RE: Digest Number 2167

[Guest guest]

Hi Sridhar,

You said:

"This found the 'lucknow syndrome' interesting. Apart from Bhagwan Ramana, I

have heard of many saints refer to 'this' when they refer to what we think

is 'them'.

I genuinely thinks it will be a good experiment for an early seeker

wherein a conscious attempt is made to take a standpoint away from

the traditional *ego*. The label Lucknow Syndrome makes it sound like

some comical idiosyncracy but honestly do you think such a practise

could help the unevolved ones - the evolved ones do it as a matter of

truth I guess. Would love to know your views"

 

I think the situation is somewhat like the Buddhist parable of the 'ordinary

person' initially seeing mountains and rivers, the seeker no longer seeing

the river as river etc., and then the 'realised man' once again seeing just

mountains and rivers.

 

Initially we really do think of ourselves as an individual (in the commonly

accepted usage, not in the sense of the original meaning pointed out by

Ken). We naturally speak of ourselves as I and think ourselves to be doers

and enjoyers. The Lucknow syndrome is effectively a disease of the mind of

the seeker. It is now intellectually recognised that there are no others,

there is only name and form etc. But, while there is still the sense of

separateness, there may be the need to impress upon others, and perhaps

delude oneself, that the truth is understood even though it is not genuinely

felt. I don't think the speaker is really fooled for a moment. Once one is

secure in the truth, every 'thing' is seen as it is. The forms are known to

be only forms but there is no longer any problem with using the accepted

names for those forms and the usual sentence construction. 'I' is equally

known to be only a name given to this embodiment.

 

Thus, I think the exercise is really a matter of interim self-delusion

rather than practically useful for progressing along some notional path. And

I don't feel that any form of active delusion can be helpful. Of course, a

sage may use this technique when speaking to a seeker in order to make some

point and this will then be perfectly suited to the need.

 

I'm open to persuasion to the contrary of course!

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Dennis Waite" <dwaite@a...> wrote:

> Hi Sridhar,

> You said:

> "This found the 'lucknow syndrome' interesting.

 

Namaste,

 

Here is how it all started!

>From list:

Greg Goode [goode]

 

 

Speaking of "Who am I," there's a funny story told by a teacher who

spent

lots of time with Papaji (Poonjaji). It's related to a spiritual

condition

suffered by some seekers called "The Lucknow Disease," named after

the city

in which Papaji taught.

 

In Papaji's teachings for this group of seekers in the early 90's, it

was a

big part of their inquiry to ask "Who Am I" at all possible junctures.

According to this teacher, who was in the middle of it all and

saw/heard

lots of funny stuff, here's how it happened:

 

Any time someone would even casually say, "I'm hungry," or "I have to

go to

the loo," another earnest seeker would ask like the spiritual police,

"Who's hungry?Who has to go to the loo?" So there developed a way

of

speaking that would avoid using the pronoun "I," which would

supposedly

indicate the gradual effacement of the ego or "I-thought." It got to

the

point that people would say stuff like "This form is tired,"

or "There is

hunger arising." This avoidance of the "I" word, in order to display

one's

understanding, is the Lucknow Disease.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder