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#4140-
Friday, January 21, 2011 - Editor: Jerry Katz
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Only That
The Life and Teaching of Sailor Bob Adamson
by Kalyani Lawry
Reviewed by Jerry Katz
Author Kalyani Lawry’s association with Bob Adamson has a
long history. She first met ‘Sailor’ Bob in the 1970s
when they were both devotees of Swami Muktananda. At one point
Bob shifted his devotion from Muktananda to Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Kalyani did not make that shift, however decades later Kalyani
would find herself sitting with Bob at his home and, now,
presenting us with a book of Bob’s life and a selection of
his teachings.
Only That includes 16 glossy pages with 23 black and white photos
of Bob from childhood through various stages of his life,
including a few photos of Nisargadatta Maharaj, his teacher. The
photos and the first half of the book, which is about Bob’s
life, are new contributions to the printed Adamson works.
The Table of Contents for Part 2, The Teaching, is cleverly
designed, with each chapter a teaching unto itself, for example,
'The Ego is Fiction,' 'Can You Get Out of the Now?' and
'Everything is That.' There is no index, which would be helpful
for easily finding uses of the term 'full stop', or where Bob
referred to Buddhism, for example.
Nisargadatta Maharaj was Bob’s primary teacher. To such a
degree of success has Bob communicated the essence of
Nisargadatta, that he is informally known as perhaps the best
living representative of the Nisargadatta teaching. I make it
clear that Nisargadatta never authorized Bob (or anyone else) to
teach and Bob has his own style of communication.
This informality of lineage is important to point out because it
informs potential students of Bob that they are not being invited
into a formal lineage or a tradition. While there are benefits to
aligning with a tradition, any association with Bob is that of
two people getting down to what is true.
The author’s purpose is to introduce and further contribute
to Adamson’s published works by presenting his teachings
alongside his biography. The author has succeeded and also
contributed something new, since there is no other printed work
providing so many details of Bob’s past. I’m not aware
of all the podcasts with Bob which may contain further
biographical material. I know that Bob has discussed his past
with people other than Kalyani, but I believe this is the first
time Bob’s history has been published in print.
The biography is the bones of the book’s theme and thesis: a
life of alcoholic suffering gives way to nondual spiritual
enlightenment. The thesis is that it is possible to overcome
suffering and alcoholism and to understand one’s true nature
if one gets a foothold in sanity, values it deeply, and follows
the path that opens up as far as possible.
While Bob Adamson’s teachings are available in other
published writings, in podcasts, and in person, what I like about
this book is the packaging of biography with teachings and the
noting of the turning points in Bob’s life that opened up to
the realization expressed in the section of the book on
teachings.
The turning points were the final quitting of drinking and a
question that arose out of that, a question I’d never heard,
a question Bob posed about his life. I won’t say what the
question was, leaving it to the reader to stumble upon.
What makes Only That relevant and significant is the biographical
material in conjunction with the teaching. The phase of
‘Sailor’ Bob’s life in the Navy and his great
psychological suffering and alcoholism are the most intense parts
of the biography. They form the most important part of the book
because they are new revelations in print regarding Adamson and
they show the profound suffering, alcoholism, addiction, and
despair.
~ ~ ~
This is only half the review. Please click below to read the rest
at Advaita Academy:
http://advaita-academy.org/books/Only-That-The-Life-and-Teaching-of-Sailor-Bob-Adamson.ashx