Neo-Advaita

 

Truth is one. All masters try to convey the same thing. Teachings of old masters would have been misinterpreted by some people, made as a concept, a story, or a religion by the years passed by.
People take what is convenient for them, a part, ignoring the context, mostly those prescribed for the beginners, or an answer to a particular person. They fail to grasp the whole, the root. They would maintain that just because their Guru talked to a Goddess daily, it is part of their practice too, and it is not fair to classify it as a concept or ignorance.

People who are not so serious, who are satisfied with the religious-part of the teachings, would be enjoying it just like a kid with a lollipop. Immediately when you take out the lollipop, the child starts crying. Such people would classify all those who disturb their convenient beliefs as "Neo-Advaitins".
They fail to grasp that the very entity that is seeking is a concept and any knowledge is still a concept. They are grossly immersed in their own conceptual world of spirituality, awaiting an objective change of status, a permanent euphoric state for the entity they believe themselves to be. “Indeed there is no such thing as enlightenment. The apperception of this fact is itself enlightenment!”

Do you know, Maharaj himself is considered as a "Neo-Advaitin" and His teachings are not allowed in many popular Advaita Vedanta groups.

The basic practice of neo-Advaita is self-inquiry, via the question "Who am I?", or simply the direct recognition of the non-existence of the "I" or "ego." This recognition is taken to be equal to the Advaita Vedanta recognition of the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the recognition of the "Formless Self."

Tony Parsons writes that classical Advaita Vedanta is just another established religion with a proliferation of teachings and literature, all of which very successfully and consistently miss the mark, qualifying it as one of the many systems of personal indoctrination promising the eventual spiritual fulfilment. According to Parsons, classical Advaita Vedanta has no relevance to liberation because it is born out of a fundamental misconception, namely that there is something like a separate individual who can become enlightened. According to Parsons, this is a direct denial of abiding oneness (Advaita).

Manmohan Sethumadhavan