THERE WAS NO ANTI-RELIGION OR ANTI-SPIRITUALITY BIAS WITH MAHARAJ AND THERE IS NONE HERE, EITHER

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"Science will one day advance to the point that it will prove all of the non-dual teachings to be true." 

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

 THERE WAS NO ANTI-RELIGION OR ANTI-SPIRITUALITY BIAS WITH MAHARAJ AND THERE IS NONE HERE, EITHER

To clarify, the suggestion to seek facts and truth vs. religious and spiritual concepts does not involve even the slightest hint of an anti-religion / anti-spirituality bias. Maharaj tried both religion and spirituality at varying times early on as key ingredients in his version of the Ultimate Medicine. But he would eventually abandon the use of both. Why? 

He abandoned them both because they proved to be ineffective, long-term, and because he came to understand that any version of the Ultimate Medicine which was to have any efficacy at all called for the use of psychology-based pointers because the Ultimate Sickness, he came to see, is a mental sickness. 

Note the sequence of the awarenesses which came and which led him to the shifts he made: 

I. Maharaj made clear that the sole job of the non-dual teacher is to free his or her protégés of the learned ignorance which is trapping them in misery and suffering. 

II. He came to see, via his own experiences, that the elimination of learned ignorance and entrapment in misery and suffering had nothing to do with learning more and more dogma or with endlessly engaging in spiritual exercises. 

III. Therefore, his ending the use of both had nothing to do with being anti-religion or anti-spirituality but instead had everything to do with setting aside versions of the Ultimate Medicine which he saw were ineffective in order to use a version which could work. 

IV. When Maharaj advised seekers to forget both religion and spirituality, it had nothing to do with being "anti-" any specific institution or organization but had everything to do with finding a more effective version of the Ultimate Medicine which could free seekers from the key symptoms of the Ultimate (Mental) Sickness, namely, "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity." 

V. He also realized that the two predominant sources of those mental symptoms of "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" were the very things he had tried to use to eliminate those symptoms.

VI. Most significantly, he realized that such an approach made no sense at all. 

He may as well have been trying to treat persons with tuberculosis by moving them into the ward of a hospital where scores of TB patients were isolated and instructing his listeners to spend the entire day every day bending over and placing their noses near the mouths of the sickest TB patients and inhaling their diseased breath. 

One cannot be rendered free of "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" by taking in more "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" from the persons who are already spreading far more "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" than any others. 

Yet even then, keeping one's distance from those spreading more "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" than any others does not imply that those persons or their venues are to be hated. 

In my youth, I spent many months each year with Grandmother, and some days I would play with the children of one of her nearest neighbors, a fellow named Josh. When I arrived one summer at the end of May, one of the first things Grandmother said was "This summer, you must stay away from Josh's house and his children. He has TB now and I don't want you to get sick." 

In the inner city in another state where I lived eight months or so each year with my parents, Mr. Kerley across the street had recently bought the first TV in our neighborhood and he would let us watch one thirty-minute program a week. With that experience fresh in the consciousness, it was easy for me to misunderstand Grandmother, so I said, "I watch thirty minutes of TV every week. Is that going to make me sick?" She smiled and replied, "I said 'TB,' meaning tuberculosis, not 'TV'." 

(It would be years later before I came to understand that TV in some cases can make parts of a population very sick, such as when a station transmits and passes along the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness to its viewers.) 

But to continue with the point that Maharaj's later warning to his visitors - that they should ignore both dogma and spirituality because neither addresses the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness - was not evidence of any anti-religion or anti-spirituality prejudice. 

If Maharaj's experiences had shown him clearly that no place was spreading more ignorance, stupidity, and insanity than the farsan snack shops in Bombay (Mumbai), then he would have advised seekers to stay away from farsan snack shops. If a seeker wanted to go inside and try one of the salty snacks, he may have said, "Rock and roll. Visit that place if you like, but do not stay there. Move beyond." 

It so happened, however, that he came to understand not that the most ignorance, stupidity, and insanity was being spread in farsan snack shops but that, in fact, the most ignorance, stupidity, and insanity was being spread in religious and spiritual venues. And that is the sole reason he advised seekers to seek elsewhere rather than in religious and spiritual venues.

And, yes, he eventually admitted that one such venue where ineffective religious and spiritual pointers had been shared was in a loft in an upper floor near Grant Road at Khetwadi 10th Lane in Bombay. 

Thus he said: "Stop reading the talks in I AM THAT. Listen to my later talks." Were there some pointers in that collection of transcripts of earlier talks which provided a glimpse into his later mind-and-psychology-focused message? Yes, but they were buried beneath far too many dogma-and-spirituality-based diversions for most readers to find. 

That is why he would later advise, “Give up spirituality” and “follow your normal inclinations" and "forget spirituality." Focusing eventually on the psychological roots of the Sickness, he advised, “There is no such thing as a mind” and “I have no mind.” He advised seekers to go to the “no-mind” state, to reach a state of “zero concepts.” Why? 

Because the Ultimate Sickness is not about having too little religion; it is not about having a “spiritual malady” or a “sick spirit.” Humankind’s main problem, he came to see, is a mental problem marked by what he called an excess of “ignorance and stupidity and insanity.” 

Religion does not cure ignorance and magical thinking. It contributes to them. Spirituality does not cure ignorance and magical thinking. It can contribute to them. Nor can either eliminate the insanity of distorted thinking, delusions, personality disorders, neuroses or psychoses. 

No, the problem with humans is not rooted in widespread agnosticism and atheism. Neither agnosticism nor atheism is widespread, evidenced by the fact that 97% of all persons claim an affiliation with one religion or another; additionally, the problem with humans is not rooted in their ignoring things spiritual. Millions upon millions are presently reporting, and reporting proudly, that they “are spiritual” or that they "are spiritual creatures presently having a human experience.” 

No, it should be clear that the problem with humanity has nothing to do with too little religion or too little spirituality because both are plentiful - and have been for thousands of years - yet the problems of humanity continued - and continues - alongside an abundance of "religious" and "spiritual" beliefs. 

Obviously, therefore, neither religion nor spirituality nor any mythical procedure offers a solution or the answer or a cure or any effective treatment for what ails humankind, namely, the preponderance of ignorance-and-stupidity-and-insanity-filled minds.

So Maharaj was not “anti-religion” and was not “anti-spirituality.” That is not the case here, either. It’s just that he came to see that both are irrelevant for those who are trapped in (and would be free of) . . .

personality and personality disorders and mind-based neuroses and psychoses

and 

misery and suffering 

which are all rooted in

the “ignorance and insanity” of the Ultimate Sickness. 

Thus, rather than becoming “anti-religion” or “anti-spirituality,” Maharaj became doggedly “anti-ignorance” and tenaciously "anti-stupidity" and staunchly “pro-sanity.” 

And that is the invitation offered here as well, specifically, to become doggedly “anti-ignorance” and tenaciously "anti-stupidity" and staunchly “pro-sanity.”

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 their god / their 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) whose Vatican Bank worked for decades with the Mafia while laundering mob earnings (for a 15% all-profit charge by the Bank); 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.]

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