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?"
Moreover, look at the fact that the popular venues where seekers seek (or the popular venues where people go who are convinced that they did not have to seek because their parents hooked them up with those venues and taught them that their particular venue was the only one where truth was taught) and see that they have a 5000+-year history of failing to set persons free of their distorted and delusional and freedom-blocking and independence-blocking belief systems. then it should be clear why Maharaj eventually advised seekers to avoid those venues.
Thus, this:
REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”
In the process of developing a commercially-viable light bulb, Thomas Edison actually went through over ten thousand prototypes before “getting it right.” Later he said, “I did not fail 10,000 times. I succeeded in proving that there are 10,000 ways that will not work. When I eliminated the ways that did not work, I found the way that worked.”
In the process of developing a viable method or approach for treating the Ultimate Sickness, Maharaj actually considered dozens of versions of the Ultimate Medicine before “getting it right.” He tried . . .
visiting and talking with many persons, and in the process, he was bombarded with talks about “nine forms of bhakti”; about "two types, three stages, and nine facets of bhakti"; about “the nine modes of bhakti,” including Archana, Atma-Nivedana, Dasya, Kirtana, Padasevana, Sakhya, Smarana, Sravana, Vandana;
about “four ways for practicing bhakti,” including to the Supreme Self (Atma-Bhakti); to God or the Cosmic Lord as a formless being (Ishvara-Bhakti); to God in the form of various Gods or Goddesses (Ishta Devata-Bhakti); and to God in the form of the Guru (Guru-Bhakti);
about “the nine processes of bhakti,” including, the chanting process; the complete surrender process; the deity worship process; the executing orders process; the hearing process; the praying process; the remembering process; the serving as a friend process; and the serving the lotus feet of the Lord process;
then he tried working with a guru, followed by years of consideration;
next, he isolated from his family and gave forest dwelling a shot;
later, he returned home and tried discussing the Realization process / processes with hundreds of visitors who came to his shop;
he later tried to come up with a Hinduism / non-duality compound version of the Ultimate Medicine in which he encouraged singing and chanting and dancing about, and during those many sessions a day, he also conducted meditation sessions in which he tried to lead persons (if only temporarily) into the samadhi state.
From among all of the many, many types of bhakti with which he was inundated, he specifically tried
guru-bhakti;
god bhakti and a religious / non-duality compound version of the Ultimate Medicine;
setting aside the religious / non-duality compound version of the Ultimate Medicine;
trying atma-bhakti;
blending jnana yoga with non-duality;
blending a spirituality / non-duality compound version of the Ultimate Medicine;
setting aside the spirituality / non-duality compound version of the Ultimate Medicine;
blending nisarga yoga with a non-duality compound version of the Ultimate Medicine; and ultimately,
blending a nisarga yoga / non-duality / psychological compound version of the Ultimate Medicine.
An ancient and key pointer from the non-dual teachings had been circulated for thousands of years before Christ began sharing the non-dual message. It was this: “A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways.”
When one sees what Maharaj and thousands like him were being exposed to (including dogma; spiritual precepts and principles; guidelines; rules; instructions; religious and spiritual laws; forms, ways, processes; practices, etc.) how could anyone possibly - at least for a considerable period - not end up being dual-minded and triple-minded and quadruple-minded and multi-minded and, therefore, unstable in all ways, and in all the ways they tried to learn and teach?
Of course he tried his hand at formulating and dispensing many different versions of the Ultimate Medicine over the years, yet the perfectionistic, judgmental, obsessive-compulsive types who are critiquing him would also likely be the types to congratulate Edison for not giving up and trying 10,000 different ways to achieve what he sought to achieve. But they slam Maharaj for not giving up and for trying dozens of different ways and methods and approaches in his effort to find an effective version of the Ultimate Medicine.
Maharaj, similar to Edison, could just as accurately have said, “I did not fail dozens of times. I succeeded in proving that dozens of versions of the Ultimate Medicine do not work. When I eliminated the ways that did not work, I found a way that can work for some seekers.”
Once he looked to the body-mind-personality triad, he came to realize that the Ultimate Sickness is not rooted in the body per se (though body-identification-only can be a contributing factor to the core issue); he also came to realize that the Ultimate Sickness is not rooted in minds having been filled with too little dogma (persons having been exposed to dogma more than any other single thing on the planet); and he came to realize that the Ultimate Sickness is not rooted in some mystical, mythical “sick soul,” “spiritual malady” or “sick spirit.”
So then, he looked at the only other possible contributing factors:
(1) the mind (and the distorted and delusional and nonsensical ignorance and insanity with which it is filled via the distorted and delusional and nonsensical and ignorant and insane processes of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination to which all persons are exposed); and
(2) the assignment and assumption of false personal identities / roles / ego-states / personalities / personas / psychological masks and even Supreme Identities, all of which trigger egotism and the use of a plethora of other ego-defense mechanisms and all of which perpetuate an attachment to ignorant beliefs and all of which generate personality disorders which can deteriorate into neuroses and psychoses and insanity (and all of which are dependent on and evolve from “the mind”).
To be continued.
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