Today's Considerations
This month marks the twenty-sixth year that the non-dual
teachings have been offered here. As was the case during the decades that Maharaj
offered the teachings, the approach has most certainly evolved. With Maharaj, his approach evolved from a use of various types of yoga which were non-Nisargan;
to the use of a religious / non-dual compound version of the Ultimate Medicine;
to the use of a spiritual / non-dual compound version of the Ultimate Medicine; and eventually
to a method which focused on a psychological / non-dual version of the Ultimate
Medicine which focused on the mental problems of humanity, combined with
a near-pure version of the Nisarga Yoga as well.
He changed the method which he was using each time he realized
that the method was not providing a long-term and effective treatment for what
ails humanity. Here, the changes were made for the same reason, along with
others which have been mentioned.
A means for realizing without having to use dogma and
without having to engage continuously in spiritual practices and without a constant
and impractical preoccupation with “the nature of reality and things ‘Noumenal’”
and without a constant focus on “SELF” (which is just an egocentric substitute
for focusing on “self” or “selves”) is offered because of their ineffectiveness
and impractically but also because it was seen that seekers were coming here
with issues that Maharaj never likely had to address.
Some over the years have come here who had sought via religion but who can no longer use
that means because of horrific instances of abuse by "religious people." Some regularly underwent the
most extreme forms of corporal punishment imaginable in their home where their parents'
“holy text” warns against "sparing the rod." In addition to that - or alongside
that - they suffered mental and emotional abuse as their parents shared the
teachings of many religions which introduced them to an angry god who has prepared
the most radical and extreme and eternal punishments for them if they do not adhere strictly
to the dogma they are exposed to.
How lacking in empathy and how cold to the bone is the
practice of telling such sufferers that religion is the only answer and that they
need to “get over it and move on and get back into the church / temple / mosque
and do whatever the leaders there tell them to do.”
Those persons deserve an alternative. That is offered here.
The same applies to seekers who find their way into spiritual
groups who claim they are not religious but who model exactly religious services. The members of such groups . . .
meet in a place they deem to be
special;
start their meetings with a prayer;
talk about god;
take
up an offering;
talk some more about god; and then
close their meetings
with the Christian “Lord’s Prayer” (which, by the way, Christ never prayed . .
. the talk of a “kingdom to come” directly contradictory to his pointer that “no
one shall ever see the kingdom of heaven because it’s within,” now).
Those who
have been abused in a church / temple / mosque / religious / spiritual home cannot find
that which they seek in any venue which is an exact model of that which warped and
distorted and injured their psyches in the first place.
Those persons also deserve an alternative. That is offered
here.
And any alternative or method or institution which is exactly like that which initially
injured one’s psyche cannot possibly provide a means for un-warping or un-distorting
or undoing the injuries which they caused in the first place.
Consider the case of one man who tried to use the religious and spiritual "cures" he was introduced to during his childhood:
That man at the age of 49 came here and described a life which had been catastrophe (relatively-speaking) for himself and all those who dealt with him. He confessed to years of abusing alcohol and all of the drugs he could
get his hands on.
(He began using those to try to escape the mental angst which
developed during his early years and which were exacerbated during the
two years when his “Super Patriot” ego-state inspired him to buy into his warrior-mentality government’s
warning that Far Eastern communists were a threat to the U.S. His xenophobic urge
inspired him to volunteer to go to Vietnam and to kill any people that his
government told him to kill. After we spoke, he came to understand that there
was not an iota of difference in that job and the jobs that hit men take on
when a mob’s godfather identifies who is deemed to be a threat. That variety of "The Hit Man" also kills
whomever the boss tells him to kill and also gets paid for doing the
job of killing so-called "enemies.")
He described how, on the farm in the Midwest U.S. where he spent his first eighteen years, his highly
religious mother and grandmother began sexually assaulting when he was
thirteen; he also described how his highly spiritual father forced him to go into the barn regularly and
forced him to strip; tied a rope around his wrists and then hung him by his arms from the rafters; and how that father then sado-masochistically
whipped him.
After those experiences during his youth and as a young adult
in war, his psychic state had deteriorated to the lowest level possible. He began acting
out sexually in the most fanatical ways imaginable, using women for gratification
and then tossing them aside. He eventually came to see, as we continued meeting over a period
of weeks, that he had been behaving in a fanatical, sado-masochistic manner for
nearly three decades. He finally saw that, indeed, for almost every person who had ever had any contact
with him, their dealings with such a fanatic had became their greatest nightmare.
He recalled the stops on his long and arduous and fanatical path
to healing, and he was convinced for years that if he sought the religion of
his youth in the most fanatical way possible, that would be the answer to his
problems . . . that would be a way to find peace and happiness. He became ordained
in the Christian church and he later lived into a monastery for a time; then
he retreated into isolation, living for a while in a cabin in a remote woods in the Midwest. Yet
all of his calloused and malicious behaviors continued.
Rejoining society, he was introduce to “spirituality” and
soon became not only a religious fanatic but also a spiritual fanatic, convinced
that such a combination - providing a “double dose” of a special medicine - would be the answer
to his problems and would lead to peace.
His status elevated among his fellow “Spiritual
Giants,” and he became globally famous . . . a recognized leader among
spiritual persons. He spoke to others all around the globe, but all along, he
was living the greatest lie of all. He talked only generally about his abusers
during his early years, but he talked in great detail about how he had forgiven his abusers even though they had never asked for forgiveness.
He felt trapped between a desire to maintain his elevated image
and an occasional inner longing for authenticity. The image won out until the
end. His fanaticism around earning applause and recognition and maintaining his
false image prevailed to the very end of the manifestation. To the very end, he
was one of the most fanatically-spiritual persons that anyone was every likely to meet. Yet
to the end, he knew no peace. He never once relaxed. He was the epitome of pain
and misery and suffering, partly in spite of his fanaticism and partly because
of his fanaticism.
When it was suggested that some method other than the
organized religion which his mother and grandmother had modeled in public might
be more effective, he balked. Later, when it was suggested that some method
other than the spirituality which his father had modeled in public might be
more effective, he balked.
He never realized that the religious / spiritual belief systems
espoused by his parents and grandmother in order to maintain a positive public
image were the same belief systems which he was espousing in order to maintain
a positive public image. He never saw that he was engaging in a repetition compulsion.
He never understood that he was trapped in the Stockholm Syndrome and was idealizing
his abusers.
Now that is only one of billions of cases of unchecked fanaticism which should make clear
that one can be as fanatical as can be but will remain miserable and unhappy
and, yes, insane.
Whether one's fanaticism has been continuously reinforced by
way of the continuing programming and conditioning offered in the place where it originally took root - either in a church / temple / mosque or
in a spiritual group or in a satsang session or anywhere else - the invitation
here is to understand what cannot coexist with fanaticism:
Peace cannot coexist with fanaticism.
Resting and relaxing cannot coexist with fanaticism.
Sitting in what Maharaj called “the cool, blue shade” cannot
coexist with fanaticism.
Taking it easy cannot coexist with fanaticism.
Seeing clearly cannot happen in the presence of fanaticism.
Being free of the false identities which trigger the use of
egotism to sustain them cannot happen in the presence of fanaticism.
In fact, nothing that religious role players or spiritual
role players are seeking - or claim to have found – can manifest alongside fanaticism.
Moreover, nothing that religious role players or spiritual role
players are seeking can be found via fanaticism.
Fanaticism inspires thinking and talking and behaving in
ways that are the very antithesis of that which can lead to peace and resting
and relaxing and sitting in “the cool, blue shade” and taking it easy and seeing
the false identities which trigger the use of egotism and arrogance.
Maharaj’s end message was this: see who / what you are not;
then empty the mind and reach a state of zero concepts; then abide in a Nisargan
(natural) fashion. Enjoy the pleasures available when freed from ignorance and insanity
(pleasures which can only be enjoyed now during the relative existence because, post-manifestation,
there will be no “one” to enjoy anything”).
Again, as Jesus said after reaching the non-dual understanding,
there is no "kingdom to come," explaining: “No one shall ever see the kingdom of
heaven. It is within.”
Analogous to “the kingdom of heaven” is being free; being at
peace; being able to relax; being able to take it easy.” Those states are all possibilities
which have nothing to do with externals and which have everything to do with internals.
They have the potential to come forth now, yet they cannot be experienced unless that which is
blocking the ability to enjoy those (namely the content of the mind) is removed entirely.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
[NOTE:
The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in
this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]
