Today's Considerations
To review:
Maharaj was led to believe by his guru that the way he was going
to have to teach non-duality was by inviting Hindus into his loft, by leading them through a variety of religious activities, and only then easing in some non-dual pointers along the way. It was Hindu dogma, however, which dominated the
majority of the hours spent on a daily basis during those earliest years with visitors who came to the loft. That was
Maharaj’s Teaching Method Number One, driven by guru-bhakti and the
use of a religious / non-duality compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine in
order to try to address the Ultimate Sickness.
After the book I AM THAT was published and eventually began circulating around the globe,
more and more Westerners began joining Hindus in the loft. With that Maharaj
began transitioning beyond guru-bhakti and the use primarily of Hindu rituals; he began modifying the
formula that his guru commanded by offering satsanga sessions which focused on a
spiritual / non-dual compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine in order to
try to address the Ultimate Sickness.
Over the next years, he would use spirituality-related
Eastern teachings combined with less pure Hindu dogma. Hindus would still ask questions related to dogma while Westerners would
often ask questions related to what they took "spirituality" to be. The use of Hindu teachings
would diminish as the years progressed. That was Maharaj’s Teaching Method
Number Two.
In neither case was he using the Direct Path Teaching Method
/ Nisarga Yoga combination exclusively. In both cases, he was still allowing
externals to influence his methodology, including his guru and local Hindus and then Westerners.
Yet all along, he was inserting into his talks certain considerations
which were far removed from the strictly traditional messages that most
who were living in India or who were visiting India were accustomed to hearing, such as . . .
his questioning the existence of gods and goddesses or a God ("First
of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an
effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then
you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to
happen to you” and “From birth what has made the body grows? It is no power [Power]
in the world. It is the power of beingness, the atom, the Self, the
consciousness . . . call it what you will.”)
and
his questioning the value of "faith" and so-called “holy books” ("Both
the mantra and the faith in the mantra will get dissolved” and “I have no faith
in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas.
Only my own experience”)
and
his questioning the value of typical meditation practices (“I am stabilized. There is
no going into samadhi or coming down from samadhi. That is over”)
and
his questioning the value of the religions’ dualistic teachings
such as their focus on “righteousness” vs. “wickedness” ("Only that person
will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end.")
and
his questioning the religious / spiritual teaching about
ascending, elevating, working with the primary goal of someday reaching a “Supreme”
or “Higher” state ("There is no question of elevating to a higher level.
Here it is only a question of understanding” and "There is no progress"
and “From my angle, you are nothing. You have no identity.”)
and even
his questioning the efficacy of spirituality itself (“Whatever
you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false” and
"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” and “When the birth is
disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this
world—everything—is disproved.”)
Eventually, he would see that the problems of humanity center
in the mind, not in human’s attaching too little to religion and dogma and not
in humans all suffering a “spiritual malady” or “a sick spirit.”
So, his understanding of what is at the root of the Ultimate
Sickness evolved, leading him to advise seekers to
“Stop reading (the
'spiritual classic') I AM THAT and listen to my later talks”
and to
“give up
spirituality”
and to
“follow your normal inclinations" and to
"forget
spirituality."
To review what he shared about the mind:
"All illness begins in the mind."
"Your confusion is . . . in your mind."
"Your confusion is . . . in your mind."
"Whatever is conceived by the mind must be false, for
it is bound to be relative and limited."
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which
your mind creates."
" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."
"It is the mind that creates illusion."
"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering."
"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering."
"Stop making use of your mind and see what
happens."
"Learn to separate yourself from the image and the
mirror. Keep on remembering: I am neither the mind nor its ideas."
"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . .
."
"Abandon the wrong ideas, for they are false and
obstruct your vision . . . ."
"The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom."
"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind - that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation - is the dawn of wisdom."
So what was his state in the end, the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom? It was a no-mind state:
"There is no such thing as a mind."
"I have no mind . . . ."
and . . .
and . . .
and . . .
So if the answers to humankind’s problems are not to be
found via religion, and if the answers to humankind’s problems are not to be
found through spirituality, and if Self-Inquiry is not an absolute requirement,
and if the root of humankind’s problems rests in the mind, yet if there is no
such thing as the “peace of mind” (which so many humans are seeking) then is
there no hope at all for humans to ever be free and at peace?
Of course there is, yet only a few – per Maharaj – will ever
reach the understanding required to bring those into existence and to allow those
to remain.
IN THE UPCOMING SERIES: So if the problem centers in the
mind, and since a sick mind - obviously - cannot heal a sick mind, then what is
the solution, per Maharaj? That next.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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