Monday, May 29, 2023

WHAT IT WAS LIKE WHEN MAHARAJ CHALLENGED THE SPIRITUAL ROLE BEING PLAYED BY AN ACQUAINTANCE

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WHAT IT WAS LIKE WHEN MAHARAJ CHALLENGED THE SPIRITUAL ROLE BEING PLAYED BY AN ACQUAINTANCE

This was offered earlier: 

Maharaj understood - as did the author of the book on addiction which was discussed earlier - that the main problem of humanity centers in the mind, along with all of the subsequent problems of the planet as well. 

He also knew that religion and spirituality could not address the problems generated by the “mind” and that the proper approach, ultimately, is to be rid of the mind entirely and to reach a no-beliefs, no-concepts, and, therefore, no-mind state. 

As with the cancerous polyps which were removed from this plant food body, cancer cannot be “healed” - it must be removed. The same applies to “the mind.”

Why value so much and cling so strongly to that which is nothing more than a storehouse for false beliefs, illusions, delusions, misperceptions, and false conceptualizations?

How insane would I have been to say, Well, Doc, I know there are polyps growing inside my body, but they are a part of me now, as much as my arms and legs and mind.

As with cancerous growths, the task of humans is to remove the mind, to merely purge that part of the brain of its content. That is, purge all belief in - and attachment to - the false and insane content stored therein. 

Maharaj was a surgeon of sorts, removing the cancers of body and mind and personality; removing the cancers of programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination; removing the cancer of persona-generated fears and desires; 

removing the cancer of ideas, notions, concepts, misperceptions, conceptualizations, distortions, illusions, delusions (a.k.a., “beliefs”), including societal / xenophobic beliefs, religious beliefs, and spiritual beliefs; and removing all of the cancers that contribute to the Ultimate Sickness. 

Below is a description which was offered earlier after it was received from a seeker named Michael who had visited the skilled surgeon Maharaj in his loft; it is repeated here because it provides visitors to this site with a first-hand account of the realized physician at work.

Michael was somewhat overwhelmed when Maharaj began using his razor-sharp scalpel of reason and logic as he attempted to excise from Michael the firmly-rooted spiritual persona which was driving him throughout the relative existence. 

Maharaj recognized that Michael’s spiritual giant persona was causing him to go and do and zoom, preventing him from being able to relax and take it easy.

Maharaj also recognized that spiritual giantism was depriving Michael of the ability to move beyond the third step on “the path” to full realization; and Maharaj recognized that Michael’s spiritual workaholism was making an extra job of merely living. 

As you read Michael’s account of his visit to the loft, you may well feel that you are looking over the master surgeon’s shoulder as he tries to remove all of the contaminants and obstructions that were blocking a speck of consciousness called “Michael” from taking advantage of Maharaj’s invitation to abandon all that is unnatural (religious) and all that is supernatural (spiritual) and then abide naturally and simply “rest in the cool blue shade.” 

Here is some of what Michael shared: 

“The intensity of seeking caused me to take a leave of absence from law school in 1976, in part to take a training course to become a teacher of meditation.

“Plans were made, goodbyes were said to family and friends, tickets were bought, yet when i arrived in France, i was told that the rules had changed and i couldn’t participate in the teacher’s course. 

“Phone calls, pleading, praying, meditating, eating crepes from street vendors, i finally got the word that i could participate, but because of a change of schedule, i would have to wait for over a month. 

“My student budget being what it was, i decided to travel on the cheap through Europe. By chance, i met a fellow who told me of Nisargadatta Maharaj and he wanted to go visit him. One week later, we arrived in Bombay / Mumbai. 

“Having grown up in New York City, i thought i would be prepared me for what i heard was the crowded nature of Bombay and the hustle bustle. Wrong. Squalor, people strewn all over the streets, smell of fires, cooking, and who knows what else overwhelmed the senses. That week was a blur. 

“We found a hotel close by that we could afford (it was less than $5 a night in ‘76) and planned to go see Maharaj. My friend knew someone who had been visiting Maharaj, and they made sure it was OK. We knew to bring offerings of fruit and flowers. 

“When we made our way through this very impoverished neighborhood and stood in front of Maharaj’s place, then climbed up impossibly small steps to this loft, i knew very clearly that this could not be a teacher of any value. Wrong again. 

“He had pictures of Indian teachers and sages all over; i thought i recognized one or two, but i was a babe in these spiritual woods at the time. At first, i did not even know that Maharaj was Maharaj. He looked so, well, ordinary! 

“But his eyes gave him away! He stared at us and at one point fixed his eyes on mine. I couldn’t breathe! He began (so i thought) shouting. Actually he was asking my friend where we had come from, where we were staying, very mundane questions. 

“Then he gave a talk, in his native language; i had no, and i mean NO, idea what he was talking about, even when translated. At one point, he gestured toward us and started talking very animatedly.

“The translator said Maharaj was saying that he did not want a lot of followers, that those who were attracted by wealthy teachers deserved what they got. 

“i thought that was a bit harsh, since my teacher at the time was very big on positive talk! i was impressed by the fact that, though my friend had not offered that we were followers of a ‘big name teacher,’ somehow Maharaj knew anyway.

“He asked us if we had any questions, and i asked what was the quickest way to stabilize the experience of pure consciousness experienced in meditation. 

“The paradigm i was taught was that if you meditated enough, the fleeting experience of pure consciousness would be stabilized and there all the time. Bliss and all good things would ensue as a result.


“He asked me who was having the experience of pure consciousness. i told him, quite innocently, i was, having no idea of self-inquiry, direct path, any of that.) 

“He told me i had wasted my time coming there, and as long as i thought i would get something out of what i was doing, i would continue to travel far and wide from teacher to teacher and never understand. Again, I had  no idea what he was talking about AND he was yelling at me. Freaked out beyond words. 

“He asked me why i wanted to waste my time and his. [Gulp.] i told him i wanted to be enlightened. I wish i could remember more of the torrent of words that he responded with. I knew before it was translated that it wasn’t good. Something about before consciousness, something about no one who would benefit, something about never even being born. 

“Between not ‘supposed’ to be there in the first place, getting singled out while trying to remain incognito, having my nice little spiritual worldview challenged, seeing a number of nodding heads and smiles as Maharaj was speaking (again, i thought), i wanted to disappear.” 

And that is what happens when a seeker hears the consciousness speak when the words are coming via a speck that is abiding as its original nature of pure awareness: the seeker will just “want to disappear.”

Indeed, if the non-dual, Nisargan message is understood, then you - all of the false you’s . . . all of the not-You’s - will “just want to fade away.”

Then, all sense of self-ness and Self-ness can dissolve and fade away, along with every persona ever adopted, including the ones assumed, dualistically, to be “the really good ones” such as “The Super Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant,” and “The Super Seeker.”

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

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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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