TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacle Of All" in terms of blocking the seeing of truth and blocking realization and blocking the understanding of the "No-you-ness" and "No You-ness.
That "understanding" refers to the fact that no identities ever assigned or assumed have any validity at all, be they among the identities played during the relative, phenomenal existence or be they among the so-called "noumenal" identities which supposedly exist (whether believed to have been prior to the manifestation or which are believed to supposedly exist post-manifestation).
"The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" have come throughout human history via (1) dreamed up myths and superstitions and - for the last 5000 years or so - via (2) "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs."
The majority of the humans on the earth will never seek, convinced that the religious or "spiritual" teachings of their parents and ancestors are wholly and flawlessly sufficient.
Of the relatively few who do seek, almost all of them will also seek in religious and / or spiritual venues. Most of the "non-dual seekers" I have met during the thirty years I have been sharing non-dual pointers with were doing exactly that.
And why is that no surprise since most "non-dual teachers" have done the same or are doing the same? The various versions of the Ultimate Medicine which Maharaj used in the first two phases of his teachings were rooted in religion and spirituality, respectively. Same here.
The point is, most have no clue that even among "non-dual seekers," most do not understand that realization can come without dogma, without continuous spiritual practices, and without an exclusive preoccupation with "the nature of reality and things noumenal."
Why? Because most know not what they seek, as was the case with Maharaj for decades and as was the case here for decades. Rather than being a process that is lofty and often nebulous or vague or imprecise or ill-defined or indefinable, per Maharaj it is simply "a process whereby a seeker can become free of belief in all learned ignorance"; in fact, it is a process whereby a seeker can become free of all beliefs and reach a state which Maharaj described as a "zero concepts state."
What was eventually offered by Maharaj, after he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental sickness - not a "too-little-dogma" sickness and not a "spiritual-malady-type" sickness - is what is offered here as well. And what Maharaj offered in the end and what is being offered here is only for certain seekers (usually few in number) that are ready for a different sort of “Realization process” than all the other sorts they have tried.
The offerings here are for those who are tired, to one degree or another, including being tired of continuing to play phony roles, be their false identities those of "The Super Religious Persona" or "The Spiritual Giant Persona" or "The Super Seeker Persona." The pointers Maharaj offered in the end and which are offered here are for those looking for a method of seeking which might actually be just as simple as Maharaj claimed, which might actually be just as free of any need to learn more dogma or more scriptures or more supposedly holy concepts or more spiritual practices or more of anything.
The irony is that while non-duality is about de-accumulation and less-ness, most seekers are still accumulating as they seek more and more and more.
Maharaj in the end was advising seekers to be free of their drive to become more and more spiritual and to engage in spiritual practices, explaining that they actually need not be preoccupied with “THAT” or with things mystically-noumenal or with things supernatural and that they can actually abide in a contented fashion only if they cast aside all of their preoccupations and begin abiding naturally and spontaneously.
How unappealing that will be to most, though, what with most seekers still wanting rather than having been freed from all wanting. In fact, that will be most unappealing to the majority of those I've met during the last thirty years of discussing non-dual subject matter who have wanted a B.A. Degree in Liberation, a Master’s Degree in Enlightenment, and a Doctorate in Realization.
Oh what a burden so many seekers have taken on because they were being driven in their various quests by the fanaticism-inspiring Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, whether the quest is for the non-dual understanding, for religion-defined goals, for “spiritual fitness,” for a multi-decade period of sobriety . . . for whatever the quest might be. Their OCD levels have often been "through the roof."
Few have understood Maharaj’s pointer that their "accumulated knowledge" amounts to nothing more than “learned ignorance,” so few have been interested in being un-taught and few have been interested in un-learning all that they have learned prior to their quest as well as during their quest.
Most are attached instead to what they think they have supposedly "gained" from their “religious and / or spiritual workaholism” and from all of their “supernatural” going and doing and zooming, so they only want more of the same.
How many are likely to be prone to abandon that which they believe is holy, consecrated, hallowed, revered, sanctified, sacrosanct, and sacred, that which they believe has provided them with so many benefits, and that which they believe will provide them with so many more benefits, both now and forevermore? Few.
Only a few with ever see exactly what Maharaj saw, namely, widespread ignorance and insanity. Oh sure, they might spot it in others, but few will ever spot it in their own case. Yet were they to spot it – not just worldwide but within – and were they then to take the steps to be free of ignorance and insanity, then they would never be driven to misperceive again.
Just as one cannot undo the effects on a clay pot which has been feed through a crushing machine, so one cannot undo the effects of finally seeing the true nature of the Ultimate Sickness and seeing the totally unawake, unconscious, and unaware condition of the masses all around this planet, self included. Most, however, will never see any of the craziness except the craziness which is driving “others.”
However, for those
(1) who are ready to become fully conscious, fully awake, and fully aware, freed from the effects of personality disorders and free of learned ignorance and programming, conditioning, etc. but
(2) who are like one woman’s son who has considered and rejected seeking based in “the mythical route” or
(3) who have found that “the Self -Inquiry route” is often warped into an approach that is so “theoretical or philosophical or impractical” that it inspires some to dissociate and to move into Foo Foo Land, or
(4) who found that their religious and / or spiritual teachings imposed as much nonsensical programming and conditioning and brainwashing and indoctrination and acculturation and domestication and ignorance as they were exposed to in their homes and schools and communities and
(5) who were convinced that “not being religious but being spiritual instead” was a far more effective route for being free of all of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness but then found that was not the case at all, then
for those seekers there is another option beyond everything which has been tried so far, and which has failed so far, to make a lasting difference in the way that their relative existence is unfolding.
Thus, when the question was asked, “What can be offered to someone like my son who is interested in being free of the pull of personality but is not really interested in the mystical route?" the suggested approach shared with that son – an approach which might also prove to be a more viable method than found so far by many other seekers as well – included the following:
First, consider that, here, there is also no interest in a "mystical route." The first post here thirteen years ago reported that the focus of this blog was going to be on "Applied Advaita" - that is, on the practical use of the understanding in order to be free of all misunderstanding and learned ignorance and then to abide thereafter in a practical, sensible, all-natural way for the remainder of the manifestation.
Yet, because (A) most seekers who show up here have been exposed for years to so many ineffective “plans” and “ways” and “means” and because (B) none who show up will admit that they are actually “novices” or that they have been fooled completely without knowing it, then the first requirement is that they be freed from all of their perceptions / misperceptions about what the “path” and the “journey” and "Realization” are truly about . . . and, more to the point, what they are not about.
All the claims by some that “Self-Inquiry is the Ultimate Medicine” notwithstanding, Maharaj eventually said that self-inquiry would be enough, that "it is actually enough to know who you are not." Thus, for one not interested in things mythical or religious or spiritual; and for one not wanting to align with those who are trapped in some philosophical, Foo Foo Land mindset; and for one not interested in spending years in search of the answer to "Who Am I, Really?” then there is another option.
To move beyond what has already been learned and must be un-learned, and then to be ready for a totally new understanding via a difference approach, certain key pointers offered here years ago must first be grasped fully. For the sake of ease, the relevant portions from those sharings shall be offered here again before moving on with a description of the rest of the suggested “route” which will be offered:
There has been an old and still-ongoing debate about the true cause and the proper treatment (the proper Ultimate Medicine) for the Ultimate Sickness. Religious persons have asserted for thousands of years that the cause of the planet’s ills is rooted in those religious persons' belief that there are too few religious people. Some continue to make that assertion, but with 97% on the planet reporting an affiliation with one organized religion or another, that assertion should be a moot argument. A more recent belief is that the cause involves an affiliation “with the wrong religion or sect.”
Others, many of whom tried religion but later shifted to “spirituality” (and now proudly announce “I am not religious! I am spiritual!”) often take the stand that the ills of the planet are rooted in “an untreated spiritual malady.”
That kind of "from religion to spirituality" shift is uncommon, what with the attachment people have to their particular religion, but it does involve millions of persons around the globe who have assumed the false identity of "The Spiritual One" or - as a "real upgrade - "The Spiritual Giant." It even happened with Maharaj and it happened here as well. (In the eBook entitled Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj And His Evolution, the stages of his “development” or his "shifts in focus" are discussed in detail but a few points will be shared now.)
Early on, Maharaj led visitors to his loft in bhajans - religious (Hindu) devotional songs expressing love for “the Divine.” Along with those religious messages, he began to intermingle spiritual pointers in his talks, so those talks evidence a combination of religion and spirituality.
As his message evolved, especially with the arrival of more and more Westerners, he focused more on spiritual subject matter until he eventually abandoned both religious talks and spiritual talks, having seen that those did not address the Ultimate Sickness at all, long-term. The focus of his talks shifted more to the mental roots and emotional (ego-based) aspects of the Ultimate Sickness.
Rather than agreeing that “too little religion” is the cause of the ills of persons on the planet, and rather than agreeing that the Ultimate Sickness is “a spiritual malady,” it became clear to him that humanity’s main problem was (and still is) centered in the fiction-filled mind which develops after exposure to perverted and ignorant and insane programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing.
So, Maharaj did not say that someday religious understandings would reach a point that they would confirm the veracity of the non-duality teachings.
He did not say that someday spiritual understandings would reach a point where they would confirm the veracity of the non-dual teachings.
What he did eventually say was that "scientific understandings would someday reach a point where they would confirm the veracity of the teachings."
And which science, first and foremost, did he turn to after setting aside both religious and spiritual approaches to try to address the Ultimate Sickness? The science of the mind, the science of psychology. His focus in the end turned to the analysis and explication of the role that the mind plays in generating and spreading the Ultimate Sickness, so Maharaj's message changed after he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a widespread mental illness. Here, it has been explained thusly:
Maharaj’s loft was actually more of "a laboratory in a loft" in Bombay / Mumbai because he undertook in that loft many experiments in his efforts to find a form of the Ultimate Medicine which could treat the Ultimate Sickness effectively and successfully. In fact, he would run three laboratories over the years: he first ran "a Religion Laboratory," then later “a Spirituality Laboratory,” and eventually “a Psychology Laboratory.”
Thus, the fact is that he (and “I”) tried religious methods and that he (and “I”) tried spiritual methods and that the use of those approaches continued until the scientific research and experimentation and observation proved that neither of those methods provided an effective treatment, long-term.
It has been noted here that the third of seven steps (which is the step that includes the playing of religious or spiritual roles on a “path”) must usually taken rather than skipped. The fact that Maharaj (and “I”) played those roles and tried to use religious and spiritual concepts as the Ultimate Medicine was right in line with what is almost always done (as ineffective as that doingness is).
Therefore, because of conditioning and acculturation, Maharaj’s first laboratory was a “religious laboratory.” He did bhajans five times a day simply because his guru told him to. Even after the alarm on his “BS” detector went off, he still used that approach for a while, saying, “I continue to obey his instructions, even though I know these bhajans are pointless.”
Later, he would evolve beyond guru-bhakti, so eventually that practice ended; yet in the beginning, the only people among his early audiences were Indians / Hindus, so he followed the advice of his guru which amounted to this: “Draw them in and hook ‘em with religion and then sneak in the non-dual message at the end.”
Thus, his early sessions included singing, some dancing about, and some narration, all of it only a bit less foolish than the emotionally-intoxicated worship-style of Pentecostals who raise their hands in the air and wave their arms about, who roll about on the floor uncontrollably, who dance wildly, who sing and chant, and who claim to “speak in unknown tongues.”
Later, Maharaj's “religious laboratory” would be shut down and replaced with a “spiritual laboratory,” and eventually that laboratory would be closed and replaced with a “psychology laboratory.”
Only then did Maharaj have his full and final “Eureka!” moment. Only then did he find the actual treatment for the Ultimate Sickness. Only then did the Ultimate Medicine contain exactly what is required to eradicate the Ultimate Sickness, not on a global basis but by treating sick personas (“persons”) one at a time.
That eventual understanding about the real root cause of the Ultimate Sickness and about what does not work to treat it and about what can work to treat it led him eventually to say:
"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."
"Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end."
"There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding."
"Both the mantra and the faith in the mantra will get dissolved."
"There is no progress."
"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."
“Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false.”
“From birth, what has made the body grow? It is no power in the world. It is the power of beingness, the atom, the Self, the consciousness . . . call it what you will.”
“When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world—everything—is disproved,”
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.”
So here are the ways that three supposed bases or roots or sources of the Ultimate Sickness differ:
The TOO FEW RELIGIOUS PEOPLE argument: “There is a place where God / gods / goddesses abide that is beyond what is experienced in ‘this world.’ There are places beyond 'this world' where one can experience reward or punishment. If people live in a way that earns an eternal reward, then life in ‘this world’ will improve.”
The SPIRITUAL MALADY argument: "People are spirituality sick, and if they get spiritually well, it will cure whatever physical or mental problems they have as well. Establish conscious contact with God; be quiet and listen; then, you will hear his voice and you will hear him speaking to you, telling you anything and everything that you need to hear and what you need to think and believe and say and do."
The MENTAL ILLNESS view: “All persons are programmed, conditioned, domesticated, acculturated, indoctrinated and brainwashed in the most nonsensical and insane ways imaginable. The Ultimate Medicine to treat the resulting Ultimate Sickness comes by moving through an Enlightenment stage, a Liberation (from personality) stage and a Realization stage, and all of that involves nothing more than using scientific, psychology-based methods in order to be freed from the effects of taught-and-learned-ignorance and personality disorders and even - in some cases - of insanity.
To be continued.
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