We will be picking up Jimmy at the end of the week to return him to Los Angeles.
Jimmy is a saint. People should bow to his feet, and instead they want to thrown him in jail for living in a tent on an abandoned railroad bridge, feeding homeless cats.
Right now he is in a difficult situation in Sacramento. At least 10 people follow my blogs in Sacramento and possibly can help for a few days with his cat.
We cannot talk to Jimmy now because the owner says he takes too much times on the phone and it is for business use. I have no idea whether Jimmy is living on the street now with his cat or what has happened to him.
This is a short term emergency. I have asked people who read this blog to call or email the owner. Five have said they have out of the hundreds that read this blog. Only five.
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
I want to let you in on a little secret. There are no problems. There are no problems. There never were any problems. Problems just mean that the world isn't turning the way you want it to. But in truth, there are no problems. Everything is unfolding as it should. Everything is right. You have to forget about yourself and expand your consciousness until you become the whole universe. The Reality in back of the universe is Pure Awareness. It has no problems. And you are That.
ReplyDelete- Robert Adams, Silence of the Heart (p. 219)
Edji, This is the reply that I got from Mohammad. I am removing my name and email id from the message.
ReplyDelete(This is for your information; if you think to post this you can).
RE: [SPAM] protestSunday, August 15, 2010 11:25 AM
From: "info@shazrestaurant.com" Add sender to Contacts
To: "" <@.com>
Dear ,
Please try to understand, we all trying to help him, If Jimmmy is not happy here for any reason , you can take him back any time. and he is free to go. you seems to be kind person, I am sure you can accommodate one person.
THank you
Mohammad
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SPAM] protest
From: <@.com>
Date: Sat, August 14, 2010 8:34 pm
To: info@shazrestaurant.com
Hello Mr. Mohammed,
I would like to convey my strong protest against you hurting homeless Jimmy, who has immense love towards cats. Jimmy is a man with pure love for cats. Disregarding his own welfare he takes care of them. Such a rare kindness is missing in this world and I would request you to be broad minded towards the sentient beings.
Best wishes,
#1 commenter, you can use Robert's philosophy to justify being a doormat, and to justify the existence of evil everywhere because it doesn't make any difference, but it shows how shallow is your understanding.
ReplyDeleteMany people came to satsang with Robert because they had problems or were depressed, of they were ill, or someone close had died, or something else.
Robert's advice was to lift their view away from their problems, or from worry about situations they could not affect. But his intent was not to turn people into doormats as you seem to think his teachings urged.
Things unfolding as they should can also mean taking up arms against a sea of misery, and by opposing, to end the storm. That would also be unfolding as they should depending on the nature of the individual involved.
If you do not reach out to help every living being you have not understood Robert's teachings, but only captured the smallest part.
First, I never thought of Robert’s teachings as a “philosophy”, but I’ve always regarded them as the Highest Truth. Maybe one reason you are experiencing this as a “short term emergency” and think that “this is intolerable” is because you think of Robert’s teachings as merely a “philosophy”.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t have any references of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta or Krishna Menon “taking up arms against a sea of misery… to end the storm”. Why didn’t they jump on a bandwagon declaring to rid the world of the “existence of evil everywhere” like you think we should do?
Because they knew that it wasn’t real.
I appreciate the pointers you have provided on this path, but seriously, Ed -with the comments you have written such as “This is a short term emergency” and “This is intolerable”, as well as referring to “evil” …you sound like a fundamentalist who has NOT realized the ultimate Truth in Robert’s teachings.
This is it. I’m calling you out man: I don’t think you’re awake – your documented actions of seeing this separation you call “evil” proves it – and referring to me as a doormat just furthered this separation that you perceive.
I was thinking of leaving you with a quote from one of the Greats, but I’m kind of thinking that you’d miss the point and use it to try to insult me again.
your investment in this is not without personal issue....personal self
ReplyDeleteI believe the first comment speaks clearly to the heart of all beings ...Robert
I am not trying to discount the love you have of these beings...but who takes care of them? "We"? "You"?"Me"? Who knows what "must" happen for compassion to arise....
the case of the two bananas...
this is definitely a dilemma...for personal reasons
a cry of "outrage" has never been issued from the Self....
my comment is a personal opinion and so full of contradiction and selfishness...
when people begin to help for personal reasons, then comes the loss of compassion....which can only come from the essence of All....
absolutes and musts....then comes duality....namely...those who are doing "gods" work and those who refuse to do "what is right"...
to me it is plain....
I believe the first comment has pointed everyone in the right direction...
and I accept that I may in fact be absolutely cruel in posting this.....and that in fact it is Robert in you making this demand....but all I know of Robert suggests he did not make judgements or demands of this kind...
compassion is realizing there is nothing in you that can possibly do or need to do to "help" anyone...compassion is a spontaneous meeting with Self...
which is the eternal heart of all beings...
if he had fought for issues, he would not have been One....where all issues cease to exist.....and all divides, individually, within each heart are met as
you must follow your truth...mine is to say what i have said
it is challanging....yes!
but not worth fighting for in a manner which causes the loss of sincere, compassionate presense...
which is only real...and not an accomplishment
I allow for the fact that your idea of what needs to be done
Dear Edji,
ReplyDeleteI also sent an email. I am sorry it took me a day to act. I confess I found myself not knowing how to be effective. I didn't believe anything I would say would change this owner's position but after I read your second blog I realized that I was focusing on the outcome rather than on doing my part, on my own responsibility toward myself, my 3 cats, my 2children, my fellow human beings.
Lovingly,
Janet
Bhagawad Gita, exhorts us to be courageous enough to do our duty without the feeling of 'doership'. In another instance, a great saint answered a question saying there is no line to distinguish between accepting things as they are and action to change things. Both are one and the same.
ReplyDeleteIn Indian tradition, Guru's words are to be obeyed verbatim. Any action that a Guru tells us is for our own benefit, our own spiritual development. Mere practice without the grace of Guru will not lead us to our goal.
My humble opinion is that seekers, including me, has to firmly believe in Guru's words and support him in his actions. This actually has to be done without him asking and if he asks it is a command. My little understanding is it makes our mind purified so that it is subtle and receptive in understanding the truth.
Let us all support Edji by sending e-mails requesting Mohammad to also be kind enough to accommodate Jimmy's compassion for cats. If that doesn't work out, can we all work out a permanent project for looking after cats. I am in the role of academic student now and will do all that I can do.
All teaching is philosophy. All words are untrue. The only truth is that there is no truth. Have you not discovered that in Robert's teachings? All concepts are false.
ReplyDeleteTruth is found in a direct apprehension of your true nature before words, concepts, teachings and the mind.
Yes, Robert did teach that movements did not change the world, but he never, ever ignored someone who was in trouble and he could do something about it on a personal level.
You were not around Robert. Robert was always in the background directing the actions of his close students, "cooking them." The general public got the words in the transcript, but his students were put into constant action.
Had Robert known Jimmy and his situation, what he would have done is tell his CLOSE students about it, hoping one or more of them would act to help Jimmy out. He would also have talked to Jimmy on the phone and asked him what he wanted as help.
The only "real" truth is found in the direct apprehension of your own nature which transcends all concepts and words and the mind, and brings you to an entirely different, non-verbal, non-conceptual, level and allows for direct action to end misery and suffering.
After reading a comment above on self-realization, I would like to write down.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are Self-realized souls according to Hinduism. Sri Rama had a single wife, Sri Krishna had 16008 wives. Buddha and Mahavir stood for peace and ahimsa while Guru Gobind Singh took up arms and fought war.
There are also many avadhoots who just roam without any family relationships, while some realized persons are householders. When we talk about Nisargadatta we forget about his Guru Siddharameshwar Maharaj. He is not well known among westerners, does that mean he is "less Self-realize".
Even anger of Self-realized Mahatmas is said to always result in good. The context invites spontaneous action. So why do we look into certain words written and compare with a few realized Masters and then say because they were not done, he should not be Self-realized.
Mind is so deceptive......
Yes mind is deceptive. It wants control and thinks that it knows all. The fact is it knows nothing as regards Truth. Do not listen to it all the time. Challenge it. Do not accept so easily. See around yourself and see what the mind has created. So much disparity and discontent yet the mind rules. And as long as it rules awakening is impossible. Kill the mind. Atleast begin.
ReplyDeleteHow many make the mistake of "understanding" awakening. All understanding of mind is false-an illusion. You can not reach by reading and understanding. It is impossible.
The ways of Consciousness cannot be understood unless one transcends mind. Similarly the ways of the Master too can not be understood by intellect and mind. But there is definite wisdom hidden which will be known. Do not let the mind dictate to you. Be happy. Surrender to the will of the Guru if possible. It will help. But If you have problem with some actions of the Guru or his teachings and can not surrender then too it is fine. Let such things pass. Be silent -ALWAYS. Do not allow the mind to interfere. If one feels to contribute together with the Guru then its good but if one doesnt then too it is good. Later you will know that there was some reason behind all this. A message and a learning for each of us. The door to wisdom will open and with it Joy and happiness.
It is never between you and someone else (whether Guru or friend or relatives). It is always between you and the your mind. Shut it down.
Rajiv Kapur
"Q: Any day there may be a riot right in front of you, perhaps
ReplyDeletepeople killing each other. Surely you cannot say: nothing is
happening and remain aloof.
Maharaj: I never talked of remaining aloof. You could as well see me
jumping into the fray to save somebody and getting killed. Yet to
me nothing happened."
I understand more and more why Buddhism is teaching about the bodhisattva ideal...
Many thanks for all that you do Ed.
With Love
Is not the teaching (jnana) the pervasive, aware, silence that is "us" and the seeming Jnani the packaging with personality we choose to learn from, (though all life is said to be preordained)?
ReplyDeleteI am not awake but from my understanding, Anonymous, all illusion is movement is thought is mind and not truly occurring yet appears so. Therefore a true Jnani is Jnana: totality of awareness and beyond identification with mind; yet paradoxically aware of this too.
Robert in Satsangs repeatedly reminds us to do nothing for we are nothing, true, as he clarifies, but in our minds only so to speak, and not in behavior. Loose the doer yet paradoxically "act". He continually asks us to practice loving-kindness, to help animals, the poor, the homeless.
Does not any seeming movement experienced as the doer necessitate a sense of responding to a situation: wiping hair out of one's eyes, challenging oppression or violence, or critiquing a teacher's (or, yes, another student's) motives? Is it not all behavior, transient, ultimately unreal? Is not the difference if there is a personally vested doer that fixes or awareness spontaneously watching movement?
Without being free how can we say we know?
Thanks for your time,
Ben
Thanks for helping Jimmy. It's funny (and sad) that some people think you should have stood by and let God help him. Don't they know that God has billions of faces, realized and otherwise? Or were they perhaps expecting the Big Guy to command an archangel to swoop down and spike Mohamed's chai with happy pills so as to not disturb any of Jimmy's enlightened friends from jnani-ing in silence? The fact is, we are all compelled by prarabdha to do what we must. You have a history with Jimmy that extends beyond this life, there is a reason you had to help him, and you had no choice in the matter. Even if you had tried to ignore him, you wouldn't have been allowed to -- you would have somehow been placed back in his life. Everyone, jnanis included, is required to engage in volitional acts while embodied in this world. Perhaps the critics of helping others believe jnanis should also wait for God to chew their food for them and carry them to the restroom when they need to relieve themselves. People are silly.
ReplyDeleteBe Well,
David
I very much value the quote above citing Maharaj.......there's no doer yet the doing gets done. It's basically that "I" have been removed from a spontaneously arising action.
ReplyDeleteYet it could equally apply to non action as well, there's just no divine dictates on this.
Mark
I enjoyed the awesome quote from Maharaj, it was so appropriate.
ReplyDeleteIf memory doesn't fail me, even the great enlightened zen master Hakuin raged and thundered all his life against mind-induced passivity and sterile debating.
It's sad and creepy how well the mind can wall you off from the world.
It's the most effective prison in existence: an invisible little cell in which you circle round and round thinking "I'm so free, I'm so free!" And you are blind to the suffering you are causing others.
It's so hard for me to grasp that mind as a whole is the root-problem.
JX