RE: At Christmas Time, Part 1

[Guest guest]

Namaste Bob,

I’ve been

meaning to tell you that I love the Avadhuta Gita. Thanks for your

wonderful transliteration. It and the Ashtavakra Samhita are two of my all

time favorites.

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[]

On Behalf Of Bob OHearn

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

8:31 PM

[

- Ramana Guru] Re: At Christmas Time, Part 1

12.0pt">

,

"OMShanti" <omshanti@q...> wrote:

>I would trade lifetime after lifetime of

"pure consciousness" if

instead I could be immersed in Brahman for even

one second.

color:blue">I wrote this; but fortunately, I don’t have to choose between

the two. :-) If I had to choose however, I know what it would be.

Good Evening, Michael!

It seems to me that the belief that one is not

indivisibly immersed

in Brahman creates, among other things, the

conditions for an

internal conflict, otherwise known as seeking.

color:blue">I never said that one is not indivisibly immersed in Brahman.

I am referring to a particular experience of it. Some call it Nirvikalpa

Samadhi, some call it other things. But since there is nothing but

Brahman, then it’s hard not to be immersed in it.

snip

"When you don't require anything from the

world and nothing from God,

when you don't desire anything, when you don't

strive for anything,

don't expect anything, the divine will enter you,

unasked and

unexpected. The wish for truth is the best of all

wishes, but it's

still a wish. All wishes must be given up, that

the truth can enter

your life."

~ Sri Nisargadatta

color:blue">I take a bit of exception to the preceding quote. Realization

occurs all kinds of ways and it happens to seekers and non-seekers. But

the fact of the matter is that it hardly happens at all. If one could

really discover the truth, one would find that the realized ones are the rarest

of the rare. So if one is able somehow to realize, I wouldn’t

quibble about how it happened to them. I myself practice nothing and seek

nothing because I already have what I want. If I didn’t have what I

want I would do whatever I please to get it.

color:blue">I have attended the satsangs of various satsang givers. Some

are of the lineage of Nisargadatta. They preach this philosophy that you

just quoted. It’s an odd thing, because essentially the philosophy

is true, as far as it goes; but these satsang goers for the most part aren’t

realizing anything. They go and pay their money and ask their questions,

some of them seem desperate. The satsang giver tells them basically what

you just quoted. Then the same people keep coming back and coming back year

after year and paying money and paying money and it doesn’t seem to me

that most of them ever get anywhere. Oh I know, I know, there’s no

where to get to, right? Well that’s where I disagree. And

that’s where the attendees disagree. They think that there’s

somewhere to get to. And they keep paying money to get it, even if it is

nothing. And that’s what happens to most of them – nothing.

color:blue">Some of the gurus of this school of thought like to tell a portion of

the story of the Buddha. You know, the part of the story where Gautama just

sits down under the tree and suddenly everything’s cool. Then they

extrapolate and say that this is all you need to do, just sit down under the

tree and chill. And I say go ahead. It’s fine with me.

But usually it doesn’t happen that way for people – usually it

doesn’t happen at all. The Buddha practiced intense and various

sadhanas for years, then he sat down under the tree. Actually he sat down

under the tree in a final act of desperation. He was either going to

realize or starve. Desperation is a common feature of many of the lives

of the masters.

color:blue">

color:blue">Jesus said in the Bible:

color:blue">Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock

and it shall be opened to you.

color:blue">

color:blue">Sri Ramana himself advised spiritual practices to certain people.

LoveAlways, Shanti Om

color:blue">

color:blue">Love to all,

color:blue">michael bowes