I have heard it said that 71 people awakened under
Ramana during his 50 years of teaching.
Considering that he had tens of thousands of students over that 50
years, we are talking of a “success” rate of maybe 1 or 2 out of a thousand.
Papaji, on the other hand, turned Raman’s
teachings upside down, completely lowered the criteria for claiming awakening,
and declared hundreds as awakened or teachers.
Robert was even stricter than Ramana, claiming
that you could count on the fingers of two hands all the enlightened beings in
the world.
From my experience, I have seen very few students
with the openness or fortitude and courage necessary to become an actual
teacher, rather than just awakened.
So many are just totally adverse to feeling
negative feelings that they will never awaken.
Many, even teachers, want to wrap themselves in
peace, or love, silence, or emptiness and wrap their students into this same
bubble, which gradually becomes an absence of any negative emotion, and they
feel this is an awakening of some sort.
It is not.
It is an Advaita escape into silence or emptiness with a bit of forced
love, and Facebook lovespeak.
For you will never find God’s love, the
hyper-human, all encompassing, all-liberating, explosive love, that is true
freedom, without owning the flipside hell of hate, anger, jealousy,
possessiveness, fear and periods of deadness known as the various Dark Nights
of the Soul, where one loses God and love.
Now, no one under a real teacher has an easy time
unless, like Robert, they were already awakened.
Real teachers, those who can shock you into
awakening are not placid Ramanas who you sit around for 40 years until 1/10th
of 1% awaken.
Real teachers are tigers, even those who appear
loving, accepting and open on the surface, to the general public and casual
satsang goer.
People ran from Robert because he burned
them. Students wanted to be around his
quiet, peaceful exterior, thinking this is where they should be and this is the
goal.
But Robert was always in the background stirring
up dissent between people and denying whatever they believed was true. He burned students. He always referred to Yogananda, who asked
him after he had been with Yogananda for a while, “Will you still love me and
stay with me no matter what I do?”
Robert said yes, even while wondering what Yogananda had in mind of
doing.
Yogananda would treat each student differently,
depending on circumstances and what they needed to get a bit more humble and
loving.
Other great gurus that I have been around were the
same. Everyone close to Muktananda was
terrified of him, of his explosive personality, yelling, berating and apparent
anger at one moment, and then the blissful, laughing guru of another moment.
Ama, the supposed perfect guru terrifies her own
monks. I remember one talk by her right hand monk, given maybe 25 years
ago. He said something like, “You people
out there who only see Ama once a year, or maybe come to satsangs weekly, see
only peace, love and compassion. But try
being around Ama every day. She burns you
with emotionality and demands of physical and emotional endurance that few can
tolerate.
Seung Sahn Soen Sa, perhaps the most famous of the
first generation of Asian Zen masters was really ruthless and unconcerned with
many of his monks. He would scream at
monks, supporters, abbots and lay people insiders as much as speak softly. When I was in Korea, I was told that one who
interfered with any of his major supporters would have their balls cut off.
Of course one needs only to look at one photo of Nisargadatta to see what a no-nonsense guru he was, and how intolerant he could be with casual seekers or those full of themselves. He ate students alive.
Yet most of the students that have come to me,
except those who were true bhaktis, were runners. They would run at the slightest sign of what
they considered “disrespect,” or anger, calling me abusive. Rather than face
and express and “process” their reactions, they would run. Often they ran to Rajiv because of his “respectful
silence,” or they ran to Deeya, because of Deeya’s uncanny ability to radiate
peace and love.
A few found a new book to read which suddenly made
sense to them after being around me, because being around me, nothing made
sense any more. The new book gave them
something secure to hold onto, and then they began arguing with me based on
their three years of experience, as to whose teachings were better, more
universal, or truer.
Now, if you really want to feel positive and even
happy for a period, perhaps even be blissful for long periods of time, go to
Facebook with its ever flowing hearts, soft-speak, pleasant-speak, and
beautiful, uplifting poetry, and sometimes even uplifting poetry about
struggling.
But you will NEVER find awakening in such shallow
emotionality. You see, most people in
spirituality are running from emotions, whether of anger, fear, jealousy,
paranoia, either towards emptiness, silence and peace, or towards internal
energies, bliss Kundalini, and love. This is what Facebook teachers mostly talk
about. A few talk about the need to do
shadow work concerning your own hatred, judgmentalism, jealousy,
authoritarianism, etc. But not many talk about the plain day to day pain or the
suffering they feel, the deadness, depression or anger.
You see, the way I teach is to own that anger,
depression, sadness, hatred, jealousy, feel it 100% to incorporate that
emotional energy into your practice which makes you come alive. And on the other side of all strong emotions
is a river of bliss. Pass all the way
through the emotions you are rejecting and you will find increased life and
bliss.
You are either a sticker or a runner. Runners may
become stickers once they are fed up with running, avoiding, and superficial
kindness, acceptance, and good feelings, and are ready to dive into the
darkness and pain inside. Don’t fear the
pain. Don’t fear depression. Don’t fear
loss. Don’t fear separation. Don’t fear your own anger and hate. Dom’t fear jealousy and neediness. Fully accept your complete humanity, not just
a fragile, good feeling emptiness or forced positive self-talk.
THEN you will be able to feel the real depths of transformative,
divine love. This kind of love is rare
and very scary at first. I have heard it
said that most people never allow themselves to feel even 10% of the love for another
they could feel from fear of the intensity of this kind of love.
In addition, you have to abandon any idea you have
ever read about in spirituality and fight the urge to read new books looking for
new teachings and concepts. You know, it is the hardest thing to escape past
spiritual learning, and even harder to cast off the personal opinions you have
had as to who and what you are. These
are best lost by dwelling in emptiness for a while, seeing no purpose, no
meaning, no truth in any concept. The
old story of coming to a teacher: come with emptiness; come with an empty cup,
with receptivity, and not as a challenge.
WARRIOR MONK ZEN - THE DIAMOND THUNDERBOLT - STRAIGHT 2 THE POINT OF ENLIGHTENMENT..
ReplyDeleteReal teachers, those who can shock you into awakening are not placid Ramanas who you sit around for 40 years until 1/10th of 1% awaken.
Real teachers are tigers, even those who appear loving, accepting and open on the surface, to the general public and casual satsang goer.
From my experience, I have seen very few students with the openness or fortitude and courage necessary to become an actual teacher, rather than just awakened.
So many are just totally adverse to feeling negative feelings that they will never awaken.
“You people out there who only see Ama once a year, or maybe come to satsangs weekly, see only peace, love and compassion. But try being around Ama every day. She burns you with emotionality and demands of physical and emotional endurance that few can tolerate.
you will never find God’s love, the hyper-human, all encompassing, all-liberating, explosive love, that is true freedom, without owning the flipside hell of hate, anger, jealousy, possessiveness, fear and periods of deadness known as the various Dark Nights of the Soul, where one loses God and love.
You are either a sticker or a runner. Runners may become stickers once they are fed up with running, avoiding, and superficial kindness, acceptance, and good feelings, and are ready to dive into the darkness and pain inside. Don’t fear the pain. Don’t fear depression. Don’t fear loss. Don’t fear separation. Don’t fear your own anger and hate. Don’t fear jealousy and neediness. Fully accept your complete humanity, not just a fragile, good feeling emptiness or forced positive self-talk.
DING DANG DOKO DANG ZIP ZANG ZEN
EAT LIGHTNING - CRAP THUNDER
CENTER IN THE MIDST OF CONDITIONS.
LIKE IT
NUFF SAID
S.A.M.
Hi Ed,
ReplyDeleteIt's Kamran. A while back I would email you during a time of particular distress in my life. I was having health problems for months, and then I found the root cause of it all, and in an effort to try and make the process go by easy and perfect, I caused almost all of the difficulty and misery I experienced for the next 2-3 months.
I am doing much better physically, though I am somewhat unable to continue on the path of healing that I was once on...but that's a story for another day.
I just wanted to say that your emails during that time affected me, even though they were simple and short and what could be described as "rude". I'm not one of those people who are immediately turned off by "rudeness" and viewed it as an opportunity of sorts. When you bluntly told me you couldn't help because you have never had any problem I was experiencing, I was taken aback. I guess in a way, it slowly helped me turn inward and stop running to other people to throw my emotional baggage on.
I just gotta say, as tough as things can be, I learn a lot through you and I have grown so much in the short time I've really begun to read your writings. I don't like to read about spirituality much anymore, but when I do, I really enjoy reading your writings. Within them, there is a certain realism, but also the possibility to go beyond all that...if that makes sense. That's just my interpretation.
I don't worry much about my eating disorder, or the various health problems I find myself in... There is possibility of recovering from all of those things, but as of now, I am less concerned with any of that!
After reading this post, I find myself unafraid of the myriad of things I may or may not go through. Everything resonates so much deeper. I'm not afraid to feel needy, or dead, or like I don't know anything...I love all these feelings! I have stopped regretting my past actions and have learned even deeper to just be with it all.
I don't really know where I'm going with this comment anymore, just wanted to say thanks. I also hope recovery goes better with your hip! The body when stressed out can see blood sugar fly all over the place, so I wouldn't be surprised if you get off the insulin once you're stable again.
Anyway, best wishes!
-Kamran