TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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To review:
The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" which have come via dreamed up myths and superstitions and via "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs."
Recall the man who approached me after a talk and said, "I was abused as a child by a priest. I've done years of work to try to get beyond that, but where I am today is, I still cringe when people start talking religion to me. So my question is, have you found a way to guide people to realization and freedom without their having to buy into the dogma you talk about?"
Thus, this:
REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”
MAHARAJ’S SHIFTS
Again, to clarify, there was no one sharing pointer in a loft in Bombay who became "anti-religion" or "anti-spirituality." There is no one sharing pointers on this site that became "anti-religion" or "anti-spirituality." In the loft there and on the site here, there were two that were once sharing religious pointer and spiritual pointers and non-dual pointers blended with religious and spiritual pointers
The shift away from all of that came with the understanding that using those as forms of the Ultimate Medicine inspired persons to fixate at the third step on "the path" where religious and spiritual roles are assumed or assigned and to never move beyond that to the true state of freedom and independence which can only come . . .
when all roles are abandoned,
when all beliefs are cast aside,
when a state of zero-concepts are reached,
when abidance happens in an all-natural, spontaneous manner,
and
when all is merely witnessed purely and objectively and with an accurate - rather than warped - perspective.
So why do billions now seek almost exclusively, and why have trillions sought almost exclusively in only those venues which Maharaj eventually abandoned when he saw that they were not effectively treating the Ultimate Sickness?
1. Because most have no clue at all that they are truly sick and that what they are doing in the name of "being good" and "becoming better" and being worthy, and contacting gods and goddesses or a God is all rooted in delusions dreamed up thousands of years ago, passed down throughout the millennia, and which are still being accepted blindly and unquestioningly as truth.
2. Because most mistakenly believed that all illness in this realm is a three-fold sickness involving "body and mind and a malady of one's spirit" rather than understanding that all illness in this realm is a two-fold sickness involving either body or mind only.
Throughout all the years that Maharaj received visitors into the loft, he shifted from
guru-bhakti and god-bhakti
to
bhakti and jnana yoga (and mention of "atma")
to
jnana yoga and nisarga yoga; and finally
to
nisarga yoga, period.
He spoke early on of "the commands of my guru." He said of his guru, "He also told me, 'You must repeat all these bhajans three or four times a day. You have to do it. He said, for the sake of the ignorant people, we have to do this'."
Later, he would say, "My Guru asked me to do these five bhajans daily, and he never cancelled his instructions before he passed away. I don't need to do them anymore but I will carry on doing them . . . because this is the command of my Guru. I continue to obey his instructions, even though I know these bhajans are pointless, because of the respect and gratitude I feel towards him."
Most will read only Maharaj's talks in I AM THAT and buy into the "spiritual classic" message only. Some, not aware of his method of using only "level appropriate" pointers, will claim that "Maharaj is constantly contradicting himself" without understanding at all what determined the variety of pointers offered to seekers at a variety of points along "the path." Some will read I AM THAT and then read some of the last talks and claim that Maharaj "declined" as he shifted away from a spiritual message.
The message (or "approach" or "focus") changed as Maharaj eventually
(a) "evolved" beyond what seemed to be an absorption in guru-bhakti, god-bhakti, and jnana yoga;
(b) shared fewer pointers which were merely "Siddharameshwar, Part Deux" and which became more of a "Pure Maharaj" message;
(c) behaved in ways that were based more in "the experiences" of Maharaj than in the guidelines and "commands" issued by Siddharameshwar; and
(d) "evolved" into "Maharaj the Giver of a Psychological / Nisargan Message."
During the last stage of his evolution, no religious and / or spiritual activities were endorsed, and the message changed from the type of pointers that were more prevalent in I AM THAT (with its religious / Hindu-style overtones and with its spiritual overtones) to a message with no religious or spiritual overtones at all.
He would eventually advise seekers to stop reading I AM THAT and to listen to his current message which was more relevant. That later message was about the psychological issues plaguing humanity and about the core issue – the mind – which is the key source (and key sustainer) of the Ultimate Sickness.
Yes, Maharaj understood that the religious and spiritual activities still had to happen, [which take place during the third of seven steps here] but the time and tolerance allowed for assuming those false ego-states as new identities - and for playing those roles for a spell before moving on - shrank considerably.
The longer Maharaj taught, the less tolerant he was of those fixating at a place on the "path" that is not even the halfway point of the "journey"; thus, he spoke of their "kindergarten spirituality." He noted that "there are so many who take the dawn for the noon, a momentary experience for full realization . . . . "
For all the spiritual and religious and philosophical talk in I AM THAT, the most direct pointers he offered contained less and less of the earlier "beating around the bush"; thus, he said to two visitors, "Forget spirituality."
He encouraged seekers to follow "their normal inclinations," that is, to follow their natural tendencies, to abandon all of their spiritual work and just abide naturally - not unnaturally and not supernaturally (i.e., neither "religiously" nor "spiritually" nor "philosophically"). He told visitors, "Do your normal duties" and "just give up spirituality."
So all pointers here aside, might you be able to deduce on your own why it was that Maharaj finally defied the commands of his guru; why he transitioned beyond all religious practices; why he stopped offering spirituality-oriented talks like those in I AM THAT; and why he focused on the psychological roots of the Ultimate Sickness?
Might you be able to deduce why the same sequence of events occurred here?
Might you be able to deduce why he eventually offered to seekers an approach without dogma, without continuous spiritual practices, and without a preoccupation with “Self”-Inquiry and said that "self-inquiry" is enough - that “it is enough just to find out who you are not”?
Might you be able to deduce why the same approach is now offered here?
Might the experience here have been the experience with Maharaj?
Remember that the tendency among humans is to be driven by the agendas of their assumed ego-states and by the egotism which always accompanies the assignment and assumption of ego-states as identities.
The result of that is humanity is being driven by ego and egotism to constantly practice upgrading and downgrading:
“This world” is upgraded to "a better world" called “heaven” or “another world where there will be an eternal life of bliss and perennial joy”; or, “this world” is downgraded to "a worst world" called “hell” or “an ongoing series of crappy incarnations or even Naraka.”
“The Husband” self-upgrades to “The Super Husband” and “The Wife” self-upgrades to “The Super Wife” (and in the process, become super obnoxious).
And, yes, “The Religious One” self-upgrades to “The Super Religious One” and “The Super Religious One” will downgrade “others” who are “The Not Religious Ones” or “The Religious Ones Who Are Members of the Wrong Religion or Sect” (and in the process, becomes super obnoxious and even dangerous, relatively speaking).
Moreover, “The Spiritual Giant” self-upgrades to “The Super Spiritual Giant” and “The Super Spiritual Giant” will downgrade “others” who are “The Not-Spiritual Giants” or “The Spiritual Ones Who Are Not Nearly Spiritual Enough to be a True Spiritual Giant” (and in the process, become super obnoxious).
And “The Self-Inquirer” will eventually self-upgrade to “The One Who Has Come to Know 'the True Self' or 'The Supreme Self' or 'Paramatman' or 'The Self Beyond' or 'The Supreme Spirit' or 'Brahman'” or any of the other identities / Identities which block any and all opportunity to reach the state of “WHO-less-ness” and thereafter give up trying to “Be Something” or "Be Somebody" or “Be Something Special or Supreme” (and in the process, become especially and supremely obnoxious).
Might what was seen here - that religious and spiritual role-playing did not free “floyd” of all identities and all false identities and all false Identities - have been what was also seen to be the case with Maharaj?
And might what was seen here - that religious and spiritual role-playing generated a belief in a whole new set of “new and improved and better” false identities and Identities - have been what was also seen to be the case with Maharaj?
And might what was seen here - that seekers who were exposed to teachings and pointers steeped in dogma and / or super spirituality entered into religious and spiritual role-playing which generated the belief in a whole new set of “new and improved and better” false identities and Identities among those seekers - have been what was also seen to be the case as Maharaj saw the same effects there?
If all of that was seen, then could it not account for Maharaj’s shifts, just as it led to the shifts here, after it became clear that the result of the formation of such ego-based roles and egotism-sustained identities / Identities were often more detrimental – and often more disgusting and obnoxious – than some of the former “bad” roles that had been played?
As an example, some regular visitors to this site might recall a woman’s testimony which was shared here in a prior post. She described the experience that she and her children had after they, at first, rejoiced when their alcoholic husband / father entered a spiritual program to address his alcohol abuse. She said that he soon assumed the role of “A Spiritual Giant” and became absorbed in a whole new level of obsessive behavior inspired by the group.
She said it was not long thereafter that he self-upgraded to the role of “A Super Spiritual Giant.” She reported that, after witnessing and dealing with “an obsessive ass” for many, many years and then witnessing and dealing with “the obsessive saint” for a little over a year – she and the children all agreed that “the obsessive saint” was even more intolerable and unbearable than was “the obsessive ass.”
The man called “father” here was raised by a fount of wisdom he called “mother,” the one called here “my Cherokee Grandmother" who was the most influential of all for “floyd.” She never went to school a day in her life. My dad attended a small country school near their cabin but never even finished the seventh grade. As was the case with Grandmother and father, formal education never factored into Maharaj’s experience, either.
Yet with all three, there were levels of wisdom and understanding and astuteness and insight which would preempt foolishness and ignorance and inanity and folly (which is, in the case of Maharaj, what “Realization” came to be all about: realizing all that is false, and maybe - in some cases - realizing Truth, though that was not and is not a prerequisite for abiding in a manner which is no longer being driven by the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness which Maharaj identified as “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”).
Had dogma proved to be an effective antidote for the Ultimate Sickness, Maharaj in his wisdom would have used it to the end; had spirituality and the content of the book I AM THAT proved to be an antidote for the Ultimate Sickness, Maharaj in his wisdom would have recommended both of those to the end. Yet he did not. He recommended that seekers “forget spiritual” and “stop reading I AM THAT.”
Then, an extraordinary concentration of wisdom allowed Maharaj to understand the workings of the human mind (and the faulty and flawed workings of the confused and jumbled minds that are the abnormal norm among humankind).
From that point forward, he never again suggested that persons be involved with dogma or spirituality or spiritual practices;
instead, from that point forward, he encouraged seekers to be rid of the mind, advising them to “reach a state of zero concepts.” In the end, he said, “I have no mind” and invited seekers to join him in that state and then abide naturally for the remainder of the manifestation.
Same here.
To be continued.
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