FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar
F.: So, anwar, considerations have been offered with the recommendation that many questions be answered before any selection of a sadguru takes place. To review:
Are you ready to search beyond the religious venues used so far? Do you know what you are searching for? Do you have a vision of the way you want the relative existence to unfold for the remainder of the manifestation? If you are still moved to investigate Advaita Vedanta, which “brand” will you pursue?
Will you search for a philosophical approach that focuses on the no-concept, non-dual Reality? Or do you prefer a religious version that speaks of “uniting with” and “connecting with” and "working to become at one with"? Or might you settle for a so-called "spiritual version" that tries to combine both of those?
Next, you will be given the pointer that most seekers hate: you must understand, anwar, that a sadguru by definition is “a spiritual teacher” and that those who assume that label will guide you only to the third step of the seven steps on the “path” to Realization, specifically, the religious or spiritual or religious-spiritual level.
That level is marked by the assumption of religious and/or spiritual personas as "new and improved" identities. Yet what of that condition which only manifests much farther along the "path" when the still-manifested-consciousness begins to function in a no-assumed-persona mode?
What of that level marked by Pure Witnessing in which there is only One, in which there is nothing to “join with,” “connect with” or “unite with”? What of abidance not as a “human being” or a “spiritual creature” or a “spiritual being” but as that which is beyond all beingness and non-beingness?
How could a search being conducted from the stance of a false identity (from the position of believing in a false persona) possibly lead to differentiating between the false and the true, even if that false persona is thought to be "a good one" which your "mind" is telling you has replaced all of your "bad ones"?
F.: So, anwar, considerations have been offered with the recommendation that many questions be answered before any selection of a sadguru takes place. To review:
Are you ready to search beyond the religious venues used so far? Do you know what you are searching for? Do you have a vision of the way you want the relative existence to unfold for the remainder of the manifestation? If you are still moved to investigate Advaita Vedanta, which “brand” will you pursue?
Will you search for a philosophical approach that focuses on the no-concept, non-dual Reality? Or do you prefer a religious version that speaks of “uniting with” and “connecting with” and "working to become at one with"? Or might you settle for a so-called "spiritual version" that tries to combine both of those?
Next, you will be given the pointer that most seekers hate: you must understand, anwar, that a sadguru by definition is “a spiritual teacher” and that those who assume that label will guide you only to the third step of the seven steps on the “path” to Realization, specifically, the religious or spiritual or religious-spiritual level.
That level is marked by the assumption of religious and/or spiritual personas as "new and improved" identities. Yet what of that condition which only manifests much farther along the "path" when the still-manifested-consciousness begins to function in a no-assumed-persona mode?
What of that level marked by Pure Witnessing in which there is only One, in which there is nothing to “join with,” “connect with” or “unite with”? What of abidance not as a “human being” or a “spiritual creature” or a “spiritual being” but as that which is beyond all beingness and non-beingness?
How could a search being conducted from the stance of a false identity (from the position of believing in a false persona) possibly lead to differentiating between the false and the true, even if that false persona is thought to be "a good one" which your "mind" is telling you has replaced all of your "bad ones"?
That speck of re-purified consciousness called “my teacher” said: “Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud.”
Are you interested in the type of “relationship” that is touted by the religious wherein you connect with a priest or preacher or imam or rabbi and commit to spend “a lifetime” together, allowing that person to guide you through every facet of the relative existence?
Or might you be interested in hearing the consciousness speak in a manner that (1) guides you to that which You already know but have forgotten and that thereby (2) makes it possible for You to go forth to live in a spontaneous, “AS IF,” natural fashion…enjoying the remainder of the manifestation from a position of neutrality, of peace, of total freedom, of needlessness, and of simple beingness rather than a "lifetime" of complex doingness? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
Are you interested in the type of “relationship” that is touted by the religious wherein you connect with a priest or preacher or imam or rabbi and commit to spend “a lifetime” together, allowing that person to guide you through every facet of the relative existence?
Or might you be interested in hearing the consciousness speak in a manner that (1) guides you to that which You already know but have forgotten and that thereby (2) makes it possible for You to go forth to live in a spontaneous, “AS IF,” natural fashion…enjoying the remainder of the manifestation from a position of neutrality, of peace, of total freedom, of needlessness, and of simple beingness rather than a "lifetime" of complex doingness? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
