Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order.)  2001.  Aurea Vidya Foundation Inc.  New York, N.Y.  (148 pages)  - www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

In the first half of this book Raphael engages in a dialogue with his students about philosophic issues, including the nature of reality, love, the mind’s role in projecting and creating illusory experience, the role of desire in causing unhappiness, spiritual teachers, art, and the Advaita Vedanta philosophy.  The discussion is rich and engaging.  The students present Raphael with questions that could easily be our own.  Raphael’s answers are surgically precise in identifying and peeling away the fundamental confusions and unexamined assumptions that combine to alienate us from ourselves and prevent us from achieving true peace.  The reader will appreciate the dialogic approach (also used in his book “Tat Tvam Asi”) and Raphael’s willingness to explain so as to foster understanding and comprehension.  For Raphael, “comprehension” – or deeper understanding – is the true basis of change and is what allows us to transform ourselves.  His books are designed to foster such “comprehension” through a combination of dialogue and careful explanation. 

Part Two of the book uses a different format to approach these subjects, presenting each topic in the form of short sentences or paragraphs – i.e. “sutras” – that can be used for meditation and contemplation.  This more intuitive format provides a nice balance to the more analytic, dialogic style of the first half of the book.  Throughout Raphael reminds us that realization is not an academic or intellectual undertaking, rather, it is a “realizative” undertaking that should transform the way we live and our fundamental assumptions about the source of life.

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz), February, 2009

Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  2005.  Aurea Vidya Foundation Inc.  New York, N.Y.  (156 p.).    www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

Seeing Plato through the eyes of Raphael is to see a different Plato.  This Plato is not an academic philosopher concerned with conceptual distinctions, nor an economist, political theorist, logician, or all that Plato has been thought to be.  Raphael’s Plato is a Magus, a spiritual teacher revealing to us the architecture of reality and a spiritual path to lead us out of suffering.  Perhaps, with regard to Plato, we ourselves have been in a cave of sorts (as he described in the Republic) but in this case a cave of the “shadows of Plato.”  Watching academics and scholars parade their interpretations before us on the cave wall, we have taken these “shadows” to be Platonism.  Then, from out of the cave comes Raphael providing a comprehensive, synthetic understanding of Plato that integrates and transforms these shadow interpretations into a vision that feels complete and which makes sense.  Borrowing another metaphor from Plato, one could describe this book as a “second navigation” of Platonism, the term he uses to describe the reorientation from confusion to truth.

Raphael is certainly not the first teacher to offer a spiritual interpretation of Plato and of Platonism as an initiatory tradition.  Others have preceded him, including the legendary Thomas Taylor and many more recent Platonic scholars who are cited in this book.  Raphael’s gift is to offer an initiatic view of Plato within a contemporary context, one that is accessible to the non-academic, which draws on modern scientific understanding, and which illustrates its points with references to other spiritual traditions.

In Initiation into the Philosophy of Plato Raphael cogently argues that Plato provides a spiritual system that is meant to be transformational and cathartic, leading the soul out of its suffering from confusion to the knowledge of truth.  To read Plato correctly, according to Raphael, is to be transformed by the reading. Perhaps an appropriate modern comparison would be to the art of psychotherapy, which also offers a form of cathartic and transformative knowledge – in this case an understanding of past experiences meant to liberate us from suffering and repeating them.  But in Plato’s case, the psychotherapy is a therapy of the soul that transforms the whole of experience through love-wisdom.

A large portion of the book consists of quotations from Plato’s dialogues, skillfully arranged to support Raphael’s points and to make sense for us of the whole of Plato’s thinking.  Quotes from other religio-philosophic traditions are added – including Kaballah, the Old and New Testaments, the Egyptian Mysteries, and – primarily – Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta.  These parallels demonstrate that Plato’s vision is not unique, but rather, a description of reality that has been shared by the wise teachers of all ages and places – what Raphael describes as “The Doctrine” or “Tradition.”  Raphael corrects popular misunderstandings of Plato (for example, that his teaching is dualistic and/or idealistic, or that the sense-world is unreal) and restores to their original meaning important Platonic terms, such as “dialetic”, “theory”, and the meaning of “philosophy” itself.

Platonic philosophy is a “love of wisdom” and in one of the final chapters Raphael gives us a beautiful presentation on the meaning of love.  This is Plato’s path of Eros, or love-beauty and here Raphael synthesizes Plato’s teaching that we can be lead by sensible beauty up through the levels of reality to the Divine Love-Beauty.  The book concludes with chapters on the Indian Sankara and the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy he founded, presenting both Sankara and Plato as enlightened reformers of their respective traditions who developed philosophical systems which agree in almost all respects – thus proving the unity of “Tradition.”

When Plato is seen as an academic philosopher his work falls into the domain of academics.  But, if Plato was a spiritual teacher and Platonism a realizative system, then he would best be explained by someone with spiritual insight.  Raphael, founder of the Asram Vidya order and author of dozens of books and translations of Eastern and Western texts, offers us an “out of the cave” interpretation of Plato which does exactly this.

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz), October 2009.

Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  2003. Aurea Vidya Foundation, Inc.  New York, N.Y.  (118 pages.) www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

There is a growing interest – or more correctly, a need – in the west to understand the sacred origins of Western Philosophy.  This perspective assumes that there once was a sacred western esoteric tradition (which has been lost), and it views ancient Western Philosophy as an expression of this lost wisdom, rather than as a primitive or less developed version of current thought.  Among the expositors of this view comes Raphael, a writer, translator of traditional texts, teacher, founder of “Ashram Vidya” and knower, who shares with us in his books a vision of how the Orphic, Parmenidean, and Platonic Traditions represent a sacred legacy of our past, a key to our enlightenment, and a complement to the Eastern traditions that have nourished many of us. 

For those of us who have found wisdom in the East it may now be time to also come home and to find in our own traditions a western version of the wisdom teachings that have provided answers to our questions.  This effort could lead us to a greater East-West understanding and synthesis, one that reveals the timeless, placeless and eternal Tradition that underlie both – what some in the East have called the “Santana dharma” – and what Raphael simply calls “The Tradition” or “The Doctrine”.

In Orphism and the Initiatory TraditionRaphael explains the importance of Orphism to Platonic and later Western philosophy, gives us an introduction to its doctrines and myths, and reveals to us an ancient initiatory tradition that lies at the heart of Western philosophy and culture, one which can still resonate with us today.  How many of us know that doctrines such as reincarnation, the divine origin of the soul, the fact that life is meaningful and ordered, and sacred initiatory rites for reuniting us with our divine nature were known and practiced in ancient times not only in Egypt, South America and the East, but here in the West?

Most are undoubtedly familiar with Plato and his contribution to Western thought.  Recently there has been an effort to deconstruct the popular but limited view of Plato as an academic philosopher and to re-represent him as a spiritual initiate and founder of a spiritual tradition – by leading thinkers and philosophers like J.R. Findlay, G. Reale, G. Colli, Peter Kinglsey and Richard Tarnas, as well as by Raphael in his book Initiation into the Philosophy of Plato.  

What is less well known is that the spiritual culture that Plato inhabited was one that was deeply influenced by Orphism and Pythagoreanism.  Thus, to fully understand Platonism and Neo-Platonism it would be useful to understand the ideas and practices that Plato himself was exposed to in the spiritual currents and teachings of his day.  This task has been admirably accomplished by Raphael in this short but deep book on Orpheus and Orphism, the school of wisdom that bears his name.

Readers will also find much useful information on a variety of important topics, among them:  the nature and meaning of spiritual symbols, including the myths about Orpheus;  the sacred use of music, for which Orpheus was legendary;  the theme of realigning degraded traditions with their sacred impulse;  the role of the Sage and tradition-founder;  and the nature of the One-Truth or “The Tradition” which underlies all sacred doctrines.

In the past five years the Aurea Vidya Foundation has published eleven works of Raphael translated from the original Italian – including translations and original works on Advaita Vedanta and Yoga, and others representing the sacred western traditions, including Initiation into the Philosophy of Plato;  Parmenides: On the Order of Nature; and The Threefold Pathway of Fire, (which includes a section on alchemy).

Raphael, along with other contemporary teachers such as Paul Brunton, Anthony Damiani,  Rene Guenon, Seyid Hussein Nasr and other “Traditionalist” philosophers, has reminded us that there is a sacred universal wisdom tradition which has roots in the West as well as the East – with Plato, Orpheus, Parmenides, and Pythagoras  among its chief representatives, and of an East-West synthesis that is in the making.  Along with His Holiness the Dalia Lama, they also remind us that it is possible to reconcile modern scientific understanding with ancient wisdom teachings.  

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz).  October, 2009

By Parmenides, with translation and commentary by Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  2007.

Aurea Vidya Foundation Inc. New York, N.Y.  (131 p.)  www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

Raphael’s translation and commentary of Parmenides “On the Order of Nature” provides a key to understanding this ancient text, which exists only in fragments and whose meaning and purpose has baffled many academic philosophers.  According to Raphael Parmenides has presented us with an overview of a spiritual journey (an ascesis), outlining the path itself and the goal – which is “Being” or the summum bonum of existence.  With this interpretation Raphael shifts our focus from viewing Parmenides as an academic philosopher to one in which he is seen as a spiritual teacher who shows us the “way.” This accords with appellation assigned to Parmenides by tradition as “one who has introduced the mortals to the straight path of wisdom.”

This small but pithy book contains an introduction to the text, interpretations of its two primary sections (concerned with “being” and “becoming”), and a translation (with English and Greek on facing pages), concluding with copious footnotes.  Raphael helps makes sense of this work by the great Parmenides, outlining Parmenides’ vision of “Being” as the ultimate principle and foundation of all things, and of “Becoming” which appears within being but which is not separate from it, and which we experience as every-day reality.  This interpretation suggests that we have mistaken the effect for the cause (becoming for being) and that this mistake constitutes a spiritual misunderstanding of profound significance, one which is the source of our unhappiness and suffering.

According to Raphael the ills of modern society are due to the fact that we do not have a shared vision of truth and of the goal of life.  “On the Order of Nature” provides exactly this, presented in the voice of Dike (the Goddess of Truth and Mother of the World) who speaks to Parmenides and leads him on his journey.  It will be up to the reader to decide if this is a fanciful, symbolic literary device on the part of Parmenides, or a description of actual realities. 

The book is noteworthy for a number of reasons.  First, for its clear exposition and explanation of the fragments, knitting them into a coherent whole.  Second, for it ample use of quotations that illustrate the meaning of the text, from both western and eastern sources.  The selections from non-Greek sources, specifically the Hindu Upanisads, clearly indicate that there is a common truth that is the source of humanity’s great spiritual traditions.  Third, as is the case with Raphael’s other books on Greek philosophy (Orpheus and the Initiatory Traditionand Initiation into the Philosophy of Plato), he reminds us that at the core of our Western philosophical tradition is an initiatory path of spiritual depth and wisdom rather than the immature musings of a primitive philosophy to be supplanted by more “modern” thinkers.  If this is true, then only one who is himself a “knower of truth” can hold the key that will unlock their secrets.  In this regard Raphael has performed an admirable service.

Review by Micha-El  (Alan Berkowitz).  October, 2009 

Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  1993.  Samuel Weiser.  York Beach, Maine.  (88 pages). www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

The Kabbalah is one of the world’s great esoteric traditions.  Contemporary interpreters have focused on its psychological and magical aspects while ignoring its metaphysical foundation.  In this book Raphael provides us with a deeper interpretation of Kabbalistic priniciples, reminding us that the Kabbalah is a sacred metaphysical tradition that provides a blueprint of reality, and not only a means of psychological self-understanding or magical-theurgic operations.  The Sephiroth – the ten aspects of divine reality – are each interpreted metaphysically as spiritual principles that exist on the various levels of being – causal, subtle and gross.  By showing us how manifestation arises and unfolds out of the one divine reality (Ain Soph) through the levels of being symbolized by the Sephiroth, Raphael provides us with a map of our inner spiritual reality and a pathway back to our own divine source.  By drawing parallels to other spiritual traditions he reminds us that each of these systems are expressions of a single truth or reality – what he calls “The Tradition” – that underlies them all.  This is an excellent book for anyone interested in a basic introduction to the Kabbalah and also for those already familiar with it, but who would benefit from a deeper understanding of its tenets and principles.

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz).  February, 2009

A review of: Orphism and the Initiatory Tradition (2003), Initiation into the Philosophy of Plato (2005), Parmenide’s On the Order of Nature - For a Philosophical Ascesis (2007), and The Science of Love: from the Desire of the Senses to the Intellect of Love (2010).

By Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).   Aurea Vidya Foundation, Inc.  New York, N.Y.  www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

There is a growing interest – or more correctly, a need – in the Occident to understand the sacred origins of western philosophy.  This assumes that there once was a sacred western esoteric tradition which has been lost, and it views ancient western philosophy as an expression of this lost wisdom, rather than as merely a precursor to modern thought.  Giving expression to this view is Raphael, a writer, translator of traditional texts, teacher, and founder of the “Ashram Vidya Order”, who shares with us a vision of how the Orphic, Parmenidean, and Platonic Traditions represent a sacred legacy of our past, a key to enlightenment, and a complement to the eastern traditions that have nourished many of us. 

For those of us who were born in the Occident and sought wisdom in the Orient it may now be time to also come home and to find in our own traditions the western version of the wisdom teachings that have provided answers to many of our questions.  This “homecoming” could lead to an East-West understanding and synthesis that reveals the timeless, placeless and eternal reality underlying both – what in the East is called the “Santana Dharma” and what Raphael simply calls “The Tradition” or “The Doctrine”.

In these four books Raphael explains the importance of Orpheus, Parmenides, and Plato to western thought and presents them as living spiritual paths.  Seeing them through the eyes of Raphael is to see these philosophers anew – as spiritual teachers revealing to us the architecture of reality and a valid spiritual path rather than as academic philosophers, as mythologists, political theorists, or logicians.    

Perhaps, in this regard, we ourselves have been in a cave of sorts (as described in Plato’s Republic), but in this case it is a cave of the “shadows of Plato, Orpheus and Parmenides.”  As academics and scholars have paraded their interpretations before us on the wall of the cave we have taken these “shadows” to be truth.  Raphael comes to us from outside of the cave, as it were, transforming these understandings into a comprehensive, synthetic vision of our western progenitors that integrates and transforms these shadow interpretations into a vision that feels complete and which makes sense. 

These four books provide an introduction to the doctrines and ideas of these great philosophers, revealing to us an ancient initiatory tradition at the heart of western philosophy and culture that still resonates today.  How many of us know that doctrines such as reincarnation, the divine origin of the soul, the fact that life is meaningful and ordered, and sacred initiatory rites to reunite with divinity were known and practiced in ancient times not only in Egypt, South America and the East, but here in the West?

While Raphael is certainly not the first to offer a spiritual interpretation of these teachers, his gift is to offer an initiatic or “realizative” view of them that is based on personal experience and within a contemporary context that is accessible to the non-academic, drawing on modern scientific understanding, with references to other spiritual traditions.

In Initiation into the Philosophy of Plato Raphael cogently explains how Plato’s works constitute a spiritual path leading to knowledge of truth.  Reading Plato in this way one can experience a knowledge that is cathartic and transformative.  Much of the book consists of quotations from Plato’s dialogues skillfully arranged to illustrate Raphael’s points and to paint a picture of the whole of Plato’s thinking.  Quotes from other religious and philosophic traditions – including the Kaballah, Old and New Testaments,  Egyptian Mysteries, and Advaita Vedanta – demonstrate that Plato’s vision is not unique, but rather, a description of universal truth shared by the wise teachers of all ages and places.  Raphael corrects popular misunderstandings of Plato (for example, that his teaching is dualistic and/or idealistic, or that the sense-world is unreal) and restores to their original meaning important Platonic terms, such as “dialetic,” “theory,” and the meaning of “philosophy” itself.

Platonic philosophy is a “love of wisdom” and in one of the final chapters Raphael gives us a beautiful presentation on the meaning of love.  This subject – the spiritual meaning of love and that love itself can be a spiritual path and a means of transformation for an individual or a couple – is more fully discussed in a subsequent book “The Science of Love.”  Here we learn that our conception of love is limited by our conception of who we are.  Thus, experiencing ourselves as material-psychological beings reduces love to a physical or psychological phenomenon, when in reality we are divine Souls, with Love being the Soul’s desire to unite with its divine source.  From this assumption is derived an inspiring conception of Love that offers the opportunity to view “being in Love” as a pathway for spiritual practice and transformation.

For each level of a being – material, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual – there is a corresponding understanding and definition of love.  These forms of love should not be taken as ends in themselves, but as steps on an ascending ladder leading to a higher, more transformative love.  Love presupposes polarities – both within and between individuals, and also within and between levels of reality – that are themselves derived from a fundamental unity.  The process and dynamics of polarity, its relation to the system of chakras, and their connection to love in its many forms are clearly explained, with much helpful information about love for both individuals and couples.  The resulting understanding allows us to see “beyond the form” into the deeper truth that express itself in everyday love relationships.   In its highest expression Love, as an outflowing of Soul, is non-grasping, non-possessive, and un-needy, demonstrating qualities of comprehension, acceptance, life-giving, joy-beatitude, fullness, and appreciation.  This deeper love creates a dynamic, creative field that benefits all who contact it.  Quoting Raphael: “Love is, therefore, a powerful, unifying impulse, which transmits the grace of joy.  Love floods and involves all it comes into contact with.”  This “unifying impulse” can resolve life’s problems and lead the Soul back to its source.  In its highest expression, Love is experienced as a gentle Sound, a vibrating of notes in harmony, transforming the space around it.  Raphael comments: “If all the couples on Earth loved each other with sublime Mind, the planet would emanate a different beam of light and have a different rhythm: it would become a sacred planet.”

This understanding of Love is linked to the Platonic conception of Eros as a unifying, joining and aspiring energy.  The Love-Eros in us seeks out Beauty in order to remember the Beauty that lies within, and these qualities (Love-Beauty-Eros) lead us back to their source where they become one.

In “Orpheus and the Initiatory Tradition”Raphael demonstrates how the spiritual culture that Plato inhabited was influenced by Orphism, contributing to a deeper understanding of Platonism and Neo-Platonism through an encounter with the ideas and practices that Plato himself experienced.  Readers can also find useful information on topics such as:  the nature and meaning of spiritual symbols, including the myths about Orpheus; the sacred use of music, for which Orpheus was legendary; the theme of realigning degraded traditions with their sacred impulse; the role of the Sage and tradition-founder; and the nature of the One-Truth underlying all sacred doctrines.

“On the Order of Nature” is a translation of a text by Parmenides which exists only in fragments and whose meaning and purpose has baffled many academic philosophers.  According to Raphael, Parmenides provides us with an overview of a spiritual journey (i.e. an ascesis or sadhana), outlining the path and the goal, which is “Being” (the summum bonum of existence.)  This small but pithy book contains an introduction to the text, interpretations of its two primary sections (concerned with “being” and “becoming”), and a translation (with English and Greek on facing pages) that includes copious footnotes.  Raphael helps makes sense of Parmenides vision of “Being” as the ultimate principle and foundation of all things, and of “Becoming” (an appearance within being that is not separate from it) that is experienced as every-day reality.  Our unhappiness is due to mistaking the effect for the cause (becoming for being), a mistake that constitutes a spiritual misunderstanding of profound significance.

The ills of modern society arise in part from this confusion and the lack of a shared vision of truth and the goal of life, as is provided in “On the Order of Nature.”  This book is noteworthy for its clear exposition and explanation of the fragments, knitting them into a coherent whole, and for it ample use of quotations from both western and eastern sources that illustrate the meaning of the text. 

In the past five years the Aurea Vidya Foundation has published twelve translations of Raphael from the original Italian – including sacred texts and commentaries on Advaita Vedanta and Yoga, and books about the sacred western traditions.  In these books Raphael reminds us that at the core of our western philosophical tradition is an initiatory path of spiritual depth and wisdom.   This places him in the company of contemporary teachers such as Paul Brunton, Anthony Damiani, Rene Guenon, Seyid Hussein Nasr and others whose writings reveal a sacred universal wisdom tradition with roots in the both East and West, offering the possibility of an East-West synthesis that reconciles modern scientific understanding with ancient wisdom teachings.  

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz).  May 2010

A review of: Atmabodha: Self-Knowledge (2003), Vivekacudamani: The Crest Jewel of Discernment(2006), and Drgdrsyaviveka: Discernment between Atman and non-Atman (2008) with translations and commentaries by Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  Aurea Vidya Foundation, Inc.  New York, N.Y.  www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

There is a growing interest among contemporary spiritual seekers in non-duality teachings and teachers. This new expression of non-dual teachings proposes to bypass the mind and conceptual thinking of the seeker through a “direct-path” to spiritual realization, which is available in the here and now and should not require long periods of study or training.  It is especially suited to Westerners who tend to approach spiritual development intellectually and who may come to this work with an already well-developed (or over-developed) mentality that serves to perpetuate their sense of spiritual alienation.  Non-dual teachers utilize a combination of silence, teachings, and dialectical inquiry to help their students transcend self-limiting conceptualizations and habits of mind, breaking these bonds to reveal an already existing self-nature that shines forth free from doubt and restlessness.

Most contemporary non-dual teachers themselves had teachers from India who were steeped in ancient non-dual teachings, which have a well-developed pedagogy and literature, primarily from the “Advaita-Vedanta” school of philosophy founded by Adi Sankara (788-820).  It may therefore be of interest to contemporary non-dual students to sample some of this traditional literature – which has enriched non-dual traditions for over one thousand years – to see what it has to say about the nature of illusion, reality, and self.  Such inquiry would not be for the purpose of utilizing an already over-developed conceptual mind, or to approach these teachings intellectually, but rather, to partake of traditional literature that uses the same method of dialectical inquiry that is popular with contemporary non-dual teachers in their individual interactions with students.  The dialectical approach used by many of today’s non-dual teachers in fact mirrors the logic and pedagogy of traditional Advaita Vedanta texts, which are designed to undermine underlying assumptions about self, world and reality that keep the student trapped within a limited and unsatisfying world-view.  Thus their efficaciousness is through a process of “undoing” rather than through a strengthening of the alienated “doing” self.   

Three important Advaita Vedanta texts attributed to Sankara have recently been published in English, with commentaries and explanations.  The author is Raphael, a teacher, founder of the Ashram Vidya order, writer, and translator, who has published over fifteen books in Italian on the subject of the non-dual tradition, including original works, and translations with commentaries, along with numerous other books on ancient Western traditions.

These three texts: Atmabodha, Drgdrsyavivekaand Vivekacudamaniare already available in numerous other English translations.  Thus, one can justifiably ask: what distinguishes Raphael’s translations and commentaries from these others?  There are a number of reasons that Raphael’s work is noteworthy.  First, as a native Westerner, he writes in a manner that approachable and accessible, unlike many of the Indian-born translators of these texts whose language is conceptual and dense.  Second, Raphael makes frequent references to modern scientific thought, utilizing it to effectively illustrate traditional Advaita ideas, along with references to kindred spiritual traditions, including Platonism, Alchemy and other Western traditions.  Thus, these books are accessible, contemporary, enjoyable to read, and place the subject matter in a larger context.  Most importantly, Raphael himself is the product of a lifetime of studying and living these ideas.  As a result his translations and commentaries are a result of “lived experience” and thus serve to provide a vision of the text “from the inside.”  In Raphael’s terms, they are “realizative” and function with the intended purpose of the original Sanskrit texts to transform the mentality of the reader.   Rather than being theoretical presentations, they are “operative” – serving as a stimulus to realization just as dialectical conversation with a contemporary non-dual teacher might serve to erode false assumptions that veil an underlying ever-shining self.  This non-dual approach has also been termed “Asparsa Yoga” or the “Yoga of Non-Touch” because in unity, there is no “other” that can be “touched.”

Atma-Bodhaor “Self-Knowledge”(92 pages) is a brief presentation explaining the nature of the self (Atma), why our contact with it has been lost, and how it can be regained. The more lengthy Drigdrisyavivekaor “Discernment between Atman and non-Atman” (147 pages) presents a rational method of discrimination through which the true self, the observer-witness or atman, can be separated/distinguished from the non-self world of experience with which it has incorrectly identified, along with additional Vedantic teachings about the nature of reality.  The Vivekacudamanior “The Crest Jewel of Discrimination” (323 pages) is in the form of a dialogue between an Advaita master and a student, with the master answering the student’s questions about the nature of ignorance, self and reality.  This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Advaita Vedanta and is more extensive than the first two, thus it would be of interest for those interested in a more in-depth presentation.  All three books have an excellent glossary with definitions of critical terms and an English transliteration of the Sanskrit text.  Drigdrisyavivekaalso has an excellent bibliography of (primarily English) books and texts on the Advaita Vedanta.  Readers who enjoy these books may also find value in Raphael’s other books on non-duality available in English translation.  These include:  Tat Tvam Asi (The Way of Fire According to Asparsa Vada), At the Source of Life (Questions and Answers about the Ultimate Reality), Mandukya Upanisad(with the verses of Gaudapada and commentary by Raphael), and The Pathway of Non-Duality.

The non-dual timeless (Brahman) is unchanging, existing within us as our inner being (Atman).  Some may experience this “untouchable truth” on occasion in “glimpses” while a few may permanently know it to be their true nature.  Knowledge-Truth – what Raphael calls the “Tradition” or the “Doctrine” – is also beyond time and space but has a temporal expression in different historical periods.  Those who are interested in non-duality may find value in contacting – through these books – the form that it is currently expressing itself through in Raphael – a form that is well suited to current times and mentalities.

Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz), May, 2010.

Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  2002.  The Aurea Vidya Foundation Inc.  New York, N.Y. (172 pages).  www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

Imagine that one of the great spiritual teachers of the past came back and engaged a contemporary, alienated Western spiritual seeker in a dialogue about the meaning of life and the true path to happiness.  Would this teacher be able to understand and relate to the complexities of modern life?   Would someone who felt depressed and alienated from society – someone who had dabbled in drugs and politics and modern art – be able to relate to this teacher from a distant past?  Since the basic human existential issues and problems remain similar throughout history, it is likely that the dialogue would be productive and relevant.  But what if – on the other hand – this wise person was a contemporary who was well-versed in today’s society and its problems and could draw from modern science, psychology and philosophy in providing explanations and instruction?  We would expect that the dialogue would be more focused, more precise, and that the explanations would be more relevant to our confused and alienated seeker.

In Tat Tvam Asi the contemporary teacher is Raphael, and the alienated seeker is Antonio.  The book is based on a true dialogue that took place between Raphael and one of his students over a period of years.  Antonio comes to Raphael feeling depressed, addicted to drugs, questioning the meaning of life, and with suicidal fantasies.  Raphael engages him in a skillful dialectic to help him understand that his unhappiness derives from fundamental misunderstandings about the meaning and purpose of human life, the nature of reality, and the nature of self.  Particularly noteworthy is Raphael’s use of reasoned understanding to help Antonio answer his own questions and find a more firm – and satisfying – foundation for his life.  We see Antonio gradually transformed as they discuss the meaning of life, the definition of reality, the ego’s foolishness in looking for happiness outside of itself, the nature of true knowledge, death and rebirth, illusion, etc.  Antonio is not asked to simply believe or take what Raphael says on faith, but rather, he is given the opportunity to understand, ask questions, and have an explanation that integrates modern psychological and scientific understandings of reality, all presented in a way that is grounded in ancient spiritual philosophy – primarily the Advaita Vedanta of Sankara, but also Plotinus, Plato, and Parmenides. 

Antonio tells Raphael his dreams, and through them we see how Antonio’s whole relation to life and to himself are transformed over the course of the dialogue.  One can only wonder what would have happened if Antonio, in his search for answers to the meaning of life, had instead sought out the help of a traditional psychotherapist, who would probably have left his fundamental misunderstandings in place, looking instead to explore his past, helping him with techniques to curb his destructive urges, or even suggesting psycho-tropic medication.  Instead he has the good fortune to encounter Raphael, who is a true psychologist in the original meaning of a science of “psyche” or soul.  We come away admiring Antonio for his willingness to fearlessly examine his fundamental assumptions and beliefs about life, and for perceiving that there was a pathway out of his darkness.  Anyone who has had similar questions and doubts will enjoy sitting in on this fascinating discussion.

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz).  February, 2009

Raphael (Ashram Vidya Order).  2010.  Aurea Vidya Foundation Inc.  New York, N.Y.  (167 p.).    www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org

What is love?  Humanity has been preoccupied with this question throughout its existence.  Love is one of life’s mysteries, one that has been the subject of countless books, songs, poems, and testimonials.  This unanswered question has led to a growing contemporary literature on the spiritual meaning of love and relationship.  Raphael’s “The Science of Love” is an important contribution to this literature, placing the idea and meaning of love in a philosophical context based on Platonism and other wisdom traditions, relying on the assumption that Love offers a valid spiritual path (both for individuals and couples) that can lead to the highest realization.

Our conception of love is limited by our conception of who we are.  Thus, when experiencing ourselves as material-psychological beings, love is reduced to a physical or psychological phenomenon.  What if, however, the deeper truth is that we are divine Souls, with Love being the Soul’s desire to unite with its divine Source?  This is Raphael’s premise.  From it he derives an inspiring conception of Love that provides important insights on this most important experience, offering us the opportunity to view “being in love” as a pathway for spiritual practice and transformation.

For each level of a being – material, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual – there is a corresponding understanding and definition of love.  Raphael reviews each of these, demonstrating that a spiritual understanding of love – as the Soul’s desire for Truth, Comprehension, Beauty and Union – offers a framework that can lead to a re-visioning of Love in its other forms.  Rather than being an end in themselves, material, emotional and intellectual love are steps on an ascending ladder (as Plato, through the character of Diotima, suggested in the Symposium) which lead to a higher, more transformative love.  Raphael also refers to the Eastern understanding of chakras – vital energy centers within us that correspond to different levels of reality – to explain levels of polarity and the different experiences of love.

Love itself is based on polarity – polarities within a person and between them, and within and between levels of reality – polarities that are themselves derived from a fundamental unity.  Raphael explains the process and dynamics of polarity and how this leads to the experience of “love” in its many forms, presenting the polarities experienced in relationship as the expression of more fundamental, deeper polarities.  This material would be of particular interest to spiritual seekers involved in a committed relationship.  With this understanding, we can see “beyond the form” into the deeper truth that express itself in everyday love relationships.   In its highest form, Love, as an expression of the Soul, is non-grasping, non-possessive, and un-needy, demonstrating comprehension, acceptance and appreciation.  A love of this nature creates a dynamic, creative field that benefits all who come into contact with it.  Quoting Raphael: “Love is, therefore, a powerful, unifying impulse, which transmits the grace of joy.  Love floods and involves all it comes into contact with.”  This “unifying impulse” is what can provide a solution to life’s problems, and lead the Soul back to its source.  In its highest expression, Love expresses the qualities of comprehension, life-giving, joy-beatitude, fullness, and freedom, and is experienced as a gentle Sound.  Pure Love is itself a vibrating of notes in harmony, transforming the space around it.  Raphael comments: “If all the couples on Earth loved each other with sublime Mind, the planet would emanate a different beam of light and have a different rhythm: it would become a sacred planet.”

This understanding of Love is in turn linked to the Platonic conception of Eros as a unifying, joining and aspiring energy.  The Love-Eros in us seeks out Beauty in order to remember the Beauty that lies within, and these qualities (Love-Beauty-Eros) lead us back to their source where they become one.

This is a noteworthy book.  As in his other books, Raphael takes an important theme from the Perennial Wisdom Tradition and gives it a modern expression that is both accessible and true to its source.  And, because the subject is Love, there is something for everyone in this book, whatever the object(s) of our love may be.

Review by Micha-El (Alan Berkowitz), May, 2010.