Notwithstanding the extraordinary prevalence of advaita teachers nowadays I don't have a lot of time for this approach. At the moment I am reading a book by Ram Dass (a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba) which is essentially about bhakti yoga and, yes, you guessed it, I don't have a lot of time for this approach either. 30 years after Osho gave me the name "Dhyan", which you also share, I am perhaps beginning to "just see the point".
It's hard to express - let's say that something happens: someone else does something and I feel in some way about it, angry, hurt, whatever. Step 1: I notice that actually they had no choice to do other than what they in fact did, given their social and psychological situation, so it's simply pointless to judge or resent them. Step 2: I notice that I also was similarly constrained to feel exactly as I did, so nothing needs to be done about that either.
At no stage do I, A) examine to whom this is happening, or B) love and forgive the other (for what they did) nor myself (for how I reacted). Seeing how it is, that's enough.
Hi Vijen, Then I wonder at your attraction to see Mooji who as I'm sure you know was connected with Papaji.
The approach you describe reminds me of Ramesh Balsekar, whom I visted and blogged about in June/July 2009, although he takes it a lot further than you describe and perhaps in ways that you wouldn't agree with.
It is also a kind of acceptance that things are the way they are, including oneself, and that no one is really to blame. I view it as another way to help neutralise the reactive mind.
I guess it's horses for courses when it comes to such things and we are all different. I myself feel a resonance with the approach prescribed by Ramana Maharishi which is why it features heavily in this blog.
Baba Purnananda, whom I mentioned earlier, does ALOT of silent sitting and isn't exactly what you would call a rationalistic character.
Notwithstanding the extraordinary prevalence of advaita teachers nowadays I don't have a lot of time for this approach. At the moment I am reading a book by Ram Dass (a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba) which is essentially about bhakti yoga and, yes, you guessed it, I don't have a lot of time for this approach either. 30 years after Osho gave me the name "Dhyan", which you also share, I am perhaps beginning to "just see the point".
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to express - let's say that something happens: someone else does something and I feel in some way about it, angry, hurt, whatever. Step 1: I notice that actually they had no choice to do other than what they in fact did, given their social and psychological situation, so it's simply pointless to judge or resent them. Step 2: I notice that I also was similarly constrained to feel exactly as I did, so nothing needs to be done about that either.
At no stage do I, A) examine to whom this is happening, or B) love and forgive the other (for what they did) nor myself (for how I reacted). Seeing how it is, that's enough.
Hi Vijen,
ReplyDeleteThen I wonder at your attraction to see Mooji who as I'm sure you know was connected with Papaji.
The approach you describe reminds me of Ramesh Balsekar, whom I visted and blogged about in June/July 2009, although he takes it a lot further than you describe and perhaps in ways that you wouldn't agree with.
It is also a kind of acceptance that things are the way they are, including oneself, and that no one is really to blame. I view it as another way to help neutralise the reactive mind.
I guess it's horses for courses when it comes to such things and we are all different. I myself feel a resonance with the approach prescribed by Ramana Maharishi which is why it features heavily in this blog.
Baba Purnananda, whom I mentioned earlier, does ALOT of silent sitting and isn't exactly what you would call a rationalistic character.