31 January 2015

Satsang Sunday January 31, 2 PM Mountain Time (Arizona).

Go to http://satsangwithedji.weebly.com, and sign in with the password   edji.


Then go to the Start Broadcasting tab and turn on your video if you want.

We may go an hour earlier in the future.

TOPIC WILL BE BEING WITNESS TO SELF.
ALL IS WELL AND IS UNFOLDING AS IT SHOULD.

What did Robert mean by this?  That everything was perfect in the world, that disease, death, plague and war were OK with him?

No, it did not mean that, but only that what he called this lowest hell of existence is what is and it cannot be changed because the individual has no power to change it much for the better.

He would say over and over, "look how many saints and sages have lived during the past thousand years, and have things improved?  No, they are the same or worse."

However, Robert was talking about his own Self experience; even given the bad news of death, decay, war, he was at peace in his own skin. He was in Samadhi and nothing disturbed him.  All was well so far as he was concerned and he could not be bothered to oppose evil or do good unless it flowed from him in that moment.

In a sense he was saying "Join me in the fullness of your Self, and you too will experience such peace that nothing will bother oyu, you will feel no need to change anything.

But on the other hand, he did not stop those who did make an effort to make the world a better place because that was their measure, their calling, and of them, he would say, "Someone has to do it."

29 January 2015

I HAVE A CONFESSION.

At this moment I could not be happier.  My body feels light as a feather, and I am filled with joy.  A subtle, very subtle, trembling goes throughout my body, a vibration that feels like a constant, low level, body-wide orgasm.

I wonder why few people come to Satsang, and I really don’t care anymore, because I am happy, totally happy.  I just want others to feel this good, to be at peace, to feel bliss, and to know who they are.

So easy.  Just trust the method of loving self-inquiry.  Go within, look around.  Then go within and feel around for evidence that you exist as a feeling, a subtle vibration in your heart or gut.  When you find it, keep your presence there.  This will grow your sense of presence until it is felt all over and even outside your body, permeating everything.  Love that sense of presence, play with it.  Accept all other images and feelings that arise because of your self-abiding, whether of joy or sorrow, peace or anger, happiness or deep depression.  They are all you, parts you have long been aware, and parts long denied.

The more you practice, the more complete and powerful in Self you become.
Then love another.  Feel your love of their existence.  That is your own love for your own self.


Then you too can lie in your own easy chair unwilling to move for fear of disturbing your bliss.  Not only will it help you, but your happiness and energy will spread—hopefully like a plague of good-will.

25 January 2015

ONLINE SATSNAG TODAY, 2 PM ARIZONA TIME (MOUNTAIN)

Go to http://satsangwithedji.weebly.com

Sign in with the password    edji   It will be asked for on two different screens.

Then go to the start broadcasting button and set up your video and microphone.

TOPIC IS RAMANA AND ROBERT ON SELF-REALIZATION
I went to a Catholic Funeral Mass yesterday for Kerima's mother and was sorely disappointed.  I had never attended a mass before, but all of the statues, the songs, the priests words were all about belief in Christ as the bringer of salvation, grace, everlasting life.  Itwas all about faith that both God and Christ exist now, and if you believe in Christ, somehow you are immortal.  That is, an act of mind, a belief, faith, will set you free.

No one said God, Christ, was already in you and that all you have to do to experience this divinity was to turn within with loving acceptance of all that you find, and you will experience God for yourself.


Of course, this is what 99% of spirituality is all about: faith in spiritual prophets from Mohammed to  Jesus, from Buddha and the Patriarchs, from Echart Tolle to Alister Crowley, and Ramana to Robert.  We hook into their teachings and their teachings become the filter through which we experience the world.

I remember for years holding onto the belief that the world was not real because Robert, Ramana, and Nisargadatta said so.  But they meant it was unreal becuase it was temporary, not that the experience of the world itself was illusion, but that the manifestation changed from moment to moment, and only the Subject, the Self, was real because it was unchanging.

So many who follow Robert Adams hold onto partial understandings of what Robert and Ramana said because Robert was saying things to make students turn within to find the Self, the root of Consciousness and not the entirety of the way things are.

When asked how he experienced the world, as Light, as energy, as Consciousness, Robert responded, "I experience the world as you do, otherwise I could not function.  But, I also know it is Consciousness."

That is, Robert's experience of the world was just like your experience, but he had the knowledge (Jnana) that both his body and the world were Consciousness, and as such, the world was not real, only Consciousness was real, and thus we have Advaita--not two.

But Robert experienced the world just as you do: as painful, pleasureable, both nasty and loving, as the lowest hell, but the Self inside, the Witness, as untouched and in total peace.

But please remember Robert's original awakening experience.  It was one of experiencing the light of a thousand suns arise in him and expand until he filled the entire universe, filled with joy and energy.

This is his experience of the realization of Self, as the Manifest Self that embraced the universe, and which filled the Nothingness that destroyed the personal self, with energy and joy, also known as Shakti. And when you experience the magnificense of the Manifest Self, you, as a human, as the human self, can never take your attention off of it.

As Ramana said about his awakening:

But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am deathless Spirit." 


All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centred on that "I". From that moment onwards the "I" or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. 


Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the "I" continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes. Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading, or anything else, I was still centred on "I". 


Previous to that crisis I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible or direct interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it.


(http://www.jnani.org/masters/m_maharshi_set.html)


This is true self-realization.  Ramana had become aware of his Self for the first time, he could feel it within his own body separate from it, and his attention was centered on that Self, which contained the fullness of his personality and life.

That is, he was separate as a human witness to the Self, felt it arise inside of him, and from that moment on he could not take his attention off the Self.

Thus by absorption in that Self, he Ramana, as a human, became one with Self. 

This is a paradox: they were two, separate, but by absorption and worship, they became one.

Notice he does not describe the Self as Emptiness, Nothingness, Zero or any other no-thing, not self.  He does not even describe his human Self that way, even though his human self was left behind to a large extent through immersion in the Self of all--the Atman.

Robert's teachings focused on transcending the body and world preparatory to the experience of Self; he rarely talked about the glory of Self as does Ramana or Nisargadatta in his earliest work, Self-Knowledge and Self Realization.  If you talk in terms of the carrot and stick approach Ramana was more the carrot, and Robert's message was more the stick.

24 January 2015

What would you be without a body?

What would you hear without ears?

What would you see without eyes?

What would you taste without a tongue?

What would you smell without a nose?

What would you feel without skin, muscles and nerves?

NOTHING!!!!  NOTHING AT ALL!!!

So what would it feel like without your sensory robot running around in this world?  

There would be no world for you at all.

All that there would be is Self, the Principle that senses, knows, is aware.  But it cannot be aware of itself.  It just is until there is some Life, incarnated potential to perceive: sentience.  Then is can become aware of itself through incarnation, activity, spirit and body dancing together.

Robert Adams on Freedon

The only word Robert Adams spoke during his last Satsang was, "Freedon, freedom, freedom," over and over.

Robert was not about repression, denial of the external world, denial of responsibility, denial of the body, denial of sex, denial of anything.

But many of his current followers look to Robert and Ramana as exemplars of denial of the flesh. 

There is a strong anti-life negativity in current spirituality that was absent in Robert.

Robert embraced everything.  He specifically had no proscriptions against sex or of living with wealth, but was a Vegan out of concern for the suffering of animals.

He told people to ignore the world because it was the lowest of hells for just one reason: he wanted people to stop looking outwards, to stop being concerned with their problems and problems of the world so that they would turn within and find the Self, the heart of life within the hearts of each of us.

How he did this was to repeat over and over that the world was illusion, Maya, not important---compared to the Self within.

Therefore he directed us all to look within for the I thought, or the I-feeling, find the emptiness within, and then looking deeper with loving awareness, to find the Self within.
Ramana called this Self within the Atman, the individualized embodiment of God in the individual fleshy body.  Nisargadatta and his teacher Siddharameshwar called it attaining Krishna Consciousness, immersion in Turiya, the fundamental base Consciousness that pervaded the waking, sleep, and dream states.

Chritian mystics call it the realization or descent of Christ within.

Everyone will describe that initial awareness in different ways according to their culture and the words, concepts, and paradigms of their time.  Buddhists will speak of the Void while Shakti worshippers will speak of ecstacy and bliss, love and surrender.

But the end result is all about freedom: freedom from concepts, freedom from culture (although no one really escapes entirely from culture).  Freedom!!  Freedom!!   Freedom!!
But the edeal of many who follow Robert is really another form of repression holding that "transcending" sex, being able to live without eating, being able to live without sleep, being selflessly giving are behavioral ways of acquiring Self.

Not so.  I repeat, Robert said to ignore the world, eat moderately and not to pay much attention to the body, not to be too concerned about sex in moderation, or anything in moderation, only to get people to let the world alone and look within, feel within.

One can be a drug addict, an alcoholic, bulimic, a sexaholic, chain smoker, even a criminal of the worst sort, But if one merely turns within and descends that long thread of the I Am until it leads to the Self, one can eventually find it in your heart of hearts.  

Even now it is there buried under 10,000 rules, 1,000 desires, 1,000 spiritual concepts, endless guilt, grief, depression, and rage.  All that you need do is look and feel within, gently and with love, trying to see and feel the Self.

Once the Self is seen, even just once, everything changes.  One cannot stop looking at the Self wherever it seems to hide.  With intense gaze and intense feeling, one just continues to fixate on that source of Life within that is continuously burning, overflowing with love, energy, and divine embrace.

Youfeel that God is living through you.  More tha that, as Nisargadatta stated, for the awakened one, who Nisargadatta called "the Saint," their life is all about justice, service, and worship of all that is living.

To really understand Nisargadatta you have to read his first book, Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization found on the website http://wearesentience.com which is quite a different take than his later books where he denies the reality (because it is temporary) of the manifest Self--the divine Self of Shakti, Christ, Krishna.  Yes, when the body dies they are absorbed back into Shiva, the Witness, yet continue to live on in trillions of life forms.
So, do not obsess about what a guru eats, drinks, meditates on, techniques, or about your own perceived faults of loving too much or too little, drinking too much, eating meat or being Vegan.  These are all outward manifestations of your individuality and are not of the prime importance to finding the Self.  Turning within is the only important thing related to finding the Self.

When the Self--God, Shakti, Christ--is found, then you have freedom.  God acts through you. Eats through you.  Drinks through you.  Has sex through you.  Teaches through you.  Sees Him or Herself through you.  Worships the Self, Himself, found in others, through you.

One can become a roaring lion at this point, wild, perceived as a threat to all, or, according to his or her nature, perhaps entirely withdrawn in Self-contemplation.  But even the wild one is acting through God teaching all about Freedom.  Freedom! Not repression, not rules, not concepts and limitations.

The God-intoxicated awakened being is not about to go out and kill, rape, murder, steal, etc., for his or her behaviors are always directed towards love of Life and of all sentient beings although maybe in ways that others, because of all their rules and spiritual concepts, regard as non-spiritual.  

But Robert was all about Freedom!  Freedom from the wold by finding your own Self and God, but also freedom within the world once you decide to reenter and participate in the world.

21 January 2015

Sex and Gurus

  • My friend Swami Shankarananda is currently involved in a "sex scandal."
    The only two scandalous things about this sex scandal is that it is considered scandalous, as it is a Tantric based path that does involve many expressions of love, including erotic love, and that all the sexual stuff was hidden, done in secret--which he said was Hindu tradition. In other words, Hindu means hypocrite and liar.
    Swamiji and I were friends for many years, especially during the time of the breakup between Chidvilasananda and her brother when she routinely sent thugs to breakup Nityananda's and Shankaranada's Satsangs. But, all the time during our friendship, Swamiji was never very open about anything. he hid everything. He even told me that Baba Muktananda told him not to teach substance unless a seeker threw thmself at him.
    Muktananda himself only told jokes and long stories about a hypothetical comic teacher, Nasrudin.
    But the power of sex is pivotal to Self-Realization. Shakti loves sex; it awakens the inner energies, Kundalini. and the heart in ways gentler love does not.
    For the latter, I give him a B+, but for the "Hindu tradition" of secrecy and lying I give him a C-.
    Swami Shankarananda, Photo: Gary Sissons/Mornington Peninsula News Group A sex scandal has shattered the zen-like calm of an ashram in Mount Eliza, with revelations its “guru” and director, Swami Shankarananda, allegedly had sexual relations with dozens of women attending the ashram. Distressed for…
    BAINDAILY.COM
    Like ·  · 
    • Andres Feo Gasperi Yes I know there is a lot of pretense among many Gurus; Mainly, I think there is a big taboo on this subject.
      7 hrs · Unlike · 1
    • Edward Muzika Fred, some day I will tell about my encounter with Shakya Tensin, head of the Shakya sect. It was not pleasant.
      7 hrs · Like · 1
    • Edward Muzika My own awakening to the manifest Self, love and worship of sentience, came about because I deeply loved a woman and she loved me the same. The relation was never consummated physically, but my heart (and other parts) were set on fire, and I had a wild series of experiences culminating in Self Realization. So I know the power of erotic love to awaken one.
      7 hrs · Like · 6
    • Kris Shiva Schaaf Beautifull
      7 hrs · Unlike · 2
    • Andres Feo Gasperi If I'm not mistaken once I read that Ramana Maharshi said to a disciple that is better to do it than think about it all the time hahaha But in general like I said, The Maharshi gave no advice on it, he was indifferent.
      7 hrs · Edited · Like · 1
    • Edward Muzika Darshana, Robert led a very secret life. We knew very little of his past, how much time he actually spent in India, how long he actually lived with his wife, the real reason he left the Santa Fe ashram in the middle of the night, or why Nicole never w...See More
      6 hrs · Edited · Like · 6
    • Frank Forest · Friends with Mahesh Michal Borkowski
      "There is no deity superior to the Guru, no gain better than the Guru's grace ... no state higher than meditation on the Guru." -Muktananda
      LEAVINGSIDDHAYOGA.NET
    • Edward Muzika The thing about Muktananda is that he fully understood the power of erotic love, both for himself and for his sexual partners.
      6 hrs · Like
    • Edward Muzika See, the people that write these article already believe that sex between a teacher and a student is wrong based on the Western Psychoanalytic model, the medical model of exchanging money for time and insight, and sex was only to be talked about in ter...See More
      6 hrs · Like
    • Edward Muzika Notice in the article, the author said that Marie said Muktananda seduced her. But the seduction was nevr articulated. It moved to a different story.
      6 hrs · Like
    • Andres Feo Gasperi I think a sexual relation between a teacher and a student is wrong if the teacher claim to be celibate; But if he don't claim to be celibate I think is neither wrong or correct.
      6 hrs · Unlike · 1
    • Jenya Birch As far, as I know if a disciple happen to have a guru from the opposite sex and if they have a real relationship with him/her they have two big dreams- To make love to the guru and to kill the guru. Everything in between says they are not really involved with the master but just gingerly flirting with the idea of having a master.
      5 hrs · Unlike · 2
    • Edward Muzika Wow Jenya. That is far deeper than most see. Thank you!
      5 hrs · Like · 1
    • Fred Eric Like a praying mantis! 
      5 hrs · Like
    • Edward Muzika It is part of what Guntrip called the Schizoid position, the dramtic infant-like fatasies of possession and destruction of the loved one, creating an incredible approach avoidance conflict, poorly resolved by a good dealanity of both sexes.
      5 hrs · Like · 2
    • Paulo Z-netto How can one really tell the difference?
      5 hrs · Like
    • Paulo Z-netto Between a lustfull master and a real one?
      5 hrs · Like
    • Paulo Z-netto It takes maturity to do this!
      5 hrs · Like
    • Neville Campbell Edward it is not really wither there is a declaration of celibacy or not. It has more to do with the openness with which sexual love is shared as part of the way of a particular teacher. In traditional Tantra this was open. The student teacher relation...See More
      5 hrs · Unlike · 2
    • Edward Muzika The problem is neville that openness of sexuality is not part of what is accepted here in the USA or Australia. I can see the bind.

      This is an area that needs to be carefully explored today all over again, new traditions established based on sciene an
      ...See More
      4 hrs · Like · 3
    • Neville Campbell When the heart is softened, when truly living from the heart, it is impossible to abuse power. My observation of Shankarananda, when he first became involved with Muktananda, was someone who had a hard on for power. Not sure wither centuries will resolve this conundrum Ed.
      4 hrs · Unlike · 1
    • Edward Muzika Fame, not power.
      4 hrs · Like
    • Dominic Rule · Friends with Suzanne Foxton and 2 others
      "Nisargadatta used to visit prostitutes as did Ramesh Balsakar, and Robert Adams was a womanizer." That's kinda shocking, but not really surprising when I think about it. More of the shadow side for me of all these eastern anti-life foolosophies perhaps. Not that I judge of course, but it's a turn-off. How do you know this about Ramesh and Nissy, Ed?
      3 hrs · Edited · Like
    • Edward Muzika I forgot who told me. But I think it is rare to find a teacher who is celibate of either sex. I think teachers are less hung up about it than the average psychotherapist.

      Some of the Buddhist nuns who rose to abbot status that i knew were gay.
      ...See More
      3 hrs · Like · 3
    • Stuart Sovatsky here is mature yogi in US who attained with no scandals, B H Dass Santa Cruz, CA
      3 hrs · Like · 3
    • Edward Muzika Attained what Stuart?
      3 hrs · Like · 1
    • Stuart Sovatsky take a look at his leadership at Mount Madonna for 50 years, that will help... but perhaps this will only confuse
      3 hrs · Like · 1
    • Edward Muzika I have no idea who he is or what he has done. Attained what Stuart?
      3 hrs · Like
    • Ted Thompson Ramesh's philandering is well documented on Timothy Fitzpatrick Conway 's web page, "Enlightened Spirituality." Nisargadatta visiting prostitutes is something I would be very skeptical of.
      3 hrs · Like
    • Edward Muzika Why do you find it hard to believe?
      3 hrs · Like
    • Darshana Ji Thank you Edward , i am saddened by this as i idolised Robert Adams and yet the body has its own destiny. The Self remains Untouched.
      3 hrs · Unlike · 2
    • Edward Muzika I saw only the desire for love in Robert's actions. Most of the time he was not in this world.
      3 hrs · Like · 3
    • Ted Thompson I was around many of the teachers who had scandals a few decades ago, including Sai Baba, Muktananda and Richard Baker Roshi. I always gave them the benefit of the doubt until the evidence became overwhelming. I had not heard that about Nisargadatta be...See More
      3 hrs · Like · 2
    • Grace Ana K And here is a beautiful Yogi Swami who walked the talk....40+ yrs celibate. He would harangue us on this subject...lol. Oh my ears are ringing from Papa Durga reading this post Ed ji...lol. You would have really enjoyed sitting with Him...no doubt it would have been mutual.  _/\_
      3 hrs · Unlike · 4
    • Daniel Peterson Sex isn't a bad thing.
      When charismatic gurus exert power over students to get them into bed, it's always wrong. 
      Charging students to
      ...See More
      3 hrs · Like · 1
    • Ted Thompson The senior monks and nuns at the SF Zen Center gave Baker Roshi a long rope, but finally asked him to take a hike when he seemed to be obviously not following his own precept to do no harm to others.
      3 hrs · Like · 1
    • Edward Muzika I enjoy how this subject elicits such condemnation. What do you do Daniel when an attractive female or male, 20 years your junior comes on to you? Kick them out of the Sangha, worry about how the affair may backfire 5 years down the line, of share lo...See More
      2 hrs · Like
    • Ted Thompson The problem is mainly abuse of power. Students trust the guru and for them to be manipulated or lied to for money, sex and power is just not right. I have read many statements from disciples of Sai Baba and Baba Muktananda talking of the severe damage ...See More
      2 hrs · Like · 4
    • Dominic Rule · 3 mutual friends
      It's a can of worms. It's less to do about sex and certainly not about celibacy for me. More about integrity, responsibility, honesty, empathy etc. Ramesh sounds like a slime ball all masked over with the guru's rationalizing, in denial..."it's just th...See More
      2 hrs · Unlike · 1
    • Jonathan Dischler I organize spiritual teachers and healers since many years. Literally, I met hundreds in my life. And you find the same topics in spiritual communities as in "healing business" (what it unfort. got for many). - Today, I can say that at this point in my...See More
      2 hrs · Edited · Unlike · 2
    • Joseph T. McMahon Many people on the path have issues. They would not be trying to “awaken” out of their unsatisfactory lives if they didn’t. Many are vulnerable in that they are looking for answers to life. They are looking for their true nature. Or maybe they don’t kn...See More
      2 hrs · Like · 1
    • Grace Ana K Ed ji with all due respect, Daniel is talking about Charismatic gurus who exert power over students with that intention...not a teacher-guru who's too weak to hold space in a sacred circle and have power exerted over Him/Her. Lol I don't see condemnation across the board here. He pointed out some specific boundaries. And if there is ever to have an opinion in this matter, Papa and I would agree with that one.  _/\_
      1 hr · Unlike · 1
    • Mara Harnett I think future generations will have the self development of the bonding heart and relationship partnerships on as high a level as their self realization attainments. more in alignment and more integrated.
      1 hr · Unlike · 1
    • Edward Muzika
      Press Esc to cancel.
    • Edward Muzika Other students step all over other students to get into the inner circle where they use their own connections to 1) promote their guru to their friends, and then promote themselves as the guru's right hand people.

      I could namr names, but I won't.


      Students can be cut throat to gain access to the guru, and convert that to promoting their own agendas.

      It had happened to me many times.

      there is no spirituality in this sort of relationship.
      1 hr · Edited · Like · 1
    • Nathan Healey Differences are superficial! Ethical is open to interpretation and ones ego has a field day in defining it. Everything in the universe comes from love for that is all there is. Unfortunately from that frame of reference we have made laws, words, judgem...See More
      1 hr · Edited · Like
    • Jonathan Dischler Dear Ed, of course everybody is developing. Nobody is perfect. But some say  "no", others say "yes" and sometimes go the "easy way" (concerning sex). I never blamed "just" the guru, BUT: I expect the guru to be stronger and wiser then the student. Why else should he/she be the guru? Too many these days seem to go into a position of a guru without being ready for it (can you ever be ready?) If the woman you mentioned did the same with other teachers, she surely tested many. - What you experienced concerning students trying to get powerful positions in an ashram, for example, etc. I also observed.
      1 hr · Edited · Unlike · 1
    • Faisal Sarhi OH SEX!! I love sex ... I tried to be celibate several times but never worked haha   .... but I could say that over the years sex is being refined and continues to be so not approaced mostly out of boredom and escapism but for its beauty and grace ... 
      These vows of celibacy are just nonsense.... These teachers break them with ease as in my opinion celibacy is not natural to the body in any way but also sex addiction isn't natural to the body either... Perhaps balance is the key....
      1 hr · Unlike · 1
    • Edward Muzika Students teach teachers, and teachers learn from students--not the lessons each was trying to teach, but about their own direction.

      Yes, manipulations occur, but I think finding and devloping love, including erotic love, enhances the power of Self to 
      find itself, and make the individual more human.

      Have your heart broken many times, see how humble you get.

      And all teachers (except for the sociopaths) have had their hearts broken in one way or another by students, and studnts by teachers. It is part of coming alive--the patterns and desires are borken and find new channels.

      But so many here speak in judgment, not of their own experiences.

      I have become quite unjudgmental about sex and the guru, manioulation and the guru/student, lies told by students, and by teachers.

      Lots of people on FB never have had a teache and think all are supposed to me like Ramana. But only Ramana was like Ramana. Most are very different. Real people, real desires, real realizations of both emptiness and fullness.
      59 mins · Like · 3
    • Ganga Nath I have enjoyed reading these comments as I have experienced the guru/disciple sexual relationship in many spiritual organizations in the West for over 45 years. As is evidenced by all of your comments, it is a highly complex topic. One important factor is the tendency of Western women, coming from a permissive society, "throwing themselves" on Eastern teachers who come from sexual repressed cultures. For several years I was the attendant to a Tibetan lama. When he taught in Encinitas, California, a young woman came into the hall from the beach wearing a bikini and after the Dharma talk she gave the lama a big hug pressing her breasts against his face. It's no wonder that many Eastern teachers, who grew up in monasteries, consider scantily clad western women to be loose and available. Another factor, is the tradition of Tantric practices that have a valid place in Eastern spirituality but may be tremendously misunderstood in our Western culture that still has its roots in Puritanism where sex is considered a sin. And then, of course another overarching factor is the tendency of men or women (but all too often men) in a position of power to manipulate their subordinates to satisfy their own lust for sex, fame, money and power. Nearly every Eastern teacher who came to the West has taken this fall and in many cases it has disrupted or terminated their teaching activities. We all have a lot to learn.
      38 mins · Edited · Unlike · 2
    • Edward Muzika Good balance Ganga.
    • Edward Muzika May I again suggest watching the video of Andrew Cohen and Chetanananda, and sw. Shankarananda (and Br. Charles) in "quatralogue re the teacher/student stressors?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZrj283rUvo
    • Pankaj Seth · Friends with Stuart Sovatsky
      In India, the word "Tantra" or "Tantrik" does not have a good reputation. It is associatied with power abuses. Only in the West have I seen these terms associated with some respect. Not in India, though... people generally run away from it.
      19 mins · Unlike · 2
    • Edward Muzika Pankaj SethYou are right. Alongh the same lines a Korean master once said to me, "Why are movie stars so worsjipped in the Uniter States? In Korea they are considered one step above prostitution."

      Culture, culture, culture.
      10 mins · Like · 1
    • Andres Feo Gasperi I think is useless to take a vow on celibacy if you are going to think in sex all day and get frustrated, it is like people trying to stop eating to loose weight and they just end frustrated and eating even more food than before the diet; I think certain people have a natural inclination toward sex, for example my case is that I'm unconcerned about it, I've never had a girlfriend and I'm not interested in sex or even masturbation.

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