From facebook someone posted:


"I see now that physics is of no importance, that the world is illusion." ~ Heisenberg


Ed's response:

Actually, the emptiness in and around atoms is only a concept in physics. Most of science is just concept. Have you seen an atom? Have you seen the space in atoms? Therefore, what is more real, the illusion of an apple being eaten, or the illusion of an atom? Ditto the "absolute truths" of mathematics. Have you ever touched the concept of a set, or a ring, or a number 17? All are concepts--mind.

At least the illusion of an apple or another person gives the appearance of the personal, unlike scientific concepts, and can feed the apparent body.

Response to Ed:

You can see atoms nowadays, just not the particleshttp://www.insidescience.org/research/first_detailed_photos_of_atoms

Ed's response:

Ed Muzika No, you are not seeing an atom. You are seeing the electronic representation of an alleged electron field around an alleged atomic nucleus, through the magic of an electron microscope. It is an interpreted image, shone on a CRT, not the atom itself. It is still all theory, mind stuff that seems to predict the way the illusional world acts under various conditions. It is still all concept.


Actually look at the two images that purport to be detailed views of an atom.


Both show round black field with blobs of blue in them. One has a larger blue blob, the other two smaller ones. This is supposed to be a representation of possible electron fields around the nucleus, which is unseen, and in that nucleus are supposed to be protons and neutrons, themselves made up of smaller, more fundamental particles, and those, in turn, composed of "strings."


100 years from now we will have a different set of concepts about the unseen world of atoms, which in that future, will be regarded as the correct theory compared to the "quaint" theories we had in the 21st Century.


Everything in existence is conceptual in nature, name and form, superimposed on emptiness, the void.


Form is none other than emptiness, emptiness none other than form. Feeling, thought and consciousness itself are like this. --Heart Sutra

Another awakening Experience:

Hi Ed,

Two nights ago, as soon as I woke up from deep sleep, the sense of I remained the EXACT same. Meaning, when I woke up, I didn’t remember my name or where I was, but the sense of I did not change from sleep to waking up, and there was not even a second that passed where I could feel a transition of the I. Because usually, there is a delay from the time I wake up to the time I start to sink to my usual I. But this time, it was very clear and calm. It is very peaceful. This I, has remained.

During waking state, the I is very clearly ‘felt’. Everything in front of me is happening on their on. I have nothing to do with it.

In today’s meditation, nothing other than joy happened. As soon as I sat, I started sinking. I felt my heart beat faster and faster. Then, all I can feel was joy. The joy was tremendous that I even had tears. There was nothing to see. In the previous times, I was sure to see objects and other things. But this time, there was no effort on my part and nothing to see. It feels like I am or I was ‘in’ my joy. I know it sounds strange. But that this how I can describe it now.

Thank you,

Do you see you are far beyond (or before) anything in the world, your body or mind?  You are untouched, untouchable, the real witness who has no existence herself.

Response:


Yes, I definitely see that I am beyond the world, body and mind. Now, I am slowly understanding your words and teachings. And I will try to maintain this and see where it takes me.

More importantly, all this was because of your grace, teachings and love. You have a very strong grace.

Thank you so much for this joy.

Umah




Response:

Now she needs to maintain it or repeat it if she loses it, until it becomes her identity: the identity of the absolute, or the final and true witness. Even this concept gives way after a while, with no absolute, no witness, no understanding. One has passed through and understood the whole thing completely and dropped it.

AMENDED NEW MATERIAL:


Namaste.

I am Madhurananda from Tiruvannamalai.

Some friend had sent me your website link, and wished me to read it, and give my opinion. But I could not. Also, did not have so much enthusiasm to read. Since few years, I have almost lost any inclination to read, as I can just remain quiet happy with myself. Some how his repeated query made me to read many pages of your website.

I found you are disciple of Robert Adams whom I love very much. In fact it is because of this I have mentioned The Silence of the Heart for further reading in my book Effortless Meditation.  

I liked your experience of Peace. I am sure that it was a genuine experience, and that gave the pull to read many other parts of your website. I have also read many pages of Autobiography of a Jnani. Your disciple Rajeev is very special. In fact, I have written mails to him.

May I ask you few questions for curiosity?: You are in a natural state? You feel that this is the same state that of Sri Ramana where he has established himself irrevocably? Can you say there is no difference between me and Ramana (not in physical sense)? How old are you? Do you have any plans to come to Tiruvannamalai?

Hope you don’t mind for asking these. When I feel people are deeply spiritual, I ignore some formalities and become casual.  

Love, Peace and regards,
Madhurananda

MY REPLY


Dear Madhurananda,


I too do not read anymore. I understand you completely in that.


As to my state, I cannot say whether it is natural, like Ramana's or anything or anyone else's states. All that I can say is that I feel completely at home, and aware that the universe revolves around me and is merely an appearance to me, who lies beyond the appearance. As to what that is I cannot say except THAT is you also.


As to my teaching, it is not me, the words flow through me, such as my dialogues with Raviv. The energy to express arises within me, then passes through me, but I am not touched. You might say my mind is Robert's mind. I didn't know Ramana; I did know Robert.


I am 68 and feel no movement to visit India. I rarely go more than 10 miles from where I live. I have many animals that I take care of and can rarely leave the area for more than a day.


Thank you for your inquire,


Love to you,


Ed


TO ME:


Dear Ed Muzika,

Thanks for your answer and I am very happy to read your words,  that you are at Home and universe revolves around you.

You are at Home 24 hours, all the time includign deep sleep?

I have a deep veneration for you. After all we are all looking forward to go home directly or indirectly.

Love,
Madhurananda




MY REPLY:


Madhu,


Rajiv sent me your email.


Email to Rajiv:

Dear Rajiv,

Namaste.

I agree with whatever you wrote in this mail. Thanks for your sharings. I am in no way under the illusion that 'me' or ego is gone in way, or whatever i am experiencing is Reality in ultimate sense. As long as wish to be at Peace is there, even if it is not expreinced as effort, it cannot be final state. Because of Ramana and U. G.  in no way i can compromise with anything that can happen on manifest level. All these will go one day, and manifest is too brtillte to be taken permanent shelter.  

I am very happy to read that you have gone beyond the realm of ego once for all. Yes, i am very, very happy. There is natural and deep appreciation for the those who have transceded the maya.

For time being i am  being intensely carried away by that where there is no concerputalisation, no hankerings. It pulls me deeply. I am wide awake and undivided in that state. I know for sure it is there where ego can disappear forever. 

I am very happy to be in touch with you. Will come back again some other day,

with Love and regards,

Madhurananda

ED:


You never kill the ego nor does it die. It disappears as you say. You see it never was. It was and is just a collection of thoughts happening to you, who is empty, spacelike, a ghost so to speak. It is not a state to be won, but an experience of the emptiness of all forms and thoughts.


To know this state of identity with the emptiness instead of forms, requires just constant inner reflection and good acquaintance with the Void, and recognition that you stand apart not only from all experiences in the world, but also the void.


So don't hold the illusion that the ego must die. It just never existed except as a collection of thoughts loosely tied together, and with which you identified as a thinker. The thoughts are not yours. They comes from outside of your awareness, appear and then disappear.


Everything appears and disappears, all states, forms, relations, objects, thoughts, ego, but there is a knower of all this. Who is that? Find that.

Dear Ed Muzika,

Some friend sent me your blog link today.  I was a little surprised that you have already put my mails in your blog. Usually, people ask before doing so. However, I am fine with it. I did want to mention that your mail does not contain answers to my questions to you, but to some questions that you might have assumed  on my behalf. That also is quite ok. It is fun too. This world is perfect as it is. It is not an examination paper. So nothing to be bothered. 

ED: I did answer all your questions except about feeling at home in deep sleep. I did answer implicit questions you sent to Rajiv which he sent to me about killing the ego. You, like many in the Ramana tradition, think one who is awakened must be conscious during deep sleep. But that is a property of waking and dream states. If one were conscious or aware as in the waking state, that would not longer be deep sleep.


The deep sleep state is marked by no cognition and no memory. That I exist now or during deep sleep is an intuition or apprehension when the thinking cognitive mind is active. In that state one can "remember" the experience of deep sleep and its qualities. Nisargadatta and Ramesh were quite clear they were not aware during deep sleep.

What you discover is that all of this is part of the illusion of being a body. 


When you no longer think you are a body, you see that all mental states, including the waking state with its bodies and the world, and phenomena come to you and pass over and through you like clouds and do not touch you; you are both beyond them and prior to them. But you are trying to understand from the point of view of being a body, of which you are aware only in the waking mind, the waking dream. Therefore you ask if I am waking conscious aware in deep sleep. What would be the point of that and what would it prove? We are all beyond all the states.

MADHU:

However, I would appreciate if you add this mail of mine too in your blog. In case you are not comfortable in including this mail to you can kindly remove my earlier mails along with your answers.


Ed's Comment: Madhu is uncomfortable having his emails posted that talk about his own states as opposed to where he is asking Rajiv or me about our states. And, he wants to advertise his book as part of his response. If I don't feel comfortable posting this response, he'd like me to take all his posts down.

Here are my views on your reply to me:

You say, ‘you never kill the ego’:  You are right. When we say, ego should be killed, it is only to convey that one should realise that ego never existed. When sages say ego/mind should die, it is never meant as instruction to fight the ego/mind, then destroy it etc. Such approach will create endless mental turmoil in the name of sadhana. Fighting will only strengthen the mind as much as it being superficial and unaware. Mind should be annihilated means all psychological suffering, which can be created only by thoughts (and thoughts alone), should disappear.

We also should be aware of saying: ‘there is no ego, ego never existed’, or ‘ego should die’ etc. All these can be pure play of ego. We can write a big book on this issue of ego, but does it help in our pursuit for happiness or peace?  To tell you honestly I am not the least interested in this kind of verbal descriptions.  Any intellectual person who has read a few books on Advaita can write about these things. Intellectual gymnastics is a sheer waste of time.  If there is anything that touches me deeply, it is insight, and the dedication that one makes to the insight. Of course, if one is a sage, where even the person having insight is absent, then naturally such a one captivates my heart. 

Thanks for your advice on the Sadhana. However, I do wish to add here that I have nothing to ask any one regarding Sadhana. Nor had I   asked Rajiv anything on this front.  Even if I believe some one is a sage, still I do not have any questions to ask as far as meditation, Sadhana etc are concerned.  Out of sheer grace of inner Sadguru, I have discovered the art of being still. I personally feel highest Sadhana is to remain utterly still, where one does not entertain thoughts in anyway, in terms of focusing, concentration etc. If one does not engage in conscious thinking, automatically chattering/unconscious activity of the mind slows down. Then one remains in the state of being composed, undivided and happy. 

As you wrote in your mail, it may be necessary to reflect etc for someone who does not know how to remain in the state of dynamic stillness. However, I do believe as long as one engages the mind in thinking, deep unfathomable Silence remains elusive.

You asked me to find, ‘……..Who is that?’ I feel when one is in the state of deep Peace automatically the answer will dawn. That is how I understand by enquiry.   If some one tells me, being still does not lead to enlightenment, and one has to go on asking 'Who am I?'  I do not care for it. What I do know for certain is that when you have learnt the art of being still, one has learnt the art of being in a state of undivided attention, happy, and at home. Deep dynamic peace starts enveloping you. You will be simply carried away by it. If there is any way to experience supreme Peace, it is in being still. This is my experience and that is enough for me. I also wish to add here that that is the essence of my book Effortless Meditation, Published by Yogi Impressions, Mumbai, 2010, 3rd Edition. 

If I come across some one and says that I am enlightened, I may become curious and ask some questions regarding his state (I am aware word ‘state’ is not the right word for enlightenment, but there is no other appropriate word). However, I do know for certain, that whatever the sage may answer, unless one himself attains the state of a sage fundamental questions of life can never satisfactorily be answered. No one who is ever born in this universe can utterly satisfy the other through verbal answers. On the level of ego, there are no real answers. On the level beyond the ego, questions become meaningless. This is the paradox. 

Peace,

Madhurananda (Madhu)

Before I started my "official" search for enlightenment in 1968, I had already read Ramana, Yogananda, and tons of Zen books for years. Bassui was an 12th Century Zen master whose koan was, "Who am I?" I had practiced that meditation and collected a bachelor's degree in philosophy. I was clueless. I did not know what enlightenment was, who I was, where I was going--nothing.


One question sustained me: What was the ultimate truth? I knew it was not found in philosophy, which could only talk about it. I thought it would be found in some sort of profound experience, but what that was escaped me, and none of the books revealed what that awakening experience was. What they mentioned is what the newly enlightened monk said or did; there was nothing about the experience itself, and the only way pointed to getting there was self-inquiry. That question was characterized by "Who or what am I?" in its thousand forms.


Subsequently I had two major awakening experiences and hundreds, maybe thousands of small ones. No matter. No matter at all!


So, do you wonder what I supposedly have and you don't? Do you want validation of your own experiences? Do you want me to tell you whether you have experienced Turiya or not? No matter. It does not matter because Turiya is always part of your experience as are all other levels and strata of consciousness. They are always there in the One consciousness. Exploration differentiates and explores those levels. Again, no matter. Just more experiences and knowledge.


The experiences are important because they keep you involved. No experiences and you think you are wasting your time.  But what do those experiences mean---if anything? (And they mean very little.)


There are many kinds of samadhis where you obtain unity with some layer or another of conscious experiences. Is Samadhi important? Yes and no.


But the most important experience is not an experience, but the recognition that all states, samadhis, waking, dreaming, sleep, understandings, emotions, attachments, ideas, possessions, etc., come and go TO YOU. YOU are the central point of this existence. All happens to you. Without you as an observer, nothing would exist.


But who are you? Isn't that the rub? How do you find out that ultimate level in you? By reading books? By listening to Mooji or reading Ramana? Of course not. They can only point the way, and that way is to look within and claim your own identity as that which is beyond the world. It cannot be conceived of, described or passed on to another. One sees it only by him or herself, either through trust in the method of self inquiry, or trust in the guru.


Look how lightning quick Rajiv's liberation came. He trusted in his guru, did not argue, did not compare teachings of Ramana to Nisargadatta, or ask about Langford's method. He only listened to his guru. He gently asked for guidance, but it did not come through me. The guidance only appeared to come through this individual he called Edji, but, in fact, had nothing to do with Edji, nor Robert, nor Ramana. Where the power to lift illusion comes from, I don't know. It comes when it wants to.


I really have nothing to say as to what is posted on this site. It comes to me and acts through me, and does a far better job than I ever could. For months now it has been acting and talking about animals and compassion, because that is what has been presented to me as a body mind day by day in Los Angles.


If you guys were here, I'd be hearing your stories and wants, and the blog would reflect that. 

Although some readers have complained that I should write about animal stuff and Infinity elsewhere, and reserve this site only for talking about going free, my life with Robert, or associated ideas, in the end, this is my blog and I write about what is important to me.


For the second time in six weeks we animal lovers and rescuers in Los Angeles have scored a huge victory against forces that would kill animals.


About a year ago a lawsuit by Urban Wildlands ended with a judges order that prevented the City's Animal Services Dept. helping residents of Los Angeles feed, trap, neuter/spay cats, and then return them to the environment. This is called TNR. 


Unfortunately, in their zeal, the actual street level enforcers of the laws at Animal Services were telling people that feeding feral cats itself was illegal and they could go to jail and be fined $1,000.


This was all bull. They cited a law against feeding coyotes, saying if you left food out for feral cats, the coyotes could get it. Therefore, you'd be breaking that feeding law, and could be fined and jailed.


However, I pointed out to the head of Animal Services that that was not the intent of that law. The intent was to not feed and attract coyotes leading to dangerous run ins between people and coyotes.


Animal Services personnel across the city were also banning feeding homeless cats under another law called the kennel law. However, if the person feeding ferals was also getting them fixed and adopting them out, they were exempt. There were other exemptions that the department was not telling people about. They either did not understand the law (which is not that complicated), or they were enforcing it out of spite.


With the help of an Animal Services cat-friendly Commissioner, the new General Manager, Brenda Barnette, admitted her own people didn't understand the judges ruling and she was now sending out an email to enforcement personnel stating that there was no ban against private citizens feeding feral cats.  


We won!! The lives of well over 1,000,000 homeless and feral cats was in danger due to the harassing and incorrect enforcement of the wrong laws by Animal Services. They are no longer in danger. Dealing with this problem has eaten an enormous amount of time I could have been working on this blog and setting up online Satsang, and I apologize.


I should mention that the new GM, Brenda Barnette is an Advaitin, although an advocate of Eckhart Tolle. She is on facebook. Say hello sometime. Perhaps that is why enforcement is changing in Los Angeles. Advaitins working together, or as Seung Sahn called, it, "Together action," acting through "correct understanding."

Don't Check Your Mind and Progress

You are asking for endless trouble if you keep asking what your experiences mean. Stop checking your progress!


Daily I get many emails from students who want to know what their experiences mean, or whether they have experienced Turiya or some other significant experience.


Let me ask you, "WHAT DOES IT MATTER?" Does having one extra bit of knowledge about where you are help you are all to go beyond all understanding to freedom and total emptiness? No, it just keeps you trapped in the cognitive mind that is trying to figure everything out, putting everything into a conceptual pigeonhole. But satisfying the mind's need to understand and know completely blocks going beyond the mind and that perticular experience you are questioning! Do have come to a dead stop with no more movement possible until you let go of the question and the experience.


You can't get to freedom through conceptual understanding.  You have to lose your mind entirely by doing non conceptual things, like abiding in the sense of I Am until the mind and body disappear. This is the first glint of freedom.


Eventually even this will drop away, but you need to stop depending on mind. Instead you need to trust the method of self-inquiry, more properly described as abiding in the I-sense. No experience you have on the way is worth talking about. When the big experiences come, they are self-explanatory and need no one to interpret or check progress. 


Towards this state of certainty is where you should be aiming, and that is by just submerging in the I Am, or I sense. All the rest is conceptual nonsense. Be courageous. Go without words, questioning. Just keep looking at the I or the I-sense. Then feel it with your heart. Become one with it, but don't ask if you are there or close, because someone who is there or close doesn't need confirmation, and the asking for confirmation means you are stuck int that one place, waiting for an answer. 

LEAVE THE WORLD ALONE!--Amended

For a long time I have been getting emails about why I am concerned about Infinity. Why am I concerned about Matthew's manuscript? Why am I concerned about saving cats? Why am I concerned about saving whales from Japanese predation? Don't I know Robert said, "Leave the world alone"?


Yes, I know what Robert said. I was there with him for 7 years in LA. I heard hundreds of his talks and went to lunch with him hundreds of times. We talked hundreds of times on the phone. I wrote introductions for his books, wrote short biographies for him, promoted Satsang at his direction through various media, etc. I know his teachings very, very well.


But, I did not get stuck on that one phrase of his as a lot of people seem to.


Robert and his teachings were far larger than that one phrase.


Robert, with this phrase, was responding to the hundreds of students who came to him with problems. They were preoccupied with problems and had neglected their inner life, their core. He was turning them back onto recognizing their true nature as both form and emptiness, with an emphasis on emptiness, because they were obsessed with form.


However, Robert also said you need not become a doormat.


If Animal Control is coming to take your animals away, or the Republicans are coming to take your Social Security away, or your daughter is newly diagnosed with brain cancer, or someone has launched a well-funded lawsuit against your invention or intellectual property, this does not mean you should not respond to the challenge  and protect yourself and your loved ones even if the world is just an appearance.


If you take Robert literally, you would not respond if neo Nazis were knocking on your neighbor's door and dragging them into the street where they beat them to death. Do you really think Robert would not want you to help protect those people even at the peril of your own life?


If you read Robert's "Confession," he says the world does not entirely disappear, but life's events lose their sting. That is, you still feel compassion, love, the need to protect, nourish and help, and if someone close to you is hurt, or you are hurt, you still feel it, and can react, it is just that you are not overwhelmed by the happening because you have transcended the world. You are in it but not of it.


As long as you are alive, you will be presented with situations where you can act with compassion, or ignore the situation and let whatever is to happen, happen.


Am I to ignore Infinity's now incessant attacks on Matthew who is trying to present the gist of Robert's teachings in new and powerful ways? No, I cannot do that. And, if anyone shows up at my door threatening to take my animals away, they will not long forget that confrontation.


This totally out of control movement to protect the innocent, weak, old and animals has deeply gripped my beingness.


Three days ago someone called me that needed help. A 70 year old and rather feeble neighbor allegedly had been abused by Animal Services personnel regarding a false complaint against him by a tenant who he was trying to evict for non payment of rent. It took lots of emails and a personal appearance by me when Animal Services showed up for an inspection, but all is well now. AS knows the complaint was bogus and the officers that did show up were very polite and friendly as opposed to those whom the neighbor had spoken to some days before.  I can't help it. The movement to help and protect is too strong to stop.


I know some of the people who read this blog have caught this disease of active and compassionate intervention. There is no cure you know.

Yet another threat from Infinity's Blake Warner:


Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:53:32 -0700
Subject: Re: Cease and Desist

From: blake.r.warner@gmail.com
To: teacherintherye@hotmail.com

Matthew. 


Re: You seem like an intelligent fellow, a school teacher and writer by honorable profession, please accurately go to the source and inquire. You have been mislead. Attached is the actual copyrights created by the  Robert Adams Institute as filed with the copyright office over the years.  After you investigate the repercussions of this type of violation involving perjury and theft and clear disregard for the Sages lineage and the misrepresented teaching contact me if the results of your actions are not entirely clear to you, either by The Master Teachers copyright or the laws of the state of Arizona. Also of note we are speaking to the first screenplay posted on the itisnotreal web, follow the link in the first attachment.. the one removed from Scribd. 

Deepest Regards In Robert,

Blake Warner Ph.d.

Dear Nicole and Blake,

As one who has been deeply moved by the talks of Robert Adams and his book Silence of the Heart, I must say that I find it incredulous that you are not welcoming Matthew Brown’s beautifully presented screenplay with open arms.

Robert was a most beautiful Saint and Sage and stressed over and over again that we are ONE... not two! 

I can not believe that you have heard his talks and read the book when you undertake such negative action against your SELF!

Robert also stressed that the TRUTH of who we really are cannot be sold, it must be offered freely to all spiritual seekers and those who are sincere will take care of the teacher’s needs.

Do you not remember the story Robert told of the lady who got caught up in launching a new lawsuit every month and how miserable and unhappy she was... are you both that unhappy?

From a spiritual perspective, your spinning around in such obvious fear is a perfect lesson for others of how our egos carry us away from who we really are.

From a legal perspective, you risk being sued yourselves for launching such a frivolous legal action.

There is no defamation, copyright infringement or other intellectual property infringement in Matthew’s screenplay that I can see.

And to think that Robert’s talks are copyright protected is sheer fantasy and legally ridiculous. If you would bother to listen to Robert’s talks you would clearly hear him directing copies to be made for FREE distribution and discussing how they have been spread all over the world. There are clearly many tapes being made and Robert even joked about this. Those tapes are the property of the persons taping the Satsangs WITH Robert’s full permission and all photographs taken with his full permission by his students are the property of those students. 

There is a legal term you should be aware of called “PUBLIC DOMAIN”.

You should also research the legal judgement set in the ACIM decision by Robert W. Sweet, U.S. District Court Judge on October 24, 2003 and note that the defendants were awarded costs.

I cannot think of a better closing line than one that Robert himself often said... 

Why don’t you just WAKE UP!

With Respect,

Jo-Ann Chinn

Nicole Adams and Blake Warner deliver new Cease and Desist Takedown Order to Matthew Brown to take down his script, "Razor's Handle" from the it is not real website.


Nicole and Warner never stop trying to bury the real Robert Adams under their pious Christian imitation of the Robert Adams I knew.


The Cease and desist email:

Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:32:13 -0700
Subject: Cease and Desist
From: blake.r.warner@gmail.com

Dear Matthew Brown,

This is a Cease and Desist demand to immediately remove your illegal screenplay constituting copyright infringement, false WGA registration, fabricated content, defamatory, and false representation immediately from the website itisnotreal.com as well as removing illegal and fraudulent registration under your name from the Writers Guild of America regarding one screenplay entitled “The Life and Teaching of Robert Adams.” 

Please be informed that Dr. Wesley Johnson as well as additional individuals have filed legal complaints regarding ongoing conveyed objections and complaints from life long students and relations of his in law Robert Adams throughout the world in relation to fabricated content created by complete strangers during the time period of their association, presence  and studentship with Mr. Adams, a complete stranger to you.

The content of your screenplay is proven both fabricated and defamatory in documented and verified time and location references, and currently constitutes felony action, written and attributed completely to you as the author, a complete stranger to both Mr. and Mrs. Adams, entirely unfamiliar with their life, teaching, family or social associations. This document is entirely fabricated and inaccurate regarding the life and teaching of Robert Adams.

Consistent harassment, defamation, ongoing internet infringement has been repeatedly  documented in association and attributed to your posted illegal works, your own words, and your posted statements. This has resulted in incoming consistent disruptions, harassment and defamation of the lives and careers of complete strangers who have never heard of you and have no involvement, association with, or knowledge of you. 

This is the second notification of Cease and Desist.

Retract any affiliations with public posting of this illegal document constituting felony criminal activity.

Your immediate removal of this public posting is requested within 24 hours.

Sincerely,

John Bernie Shapiro 

PLEASE EMAIL NICOLE (a.k.a. Prem Devi) premdevi@cox.net telling her what you think of her slime ball tactics, AND Blake Warner: blake.r.warner@gmail.com


You will never find a physical address for Infinity because they don't want to be located for a number of reasons.

Online Satsang gets closer.


We are in the final stages of software testing and setting up administrative procedures. Consciousness is acting in very strange ways through this process as all involved will tell you. 


Once it is working we can have informal "coffee Darshan" sometimes in the morning besides regular satsangs.


This will be a lazy man/woman Satsang. No need to leave the bedroom or living room. No commute. No smelly incense, no long ride back home followed by a beer. You can have your beer during Satsang!


When it is ready I'll name all the people involved and we will all share the blame.


The only blockage now is me and my schedule. For two months I had no medical reports to edit so spent a lot of time getting in trouble cooking people. Now, suddenly the reports are pouring in late, which means they are all overdue. 


In addition, Jimmy left also, abandoning many colonies of cats and I am now feeding and taking care of them plus helping others with money to feed the other colonies of his I am not feeding. Jimmy came back to town and disappeared, then he reappeared and disappeared again, going back North. 


I meet so many feral cat colony managers in Los Angeles who support anywhere from 2 or 3 colonies, to 19, with almost 100 cats. They give all their income to feed and take care of them and provide spay/neuter trapping, sterilizing and re-release, and thousands in vet bills. Some of these people have 30 cats at home, which is illegal in LA, and they all fear people complaining about them bringing the City down on them. One woman took over the feral cat colonies of Jimmy that I am not taking care of. She has 13 colonies and maybe 60 cats. I help her as I can, when her car breaks down or she needs cat food.


We are the caretakers of all sentient beings. Enlightenment and self-realization are purely secondary to having developed an inner saint. I have known many who have struggled for years to awaken, who have failed, and I think it largely because they haven't developed that compassion and love towards all sentient beings; they are too wrapped up with their own personal quest.


Many Zen koans are dedicated to pointing out how warped is just the drive to awaken without a strong drive to take care of all living things.


So, free time is rare this moment.


Ed

POPE JOHN PAUL'S DREAM

THE POPE AND THE HOMELESS CATS

by J.R. Hyland

The first time I read the account of Pope John Paul II’s dream, the thing that surprised me most was the fact that it was included in the book God’s Broker. Published in 1984, the book was the result of 200 hours of conversation with the Pope. These interviews began soon after the author, Anton Gronowicz, was introduced to the Pope in 1979 and continued for two years, in the Pontiff’’s apartment at the Vatican.

In his dream, John Paul follows a homeless mother cat who was trying to find food and shelter for herself and her kittens. She is turned away by those who lack nothing themselves and by men who represent the various faces of established Christianity.

The dream took place in 1969 the night before the Pope, known then as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, was to visit New York City for the first time. It was late summer and he had been touring Canada. He spoke of the beauty of its fields and forests and how he had wished for more time to walk in woods vibrant with color and with his "ears filled with the songs and voices of animals."

In the midst of this discussion of Canada, the Pope abruptly changed the subject and said: "The night before my departure from Canada to New York, which I had never seen, I had a strange dream." But his dream was not of beautiful forests, warm with the summer sun. It was of a crowded city, frigid with the cold of a northern winter. And although he had never been there, his dream captured the way Manhattan looks and feels after a major snowstorm.

"It was a terribly severe winter in New York; the city was completely covered with snow. Inhabitants were well off and warmly dressed and walking slowly along roads because cars, due to mountains of snow, could not be operated. I was happy that I could walk on top of the snow on avenues of white.

"All my physical effort was spent on walking. To this day, pictures of huge apartment houses on both sides of the avenue are instilled in my mind and the doormen quickly closing and opening entrance doors as though trying to prevent humanity and warmth from escaping.

"On top of the snow, I noticed a brown cat emerge from a side street and walk on the snow. I looked closer and, to my surprise, saw that this big cat was being followed by six small brown-and-white kittens, all of them following the big brown cat in a perfect line. The mother cat looked back from time to time to see if her babies were there, but her main concern was to reach the entrance door. I presumed she was trying to find warmth for herself and her children, but as soon as she reached the door, a man in a well-pressed uniform jumped at her with a broom and chased them away. I followed this procession and prepared to deliver a speech to the doorman. I opened my mouth and tried to complain, ‘Where is your proverbial American generosity? Where is your American good heart and fair play? Let them in. Let them in!!’

"I tried to speak, but the words would not come out. Maybe I was afraid of the doorman with the broom. I started searching my cassock pockets for a piece of bread, found some crumbs, and put them on my palms, calling, ‘Kitty, kitty, kitty.’ But the words would not come from my supposedly intelligent mouth. Instead, the wind blew the crumbs from my palm, and I said, ‘What can I do? I can’’t speak to the cats. I can’t speak to the doorman. But there are many hungry birds. They might pick up the crumbs.’

"Again, I walked after the cats, now with a pain in my chest, feeling tremendous cold. On the left, I saw a church building and thought, ‘There we will find help.’ I heard singing, and again, the idea occurred to me that it must be a Catholic church. The music grew louder, as though trying to convince God that they were praying to Him.

"The mother cat jumped in front of me and climbed the stairs, followed by her kittens. I raised my head and saw a tall Jesuit priest chasing the cats off the steps. But as I was about to shout at the Jesuit, ‘I am a cardinal!’ and give an order to accept the cats, the mother cat and her offspring ran behind the church because from there came the appetizing aroma of food. Probably there was a kitchen there. But a second Jesuit appeared at the kitchen door and scared the cats away. They returned to the avenue and started walking north.

"They walked on the same side of the avenue as the Jesuit church and I followed. Then they reached an imposing red brick church. An Anglican bishop appeared and said to the cats, ‘My dear animal children, please go immediately to the animal shelter. There is food for you there. We Anglican clergy donate lots of money to the animal shelter every year at Christmastime.’

"The mother cat and her kittens didn’t even meow. They knew the authoritative voice of the Anglican bishop. They walked uptown and gradually the luxurious buildings disappeared, together with the doormen, and we saw drab dilapidated apartments.

"As they walked and the buildings grew shabbier and dirty, a door was opened, not by a doorman but by an old wrinkled woman in a cotton dress. [She saw the cats] and shouted, ‘Oh, little mother,’ and when she opened her mouth, I saw she had few teeth. She gently ushered the mother cat and kittens inside, who jumped happily about because the warmth of the house embraced them."

The narrative ended as the cats found a safe haven with the woman who had little enough, herself. When the Pope concluded his dream, the author to whom he related it did not make any comment on what had been said. But he did write that "I had never seen such a sad expression on the face of this man." Considering that this was the same man who had related the horrors of his young manhood under Nazi occupation, the author’s remark shows the deep impact this dream had on the Pope.

If the Pontiff offered a commentary on his dream, Anton Gronowicz does not share it with the reader. But we are told that John Paul began to recite the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love ..., where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy.

The Pope also said that the "solicitous care, not only toward [people] but also toward animals and nature in general," that St. Francis demonstrated is "a faithful echo of the love with which God in the beginning pronounced his ‘fiat,’ which brought them into existence." And, the Pope added, "[W]e, too, are called to a similar attitude."

Some who read these remarks are surprised to find in them such strong support of God’s other creatures. They are surprised to hear the Pope refer to the lives of animals as a manifestation of God’s love: lives that deserve our "solicitous care." But I was not surprised. By the time I came across a copy of the message he gave at Assisi, I had read God’s Broker and the lengthy account of the Pope’s dream. And I knew that if John Paul II had not wanted this very revealing dream to be published, it would never have appeared in print.

In this witness, the Pope is being true to the Gospel message in which Jesus also gave witness to the need for the solicitous care of all beings: "I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me." (Matthew 25:45)