Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Dear Tony: Sadly, as long as you are falling into the habit of deifying this or that Guru...holding them up on pedestals, rather than understanding that they, like your or me, are merely humans, you will fall into the sad condition of illusion, then disillusionment...possibly deciding that they are all frauds... It would be sad to see someone who sincerely yearns for honest spiritual insight and knowledge fall into this mind trap. What Shirdi Sai Baba meant, and all genuine and inspired teachers insist on, is that God is within you..."Know thyself" as Socrates admonished. There is no ultimate place. There is no singular person of magical or divine attainment. It is all a journey and the trip is paved with your own road of life. Stop fawning and following. Read, respect, study, learn, yes, but do not set up teachers as ultimate authorities, nor devote yourself to such ephemeral abstractions. Love those who guide by intent and also those who teach by example or by accident. It doesn't matter their credential, history or esteem in the Arcane World. You can learn love from a child, from a dog, a cat, a bird. You can find the universe in the center of a rose. Words, forms, structures are but mental traps. Nonduality is about the evolvement of thinking without boundaries...seeing the universe in all things, coming to understand the totality of all things and the deep interrelatedness of it all. With a sigh a dream can be extinguished...with a breath, a world can be saved from destruction. Every moment and thought is precious...waste no words or efforts on rancor and harsh labels of "fraud" or "saint" as all Saints are Frauds and all Frauds might be saints, too, if we understood them. I always believe that people who can only be devoted to abstract identities and long dead Saints, Gurus and Mystics have a tragic block that limits their perception about people living in the here and now. They can love the dead, but they can only find fault with the living. Don't fall into that trap: if you knew the "dead" as close up and personally as the "living" you would find faults with them, too! We must constantly guard our minds against this form of discrimination. Learn to love in the here and now. That is the only test of our spiritual advancement. And when people disappoint or hurt us... Love them all the more... Because that, my friend, is the ultimate test. Love, Zenbob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Dear Andrew: Awe, now stop fawning... Soon you will have me on one of those shaky pedestals Thanks, of course for the kind thoughts. You are too kind, as always. Blessings, Love, Zenbob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Dear Harsha: "It is always like that." Wonderful and true! The miraculous is always cloaked in the "ordinary." When we see the true nature of the "ordinary" we often discover how miraculous it is. I was meditating at a beach in the Montana de Oro area near Morro Bay recently when a young woman, collecting drift wood and shells passed nearby and smiled. I remarked about the beauty of the day, the peacefulness of this beach...since for miles in any direction there was not another person visible. I asked what she was collecting, and she replied, "God's debris." I smiled, and asked her how she could discern God's debris from all of the other debris. She smiled and said, "Oh, it's all God's debris...I just select the small pieces that I can carry!" With that she merrily walked off down the beach. The thought soothed me for the entire day. Now, I too, am hooked on finding choice examples of God's debris...and I realize that I can find that anywhere. Love, Blessings, Zenbob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 ZEN2WRK wrote: > > ZEN2WRK > > Dear Tony: > > Sadly, as long as you are falling into the habit of deifying this or that > Guru...holding them up on pedestals, rather than understanding that they, > like your or me, are merely humans, you will fall into the sad condition of > illusion, then disillusionment...possibly deciding that they are all frauds... > > It would be sad to see someone who sincerely yearns for honest spiritual > insight and knowledge fall into this mind trap. What Shirdi Sai Baba meant, > and all genuine and inspired teachers insist on, is that God is within > you..."Know thyself" as Socrates admonished. There is no ultimate place. > There is no singular person of magical or divine attainment. It is all a > journey and the trip is paved with your own road of life. > > Stop fawning and following. Read, respect, study, learn, yes, but do not set > up teachers as ultimate authorities, nor devote yourself to such ephemeral > abstractions. Love those who guide by intent and also those who teach by > example or by accident. It doesn't matter their credential, history or > esteem in the Arcane World. You can learn love from a child, from a dog, a > cat, a bird. You can find the universe in the center of a rose. Words, > forms, structures are but mental traps. Nonduality is about the evolvement > of thinking without boundaries...seeing the universe in all things, coming to > understand the totality of all things and the deep interrelatedness of it all. > > With a sigh a dream can be extinguished...with a breath, a world can be saved > from destruction. Every moment and thought is precious...waste no words or > efforts on rancor and harsh labels of "fraud" or "saint" as all Saints are > Frauds and all Frauds might be saints, too, if we understood them. I always > believe that people who can only be devoted to abstract identities and long > dead Saints, Gurus and Mystics have a tragic block that limits their > perception about people living in the here and now. They can love the dead, > but they can only find fault with the living. > > Don't fall into that trap: if you knew the "dead" as close up and personally > as the "living" you would find faults with them, too! We must constantly > guard our minds against this form of discrimination. Learn to love in the > here and now. That is the only test of our spiritual advancement. And when > people disappoint or hurt us... > > Love them all the more... > > Because that, my friend, is the ultimate test. > > Love, > > Zenbob > Man what a beautiful post, Thanks Zenbob love, andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 ZEN2WRK wrote: > ZEN2WRK > > Dear Tony: > > Sadly, as long as you are falling into the habit of deifying this or that > Guru...holding them up on pedestals, rather than understanding that they, > like your or me, are merely humans, you will fall into the sad condition of > illusion, then disillusionment...possibly deciding that they are all frauds... > > It would be sad to see someone who sincerely yearns for honest spiritual > insight and knowledge fall into this mind trap. What Shirdi Sai Baba meant, > and all genuine and inspired teachers insist on, is that God is within > you..."Know thyself" as Socrates admonished. There is no ultimate place. > There is no singular person of magical or divine attainment. It is all a > journey and the trip is paved with your own road of life. > > Stop fawning and following. Read, respect, study, learn, yes, but do not set > up teachers as ultimate authorities, nor devote yourself to such ephemeral > abstractions. Love those who guide by intent and also those who teach by > example or by accident. It doesn't matter their credential, history or > esteem in the Arcane World. You can learn love from a child, from a dog, a > cat, a bird. You can find the universe in the center of a rose. Words, > forms, structures are but mental traps. Nonduality is about the evolvement > of thinking without boundaries...seeing the universe in all things, coming to > understand the totality of all things and the deep interrelatedness of it all. > > With a sigh a dream can be extinguished...with a breath, a world can be saved > from destruction. Every moment and thought is precious...waste no words or > efforts on rancor and harsh labels of "fraud" or "saint" as all Saints are > Frauds and all Frauds might be saints, too, if we understood them. I always > believe that people who can only be devoted to abstract identities and long > dead Saints, Gurus and Mystics have a tragic block that limits their > perception about people living in the here and now. They can love the dead, > but they can only find fault with the living. > > Don't fall into that trap: if you knew the "dead" as close up and personally > as the "living" you would find faults with them, too! We must constantly > guard our minds against this form of discrimination. Learn to love in the > here and now. That is the only test of our spiritual advancement. And when > people disappoint or hurt us... > > Love them all the more... > > Because that, my friend, is the ultimate test. > > Love, > > Zenbob > Thank you for that beautiful and insightful post Sri Zenbobji. I am reminded of a story of a close devotee of Ramana who was away from Arunachala and missing the Sage very much. He was thinking how wonderful it would be, to be in the holy company of the great Maharshi again. He was thinking how great is Ramana and how he (the devotee) loves him so and could not bear to be far apart. When this man finally had a chance to go back to visit Ramana, he grabbed it and quickly went to the Ashram. There was Ramana sitting there. Going close to him, the devotee said, "I have been missing you so much and thinking about your greatness. But I come here and see you and things look quite ordinary and you look quite ordinary too. Sri Ramana smiled sweetly and said, "It is always like that." Harsha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Dear Zenbabaji, What a miracle and what a blessing that you've discovered the wonder and the miraculousness of the ordinary. What a great story, wonderfully told! With love, --Greg At 05:51 PM 1/28/00 EST, ZEN2WRK wrote: >ZEN2WRK > >Dear Harsha: > >"It is always like that." Wonderful and true! The miraculous is always >cloaked in the "ordinary." When we see the true nature of the "ordinary" we >often discover how miraculous it is. > >I was meditating at a beach in the Montana de Oro area near Morro Bay >recently when a young woman, collecting drift wood and shells passed nearby >and smiled. I remarked about the beauty of the day, the peacefulness of this >beach...since for miles in any direction there was not another person >visible. I asked what she was collecting, and she replied, "God's debris." >I smiled, and asked her how she could discern God's debris from all of the >other debris. She smiled and said, "Oh, it's all God's debris...I just >select the small pieces that I can carry!" With that she merrily walked off >down the beach. The thought soothed me for the entire day. Now, I too, am >hooked on finding choice examples of God's debris...and I realize that I can >find that anywhere. > >Love, >Blessings, > >Zenbob > >--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- > >GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds. Get rates as low as 0.0 percent >Intro or 9.9 percent Fixed APR and no hidden fees. Apply NOW. ><a href=" http://clickme./ad/NextcardCreative5 ">Click Here</a> > >------ > >All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2000 Report Share Posted January 28, 2000 Dear Zenbob: I loved this....the sublime in the mundane, the mundane in the sublime....Pippi Longstockings told her little friends that one of the greatest jobs was to be a "thing-finder". Anyone, she said, could be a chimneysweep or a grocer (or a lawyer, or a doctor....) but it takes a special eye to be thing-finder....where an empty spool of thread is really a necklace in disguise.....and an empty can is simply an empty cookie jar waiting to be filled......The things we find in great disguise......the lies that hold truth and the truths that hold lies that hold truths....so many ways to see and look and find.....God' Debris., Ahhhhhhh, sweet treasure....for truly, God don't make no trash. Love, Kristi At 05:51 PM 1/28/00 EST, you wrote: >ZEN2WRK > >Dear Harsha: > >"It is always like that." Wonderful and true! The miraculous is always >cloaked in the "ordinary." When we see the true nature of the "ordinary" we >often discover how miraculous it is. > >I was meditating at a beach in the Montana de Oro area near Morro Bay >recently when a young woman, collecting drift wood and shells passed nearby >and smiled. I remarked about the beauty of the day, the peacefulness of this >beach...since for miles in any direction there was not another person >visible. I asked what she was collecting, and she replied, "God's debris." >I smiled, and asked her how she could discern God's debris from all of the >other debris. She smiled and said, "Oh, it's all God's debris...I just >select the small pieces that I can carry!" With that she merrily walked off >down the beach. The thought soothed me for the entire day. Now, I too, am >hooked on finding choice examples of God's debris...and I realize that I can >find that anywhere. > >Love, >Blessings, > >Zenbob > >--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- > >GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds. Get rates as low as 0.0 percent >Intro or 9.9 percent Fixed APR and no hidden fees. Apply NOW. ><a href=" http://clickme./ad/NextcardCreative5 ">Click Here</a> > >------ > >All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2000 Report Share Posted January 29, 2000 In a message dated 1/28/00 7:14:18 PM Pacific Standard Time, orleans writes: << Pippi Longstockings told her little friends that one of the greatest jobs was to be a "thing-finder". >> Dear Kristi: Thanks for the great reply. Yes, I believe it would be fitting for me to enshrine Pippi on my mantel of Gurus and Saints now. I have been a "thing-finder," I fear, for a good part of my life...blessed with too much imagination and too little will power to discard the odd thingie or two. I finally moved to a ten acre property...and now have room for all of these oddities of finding. Thanks...you made me smile. Blessings Love, Zenbob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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