Dan & 2nd Hand Inference

July 23, 2001

Dan,

Ask yourself this: when you answer El's statements about guru devotion with your intellectual observations, aren't those observations based on a mechanical and second hand report of an assumed identity that may be garbled in transmission? Ask yourself further, but in the same spirit, how are you and your opinions perceived by us, your supposed audience? Are you, as you present yourself on our computers, a second hand report about an infered idea of relationship?

Finally, let me suggest that the Jnani's game of self analysis only works for the Jnani himself, not in some second hand projection onto an assumed "other". this sadhana has never been given, at least by a any Jnani guru that I''m familiar with, for the purpose of torturing the logic of relationship and the deeply felt statements of a devotee, particularly when that relationship is so obviously enjoyed by the would-be jnani.

Think of this teaching of Ramana Maharshi. He was giving his usual lecture on "self inquery", when his questioner said, "but what if I can't sustain asking myself ' Who am I?' " Ramana said," Then you must take refuge in a guru and do everything that he asks you to do".

The path of Jnana is a clear one and easily conveyed to an intellectual for whom that particular path was designed. The path of Surrender to a guru is not so easily analysed. The injunctions to the devotee or disciple are readily available; one need look no farther than the poetry of Kabir, Tukaram, Jnaneshvar or Rumi. Narada's Bhakti Sutras sum it all up in a succinctly pithy fashion. But none of these documents presumes to describe what is actually taking place in the inwardly realized relationship between the guru and his or her devotee. Consider this Sufi story that I came by in one of Idries Shah's books.

A great spiritual Sheik was dying. His first born who had not been initiated into his father's work asked him," Father, they say you are running a 'secret school' here. What is a secret school? The Sheik regarded his son for a moment, then replied, "Son, a secret school is where you rub one thing against another."

yours in the bonds,

eric