The Advaita Disease

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from Sarlo:

 

The Advaita Disease

 

On the Tendency to Proliferation

Perhaps there have always been so

many gurus. They were certainly never

so able to have such a high profile

though, nor such a worldwide following

 

Mind you, this is a Good Thing; we

need lots of them in these trying

times. But my skeptical mind wonders:

how many of them, especially in the burgeoning field of Advaita, are reall=

y

enlightened? Is there any kind of

quality control here?

 

To see more of Sarlo's cartoons

The Advaita position is unassailable.

Almost a non-position, it is

consistent with the experience of

all the mystics of all traditions.

It is its insistence on the process

of attainment – in fact a non-

attainment, because blah blah, etc

etc – that puts it at odds with

the weight of tradition.

 

In many ways. The most important

here rests on the observation that

all other processes take time,

lots of it. Never mind that time is

an illusion. Never mind even that

some of the processes, such as

zen, admit theoretically of an

instant enlightenment, but in their

practice take years to bring the

disciple to the point where it can

instantly happen. Much preparation

is needed. It can be argued that

in the case of Papaji's disciples,

they may well have done the

preparatory work before they come

to him, so they are ready for that

last nudge.

 

It can also be argued that Advaita

is such a superior " path, " the

direct path that is no-path, that

it leaves all others in the dust.

Bullock cart methods are no longer

needed for the modern intelligent

seeker. Etc etc. And there are so

many women, especially among

Papaji's disciples, who have come

this way. If nothing else, this

is an equal-opportunity method.

 

It can't be all bad. There are

some large but's here though. One

is the certainty that this direct

enquiry, " Who am i? " is not

suitable for everybody. Even assuming

all the apparent successes of

Advaita to be genuine – a big

assumption – there is only a very

narrow segment of the population

who can benefit from this. And the

path has its dangers. Not the

dangers of the devotional/surrender

to the master path, the chief of

which is exploitation, but the

dangers of self-aggrandizement, of

getting lost in the mind.

 

To be sure, that danger is always

present, but here, with all the conceptualizing about " There is

nowhere to go, " and " I am a buddha

as i am, " etc, it is easy to see

the possibility of enlightenment

as the biggest ego trip. And it has

happened.

 

In the early 90's a sannyasin couple

who went to Papaji " got enlightened "

in very short order, started holding

satsangs and pretty soon had a group

of fifty people around them who

had also " gotten it. " The bubble did

burst and no harm was done. In

this instance quality control was

achieved because Papaji was still

in the body.

 

Since he died in 1997 however, many

who were with him only a short

time are getting into the biz. The

number of people who have actually

been told by him to go and give

satsangs is said to be quite small,

‡(more on this below) much smaller

than the number of claimers. So

there you go. The most prominent

of Papaji's disciples is Gangaji,

who, if size of org and links with

Papaji's site are any indication,

could be thought of as his official

successor. Yet she was with him

only a year and she does not inspire

universal respect, coming across

to some as fairly lightweight and

even inarticulate.

 

It is not my intention to pick on

her, and i have rated her fairly

high by my " tough " standards as

she is also said to have inspired

many seekers including some others

claiming enlightenment. My point

is more that if she is shaky, many

of them are shaky. Mira, who spent

almost thirty years with him, is

obviously not in this category, but

almost all the rest have been " drive-throughs " by comparison.

 

It should give one pause. It does

give me pause. Then there are those

who are so new or so retiring that

they have not yet stood out from

their masters very much. It's a

booming business, so they want in,

but their individuality – what's

a good word for a master's persona,

whatever they project to the public

that is their uniqueness, their

market niche?– is not very developed.

 

Nothing much can be said about them

although they may have web pages,

so i will throw them and their links,

at least for a while, into Newbies.

 

Another Take on This:

 

‡(Not my original analysis,

borrowed from NonDuality Salon):

Papaji made it clear in the book

" Nothing Ever Happened " that those

he sent to teach not only are not enlightened, they are not even

temporarily enlightened.

 

#1. When asked about those he sent

to teach, Papaji said that the

purpose was to have them point the

way to Lucknow, not to pose as

awakenened teachers.

 

#2. Papaji said that many can fool

others into thinking they are

liberated but they are the false coin.

 

#3. When asked about the experiences

that so many people had in Lucknow,

he said they were false experiences.

 

#4. When asked, " Why did you give

them false experiences? " he said

to get the leeches off my back.

 

#5. Papaji said he met only two

Jnani's in his lifetime. One was

Ramana Maharshi. The other was a

man who appeared from out of the

jungle into the town of Krishnagiri

 

#6. Ramana Maharshi said that there

is a false sense of liberation that

aspirants reach that very few ever

go beyond. Actually, more text from

" Nothing Ever Happened "

 

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