RE: STUDY GROUP on SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION Hello I 'm James

[Guest guest]

 

James Milton

15 October 2004 14:11

'RamanaMaharshi'

RE: [RamanaMaharshi] STUDY GROUP on SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION Hello

I'm James

 

 

Dear Anu and indeed all list members,

 

I have been a silent member of this group for approx. 18mths / 2 years.

 

In that time I have enjoyed and been inspired on a daily basis by many of

you.

 

I feel a connection with you all that the rest of my days experiences,

freinds / family etc. do not offer. I am very grateful to Ramana and you

all. You dont know me but i really feel i know you all.

 

I felt (too many I's in this posting)that the time had come to say hello and

the passage below struck such a chord with me that I (?) decided now was the

time.

 

I have been a Christian since 1990 when an overwhelming rapturous experience

changed me from being a complete non - beleiver into a firm beleiver in the

blink of an eye.

 

I followed Christ and his teachings for 12 years when I had another

experience which once again completely changed my perception / outlook of

things and led me to Ramana.

 

I think the chapter below in V7 describes this experience very well although

I'm open to the possibility of delusion. This is the first time I have

committed this to print.I would appreciate your comments.

 

The experience:-

July 2002

 

I live in England and was 38 at the time.

 

I was at my local pub having a few beers waiting for a few freinds and my

partner to arrive.

The sun was streaming in through the window, I was relaxed, everything in

the world was OK by me, I was earning well, had nice freinds, family,

partner etc.and generally felt pretty blessed in my life as a whole, however

there was a growing sense of futility towards it all settling in my heart.

 

I stood leaning on the bar praying, contemplating etc. I did this for about

ten minutes when the essence of my prayers turned into something like this,

"Lord, I know you are there,I have experienced you before, I love you,

nothing will ever take me away from you, but please I need to know the

answer to what life is all about. If you bring me to my knees right here in

front of all these people I really don't care, please come to me. I am

nothing without you."

 

This prayer I really meant!

 

Nothing happened, so I thought.

 

My partner arrived, my freinds arrived and before long I was back in the

real, real world talking the same sort of nonsense we always talk about

every Friday night. We moved outside to the Pubs beer garden and before long

it was my turn to go back inside and order the beers.

 

When I arrived at the bar, the stool that I had been sat on at the bar whenI

had been praying / contemplating was occupied by a man who appeared to be

about sixty, normal clothes, hat/cap, glasses etc. and altogether

unremarkable looking. (Boy was I wrong.)

 

As I approached the bar he made to move from the stool, saying "Sorry was

that your stool ?"

I said no, that I had been sat on it earlier on but was now outside, adding

"Nothing in the world is really yours anyway, its only rented if anything."

With that he said "God Bless You" a couple of times in a very endearing

way.I collected the ordered beers took them back to the beer garden and said

to myself "What a nice, pleasant open bloke." (I live near Liverpool and

people around here really don't take to saying God Bless You etc.)

 

I was in the Beer Garden for maybe another half hour when it became chilly

and we all decided to go back in the pub.

 

We went to our normal spot and this chap was still there. I stood next to

him and dropped my cigarette, to which he said, "You really should'nt smoke

you know" and a conversation ensued.

 

We chatted for a little while about life, mankind's vain search for

happiness etc. and far ranging things such as how man can turn desert into

rainforest if he so wanted, why we were looking into space for answers when

we had'nt even worked out ourselves when it suddenly dawned on me that these

were his words not mine but I was the one saying them.

 

I said to him, you should be telling me this not me telling you. With that

he made a slight winking gesture to me.

 

Bang! The airleft my lungs and waves of bliss ran through my body from head

to toe. This went on and on and I had to hold onto the bar to contain the

energy surging through me. When I had steadied myself, I looked around me

and everything was different and almost dreamlike. I was basically just

witnessing what was going on and totally blissed out. My freinds and

everybody else (and me) all seemed almost puppet / like, I could see the

oneness connecting everybody, the pains, the pleasures, the angst, and all

at once I just knew that there was only One. I also had the overwhelming

intuitive conviction "Everything is the way it should be,always has been and

always will be."

 

Bang, another realization, more bliss, more bliss.

 

I could'nt beleive what was happening and slowly brought myself down a notch

so that I could at least speak to this chap who appeared to be facilitating

this experience. When I could speak I asked him WHAT he was.(I was a little

fearful that I could be dabbling in things that I should,nt be, and, no

matter how good this bliss felt, Christ was / is my Saviour and I was not

going to be led astray from Him). I asked him what he was rather than who he

was as it did not seem to me then that he could be human. Before he could

reply, I replied " I am You and You are Me."

 

I was shocked, why was I saying this, and why did it feel so natural and

truthful.

 

Bang, I was off again into Blissville, waves and waves of icreasingly

intoxicating bliss.

 

I resisted and brought myself down. In all this time the chap had said no

words.

 

I again asked him whom he was. Larry came the reply (Lahiri?)

 

He then started saying "God Bless You" again and I think he tapped me.

 

Bang, I was off again, more insights, more realizations.

 

I think, but can't be sure, he tapped again, higher I went, he tapped again,

higher I went.

 

I felt like I could'nt contain all this Joy and deliberately kept on

bringing myself down at which point one of my buddies came over to pull me

away from the company of Larry as he thouight this old stranger was boring

me. (Boy was he wrong.) I told my buddy, and my partner and a few other

freinds that were getting interested by now that everything was OK and that

I was just having a chat with Larry. They offered no resistance, even my

partner who was always by my side, seemed absolutely fine that I was

spending nearly all evening with this man we had never met before and I was

ignoring some very good freinds, but everyone was just fine about it.

 

With that, I was off again to Blissville.

 

All in all this experience lasted several hours.

 

Larry asked to meet my partner and blessed her and told her what a good soul

her boyfreind was, and then he blessed me again, then I blessed him (it all

seemed so outrageous yet so natural)and I saw him to the door as it was

nearly time for the pub to close. As we parted I realised that I would never

see him again and told him so, to which he just gave me the slightest of

winks, he turned and walked away. I watched him walk about 10 feet and then

turned to return to the bar, I had second thoughts as I wanted to see him

for as long as I could, turned again but he had gone. In that time there was

no way for him to get away from my field of vision. But there it was, he was

gone.

 

The rest of the night passed as in a dream and it was only in the morning I

recognised a few other things.

 

Larry had no distinguishable accent.

 

Larry had eyes like I have never seen before, no clear definition of pupils,

almost dreamlike qualities.

 

All in all other than saying "God Bless You", the slightest of winks several

times, and maybe the occasional tap he didnt appear to say or do anything

but there was a constant undercurrent of the slightest movement of sound

from his lips.

 

For the next four Friday evenings after this wherever me and my partner were

we would suddenly be engulfed by bliss for varying amounts of time, from 2

minutes to half an hour.

I started to look to find answers to these experiences and it was'nt long

before I landed at Ramana's feet. All my questions were answered. I never

have to say to myself "What's it all about?" I kind of know although

verbalizing It would be nigh on impossible.

 

Realizations occur as and when they do. The onion is being peeled.

 

It seems almost comical now that I thought I was the body / mind mechanism

and even more comical that for somebody seemingly intelligent I never even

questioned it. I suppose it's much easier when you experience It first and

then make sense of It later.

 

Ramana is my Jesus and vice versa -- I see no difference.

 

Is this the convergence of Bhakti to Jnana ?

 

I have changed, there is no going back.

(Sorry for all the I's, but speaking in the third person would make me a

fraud as I'm not established in the reality as such)

 

My freinds think I am a little odd and thats Ok and I dont blame them. If it

had'nt happened to me I would not beleive it or in Oneness or the Self etc.

However as it is It is.

 

Well what do you think? Was Larry the real thing, a travelling hypnotist, a

fraud.

 

I know what I think and V7 of instruction seems to be it..

 

Thanks for the past couple of years they have made a lot of sense in a blind

world..

 

Thanks Gabriel, Michael B , Michael L (Where R U), Miles, Alan, Avril,

Michael B2,Master of Change, L.Guru (Where r u too?.)Harsha, Dr.Pete,

Richard C,Revathi, Christiane,Rpodury, Manof678,LadyJoyce,

Nagaraja,Chandran, Alamelu, Christiane and all contributors, even U who say

nothing.

 

Thanks for helping me make sense of this life.

 

I hope this may inspire others and confirm that surrender does happen, and

happens, by nature of itself, when you are not expecting it.

 

As One

 

James

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

anupadayachi [anupadayachi]

05 October 2004 07:56

RamanaMaharshi

[RamanaMaharshi] STUDY GROUP on SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION

 

 

 

 

STUDY GROUP on SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION

 

Chapter 1

INSTRUCTION

[upadesa]

 

V7

Q. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SAYING THAT THE NATURE OF THE

REAL GURU IS THAT OF THE SUPREME LORD (SARVESVARA) ?

 

M. In the case of the individual soul which desires to attain the

state of true knowledge or the state of

Godhood (Isvara) and with that object always practises devotion, when

the individual's devotion

has reached a mature stage, the Lord who is the witness of that

individual soul and identical with

it, comes forth in human form with the help of sat-chit-ananda, His

three natural features, and

form and name which he also graciously assumes, and in the guise of

blessing the disciple, absorbs

him in Himself. According to this doctrine the Guru can truly be

called the Lord.

 

V8

Q. HOW THEN DID SOME GREAT PERSONS ATTAIN KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT A GURU ?

 

M. To a few mature persons the Lord shines as the light of knowledge

and imparts awareness of the

truth.

 

 

 

------

anu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear James

 

Thank you for a very precious and inspiring sharing.

Your capacity for Love has been rewarded.

 

A quote from K. Swaminathan- on the Ramanashramam calendar

for October 2004 - ends in Ramana's words -

 

"The supernatural is not a thing apart, but the awareness

that fills and forms the natural."

 

We just have to wait with open hearts, ready and willing

to bleed if we must.

 

May His message be understood by all among us and around us.

 

In Ramana's Grace

love

anu

 

 

RamanaMaharshi, James Milton <jamesmilton@n...>

wrote:

>

>

>

> James Milton

> 15 October 2004 14:11

> 'RamanaMaharshi'

> RE: [RamanaMaharshi] STUDY GROUP on SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION Hello

> I'm James

>

>

> Dear Anu and indeed all list members,

>

> I have been a silent member of this group for approx. 18mths / 2 years.

>

> In that time I have enjoyed and been inspired on a daily basis by

many of

> you.

>

> I feel a connection with you all that the rest of my days experiences,

> freinds / family etc. do not offer. I am very grateful to Ramana and you

> all. You dont know me but i really feel i know you all.

>

> I felt (too many I's in this posting)that the time had come to say

hello and

> the passage below struck such a chord with me that I (?) decided now

was the

> time.

>

> I have been a Christian since 1990 when an overwhelming rapturous

experience

> changed me from being a complete non - beleiver into a firm beleiver

in the

> blink of an eye.

>

> I followed Christ and his teachings for 12 years when I had another

> experience which once again completely changed my perception /

outlook of

> things and led me to Ramana.

>

> I think the chapter below in V7 describes this experience very well

although

> I'm open to the possibility of delusion. This is the first time I have

> committed this to print.I would appreciate your comments.

>

> The experience:-

> July 2002

 

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

---Dear James .

 

Thanks for sharing your inspiring experience with us .I see you live in England

..Did you know we

have a monthly satsang for Ramana Devotees in London . For details see

www.satsangdiary.com

 

warmest regards,

 

In His grace, Alan

[Guest guest]

Thanks Alan,

 

Much appreciated.

 

See you sometime.

 

In Bhagavan

 

James

 

 

Alan Jacobs [alanadamsjacobs]

18 October 2004 16:05

RamanaMaharshi

RE: [RamanaMaharshi] STUDY GROUP on SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION Hello

I 'm James

 

 

 

---Dear James .

 

Thanks for sharing your inspiring experience with us .I see you live in

England .Did you know we

have a monthly satsang for Ramana Devotees in London . For details see

www.satsangdiary.com

 

warmest regards,

 

In His grace, Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post message: RamanaMaharshi

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