TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
THE RATIONALE FOR UNDERSTANDING "THE REASONS" AND BEING FREED FROM THEIR INFLUENCE, PART SEVEN (Continued)
THE FOUR-STEP PATH
As noted, Maharaj originally offered a version of the Ultimate Medicine via use of a Seven-Step, Direct Path Method of Teaching with some Nisarga Yoga pointers "tossed in." Following guru Siddharmeshwar's suggestion to "trick" the locals, Maharaj used a form of satsanga which started with the singing of Hindu bhajans and the assignment of mantras in order to attract the locals who were deeply invested in Hindu dogma and then - once they were in the loft - he was told to "sneak in" non-dual pointers when possible.
That may have been the earliest example of the use of a "bait and switch" approach by a "non-dualist" to attract seekers and followers, though many today suggest that the following are "bait and switch" artists as well:
(1) the leaders of all religions (with an occasional rare exception)
and of
(2) the leaders of all spiritual movements
and also
(3) those among the current batch of popular non-dual marketers who were disparagingly referred to by Maharaj as the rich "Big Name Teachers" whom he told seekers to avoid because they are selling what is being erroneously packaged as "the non-dual message."
So early on, his guru's advice led Maharaj to use a Hinduism / non-dual compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine.
After some years, Maharaj began admitting that he no longer agreed fully with his guru's approach but would continue to follow his orders; eventually, he would cast aside the bondage of his guru's chains and would stop sharing the old views that were no longer a part of the newer understandings which came to Maharaj.
Originally, he walked away from some of those dictates from his guru using baby steps. The publication of I AM THAT was followed by a huge influx of Westerners (especially from the U.S. and France in the first wave of Westerners to find their way to the loft), and their lack of interest in bhajans and Hinduism dogma inspired him to take some bolder steps and use a spiritual / non-dual compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine which those "spiritual giant types" preferred.
He shifted, therefore, from allowing his guru to control his message to allowing Westerners who were playing the role of "The Super Spiritual Ones" to shape his message and to determine the components of the newer version of the Ultimate Medicine.
Eventually, he saw that neither version #1 of the Medicine nor version #2 of the Medicine were providing a viable treatment for the Ultimate Sickness, and he also came to understand that neither dogma nor spirituality can impact the Ultimate Sickness because - he came to see - it is a psychological illness rooted in the twisted minds of humanity (twisted by way of the use of bizarre and ignorant and insane programming, conditioning, etc. forced onto multiple generations of people all around the globe).
At that point, he abandoned the use of baby steps and somewhat bolder steps and took a giant leap, a leap which moved him away - once and for all - from his earlier focus on dogma and spirituality as possible treatments for the Ultimate Sickness (much to the chagrin of former Hindu devotees and to the chagrin of the aficionados of spirituality who turned their backs on him after the leap).
The new focus would be on the psychological aspects of the Sickness and on transitioning beyond the third step on the seven-step path where religious and spiritual roles were adopted and to ending the assumption of all personality identifications, including those supposedly good" personal identities such as these mentioned earlier:
"The Super Religious One," "The Super Seeker," "The Eternal Seeker," "The Spiritual Giant," "The Higher Self," "The Highest Self," "The Righteous One," "The True Self," "The Infinite Self," "The Supreme Self," "Brahman," "Paramatman, "Paramātmā," "The Absolute Atman," "The Supreme Soul," "The Ultimate Self," etc., etc., etc.
He came to see that his earlier religious and spiritual versions of the Medicine were compatible with magical thinking and unnatural living and supernatural living but were totally incompatible with abiding naturally, with abiding in a nisarga fashion.
Then, he took the next giant leap, encouraging visitors to "just give up spirituality and abide naturally."
Thus he advised:
“Stop reading I AM THAT and listen to my later talks.” He said that those talks in I AM THAT were for that time only and not applicable now.
So that final understanding of the fact that the Sickness is a mental sickness led him eventually to advise seekers . . .
to
stop reading I AM THAT,
to
stop with all their religious and spiritual seeking,
to address the mind problem which is at the root of the Ultimate Sickness,
to be freed from the learned ignorance that was taught and to be freed from the insanity which was imposed from outside (via parental and societal influences),
to stop abiding unnaturally,
to stop trying to abide supernaturally (magically, spiritually, etc.)
and then
to just abide naturally, the way that every living thing on the planet abides except for programmed and conditioned humans.
He had come to see that it was the approach used in religious and spiritual movements and the approach used by the typical non-dual teachers which, instead of freeing seekers of learned ignorance, actually
trapped them on endless paths
and
in endless journeys
and
in religious or spiritual workaholism
and
ended up making then addicted to the Medicine which should be used one time only to end the Ultimate Sickness.
Once healed, the new approach could then allow seekers to be free and to relax and to go enjoy the remainder of the relative existence by abiding naturally instead of working for an entire lifetime to support and maintain their "good or elevated or noble or righteous" images which they adopted at the third step or which their parents and cultures has assigned to them early on.
After seeing that neither of the two methods used earlier were providing a viable treatment plan for the Ultimate Sickness (and after going through a period when he began to doubt whether there existed any treatment plan with even a slight degree of worth or efficacy), he eventually came to see that the Ultimate Sickness is curable. Why?
Because he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental sickness and understood that many other mental illnesses are curable so the one he was concerned with had to be curable, too.
He came to see that the only thing required for the psychology-based cure to be effective is "intelligence" or an "intellect" (which he defined as nothing more than "a capacity for understanding").
His understanding finally evolved to the point where he saw clearly that supernatural living is rooted in magical thinking and focuses on "other-worldly" concepts which often lead to ignoring the relative existence (The AM-ness, the IS-ness) and which often lead persons into escapism, avoidance, dissociation, and the assumption and the playing of roles which are deemed to be "Really Special."
He saw that unnatural and supernatural living inspire seekers to fixate at the third step and then play their religious and spiritual roles for the remainder of the manifestation.
Therefore, he eventually dedicated himself more to passing on a pure version of the Nisarga Yoga message and less of the message which involved a longer Direct Path and the playing of "good" roles at the third step; thus came his biggest leap of all:
He introduced a Four-Step Path which required seekers to move beyond the third step and reach the fourth step and then forget all of the other religious work and spiritual work which he, too, had endorsed early on.
Imagine how his supposed heresy washed over wave after wave of former followers who had been inundated with religious dogma and spiritual giantism.
That flood of heresy made thousands upon thousands of former devotees adopt the sentiment expressed by one man who said of Maharaj at that point that "he has succumbed to egotism and been pulled away from all that he once knew to be true. He is no longer a true spiritual guide." Spot on, Sherlock. Finally, Maharaj no longer assumed that identity or any other. He had finally cast aside all identification.
That wave of heresy must have made previous followers feel as if Maharaj had buried them in the nastiest, secular, phenomenal slime imaginable . . . in the most rotten, most foul, and most filthy pile of anti-religion, anti-spirituality excrement conceivable.
But that was not the end of the shocking elements which he added to his revised message. What else was it that he said which appalled so many who had earlier hung adoringly onto each and every word he spoke?
He said:
"There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding."
Thus, Maharaj would eventually encourage seekers (and “super seekers”) to
(1) set aside their SELF-Inquiry efforts, their efforts to find and be a “Supreme Self,” and / or their efforts to “be at one with god” or to even “be god”
and
(2) to understand this: "You need not find the answer to 'What am I?' It is enough to know what you are not.”
And what were they not? The good roles they had assumed. He said, "Next to you spiritual giants, I am a spiritual pygmy by comparison."
He said: “I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality; finally, I lost that love of Self also. I have no more love for the Self."
He came to understand that shifting beyond the religious and spiritual role-playing at the third step - and moving into the "No-Knowing, Zero Concepts, No-Beliefs, No-Identity State" of the fourth step - was enough.
In the end, he recommended only what would lead to natural abidance; only what would result in freedom from entrapment on paths and in journeys; and only what would result in a sense of lightness.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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