyone else, I’m glad. But the primary aim hasn’t changed: uncompromising sādhanā.
Not polishing ideas. Just staying with the questions — until the answers are truly mine.
Simply Vedanta 