The age of shortcuts - expecting to pluck the plum of Self-realisation


There is a telling paragraph at the beginning of Chapter One of S. S. Cohen's "Advaitic Sadhana - The Yoga of Direct Liberation" -

"This is the age of shortcuts. Time has shrunk and space more so, and the dual inconvenience has affected men's moods and temper. Even the supreme knowledge has nowadays to be given in massive doses and has to produce quick results too, or they will have none of it."

Telling because it reveals that there was a deep seated impatience even back in the days when westerners used to flock to the Ashram on short visits to "bask" in the presence of Sri Ramana Maharshi. This essay was drafted during Ramana Maharshi's lifetime, although first published in 1975. If there was an impatience then what must one say of today!

In his introduction to the book Cohen says that, "he used to watch their comings and goings and the haste with which most of them expected to pluck the plum of Self-realisation, immediate apprehension of the Reality, before even grasping the elementary principles of the Master's teaching or the Vedantic truth."

 More from Cohen: https://behindmyhand.blogspot.com/2020/05/collected-scraps-of-knowledge.html

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