Thank you for sharing. I have enjoyed reading these writings.

Coming from a Western religious tradition, the tension between dualism and non-dualism has been long on my mind. I’m sure it has not escaped your notice that the idea of identifying the “Self” with God, of there being no distinction between Self and God, is horrifying to the Western religious mindset. I, myself, cannot resolve this tension rationally, though I do not reject the non-dualistic perspective as unreal; after all, Ma stood firmly in the non-dualism camp – at least, it seems so to me – and it is above my paygrade to disagree with Ma.

My view is that this tension reflects a rational paradox that cannot be resolved by ordinary consciousness. I remember reading in Ramakrishna’s gospel that he said that, so long as someone still identifies with the ego, they should not regard themselves as God.

I think this tension exists because it is a reality that must be experienced to be understood. I think perhaps non-dualism is for the followers of jnana marga, and not us poor bhaktas. 😊And I intuit bhakti marga gets you to the same place; I think that, in its ultimate expression, the I-Thou relationship becomes something too intimate to be discussed in mere dualistic terms – or non-dualistic terms, either, since this tension is, itself, inherently dualistic. “Non-dualism” implies dualism, after all. Possibly it’s like Shiva and Shakti themselves, ever parting and ever reuniting. A smidgeon of this sort of operation may be dimly reflected in married couples who have lived together many years; they sometimes become like each other.

I hope you like the book. It’s more than 100 years old, and written in an old-fashioned style. If you like math, you’ll like it, I think. It set my mind on fire, back in the day. If you get through it without seeing the “One God, many gods” resolution, let me know. I once had a conversation with an atheist who argued against religious truth because there were so many and none of them agreed. Happily, he had read the book; and when I pointed to the book to show how it could be so, he admitted it was possible.