Living the lofty philosophy of Hinduism

[Aupmanyav]

Thanks, Sassymaa, I try.

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

Namaskaram ji



all these thigs Near Death Experiences , glimpses of past lives dont we just need these things to allow us to understand Shastra ? ...without these experiences Shastra may appear as it does to some to be alagorical , analogous or mythalogical , ....well it is not and the more real experience we have the more confirmation we have of its validity , ....

Indeed, this is one of those things that convinced me of the validity of Hinduism. One of the reasons why I became atheist in my early adult years was the scientific contradictions that religion faced, but then later to discover a religion that was entirely consistent with science(e.g. the scientific facts I mentioned in a thread I started) and actually had a lot scientists who were its fans, confirmed the religion for me. So even these other less accepted areas of science like parapsychology are relevant to me, as I do not buy into the materialist dogmas that parapsychology is unscientific just because it attempts to study the paranormal. I have seen some really good research in this field and it is has further increased my faith in Hinduism(sharadda)

this may be so but just because it took one person ten lifetimes that need not set the rule that it will be the same for you or for me , ..

No, it probably won't be, because maybe that person did not have the benefit of true teachings of Sanatana dharma, which may have helped them overcome it one lifetime. However, I mentioned this, just to give you an idea
of how long these issues can take. How there is a longer journey, the journey of the soul/subtle body transmigrating lifetime after lifetime, and how this current lifetime of our own is one among many. We have this strong identification with this current body, we feel we need too achieve it all in this life, as we see this as be all and end all, but as I said the journey goes from "all the way from a blade of grass to Lord Brahma" we need to learn to take baby steps.

Opps sorry I will try to slow down , ....

It is not a case of slowing down, ideally we should spend every moment of the time we have on Earth, which is not a very long time at all, towards progress. Instead, we spend it on distractions or get caught up in ruts or get caught up in the dramas of the world e.g. look at Big Brother reality television show, they put a bunch of people in there for various walks of life, and then for the duration of the stay in the house the problems of the house becomes their biggest problems. The same is also true when you get involved in religions, ashrams etc --- problems like who is going to be the close aid of the Guru, who is going to the successor etc take over and become the biggest problems. We need to be careful of these pseudo problems.

Other problems are problems that are not our problems. Like we cannot do anything about the infrastructure development in a country, we can't do anything about world peace, we cannot do anything to cure cancer. These are problems for politicians, activists and scientists.

Realising absolute Brahman might be a problem for Lord Brahma, but it is not a problem for a worm, a fish, a tortoise, a cow, a dolphin..... a human. Like getting a Phd might be a problem for a graduate, but it is not a problem for a nursery kid.

So what we need to do is focus single minded on our current problems. The same problems we decided we are going to work on even before we came to planet Earth. Then when we leave, we can reflect on how successful we were. The more problems we solve, the faster our spirit will evolve.

it is lucky that I have a sence of humor , .....how can I be so absorbed in chanting and lofty persuits when I am spending so much time talking to you ??? ....you have my full attention Ji ......I am listening

Yes, and this was my point, we do not single mindedly focus on God, because we have other things which are more important than God. There is perhaps wisdom in the agnosticism of the Buddha, who tried not to get his students caught up in the metaphysics whether there was a God or not, whether there was one soul or many souls, whether it is dual, non-dual or dual and non-dual --- because he knew it would crease pseudo problems for his disciples. Instead, like a physician he prescribed a medicine for the condition of suffering they were experiencing which focused on the present, the here and now.

Ok Ok , ...let me try to explain something , ....its not the chanting that matters it is the mind behind the chanting that realy matters , ...

and what have I accheived ? ...peace of mind !

...when I first went to the temple it was because I was sort of lonely , but I could no longer be assed with superficial freindshipsI had sort of out grown them , I had lost everything that I had worked very hard for over the previous ten years, ... amazingly enough my so called friends also lost interest in me when I had nothing left , but what loss ? ....they were realy great freinds they even stole from me , ...and my dearly beloved who had asked me to marry him changed his mind when he realised we couldnt afford to have a jazz band at the wedding , ...Wow did I have a lucky escape , .. this guy was only interested in having a big party and some great photos to put on the shelf , ....and with these freinds who enemys !

.....I became a little fatalistic I began to ask what is this life for , what are we doing ? ....and yes even when you have been totaly kicked in the teeth by the people you loved and trusted , still you want to find some real friends , ...but quite understandably one begins to ask questions , ...are human beings even capable of freindship , ..can they even be trusted , ...in all honesty they canot , ....I remember coming to the conclusion that it was all my own fault for not realising the true nature of mundane life and the mundane mind , it canot help but be self serving so can I blame them ? ...No , ..they were just like children in a sweet shop , they canot handle temptation , ....can I hate them for what they did ? ...No , ...because like children they dont do it out of deliberate badness they just dont have enough experience or appreciation of life to draw on they just grab and enjoy, that is their animal instinct , I canot blame them for their lack of maturity , .....so who can I trust ?

This is what is making me think too, as I am experiencing similar disappointments over and over again from my "friends" I am also feeling lonely, but well I have been lonely most of my life and sort of learned to live with it earlier on, until I opened that 'pandoras box' a few years ago, now I crave contact and I settle for the base of contact like sex and pubs and bars. I have considered exactly as you say whether real friendship and love exists. Is it just what we see in movies? Is it a fantasy? I am afraid of becoming cynical. I remember what Satre said "Hell is other people" That is most of the problems in your life actually come from others --- anger, jealousy, pride, sorrow, fear. The more and more you get involved with other people, the more politics and drama there is. These are the things that hurt the most in life.

I still would to believe true friends and true love exists, but I am simply just looking in all the wrong places. Accepting a life without friends and love is a depressing thought to me..

my self , because I am the only one who is going to get me out of here I am the only one who is going to get over expectations .....the omly other person I can trust is Krsna because he is the only one who dosent need anything from me he has everything but because he has everything he can give so much more in return you give one small morcel of love to him and he returns it tenfold

Please do not mind the bluntness of the question, but what is the difference between your Krishna and an imaginary friend? This question extends to everybody who talks to God. including myself sometimes. Krishna is just as invisible, just as mute and just as in your head as an imaginary friend is. If somebody who has no friends turns to an imaginary friend, we consider the situation very sad --- like Thomas Hanks character in Cast away turns a ball into his friend. The ball cannot really talk, answer any questions, answer any prayers, give back any love.

I think here is where my atheist tendencies are manifesting -- I find the whole idea of talking to imaginary God who can't talk back, cannot answer any of your questions, cannot confirm or disconfirm anything for you --- silly. Instead, we end up talking back, answering the questions and confirming and disconfirming on our own behalf --- "God said this, God said that, God did this, God did that"

......So how you cant convince me to give up krsna, .....

I would never do such a thing. My questions to you regarding the importance of having a personal God in your life is not to undermine your faith, but to understand how it can be useful and are we actually being authentic to ourselves by having such imaginary personal gods in our life. At least two Dharmic traditions Jainism and Buddhism have felt no need for such a thing, and they have still been able to reach "enlightenment"

I think there are two ways the long systematic path of study and practice , ....and the short path of surrender , .....I am not inteligent enough for study I have learnt a lot from self observation the remainder I put down to the mercy of God be that the Buddha's or Krsna , ....but improving oneself as you say through Yamas and Nyamas is cetainly an important part of any path.

just becoming aquainted with the principle of Sanatana Dharma gave me great hope , ....I followed it , It has never let me down , ...I wish you the same joys , .....

Yamas, Niyamas, Asanas, Pranayama, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, and the later addition of kriyas and shuddi karans I found is the most practical teachings of Santana dharma. That is because they produce real results in transforming the mind and body. As you said earlier, we have at our disposal Yoga and Ayurveda to improve our gunas and health.

However, I also recognise the importance of more extreme tantric yogas like vama-marga in working with desires. But now I am maturing to understand vama-marga only confirms what the dakshin-marga already tells you to do.

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

I mostly rely on the Bhagavata Purana and what I get from there as well as from Buddhism is to be self-reliant. To come up with an example from my life when I was in a crisis I thought I needed "love", so I ended up in an abusive relationship. I also needed friendship, but I finally made a friend when I helped someone without the intent of making friends. I just had acted selflessly and it took me one entire year to build that friendship. People will notice if you're "needy" and I don't think they are attracted by that unless they're abusive.

My last few relationships have all been abusive(to me) so perhaps what you are saying is right. The neediness is attracting these kind of relationships and friendships. My best relationships all happened when I was not seeking them and spontaneously. Then again dating, online dating, tinder and going bars etc does create opportunities to meet people, so it also has its place, it hasn't really worked for me yet though after years of doing it.

As for the "lofty goals of Hinduism", I too appreciate the practical approach of Hinduism. I don't think the goals of Hinduism are "lofty" unless one puts oneself under pressure and takes a black or white / all or nothing approach. I know there are groups who do this, but I don't think they are typical for Hinduism. Take care.

The lofty part is the demand on living a pure sattvic life. It is not as demanding as Jainism at least, but still it is living pure sattvic life that I find lofty, for somebody with strong amounts of tamas and rajas and also the lack of the kind of upbringing that people take for granted. There is a lot to work through to salvage this life. At the same time I know there are people who have gone through far worse lives than I have, I even met people like that(typically they either become suicidal and depressed or anti-social, criminal) It is like a constant uphill struggle. So as I admit it had lead me to take extreme decisions. I don't really have anybody to guide me, so I am having to do it all by myself.

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

As the saying goes , it is better to learn from other's experience and knowledge than one's own, in order to save oneself from misery and suffering that is bound to be there in the material world.

If you try to learn everything based on your own life experiences it will take a lot of lives along with the pain and suffering that goes with it. No matter how well endowed and complete you are in the material world, you will still feel unfulfilled , as we are all connected to the Infinite spirit, and anything finite is bound to make us feel unfulfilled even if surrounded by all material pleasures and gratifications.

This is a point I need to get my head around, as I have strong doubts about vicarious learning vs self-learning. Knowledge gained from others, past and present, is it really a substitute for life learning? If it is, then I just need to learn from it and save myself from the pain and suffering in reinventing the wheel myself.

I am asking this question not to defend that everything should be life learning, but rather to clear my doubts which are strong, although starting to weaken of how effective learning-of-others is. Allow me to summarise again some of those doubts:

1) If you could just learn from others, then what would be the need for the soul to incarnate millions of times over and over again to gain in experience, to work through its desires, to gradually move up the education system of life.
Even Shankara, the story goes, when debating with the last of Mimamsa philosophers Mandana Mishra and almost winning the debate was challenged by his wife to answer a question about living as a householder, how Shankara hadn't lived the life of a householder so he wouldn't know what it is like. Shankara accepted so he asked for some time to let him learn about it --- he used his powers to transfer his consciousness to a dead body and then lived like a householder and then returned to the debate able to answer her every question. This story is probably apocryphal, but it does convey a strong message that there is no substitute for learning from your own experience. You cannot answer what it is like to do something, unless you experience it yourself.

You may challenge thus: That in this case I need to go murder somebody to learn not to murder. I reply to this, that the chances are you have already gone through murdering in previous lives, even in lower incarnations as say a tiger, that you immediately feel it is wrong to murder. I do not think I am capable of murdering somebody because of my empathy which is strong. I feel the pain of somebody even if I hurt them with words. That is why I find the whole concept of murdering somebody unthinkable. But then there are people that do murder, even enjoy murder like cold-blooded serial killers. To me this suggests their soul has only recently left the animal stage and they risk reverting back to the animal stage, to live perhaps another few thousand lives to exhaust it.

2) If you could learn from others, then why do we find it so hard to practice? I remember what Gandhi once said about Christianity, "I like your Christ, but I don't like you Christians" Jesus Christ is an amazing inspiring man(even for me as a Hindu) he is compassionate, forgiving, loving, non judgemental, empathic, caring. But how then did this man go into inspire his followers to go on murderous rampages killing non-Christians and Christians alike, literally exterminating other races around the world, torturing and executing people, burning women at stake -- ordered by the highest authorities in their religion popes.

I reply thus: It is because, as Krishna told Arjuna, we are compelled by our gunas. We are only as good as our gunas. To a tamasic man, sattvic pleasures are as good as poison. To a Rajasic man, sattvic pleasures are boring as hell. I remember there is even an analysis somewhere in shastra that distinguishes the pleasures of people with dominant tamas, rajas and sattvic gunas. A tamasic gets pleasure from pain of others, meat, drugs and alcohol; a rajasic person from sex, wealth, fame and work; and a sattvic person from meditation, compassion, philosophy, contemplation, simplicity, peacefulness, devotion and chanting.

You cannot force a tamasic person or a rajasic person to become sattvic no matter how many scriptures you recite.

Even in terms of joy and happiness, you will find it of a permanent nature more in the Spirit rather than in the pleasures of the world which are transient and impermanent.

The experience of the spiritual joy and pleasures will also help you to climb out of the material pleasures which you have mentioned. If you have experienced truly spiritual bliss, you will know that there is just no comparison between it and material pleasures.

I have had some really profound spiritual experiences in my my early more sattvic portion of life, but still I had to open the Pandoras box ---- because Ill be frank sitting home meditating or reading scripture is boring. I get painfully bored after a while -- I need to go out clubbing or something. I need something colourful, exciting and fun. I understand its temporal, but it takes away the boredom for a little bit. Remember, I have also lived as a monk for 6 months. My routine was purely sattvic -- waking up in the morning at 5am, attending temple morning and evening for chanting and prayer, 3 hour classes a day of studying scripture, spending rest time of doing self-study and meditating in my cell... umm I mean room, and no meat, eggs, onion and garlic and drugs.

---- I was bored out of my mind. I wanted to jump the Ashram fence. The other monks were probably experiencing the same but they were hypocrites. They secretly listened to music on their phones, some would watch movies with monks who had laptops, they would sit around and gossip and talk about girls, sports and cars, and at night some of them... I won't say more. The worst part was the politics, the cliques and hierarchies -- it was like high school all over again. There was also bullying.

Maybe I am just like the wild horse that needs to be tamed lol I think in my case my gunas are rather mixed there is both tamas and rajas. It is like a tug of war between the two --- and very occasionally there is a bit of sattva when I do just enjoy reading a scripture vs getting drunk or laid.

 

[Kirran]

I asked what country you were in cos I can give you a recommendation if you're in the UK or Ireland, and another one if you're in Western Europe.

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram ji

please excuse me I have very little time this morning and you have writen so much that I would like to reply to , ...so will save best bits for this evening , ....

Indeed, this is one of those things that convinced me of the validity of Hinduism. One of the reasons why I became atheist in my early adult years was the scientific contradictions that religion faced, but then later to discover a religion that was entirely consistent with science(e.g. the scientific facts I mentioned in a thread I started) and actually had a lot scientists who were its fans, confirmed the religion for me. So even these other less accepted areas of science like parapsychology are relevant to me, as I do not buy into the materialist dogmas that parapsychology is unscientific just because it attempts to study the paranormal. I have seen some really good research in this field and it is has further increased my faith in Hinduism(sharadda)

Jai Jai , ...this has for a long time ammused me , ...if we read vedic literature with the western mind that wants material proof that it is concurrent with actuality we will struggle to understand the true and full meaning contained within as it is a science of the non material , the true eternal nature of all existance , ....
this is perhaps beyond material understanding so as western science in its infancy relates to our material existance it is in some respects self limiting , this way of thinking sees the self and material existance as normal and all that exists beyond as paranormal , ..it amuses me because para ...pAra ...parA is a sanskrit ......of course having many conotations but we understand it to mean beyond the realms of normality , ...that to us ia beyond the materail realm , ....material exiatance or material understanding , .....so very nice some Scientists are enclined to look beyound , ...some are still counting their material toes , ...it is undarstandable thia ia human instinct if we canot find , count or measure something it dosent exist , ...therefore study of the paranormal is seen as a little of a dubious indulgence to some due to the material bias of the mind , .....

this relates to a point you make later on in this post , ...

How do I know that Krsna is not a figment of my immagination ? ....this I will enjoy to talk about in more detail later , ....

Scenario , ...sometimes the scientist is looking for the answer to a material question , ...but whilst searching for this one answer something else revelas it self , ...this something explains to the scientist why he is not finding the answer to his initial question , ...then on closer examination if he is interested to follow , it explains what is wrong with the question , ...this takes the scientist on a new path , not one he had initialy chosen , ......one that turns out to be far more valuable than the answer to the initial question , ....this new question is no longer his question but a question that has been put bfore him , ...he no longer owns the question , ....some divine providence is going on , ......Jai Jai this is Krsna's doing , ....or if he prefers he may call it God, doing , ....

 

[ratikala]

Namaskaram Ji

there are many worthy questions here I will try to answer simply where I can , ....

This is what is making me think too, as I am experiencing similar disappointments over and over again from my "friends" I am also feeling lonely, but well I have been lonely most of my life and sort of learned to live with it earlier on, until I opened that 'pandoras box' a few years ago, now I crave contact and I settle for the base of contact like sex and pubs and bars. I have considered exactly as you say whether real friendship and love exists. Is it just what we see in movies? Is it a fantasy? I am afraid of becoming cynical. I remember what Satre said "Hell is other people"

No No hell is expecting too much of other people without realising their (and our own limitations) ....
and No it is not like the movies , ...this is the some kind of fantasy which leaves us more often than not dissatisfied with our relity , ....

That is most of the problems in your life actually come from others --- anger, jealousy, pride, sorrow, fear. The more and more you get involved with other people, the more politics and drama there is. These are the things that hurt the most in life.

Buddha warned us that the nature of fire was to burn , ...like wise we must realise the nature of those around us and not expect more than they are able to give , ..this is like trusting a theif and being upset when he steals from you , ....

this one I have learnt the hard way , ....

so what can we do ? no we do not give up and think we are destined for lonliness , ....but we be carefull of our expectations , ....

I still would to believe true friends and true love exists, but I am simply just looking in all the wrong places. Accepting a life without friends and love is a depressing thought to me..

certainly it does, it is just that it is more likely to occur when we stop actively seeking it , this way we are free from expectation and see things for what they realy are , ...

Please do not mind the bluntness of the question, but what is the difference between your Krishna and an imaginary friend? This question extends to everybody who talks to God. including myself sometimes. Krishna is just as invisible, just as mute and just as in your head as an imaginary friend is.

if one is looking at Krsna or God as a freind on a personal level then yes he is concocting an imaginary relationship with an imaginary Idea of Krsna or of God , .....because he is missunderstanding our personal relationship with God , ....

to be in comune with God is to be at one with God but we need to be prepaired to realy listen , ....God is far fom mute , ...it is just that we in our ignorance are listening in the wrong way , ...we are not hearing because this voice is too soft and too sweet to be heard whilst the mundane mind is making such noise and clatter of incessant demands and questions , .....to hear it we must become still and silent , ....

this sound begins with the Bija , the seed and fills all time and space , it is the Tibetan Aum, the Indian Om and the Ik Onkar , ......it is the primordial sound of the universe that instructs Brahma , .....so we canot talk to it like a lap dog or pet cat , we can only listen and ask God to revelal him self , ...but when he does that revealation is nectar like no other and comfort when all around seems in confusion , ....

If somebody who has no friends turns to an imaginary friend, we consider the situation very sad --- like Thomas Hanks character in Cast away turns a ball into his friend. The ball cannot really talk, answer any questions, answer any prayers, give back any love.

True we canot construct God as per our own mundane desires as usualy our desires are irational , contradictory and un fulfillable , ....

I think here is where my atheist tendencies are manifesting -- I find the whole idea of talking to imaginary God who can't talk back, cannot answer any of your questions, cannot confirm or disconfirm anything for you --- silly. Instead, we end up talking back, answering the questions and confirming and disconfirming on our own behalf --- "God said this, God said that, God did this, God did that"

God reveals , ..God talks by illuminating from within , ...it is only when we realy cry out in some way for God so solve some unsolvable crisis or question that we can find no answer for and we know in all honesty we have not the capacity to answer ourselves , ..when these questions become clarified from within and only then , we become convinced that God resides in all things he permiates our very being , ...but all while that we think we are in control we are blind to these greater workings , ....we have to put down the Mundane , ...we have to become open , ....otherwise we are blind to the paranormal we see and hear only the mundane , ....

I would never do such a thing. My questions to you regarding the importance of having a personal God in your life is not to undermine your faith, but to understand how it can be useful and are we actually being authentic to ourselves by having such imaginary personal gods in our life. At least two Dharmic traditions Jainism and Buddhism have felt no need for such a thing, and they have still been able to reach "enlightenment"

no no not true Buddha mearly concerns himself with leading his monks to detatch from material concerns , ...as attatched they are blind , ...Mahavira like wise is a ford maker , a bridge between this material existance and Higher understanding, ......Knowledge , .....

How can this faith be usefull ? ......because without it I would be without hope , ..please do not think by this that I mean I am hoping that there is more than this , ....I have been fortunate to discover that there is more than the mundane that many belive is reality thier this has become my that , ...it is no longer my world , it was, and it was painfull , this is why I take time to answer and tell you that this paranormal that some deny is actualy reality and the mundane normality that we perceive this is the illusion , the trick of the mind , ....

this is Shraddha , ..what Buddhists call firm faith , .....it is knowledge and surity , .....

this is not easy to accept it has to come in its own time but by surrendering the self , surrendering some aspects of mundane desire (even surrendering pain) ...then it comes quicker , this I can only promice you , you have to want to hear , ....

as for your lonliness it will end , ....amazingly and allways when we stop trying , ...it happens , ...but allways the quality of freind you will find reflects the person that you predominantly are at that moment , thus a needy person attracts a needy person , this is where the pain and abuse sets in as both make demands on the other that each is incapable of fulfilling , ...
working on your self , taking that little glimmer of sattvic nature and nurturing it , being honest as you are in the way you are speaking here and you will find an honest freind with whom you can strive together , ...Sattvic in nature is not just reading shastra it is also being honest with your self , ..so perhaps you have more Sattva than you think , ....blessings to you

 

[Shantanu]

I have a burning question regarding actually practising Hinduism in real life. Hinduism is more of a religion of practice than it is of faith or belief. It really doesn't matter what you believe in Hinduism, even if you believe in Brahman, there is no salvation just through belief. I want to extend this further and say it doesn't even matter what scripture you have read, how many scriptures you have read or how many philosophies you have mastered in Hinduism, all of this is just conceptual knowledge, or as Sanata Kumara says to Narada in the Upanishads, all of this is just name. The knowledge actually sign posts you to the practice.

Now, here is my problem. I am finding the practice of Hinduism too lofty for me to practice. Living a pure sattvic life is so difficult, because I have so much rajas and tamas. Everytime I try to live a pure sattvic life, my dominant gunas of rajas and tamas just take over. In particular rajas, the desire for pleasure(kama) is very strong in me. I had no idea it was so strong in me until I opened the Pandora's box so to speak about 6 years ago. I use to live a simple life of no alcohol, almost pure celibacy, vegetarian, barely swore and practised regular meditation --- almost close to a monks life. However, I felt very repressed, and like a Tantrik on the vama-marga(left path) I decided to shake things up, so I started drinking alcohol, going clubbing, having causal sex, eating meat, swearing a bit and stopped meditating. That was it, all my previous spirituality went out of the window, it has taken over my life, it is has completely consumed me, the pleasure seeking drive has taken control. I get bored if I am not out there partying now and it is the only thing I look forward to in the week -- cum weekend so I can go out and get pissed and laid. My life is like 50 shades of grey. It is the biggest about turn I have ever done in my life.

Now, what is unfortunate, I am doing this with all that sublime, cosmic and lofty knowledge of Hinduism. I know that this material body is not me, I know that sensory pleasures are temporal and seeking them brings one to destruction. I have read what Shankara has to say "Sensory pleasures are more venomous than a cobra, because while a cobra has to actually bite you for the venom to get to you, sense objects poison you at mere sight" or "the fish is attracted by taste, the bee to smell, the mosquito to sight, the elephant to touch, and the deer to sound, all meet destruction, but what of the human whose attracted by all 5" I agree, as this has become the modus operandi of my life currently, it does actually feel self-destructive. The damage I have done to my self physically, mentally and emotionally in pursuit of these sense objects is probably great, whose consequences I may have to bear in later life.

So you may ask me "Why don't you just stop" Well, as Krishna said to Arjuna, I can't help it, the gunas are compelling me. I have tried to stop a few times and I just get bored, depressed and crave it, think about it all the time and even dream about it(it almost like an addiction) So my question is am I even supposed to stop? Perhaps I need to just ride this one out, pay the price for doing it, and come out wiser at the end of it. It is said in the Yoga shastra, that nature(prakriti) keeps providing the experiences that the soul(purusha) needs, until the soul develops discrimination(viveka) and no longer needs it. This may take several lifetimes. Although I am equipped with the wisdom of the Upanishads, Bhagvad Gita, it is not actually my own experiential knowledge. No matter how many times I say to myself "I am not the body" I still can't stop looking in the mirror to see if I look good enough to go out(yes, I am very vain)

It seems to be implied in Hinduism when it says that it takes millions of lifetimes of good deeds before one gets liberation, that it is expected that you are not going to succeed in a single lifetime, that you are in fact going to make millions of mistakes as you evolve and through the souls accumulated experience it gradually matures. This makes sense to me. However, I want to pose a question to you, to provoke a philosophical discussion: Do we need to just go through the experiences to learn or can we catalyse our learning by the learning from knowledge from the scriptures? Is knowledge gathered from scripture a true substitute for life learning?

The only means to liberation is by pursuing truth with intensity and going where that takes one. Liberation is the central feature of Hinduism. It determines the dharma that one practices. That pursuit of truth takes one to the path where God is stirred to come to the aid of the yogi. Scriptures are not a means to liberation. The pursuit of truth is.