Nothing Matters; Everything Matters

This dialectic is one of those Zen paradoxes the purpose of which is to shock and propel the acolyte's consciousness beyond the dual realm of opposites,  of good and bad, or yin and yang, etc., into the unity wholeness of the "One." Unfortunately there are some aspirants of enlightenment who are seeing only one side of this spiritual coin.  It is being taught,  by several teachers in the Western non-duality movement, that the enlightened consciousness is beyond good and bad, so, many aspirants seem to be negating, ignoring, and giving no credence to the importance of the existence of good and evil in the world!  They see good and evil equally as an illusion,  and as a result they are fostering an attitude of disconnection from, and a lack of compassion for, the suffering inherent in the human condition.  Rather than helping or serving their fellow humans, as many great saints and sages have done throughout history, they eschew any sort of individual or group social or political action towards peace, an end to hunger, energy conservation and the collapsing ecology.  They believe instead that it makes no difference what you do as,"good and evil are an appearance created by the mind and have no reality of their own."  This may be an ultimate truth, on the ultimate plane of existence, but we live here in the world.

Does what we do really matter?

This is an unfortunate and overly simplistic interprettation of this teaching.  It is missing the fact that, besides the obvious "horizontal duality" of opposites within the world (yin & yang), there also exists a "vertical duality," consisting of relative existence (creation) as the yang pole, and the Unity Consciousness as the yin pole. Now, in the koan, "Nothing matters; Everything matters," each  phrase relates to a different plane or pole of the reality.  The phrase, "nothing matters," takes the perspective of the ultimate plane, the non-dual state itself (ultimate yin).  In that transcendent state, matters of the world have no real existence. They are only a projection of the Oneness onto a seeming relative existence, a superimposition on our conscioousness, and have no permanent existence of their own.  In the non-dual state, worldly matters have no sway because the  Unitary Monad is pristine, and is untouched by the world, where certain laws apply.  Most important of these laws that apply universally in the world is  the law of Karma! 


Because the ultimate state transcends the ordinary worldly consciousness,  the various problems inherent in the created world seem as a  dream when seen from that ultimate state.  These worldly problems can not touch the ultimate consciousness.  But this only works for a FULLY REALIZED SOUL! In this created world, the law of Karma is in full force! On every projected or relative plane, every thought, action and deed has consequence, with no exception!  These consequences are  returning resultant forces of actions perpetrated by us, and they have a potent effect on the spiritual progress of the individual soul, or "Jiva" who commits these  actions, both volitionally and  unintentionally.  Even accidental actions can have strong consequences that can pull one from their path. For this reason, the classic Gurus of Advaita Vedanta (Hindu non-duality) laid out very specific modes of behavior in thought, word and deed for students, that, when followed, will help minimize Karmas and Vasanas (subtle impressions) that can cause one great difficulties in their worldly and spiritual lives. 

Lords of Karma

Some of the intentional editing of the traditional Advaita Vedanta that took place when it was brought from the East to the West, included the deletion of the Law of Karma.  It is true that from the highest reality perspective, Karma  does not seemingly exist.  But in the world, Karma rules all!  There is no escaping this!  This is an observable fact that can be seen by anyone who has eyes to see the patterns in their own lives and the lives of those around them.  Karma, simply stated, means, "Every action has an equal but opposite reaction." or more commonly, "What goes around comes around!" Any act of volition, whether it be thought word or deed, has consequence on all levels, except for the very highest.  Once again, the only exception to this is the person who has realized full enlightenment. He/she is no longer touched by Karma.  That is the one and only way out of Karma's grip on our existence!  But here is where the wrong conclusion is being drawn by Western Advaita aspirants. They seem to believe that if they  apply this truth of the highest plane onto the relative plane in which they live, it will protect them from the consequences of their actions, and, I guess,  help them, in some way, that I have not as yet fathomed, to reach enlightenment.  They believe that Karma doesn't really exist, because on the highest level (only), this is the case.  The problem is that this is all just a thought process within the mind, within the created world, and not an actual and direct experience!  Without full Self Realization this flawed idea will never protect the person from the laws of the relative plane!  This is a cold, hard fact!

Indulging the Senses

These same aspirants take this n a step further by believing that,  because matters of the world are not experienced as a hard reality on the highest plane,  this must also be the case for the relative plane as well! Some try to disregard the natural laws of the relative plane altogether.  In this imagined karma-free fantasy life of theirs, they do whatever they please, because in this paradigm, nothing matters! There is also no attempt to reign in control of indulgences of any sort (as is practiced in authentic Advaita) including, materialistic desires, sense pleasures, the use of drugs and alcohol, as well as the transgressions of anger, greed, lust, jealousy and sloth.  All are  especially disastrous for the seeker of Truth.   In authentic Advaita Vedanta. disciplines are employed to help control these earthly indulgences!  But, the belief amongst the neo-Advaitins is that ultimately, it just doesn't matter what you do in the world, because there are no consequences to be had!  I say, good luck with that!

This line of rationalization is seen as being an "evolved state" by the radical neo-Advaitins. They go around speaking robotically they think from the ultimate plane of reality, when all the while they are still stuck in the creation/world and are a still as vulnerable as the next guy to the results of their actions!  What is really going on here is a psychological disassociation with life, along with a sense of depersonalization, and an accompanying abnegation of any and all responsibilities to humanity.  They see people involved in social or political action as foolish and deluded, "If they only knew the Truth that I know, they would not waste their time feeding the poor and helping the sick."  Of course, all of this flies in the face of the teachings of the world's great saints, sages and Avatars.  From Mahatma Ghandi to Jesus Christ, it has been demonstrated that the enlightened approach to life in the world is "Seva," or service to one's fellow sentient beings!  By doing service to others the boundaries of separation begin to fade and one begins to intuit the Divine Self in all. And what's more, suffering is alleviated to some degree in the world.

Books, DVD's, Satsangs

Upon critical examination, one can easily deduce the reasons why a neo-Advaita teacher might want to leave Karma out of their teaching.  Because their goal is to sell books, CD's and DVD's, fill their satsangs and retreats, and to be sure that they are attracting an ever expanding audience, they purposely neglect teachings about things like  Karma because the disciplines that the law of Kama implies for spiritual aspirants is unattractive to their following, who love to hear teachings and teachers that say, "drop all seeking, do no practices!" This is a recurrent theme of late in neo-Advaita!


But in human existence, everything does matter (!), that is, until one is Self-Realized and there is nothing that can matter for all is resolved into the Oneness. For a student of enlightenment though,  to try to fit ultimate plane ideas into the relative plane is silly, like the trying to force the proverbial square peg into a round hole.  Assuming that ultimate plane ideas apply in relative existence is just foolish and lacks a basic understanding of the nature of things.