TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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1. [See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj]
2. Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.
3. A new video ("Number Ten: Awakening Together Satsang, March 2018") has now been added in the far right column of this page, offering the opportunity to view a recent 2018 satsang session with Floyd being interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group."
Parts of the following are excerpted from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution:
In the story "The Blind Men and an Elephant," several blind men are touching an elephant in order to learn what an elephant is like. Because each man touches a different part, and because each man only touches one part rather than all of the parts, then the conclusions that they draw about what an elephant is like are all in error.
They learn when they share their finding that they are in complete disagreement, and their disagreements actually generated conflict and even violence.
The same happens when seekers and critics only understand one part of what was going on with Maharaj and his message.
The misunderstandings about his methods and the evolution of his focus have also generated conflict and criticism of both Maharaj and some of his disciples, even as others hold him in such high esteem that they seem to worship him and his words. (All of that he would call nonsense.)
While no names of the critics will be offered, the criticisms and preferences in regards to "which version of Maharaj's teaching are the right ones or the best ones" have led to such statements as these:
"The later books of Maharaj do not enjoy the same clarity as 'I Am That'. It seems that he himself got complicated or rather evolved himself or declined maybe as happens to many teachers. It is also the lack of quality of translation in the level of "I Am That".
"At first when he was still listening to his guru he was telling the truth, like he did in 'I AM THAT.' In his other talks, his ego made him start telling things he dreamed up on his own that were not true."
"He deteriorated from one of the great spiritual men of all times to one of the least spiritual people of all times."
"Maharaj was constantly contradicting himself."
Some of the critics above touched only the tusk of "The Elephant" called "Maharaj." Some only touched the trunk. Some touched a leg only while others have felt nothing but the tail.
To touch only one part of Maharaj's message is to draw false conclusions, is to fail to see the big picture and the total picture, is to fail to understand his pointers completely in some cases, to be driven to levy baseless charges, and, in some cases, is to simply misrepresent - dare one say, "lie" - about what he did and did not say and what he meant by what he said.
As one of the critics above said, yes, Maharaj "evolved" to the degree that it was the consciousness - not Maharaj - that was speaking and to the degree that the types or paths of yoga offered did vary over the years and did vary at times from one seeker to the next.
True also, the focus of the message changed or evolved from one occasion to the next, as did the type of yoga that was emphasized.
But the message did not become more "complicated" but actually became far simpler, far more direct and concise. As far as "declined," that is a conclusion drawn by one of the critic's ego-states, namely, "The Spiritual Giant" who found that the "more religious and spiritual" words in "I AM THAT" supported his false identity while certain other pointers that guided some seekers away from their religious and / or spiritual pre-occupations and obsessions threatened that spiritual ego-state.
Next, why does it appear that Maharaj contradicts himself in his early talks? True, in one talk he might offer a seeker a certain pointer or piece of advice to consider; in the very next talk the very next day, he might have offered a different seeker a very different pointer or a very different piece of advice to consider.
What was that about?
It was about offering “level appropriate” pointers and considerations.
Maharaj would let a seeker talk in order to determine where on the path that seeker might be. That’s easy to spot for the realized. Maharaj could listen to someone talk for a few minutes and could thereafter determine exactly where on the path that seeker was at the moment. Same here.
Then, Maharaj offered pointers which were intended to move the seeker to the next step on the path.
If a seeker happened to be at the second step and needed to move to the third, then Maharaj was not going to offer that seeker pointers dealing with the sixth step. The steps were, and are, to be completed in the exact order in which they are laid out. Steps cannot be skipped or jumped over.
He said that, when trying to travel the path and complete the "journey,"
". . . You should go back, reverse, to the source."
He said:
"Follow the same path by which you came."
On the other hand, steps are to be moved through, not fixated at (as happens with many at the third step who attach to their false identities of “The Super Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant” and never move to the fourth step and on to freedom from all identifications).
So if the words of a seeker in a later session revealed the seeker was at the fourth step and thus inspired Maharaj to offer some “here-are-pointers-which-might-shift-you-to-the-fifth-step” type of counsel
but then the words of a seeker at the early session the next day revealed that seeker was at the third step and needed to move on to the fourth step,
then
the pointers offered would have been totally different and maybe even appear to be contradictory.
Once Yeshu’a (Jesus) received certain non-dual teachings, he offered such pointers as these:
“No one will ever see the kingdom of heaven. It is within.”
and
“Heaven and earth shall fade away.”
But if someone was taking his last mortal breaths and having a panic attack, Yeshu’a might have said “Fear not. There are many rooms in a mansion which awaits you.”
Or, he might not have said that at all because it would have been nonsensical to try to offer a non-dual consideration to the anyone panicking. The truly realized would understand that not saying anything - rather than offering a calming distortion – could be a more consistent and wiser choice.
See? “Level appropriate.”
Thus, Maharaj did not contradict himself when, early on, he offered one pointer to one seeker and a totally different pointer to the next seeker.
On the other hand, he did contradict himself when, early on, he shared pointers rooted in the dogma of Hinduism (as his guru advised) and when he shared pointers rooted in “spirituality” (which Westerners encouraged him to do)
vs.
later on when he advised seekers to “give up spirituality” and to forget trying to find “Who You Are” and find all that you are not.
Why that shift? Because he came to understand that his earlier pointers were offering a totally ineffective version of the Ultimate Medicine because he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is rooted in psychological issues, not in having too little dogma stored in the mind and not in having a “sick spirit” or a “spiritual malady.”
Oh how those fixated at the third step and who are playing their religious or spiritual roles hate to read or hear that fact.
It was one of those types who said of Maharaj: “He deteriorated from one of the great spiritual men of all times to one of the least spiritual people of all times.”
Maharaj would not have argued except to note there is no such thing as “deterioration” when it comes to false identities. There is either seeing the truth about a false identity or not seeing the truth about a false identity.
But such types got no argument from him, so he once told a gathering of those stuck in the playing of their false, assumed spiritual role, “Indeed, compared to you spiritual giants, I am but a spiritual pygmy.”
To be continued.
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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns.
THE EXPLANATION
If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.
Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."
The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").
Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.
"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
but are states of mind, nothing more than
concepts dreamed up by men."
--Pope John Paul II
"There is no hell."
--Pope Francis, the current pope
in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,
a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.
And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?
Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?
The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)
With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.
The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.]
Here's
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of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
