Enlightenment easy enlightenment..Advaita Gurus

November 24, 2003

Just by acknowledging that we are confused or need guidance is a HUGE

opening on the spiritual path..

Many people are taken in by intellectual advaita teachers...they are

told that they are already enlightened...Many people are truly

deluded by this easy enlightenment..all their vasanas are fully in

action, they have little discrimination or self control, nor do they

want to control their senses, so they are atracted to an

easy "intellectual" pose of enlightenment. In the worst manifestation

of this, the teachers and discipiles become quite arrogant and

aggresive ... bhakti path gurus are put down as "old school" and

emotional, childish etc. They preach that their is no "heart", that

feelings of bhakti and bliss are delusional bardo states.

The status of beings like Ammachi is nearly inconceivable. She is a

nuclear power plant of self realization and her shakti extends across

all levels of manifestation..She is in constant service and

creation/destruction to all levels of being...the gift she gives us

cannot be imagined..BUT, we have to open ourselves to receive...Hence

the main problem of the prematurely enlightened intellectuals...they

will not even approach the divine mother out of their arrogance..what

a loss!!!

Approaching Ammachi in all her forms in the mood of love, intense

kindness and service are the first few steps towards enlightenment

that i am attempting to make...and even in this simple task i have

had mixed results..

my lamp on the path is Amma's bhakti/bliss presence in my

awareness...I try to follow this..Amma, my divine mother, please come

to me, your little lost child, you promised to help me, to be with

me. Will you break your promise to me? ..please come to me, my

beloved mother!!...This mood of supplication is one of exquisite

bliss and presence!

> Some gurus make it out to be easy and the natural state being of

> enlightenment and awareness. The other 'miracles' being ephemeral,

> as enlightenement is quite simple in nature and we should slide

into

> its natural state.

>

> This 'natural state' theory seems to cast everything else we know

> aside. So why did Buddha have to struggle so much and finally

obtain

> enlightenment under Bodh Gaya after ghor tapasya...are their varied

> levels of enlightenment....How has Amma helped you in this?

> I know, I have too many questions and very few answers. There seems

> to be total confusion right now, and I cannot even begin this

journey

> let alone think of the finish line...

>

November 25, 2003

-

ckeniley2003

Ammachi

Tuesday, November 25, 2003 1:05 AM

Re: Enlightenment "easy" enlightenment..Advaita Gurus

Namaste,

I have been struggling intensely with this issue, partly from knowing that

other paths are being followed with real and, at least long term, change

occuring in people's lives. This fits with what Mother tells us about following

the path that is right for us-until you hit the point that the particular path

I've watched my best friend (Taoist) travel seemed to almost be a reversal of

what we have come to accept as the "normal" route. While this friend has always

been loving, kind, and generous, all of these qualities have become enormously

magnified and simply incredible to observe after an experience that convinced

her quite flatly that what we do as "prep work" (efforting) doesn't do a thing

for us because, in her experience, "It's a done deal; when you're ripe, you fall

right off of the tree of knowledge and get picked by your guru!" (grace)

FOr me, it's not so much a question of efforting/no efforting,

intellectual/intuitive as it is belief. Christ tells us to believe in/on him

and have faith the size of a mustard seed; Mother tells us to see Her in

everyone we encounter. If we could truly do these things -understand with every

cell of our body- that there is no separation between Creator and Creation,

would we then become "spontaneously" enlightened? Wouldn't we then do much as

Christ and Amma have done/do and live a life that is nothing but pure love and

service?

I am miles and light years and lifetimes from being able to do this: when a

ticked off thirteen year old in my class mutters unbelievably rude words under

his/her breath, it's certainly not my first response to accept that the child

has just spoken with Mother's voice!!!! And I ahve a very hard time accepting

that perhaps I can do nothing to change even the next moment...if I opt to bug

out of work and call in with the blue flu, was that my own choice or also part

of the "done deal?"

In knots, tangles, and loop-de-loops at Mother's feet,

Snehalata