eileenm@sco.COM (Eileen Maceri) (06/12/91)
I have been following with great interest the various postings on Gurus, and
the excerpts from some of their teachings. With all the different teachings
and teachers abounding in the spiritual realm, it seems very important for a
sincere seeker of Truth (or Enlightenment) to know how to discriminate which
teacher to follow. I would like to share a little bit about my own trials,
tribulations, and successes in this area.
In the early 1970's, in the midst of trying many paths and practices, I was
introduced to a book which was a compilation of many of the spiritual
discourses of Sri Atmananda of Trivandrum. These discourses, like those of
Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (whose teachings I discovered
at about the same time in the form of "The Spiritual Teachings of Sri Ramana
Maharshi" and "I Am That") began to clear up some of my confusions. Their
teachings were very clear, reasonable, and logical, and they spoke to my
heart.
I agree with Roger Adams' posting that a guru/master is necessary. Very few
have awakened without such guidance. To me, this makes perfect sense. If I
want to learn to play a musical instrument, I go to a master of that
instrument, someone who has complete knowledge of that instrument, rather than
just reading instruction books and hoping I can come up with the right kind of
sound just by fooling around with it. If someone is able to teach me how to
play in the most direct manner, helping me to avoid long, strenuous, and
unproductive methods, it makes sense to take lessons from him. Many times,
just the master's presence and encouragement communicates itself to the
student and hastens his practice along. If this is true in relative
situations, it seems to me that it would apply even more so when one is
seeking spiritual Truth.
I myself spent several years in fruitless practices and useless disciplines.
I knew what I wanted -- to realize what the Maharshi, Atmananda, and Maharaj
spoke of as "the Self" or ultimate Peace and Love, and I wanted a teacher like
them -- but what I found were many who taught all sorts of techniques, none of
which seemed to lead me closer to my goal. For instance, one teacher taught
me to stare at a candle flame, concentrating my mind on it, with the goal of
ridding the mind of thoughts and thus "calming" it, so I could experience
peace. The problem for me was no matter how much I calmed or controlled it,
the thoughts always came back, in seemingly even greater force than before,
because I was trying to get rid of them. It was a most frustrating practice,
and it did not lead me to the peace I desired. It didn't occur to me at the
time to ask why I was seeing the mind as my enemy. Why try to still something
whose very nature is *motion*? It was just doing what was natural. And it is
a good tool for performing the relative functions of everyday life and for
getting things done well. But I didn't see my error at the time -- I only
knew it didn't work.
I read, re-read, and even wrote down the instructions of the Sages I trusted.
They said that, instead of trying to *do* something with the mind, one should
look directly into the nature of the mind itself. They said that the mind has
no separate existence from thoughts; and thoughts arise from, appear in, and
return to the Pure Consciousness or Awareness that is our real nature. About
mind control, the Maharshi said: "There is no mind to control if the Self is
Realized. In the Realized man, the mind may be active or inactive, the Self
alone exists. For the mind, body and world are not separate from the Self;
and they cannot remain apart from the Self."
This all sounded just right to me. It made sense to me that the mind was not
something to be done away with, and my own life was an active one, requiring
that I participate in everyday activities of the modern western business
world--with constantly moving situations in which the thinking process comes
in very handy. The peace I was looking for would not be one that required
retreating from the world...and, anyway, I could see how tenuous that kind of
peace would be. A peace dependent on a quiet, serene environment is very
fragile. I wanted something deeper, something that would be always steadily
there, in the busiest hustle-bustle days of my life.
The big question remained -- how to *experience* the Self? The spiritual
texts said that, in the presence of the Sages, the experience was imparted.
In a book about the Maharshi (The Pictorial Biography), I read the following:
"The dynamic silence vibrant with his Grace, the divine Love that shone in his
eyes, and when necessary, the potent words of Sri Bhagavan, enfolded all who
were ready and open to receive the gift of his Presence and liberating
proximity...one cannot count the lives which were completely transformed by a
moment's glance, or a solitary word. Sri Bhagavan was like a fathomless ocean
of Grace, overflowing with compassion for the devotees who came in
ever-increasing numbers for his darshan." I was so impressed with this
description, I wrote it down in a little book I carried for inspiration. It
fueled the fire of my desire to meet such a master myself.
Another teacher I came across in my search proposed breath-watching. This was
another manipulative way to control the mind, and, like the candle-flame
technique, it didn't work, either. It had the added disadvantage of being
very dependent upon the state of my body. For instance, if I had a cold or
hay fever, it was harder to breathe, and the breaths did not come at even
intervals. A friend of mine was asthmatic. Although he tried, the practice
was not even possible for him. My deep intuitive feeling about Enlightenment
was that it had to be available to anyone at any time, regardless of the state
of their body or mind. (In my childhood, I had been in a religion that had
many "exclusionary" clauses -- essentially, only WE were going to make it to
heaven.) I KNEW I could not follow a path that excluded ANYone. My heart
told me that it *had* to be possible for everyone to realize.
Thought-watching (or taking the stand of the "witness") was another technique
I heard about. It was a very popular practice among some of my friends at the
time. When they described it, it sounded very much to me like the mind
watching the mind (or what Sri Atmananda -- himself a policeman in India --
referred to as the "thief pretending to be a policeman who promises to catch
the thief"). He and the other Sages taught that Enlightenment was
*transcendent* of the body and mind. So I asked myself, how could watching my
thoughts, which are transient, changing, and oh-so-fleeting, take me to a
changeless and eternal state of absolute peace? I could see no connection at
all. Atmananda said that the witness is really the changeless principle
inside oneself, something you *are*, not a mental function that you "do." He
said it is a "knowing" that is not separate from you -- changeless and
infinite, innately free of the body and mind. He called it "Pure
Consciousness." This ever-present Witness is not only the witness of one's
individual thoughts -- it is the witness of the entire universe.
One other teaching I ran into was the practice of affirmations. I told myself
so many "good" things, it took me an hour each night to say them all! Of
course, each "good" affirmation was a substitution for a "bad" thought, and as
I came to find, with all such "pendulum" techniques, it only served to
strengthen my belief in all the "bad" things about myself. The more I
affirmed, the more I discovered I really believed the opposite! Another
dead-end street.
Although I couldn't seem to find a teacher who seemed "just right," at least
my experience was helping me to become more discriminating about the teachers
who were "just wrong" (for me). I realized my criteria for a teacher were
very high, but I couldn't settle for less. My teacher would have to be like
Christ, whom I revered in my heart as the most compassionate and loving of
masters. He would also have to be like the Buddha, unmatchable in wisdom.
And like the Maharshi, radiating supreme peace. I wanted a teacher who would
answer every question to my complete satisfaction on all levels. Someone who
would be available for me to see him and talk to him -- not off on an island
or hidden away in the mountains somewhere, unreachable by the sincere seekers
longing for guidance. And someone who was *living* the teaching, who would be
an inspiration, like the Maharshi.
I saw several teachers in the spiritual marketplace who used the words that
spoke to my heart, but whose lives were not reflective of what they
proclaimed. When I asked myself the question, "Would I like to *be* like this
one or that one?", my answer was a decided "No"! It would all have to "match
up" in my heart, which I had learned could not be fooled. (You know that "Oh
YES!" that leaps up every time you hear something that feels *exactly* right?
When you say, "Oh YES! I always KNEW that!" ? Well, that's what I call my
"heart," and I absolutely trust it. It always recognizes when something is
"off." (Sort of like the difference between the ringing of a clear crystal
bell and the sound of the BRRZZAACCCH!! buzzer when a contestant is wrong on
a game show.)
Sri Atmananda suggested that one should "put all your doubts and difficulties
plainly before the proposed Guru and listen to his answers patiently, relying
more upon the response of your heart than upon the intellectual satisfaction
you receive from his answers. If he is able to satisfy you both ways, you may
without hesitation accept him and follow his instructions."
This is the way I have followed. Every teacher I met (and there were many of
them), I would ask my questions of. Although some of them said a few
statements that my heart recognized with the "Oh YES!", not one of them
consistently answered all questions to my complete inner satisfaction. It
seemed there was always an "Achilles heel" in either the teacher or his
presentation that would become obvious to me, and I would drift away from that
teacher. I began to realize that when a teacher said something in one place
that rang true -- but then in another sentence said something that buzzed
BRRZZAACCCH -- to pay attention to the warning signal. The BRRZZAACCCH's were
indicative to me of his or her real teaching. The most "off" thing was
something he/she believed and taught, so it was the indicator of the teaching.
This realization proved to be the greatest help to me in discriminating a
teacher or teaching.
Finally, through an invitation from a friend, I attended a satsang (literally,
"being in the company of the wise") with a teacher who claimed to be an
enlightened disciple of the Maharshi (this certainly perked up my interest!).
At the time, I lived in New York state and this teacher was in California, but
on a business trip to California, I decided to check it out -- and I'm very
glad I did. That was several years ago, and not once -- then or at any time
since -- has this teacher ever said anything with which my "heart" disagreed.
Everything he said had the clear ring of Truth. This was so amazing to me,
and refreshing beyond belief. His teaching corresponded perfectly with that
of the Maharshi, Atmananda, and Maharaj. Spontaneously and effortlessly, the
answers to my questions poured forth from him, as if from an ever-flowing
fount of wisdom. Never a hesitation. Always sparkling, beautiful Truth,
verifiable by my own heart -- exactly what I had been searching for through
those many years.
My own experience has shown me that when one earnestly seeks the Truth,
unwilling to settle for anything less, the Truth will come in the form of a
Realized Sage -- a Guru (the meaning of "Guru" being "one who leads you from
darkness into light"). Now I find myself experiencing what I could only read
about -- and long for -- prior to meeting this master of Truth. I consider
myself extremely fortunate. Many people travel all over the world in search
of someone to answer all their questions. I am sure there are probably
several masters living today who would have corresponded to all the criteria
my heart required. Probably many of them speak another language, and I would
have had to have an interpreter translate (as I once saw in a movie about
Maharaj. Although it was a tedious process, his answers were marvelous!). I
feel very grateful to have found an English-speaking master. I have found
something rare and wonderful, right here in California.
I hope my posting will not be misconstrued as proselytizing -- I am not even
mentioning my teacher's name here. I just wanted to post again about my own
experience, and what has helped me in learning how to discriminate in the vast
spiritual marketplace.
*******************************
>From Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj in "I Am That":
"The words of a realized man never miss their purpose...the word of the guru
is a seed that cannot perish. Of course, the guru must be a real one, who is
beyond the body and the mind, beyond space and time, beyond duality and unity,
beyond understanding and description. Mistrust all until you are convinced.
The true guru will never humiliate you nor will he estrange you from yourself.
He will constantly bring you back to the fact of your inherent perfection and
encourage you to seek within...you are never without a guru, for he is
timelessly present in your heart...The outer guru gives the instructions, the
inner sends the strength, the alert application is the disciple's...In
reality, the disciple is not different from the Guru. He is the same
dimensionless center of perception and love in action. It is only his
imagination and self-identification with the imagined that encloses him and
converts him into a person....Liberation is never of the person, it is always
from the person....In the end you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful
non-attachment, of inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully
real."
>From Sri Atmananda of Trivandrum in "Spiritual Discourses":
"It is the law of nature, without exception, to provide the environment
necessary for the fulfillment of the spiritual thirst for perfection in an
individual in any part of the world, if the aspirant is sincere and earnest
enough. If you really want to know the truth, you shall have it!"
*********************
Sometimes teachers will come along who speak of "stages" or "levels" of
realization. I have noticed they always put themselves at the highest level
and others at lower levels. I have seen the teachings of one man who puts the
Maharshi at the "sixth level" and himself at the "seventh level." The lives of
such teachers usually provide ample evidence for evaluation of their teaching
and realization. Anyone who looks at the Maharshi and his life can evaluate
for him or herself just how much credence to lend to claims of this nature.
It is obvious that the Maharshi's teaching arose spontaneously from his own
direct experience. He was the living example of his own pure, Absolute
teaching. As for his clear teaching on the subject of "levels," it was given
in reply to the question, "There must be stage after stage of progress for
gaining the Absolute. Are there grades of Reality?"
Maharshi: "There are no grades of Reality. There are grades of experience
for the jiva (individual) and not of Reality. If anything can be gained anew,
it could also be lost, whereas the Absolute is eternal -- here and now."cyee@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au (Chut Ngeow YEE) (06/12/91)
>eileenm@sco.COM (Eileen Maceri) writes: >and others at lower levels. I have seen the teachings of one man who puts the >Maharshi at the "sixth level" and himself at the "seventh level." The lives of Hmm... do you mean Da Avabhasa (Da Free John)? I would be very interesetered to know if anybody else talked about the seven stages of life. By the way Da Avabhasa says that Ramana Maharshi is a seventh stage realizer, but he is a reluctant Guru, and his teaching of self-enquiry leads directly to the sixth stage realizatoin. The seven stages of life is not some sort of spiritual grading system, but refer to the pshcho-physical transformations that will happen when a body-mind begin to open to the all-pervading spirit-current. A normal person go throgh three seven years periods of the development of body, emotion and mind and usually just stop there. But when he begins his spiritual journey the more subtle structure that is inherent in him (conductivity of life-current and kundalini energies etc) will come to life. But these are all illusions until seventh stage "open-eyed" realization where the body-mind and the conditional world is utterly transcended. >I hope my posting will not be misconstrued as proselytizing -- I am not even >mentioning my teacher's name here. I just wanted to post again about my own Da Avabhasa is my Guru, and I will fulfill his sadhana. There is no ambiguity about that. I smile and laugh from my heart when I read his teaching, and I will share his humor around as long as somebody is still listening out there. Some may call it proselytizing, but I am just a man mad with love singing his heart's song. >Maharshi: "There are no grades of Reality. There are grades of experience >for the jiva (individual) and not of Reality. If anything can be gained anew, >it could also be lost, whereas the Absolute is eternal -- here and now." I like this. I have always love Ramana Maharshi. And here is a more humorous elaboration by Da Avabhasa: DA AVABHASA : Have you forgotten the Eternal Vision? Is there something absent from your Enlightenment? People always want to know the path of life, starting from the bottom or lowest level. Why should you begin your consideration of spiritual practice by acknowledging that you are a vulgar, lower person, and that the way to Truth is going to be difficult for you because you are beginning at such a lowly place in the scale of spiritual growth? Why should you assume that there will be seven costly stages that will take you a long, long, long, long, long, long, long time to fulfill, and that you are probably too dull, self-possessed, and vulgar to fulfill that great path in any case? Well, instead of beginning our consideration in this fashion, what if you come into the room and I ask you, "Do you see God? What is absent from your Enlightenment?" Then you do not have to answer me from the lowest disposition that you can possibly presume. You can just tell me or somehow demonstrate to me the point from which you begin the Way. I do not ask that you begin at the bottom of the scale of human possibilities. I only ask that you be as much as whatever is behind you. Right? Well then - do you see God? What is absent from your Enlightenment? Is anybody going to answer my question seriously? DEVOTEE: I think what is absent is the constant company of people who acknowledge and expect that disposition. DA AVABHASA: The absence of such company prevents you from seeing God and realizing total Enlightenment? Nonsense. That could not possibly be the answer. What is it then? Is your God-Vision being prevented? What could possibly prevent one from seeing God? Does God not want to be seen? Does God not want to be realized to be the Great God, Manifest, Unmanifest, All-Powerful, and Sublime? Could God possibly not be Blissful about the surrender of all being to Itself? God would do anything to be seen, anything! Right? God must be of such a nature. God cannot be hiding. How could God possibly be hidden? By the very nature of the Divine, God can only be absolutely, perfectly obvious, not hidden, and never forgotten. What is all this nonsense about falling from God, then, or falling from the Vision of God? It is just propaganda! How could you possibly suffer such a fall -- as if to have Realized God to begin with could ever involve the loss of that Realization! How could God not be obvious in any circumstance? How could anything else be more obvious? What is more obvious than God in this room? Does anything else stand out so much that you cannot remember God? Is it God that stands out? You could enumerate endless qualities of this moment of experience, but none of them stands out as God stands out. You cannot lose the Vision of God. You cannot NOT have the Vision of God, and having the Vision of God, you cannot be other than Enlightened. The Vision of God is exactly Enlightenment. There, how can you not be seeing God? Now you are about to feel guilty because you do not feel that your present seeing of God is a wonderful, ecstatic vision. Is that it? You are convincing yourself that you are not seeing God. You always act as if you are not seeing God. You feel that you are not seeing God, and yet God, being God, could only be obvious, is in fact what IS obvious as everything and anything whatsoever! God being God, God can only be what is obvious. Nothing outshines God. Even anything in its apparent obviousness is nothing but the obviousness of God. Are you people capable of philosophy at all? Those who have seen God have the opportunity for wit and distraction, because they are only having the Vision of God. they are not serious anymore about the spiritual path that stands before the unenlightened. You are not other than enlightened. What could this manifestation possibly be but God? Without having to alter your perception, what could this possibly be but God? God is 2 revealed not only in the fact that E = mc and all matter is therefore equivalent to energy. God is more obvious than that. What could this arising experience possibly be? You can reach into all the ultimates beyond even light, but in whom does it all arise? It is not that this existence is a puzzle for you to ponder and know about until you Realize God. No. THIS IS GOD. You can begin with and further develop negative interpretations of Man and the World, but the only obvious phenomenon is God. When whatever is arising is nothing but the Vision of God for you, then you are free. Then all the propositions others make to move toward their Enlightenment, Salvation, and ultimate Realization will be nothing to you. You will be utterly released from fear, self-possession, and attachment. If you are seeing God, then see God. This is my recommendation. What else could I possible recommend to you? You obviously do not have a problem. It should not be so difficult, then, to begin to practice the Way from the point of view of the seventh stage of life. It should not take long at all, unless you continue to forget the Vision and think that you do not have it. You forget that you are seeing God even in those moments. But once you realize that you are always seeing God and could not possibly do otherwise, because there is only God, then what kind of serious path of experience would you like to create? The Vision of God is not anything that cannot be acknowledged. It is always acknowledged. It must be acknowledged. How could it be otherwise? Do you think the Living God is a demon who would insist that you always blunder from the bottom of possibilities toward the Great Reward? This path of experience sounds like something that only YOU would require of yourself. Not Great God would ever require this of you! It is just your own foolishness. Now that you have come to me to discover the Way, I do not know what to tell you, because I find that you see God and that there is nothing absent from your enlightenment. You people do not need a Way, you need a path! (Laughter) You have already fulfilled the Way, and now you take up the path of experiential growth. You are not on the path to discover the Way. You have already fulfilled the Way, and now you have plenty of opportunity to amuse yourself with the path. Not in lieu of Enlightenment -- the path is part of what one does once Enlightened. This moment is nothing but perfect Enlightenment, absolute Existence. What is there to be unhappy about? Why should it be cause for unhappiness? It is the Vision of God, Whose changes are innumerable. Did you think you are seeing someone else? There is only that One. What is there to fear then? What can ever be lost? What can be gained at death? Why should you settle for illusions, having come this far? You are going to die in any case. Why should you settle for lies? Why not be serious and really see and worship God? Be real, instead of seeking. Why should you spend your life seeking God? You should spend your life worshipping God. All propositions are nonsense other than the actual seeing and worshipping and Realization of and surrender to God. What else could life possibly realize? there is no path to God. God is only obvious. Do you take what is before you to be God, or do you not? There are two ways you can live, based on either the affirmative or the negative response to that question. If all this is not God, you must proceed through a great adventure of experience, following many paths to the ultimate Unknown. If this is God, there is only one Way. What is it? To realize all this manifestation to be God is not to know what it IS. It is to pass beyond the barrier of unenlightenment into God-Realization. It is to Realize That which is intuited in Divine Ignorance, released from the craving for knowledge. Is all that is before you God or is it not? What do you say? What about the fear and sorrow you are always proclaiming? ...... DA AVABHASA The Compulsory Dancing -----------------------------------------------------------------------------