17 May 2012

A Response to My Previous Post Below:



WOW!!! Once again you speak brutally honest and straight from the heart. These are things perhaps neither a hardcore "traditional advaitin" nor a "neo-advaitin" would understand or want to acknowledge. There are few wonderful facts that you are pointing to which a seeker and teacher may come across. I am completely in agreement with you about how most feel they "got it" just by reading Sri Ramana or Maharajs book--the awe that Advaita exhumes can often be very misleading. Its at a mental plane and you will see that how easily such people will trip off their "realisation" when faced with a real challenge. Without real penetration into the void and even deeper beyond it (where the world/I-ness/senses cease to exist) unless that state is truly witnessed, there is no real gain. Later Turiya and void of all voids (unknown) is known and goal is achieved (non dual state of Advaita).

Though I can understand why you say that traditional advaita or rather self-inquiry (Advaita is more like a goal while inquiry is still one of means like yoga, Bhakti or karma) seems dull as a practice because it underplays the personal love however in my experience it is not necessarily so. Atma -vichar merely emphasises attention to be paid to the I -sense but it is most unfortunate if there is no love between the student and teacher (even of a personal nature). Infact if it lacks a personal love and close proximity with the teacher most of them drift away from the goal. The reason is the Guru is one of most powerful instrument towards achieving the goal. A drift away from the Guru is a delay away from the goal. Ofcourse one can still keep practicing on its own and still get there but there will be no powerful medium of inspiration to guide.


Of course the teacher always points that the attention be paid to the Self within however such adherence also is only possible if there is love and surrender for the teacher. Most take the teachers words literally and fail to understand that the key to unlocking the door is through love of ones teachers. The one point that most miss is that Grace works through some form and channel. Even Sri Ramana who had no physical human Guru still needed Arunachala as his Guru. In the ultimate sense there is only the Self --of course. There is no Arunachala too. Sri Ramana knew that. Yet he too worshiped Arunachala --a outer form apart from the Self.

Much is transmitted through a physical Guru to his students on very subtle levels so being in the presence is definitely advantageous. Yet shaktipath is a mystery. It has its own intelligence. It is transformative for both the Guru and the student. The guru may seem to be a medium through which this Shakti works but he is unaware how this will actually work in him and his students. A guru is only an instrument of the Shakti and allows it to work in any capacity it deems fit. This is ofcourse only my experience.

You have your reasons and experience to emphasise a particular way. It's your choice and way. According to my experience you cannot advocate only one way to everybody. Each will find his own way whether Bhakti, Jnana, yoga or Zen. The personal love will automatically develop if its strong. 

7 comments:

  1. Dear Ed, Keep it simple.....too much mind food. If you can get back to the moment you realised you existed, its a wonderfully blissful, comforting state. The mind cannot take you any further. Love is it. You cannot navigate your way past this point. You are at the starting block. As you say the process is different for all. Be in that state as much as you can. See what happens. :]

    ReplyDelete
  2. You said, " Each will find his own way whether Bhakti, Jnana, yoga or Zen."

    BINGO...or neither of them...so many options, so many conceptual containers to hold and make sense of the spiritual process, which itself is also a container.

    I like much of what is share here, though there is a slightly strong smell of guru worship. BUT, I guess that's also one way among many.

    Namaste,

    RH

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree -- too many sycophants, praying that being in Ed's good graces leads to spiritual favors.
    That being said I'm curious to see how Ed's new teaching manifests itself.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The "way" is purely for the ego. If a student becomes a disciple and then a devotee( which means rests in the presence of the guru) all "ways" begin to disappear. Only non-doing remains. In that non-doing alone, Truth begins to reveal itself. All the time mind is engrossed in any "way" its still in a rippled state. With deepest heart connection with guru the mind begins to settle. in that settledness of non-doing truth begins to flood. For most even self-enquiry and love and bhakti are ripple too. Hence most have been on their "chosen way" and are still on it...All ways have to be trully left behind-no matter how precious those ways may have been.

    Love is what it all boils down to... over time It grows and grows naturally. The whole drama of consciousness is so meaningless, love alone gives it any meaning

    Ruby

    ReplyDelete
  5. For "A Response to My Previous Post Below"

    Very well written. Makes perfect sense to me.Love is underplayed for many a seekers(by the Gurus), it is quite easy to feel love for the Guru however for most some form of acknowledgement is needed from the Guru or they drift away.Later the Guru could facilitate the discovery that its the love within the devotee.Personal proximity as the author of this reply writes is so so important as i see it.BTW how many can a single Guru handle in this cyber age with students from all over .Onus ofcourse,is on the student.One pill serve all hardly makes any sense to me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Franco. A genuine sadhaka will surely attract the Gurus attention let him be in any part of the world. It all depends on the level of commitment, trust and love that is shared between the two.

    To all other "Anonymous". It is not the question of sycophancy or blind worship. Lets get real. We often tend to get very idealistic and say that a real Guru must have no favorites. I too would want to believe this. But such a premise is not completely realistic. I started my teachings in this idealistic impersonal love fashion too but found out that it was not natural. I found out that personal love does have a huge element to play.
    Not many teachers or students would want to acknowledge the personal (love part) as it is not very comfortable to fit in an advaita teaching. Perhaps they are not brave enough to admit it like Edji is. They fear for an image. I don't know. I have never come across any Guru who had no favorites. Even Drona took Arjuna as his favorite student inspite of Ekalavya being a better and far more accomplished student. The reason was the personal proximity between the two and also because of adherence to Dronas teachings. Therefore both, love for the Guru and firm commitment to his teaching are needed.
    Again I want to be very clear as I was in my response (main title) that I am not advocating a particular path to anyone. Above all I don't think one can teach personal love to any student. It cannot be given out as a teaching and i am equally curious to see how Edji puts that into practice. I feel no matter what path one follows those who are truly committed develop natural love for the teacher which then opens up layers and layers of stillness within effortlessly. There is no end to deepening to that. No end to the mystery ahead (or rather should we say "prior"). Gurus love makes everything unfold. Also physical proximity is most advantageous but not necessary. I am talking about a personal bond and relationship based on love and deep trust.

    Rajiv Kapur

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Rajivji, Edji and all .

    ReplyDelete