The "Path"

Rajiv, my spiritual son, posted on his Facebook page, that there are some who believe that the experience of ecstasies and orgasms are the final stage on the spiritual path.  I think he was referring to what he thinks I have been teaching.  He then offers a capsule view of classical Advaita.

I wanted to clarify what my view is and responded as follows:

Rajiv, I think very few believe ecstasies and orgasms are the end of seeking.  It is merely a sign of approaching a deeper level of one's self.  In Siddharameshwar’s rubric, it would be qualities of the Turiya state leaking through the conscious mind and body.  Following that bliss leads to a deeper abiding in the I Am, Turiya, and one day, that deepest level of self “arises” in “you,” revealing to the mind and small you, your total glory and base as Turiya.

The bliss/ecstasies/orgasms are merely a path to I Am, and love and ecstasies are qualities of I Am.

Yet even that experience requires a base, the principle that knows, of which we can say nothing, but only be it.  This is the real awakening, knowledge of knowingness and the knower.

My position as a teacher is a recognition that very few will ever get this knowledge as an experience; it will just be a cognitive knowing, for rare is anyone who penetrates all the dharmas.

I recognize further that the vast majority who pursue spirituality and religion, do so to escape their own suffering, emotional suffering of loss, loneliness, anger, fear, insecurity, etc.  Thus spirituality for them is a form of escapism, like into CONCEPTS of “no separate self” for the Neo-Advaitins, the EXPERIENCE of “emptiness” and the “void” for Buddhists, and various mind-still meditations like Japa, watching the breath, etc., which is to take one’s awareness away from one’s pain and suffering, to attend to something else.

My point of view is that Siddharameshwar and Ramana make a mistake by just focusing on Turiya and Turiyatta, the “highest” state, and that which lies beyond states.  The physical and emotional realms, the mind, the blisses, and the causal body of unconsciousness are all part of the incarnated Self that makes up you and me.

Everything is Self, not just Turiya, and needs to be accepted deeply and even celebrated, rather than just an endless seeking of Turiya and Turiyatta.

So, the “Path” I advocate is that you have to start where you are and go in both directions from there.  If you are suffering from depression, anxiety attacks, out of control emotions, one needs to procede differently than someone who has dwelled in emptiness and pure beingness for a long time, and who feels sort of dry and emoty of emotional juice or love.

The former requires some sort of psychotherapy depending on personality style, and possibly medication.  Meditation might focus on just observing the body and emotions, splitting off part of yourself as a personal, ego-level witness.  While I encourage the person lost in emptiness to look for the I-Am sense in that emptiness, to abide there, to love the I Am.  That wil awaken the emotional energy allowing one to go deeper.  Hopefully one encounters then an external trigger, a guru, a lover, one’s own personal Beloved that accelerates the building of love and blissful energies that further drive ones opening.

Therefore, there is no one path for all. One’s path depends on where one starts and what is the area of highest personal distress.  Is it loneliness or dryness, or is it out of control raging emotions?  Or is it a search for the ultimate, the unchanging, the absolute?  Is there a burning personal question or quest, such as a search for God or Truth. These will later be seen as imaginary and illusory, but they can drive one’s efforts for a long, long time.   

So, I like to picture “the path” not as a linear and sequential process such as outlined by Siddharameshwar where everyone is on the same path, but more like the metaphor where you are a billionaire who has just purchased a hundred or a thousand room spiritual mansion, and each room is a miracle of inner and out riches, like a museum containing precious objects for oe to touch, hold, sense and love.  It really does not matter where you begin, for you have to begin where you are.

And, this is your mansion; no one has owned it before you.  Therefore all maps by all other house owners are useless to explore your new house.  It is up to you to explore this mansion, maybe with a teacher who holds your hand an walks with you.  Not that this teacher has explored this house before, but he has explored many others, and though he does not know what lies behind the next door in your house, he has seen similar rooms and contents before during his own explorations, and if you are lucky, you get to take your teacher into an entirely new room neither of you have seen before and both can be equally amazed by the contents.