“Even though for Advaita Vedanta stillness is not an ultimate goal, it nevertheless has a value in the sense of the purified mind. If the mind is free of identifications, misunderstandings and lacks of clarity, it is still automatically. Hence Advaita Vedanta aims at a purified mind; it does not aim at stillness. This purified mind is actively worked for; in fact on the path of knowledge the seeker is primarily busy clearing away all identifications, misunderstandings and lacks of clarity about the true nature of man, god and world.

If, on the other hand, the focus is on achieving stillness, one will be satisfied with mere states of stillness, which are pleasant, but have to pass over and over again and then need to be produced once more. Moreover, those who want to feel satisfied with mere states of stillness are likely to experience an unpleasant surprise sooner or later: while for some time stillness may go on deepening and pleasant states may increase, at a certain point the whole process turns around. All of a sudden, or bit by bit, the initial stillness turns into a virtually depressive dejection, which overlays the beauty experienced thus far.

This is not always the case, but if it happens, it is because with the fixation on stillness, the buddhi loses its job, which consists of removing lacks of clarity. If there are no lacks of clarity or all lacks of clarity are removed, the buddhi is quiet anyway. However, as long as lacks of clarity exist, it will urge to clear them. If, instead, it is expected to keep still, it will lead to increasing discontent.” – Sitara Mittag

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