Guest guest Posted March 14, 2000 Report Share Posted March 14, 2000 At 03:47 PM 3/14/00 -0500, you wrote > >Harsha wrote, in part: > >> The fact is that most human beings love dead masters. This way, they can >> allow their imagination to create the master in their own image. Even a >> living master is really a product of imagination as Old hag/divine >princess >> suggested. >> >> Unless the nature of imagination, which gives life and power to everything >> including dead and living masters is understood, dancing to its music is >the >> only choice available. >This is an interesting statement, Harsha. Would >you mind elaborating a bit on this? > >You have shared many times of your own love for a dead >master. How does the nature of your imagination give life >and power to the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi? > >love, >Melody > > >There is no Harsha, as you see Harsha, apart from your imagination Melody. >Therefore, any explanation of Harsha's imagination giving life to Ramana >would become only part of your imagination. > >Indeed only our own imagination can give life and power to others. >Imagination is the most beautiful veil and yet cannot completely contain the >nature of reality and hide the Radiance of the Self. The seeds and power of >awakening lie in this profound understanding that you yourself constitute >all the characters in your dream and you yourself always permeate >imagination in all its forms. > >Ramana Maharshi once said beautifully that just as the elephant wakes up >upon seeing a lion in his dream, the devotee wakes up upon seeing the Guru >in his dream. > > Love > Harsha Hi Harsha and Melody and everyone, This immediately made me think about how I felt when my dad died two years ago. I love my dad very much but he had a life of extremes--alcoholism, mental illness, some serious breaches of ethical behavior--in short, he was a difficult person to love at times, and it was very emotionally trying to keep coming back to that great love and desire to trust him, to which my sisters and brothers and I continually returned. When he died, I soon had the thought, that now I can live in that state of love for him, and forget the other stuff--no more trials. I hope this does not sound callous or mean-spirited--what I am trying to say is that after his death, my dad remained a teacher to me in the best sense. I could continue to learn and mull over the spiritual lessons he taught in his best moments and actions, without the struggle of the real ups and downs, the contradictions inherent in his behavior. So with our spiritual teachers--we build our cosmologies around the long ago and far away, and love our spiritual teachers the more when they are removed to the realm of the archetype, don't you think? Then we can begin to, as you say, Harsha, make them in our own image, imparting to them all that we need them to be. Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 15, 2000 Report Share Posted March 15, 2000 > So with our spiritual teachers--we build our cosmologies around the long > ago and far away, and love our spiritual teachers the more when they are > removed to the realm of the archetype, don't you think? Then we can begin > to, as you say, Harsha, make them in our own image, imparting to them all > that we need them to be. > > Jill Hi Jill, How your words reminded me of Joseph Campbell! Oh, how I loved to sit and listen to that guy talk. :-) I have heard it said many times before that God did not make man in His own image, but it was man (collective 'man') who made God in his own image. This surely fits my experience. I often marvel at how different my God has 'evolved' to be .....especially in contrast with my neighbors' God, or the God of my youth. It seems that our 'design' of God tends to expand more and more until finally the 'design' collapses.... when all 'concepts' and 'images' are no longer needed, ....and are simply dropped. love, Melody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 15, 2000 Report Share Posted March 15, 2000 Jill Eggers wrote: > >There is no Harsha, as you see Harsha, apart from your imagination Melody. > >Therefore, any explanation of Harsha's imagination giving life to Ramana > >would become only part of your imagination. > > > >Indeed only our own imagination can give life and power to others. > >Imagination is the most beautiful veil and yet cannot completely contain the > >nature of reality and hide the Radiance of the Self. The seeds and power of > >awakening lie in this profound understanding that you yourself constitute > >all the characters in your dream and you yourself always permeate > >imagination in all its forms. > > > >Ramana Maharshi once said beautifully that just as the elephant wakes up > >upon seeing a lion in his dream, the devotee wakes up upon seeing the Guru > >in his dream. > > > > Love > > Harsha > > Hi Harsha and Melody and everyone, > > This immediately made me think about how I felt when my dad died two years > ago. I love my dad very much but he had a life of extremes--alcoholism, > mental illness, some serious breaches of ethical behavior--in short, he was > a difficult person to love at times, and it was very emotionally trying to > keep coming back to that great love and desire to trust him, to which my > sisters and brothers and I continually returned. > > When he died, I soon had the thought, that now I can live in that state of > love for him, and forget the other stuff--no more trials. I hope this does > not sound callous or mean-spirited--what I am trying to say is that after > his death, my dad remained a teacher to me in the best sense. I could > continue to learn and mull over the spiritual lessons he taught in his best > moments and actions, without the struggle of the real ups and downs, the > contradictions inherent in his behavior. > > So with our spiritual teachers--we build our cosmologies around the long > ago and far away, and love our spiritual teachers the more when they are > removed to the realm of the archetype, don't you think? Then we can begin > to, as you say, Harsha, make them in our own image, imparting to them all > that we need them to be. > > Jill > Yes, nicely put. What you say Jill makes perfect sense both psychologically and spiritually. I will forward this to other lists. My feeling is that Imagination appears as both the veil on Reality as well as the way to understanding. It contains within it the power to awaken because Consciousness permeates it and Consciousness is always aware of its own light even in the thickest fog and the darkest night. The ancient sages called this power of imagination, which appears to veil the Self-Radiance, Maya. Maya cannot be said to be real or unreal and yet when it disappears, Revealing Reality, One Sees Clearly that Reality has Never been Absent and Imagination has never existed apart from the Reality of One's Own Consciousness. Harsha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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