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#1495 - Thursday, July 17, 2003 - Editor: Jerry  

"I could give you no advice but this: to go into yourself
and to explore the depths where your life wells forth."

~Rainer Maria Rilke - Letters to a Young Poet

from Allspiritinspiration  

Art: Pierrot Men Horombe 1995 Gelatin silver print, Edition of 40 13.5 x 19 inches  

Daily Dharma  

"One minute of sitting, one inch of Buddha.
Like lightning all thoughts come and pass.
Just once look into your mind-depths:
Nothing else has ever been."

~Manzan

From the web site, Daily Zen,
http://www.dailyzen.com  

Sadananada
Advaitin  

Question:  

Now an interesting question is how a mere unrealized seeker such as 
myself can know for sure whom to have faith in.  How can I really 
know?  Did not Ramana say that only a sage knows a sage?  Yet I do 
have complete faith in Ramana, Nisargadatta, etc.


Response:  

Shankara addresss this question in VivekachuuDamani.

   durlambham trayamevaitad daivaanugraha hetukam|
   manushyatvam mumuxutvam mahaapurusha samsrayam||

Birth as human, desire for liberation and association with a great soul,
all these three are indeed very difficult to get.  It is only by the
grace of God, that once obtains these.

This is graceful way of saying that - it is the result of one's own good
or noble actions (self-less) actions in the past that propel one to get
these three in the order.

Krishna, in fact, answers in the 6th ch. of Giita in response to
Arjuna's question -"what happens to the seeker who dies without
achievieng his final goal?".  Krishna responds that he will be born in a
family or environment that is most conducive to his rapid progress.  If
you look at the life of Shankara, Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta
maharaj, simple circumstances pushed them to highest pursuits; you
cannot but echo those statements.

Krishna says in Giita - even doing a small amout of self-less service or
karmayogo will have a large beneficial effect (swalpa alpasya dharmasya
...).

In Avadhuuta giita - Dattatreya says - Iswaraanugraha eva pumsaam
advaita vaasana - only by the grace of god one gets a taste for advaita.
So the list members we are all blessed!

Ultimately Benjamin -you will discover the teacher in your heart when
you open up yourself. You recognize that he/she/it was the one that
helped in your spiritual progress. Overwelming gratitude/love cannot but
springout when you discover that source of knowledge. Ultimately it is
your own self that guides you.

Hari OM!
Sadananda

Maralena
NDS  

Typically I appreciate the approach and messages of "DeMello"...
however, this particular one has brought about some uneasy feelings
with not only myself... but others who have I have shown.  He is
normally very Nondual in his approach... so wondering if I/we are
missing something in this message... Any thoughts on its
meaning/delivery? Agree...Disagree?  Thank you.

"What were you thinking?"

Do you think I am going to help anybody? No! Oh, no, no, no, no, no!
Don't expect me to be of help to anyone. Nor do I expect to damage
anyone. If you are damaged, you did it; and if you are helped, you
did it. You really did! You think people help you? They don't. You
think people support you? They don't.

There was a woman in a therapy group I was conducting once. She was a
religious sister. She said to me, "I don't feel supported by my
superior." So I said, "What do you mean by that?" And she
said, "Well, my superior, the provincial superior, never shows up at
the novitiate where I am in charge, never. She never says a word of
appreciation." I said to her, "All right let's do a little role
playing. Pretend I know your provincial superior. In fact, pretend I
know exactly what she thinks about you. So I say to you (acting the
part of the provincial superior), 'You know, Mary, the reason I don't
come to that place you're in is because it is the one place in the
province that is trouble-free, no problems. I know you're in charge,
so all is well.' How do you feel now?" She said, "I feel great." Then
I said to her, "All right, would you mind leaving the room for a
minute or two? This is part of the exercise." So she did. While she
was away, I said to the others in the therapy group, "I am still the
provincial superior, O.K.? Mary out there is the worst novice
director I have ever had in the whole history of the province. In
fact, the reason I don't go to the novitiate is because I can't bear
to see what she is up to. It's simply awful. But if I tell her the
truth, it's only going to make those novices suffer all the more. We
are getting somebody to take her place in a year or two; we are
training someone. In the meantime I thought I would say those nice
things to her to keep her going. What do you think of that?" They
answered, "Well, it was really the only thing you could do under the
circumstances." Then I brought Mary back into the group and asked her
if she still felt great. "Oh yes," she said. Poor Mary! She thought
she was being supported when she wasn't. The point is that most of
what we feel and think we conjure up for ourselves in our heads,
including this business of being helped by people.

Do you think you help people because you are in love with them? Well,
I've got news for you. You are never in love with anyone. You're only
in love with your prejudiced and hopeful idea of that person. Take a
minute to think about that: You are never in love with anyone, you're
in love with your prejudiced idea of that person. Isn't that how you
fall out of love? Your idea changes, doesn't it? "How could you let
me down when I trusted you so much?" you say to someone. Did you
really trust them? You never trusted anyone. Come off it! That's part
of society's brainwashing. You never trust anyone. You only trust
your judgment about that person. So what are you complaining about?
The fact is that you don't like to say, "My judgment was lousy."
That's not very flattering to you, is it? So you prefer to say, "How
could you have let me down?"

So there it is: People don't really want to grow up, people don't
really want to change, people don't really want to be happy. As
someone so wisely said to me, "Don't try to make them happy, you'll
only get in trouble. Don't try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your
time and it irritates the pig." Like the businessman who goes into a
bar, sits down, and sees this fellow with a banana in his ear - a
banana in his ear! And he thinks, "I wonder if I should mention that
to him. No, it's none of my business." But the thought nags at him.
So after having a drink or two, he says to the fellow, "Excuse me,
ah, you've got a banana in your ear." The fellow says, "What?" The
businessman repeats, "You've got a banana in your ear. " Again the
fellow says, "What was that?" "You've got a banana in your ear!" the
businessman shouts. "Talk louder," the fellow says, "I've got a
banana in my ear!"

So it's useless. "Give up, give up, give up," I say to myself. Say
your thing and get out of here. And if they profit, that's fine, and
if they don't, too bad!

~ Anthony De Mello, SJ

Gene Poole  

Hi Maralena...

I agree with the observations made by DeMello.

Someone mentioned 'bad hair day'... the 'realization'
of Demello showed here, is within a context, which his
article exposes. I think not 'bad hair day', but instead,
acknowledgement of the 'will o' the wisp'  nature of
the human/human identity/flitting attention of the
human.

Working with people... in a so-called 'spiritual context',
if  done properly, is actually a process of 'parsing'... that
is, the work of removing superstitions.

The person who is directing the process of parsing, need
of necessity, have parsed himself to the very core, beforehand,
and thus bereft of superstition, share the reasoning which
succeeds in uprooting superstition. This article by Demello
represents such reasoning.

This article stands as an example, of one of the essential
'gateway' concepts which a teacher may erect, to eliminate
troublesome 'students'. The student who cannot understand
and agree with the concepts included, will always be expecting
to find a concrete basis for 'belief and experience'. It is very
useful (useful for everyone) to have to confront this rock-bottom
reality, before any further explorations are undertaken.

The 'will o' the wisp' human, needs to be able to be
're-minded' when necessary, for the sake of bringing
attention into the context of awareness 'itself'. Our
deliberate parsing of superstition will succeed, only if
there is no assumption of a concrete underpinning of
Being.

"Rooted in emptiness", the bloom opens,
but what is this flower?  

Tom Johanson
http://www.tomjohanson.com/body_mind_spirit.htm  

"The body is like a chemical factory controlled by and
interacting with the mind and the soul. When you treat a
patient as a healer you are simply transmitting the spiritual
energy that is available to everybody who concerntrates
silently and sincerely and is opening up to receive it.  

The healing energy is flowing through you but it has its own
mind. In a mysterious way this energy finds its own way in the
patient's body and energy system - exactly where it is needed.
We have been given the perfect tools to heal others and
ourselves naturally.   The key to it lies deeply in ourselves.  

All you need to start with is an honest compassion and love
for people, a genuine care for every living creature. As you
link with the higher sources and open up you become a channel
of healing energy.  

Everybody can heal on some level, if he really wants to and
has sincere motives (being a famous healer and making lots of
money isn't one) - there are of course the most exceptional
levels, special talents of healing, psychic diagnosis and
psychic surgery existing that are not comparable with this
simple beginner's approach to healing.  

But if you really have the desire to help, it will grow, as
you are growing in all other parts of your life. And it will
be there, when you really need it and are really ready for it,
for a happier life.  

When you treat a physical disease through the mind and soul
the body will start to produce the missing chemicals for its
own healing in time. Illness is often like a wake-up call. As
the consciousness is growing the body will change, too, and
respond differently."  

from http://www.hinduism.co.za/freedom&.htm

Sri Ramana Maharshi:

Creation is neither good nor bad; it is as it is. It is the human mind which puts all sorts of constructions on it, seeing things from its own angle and interpreting them to suit its own interests. A woman is just a woman, but one mind calls her '‘mother'’ another '‘sister'’ and still another '‘aunt' and so on. Men love women, hate snakes, and are indifferent to the grass and stones by the roadside. These value-judgements are the cause of all the misery in the world. Creation is like a peepul tree; birds come and eat its fruit, or take shelter under its branches, men cool themselves in its shade, but some may hang themselves on it. Yet the tree continues to lead its quiet life, unconcerned with and unaware of all the uses it is put to.

It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help. Is God so partial as to give peace to one person and sorrow to another? In creation there is room for everything, but man refuses to see the good, the healthy and the beautiful. Instead, he goes on whining, like the hungry man who sits besides the tasty dish and who, instead of stretching out his hand to satisfy his hunger, goes on lamenting, ‘Whose fault is it, God’s or man’s?’

It is true that we are not bound and that the real Self has no bondage. It is true that you will eventually go back to your source. But meanwhile, if you commit sins, as you call them, you will have to face the consequences of such sins. You cannot escape them. If a man beats you, then, can you say, '‘I am free, I am not bound by these beatings and I don’t feel any pain. Let him beat on’? If you can feel like that, you can go on doing what you like. What is the use of merely saying with your lips ‘I am free’?

Pure Joy - Anonymous  

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