MAHARAJ: "I Talk to You from the Perspective of the Universal Consciousness," Part Thirty-Four
So this was asked: "Why, therefore" is the concept of God is so attractive and pretty-much universally-accepted in spite of the fact that 'A God Spot' is just one of the thousands of bogus concepts of dreamed-up by persons who are attuned to astrology and ancient traditions and myths and superstitions and magic and all of the stuff rooted in ancient, pagan sky cults?"
And why is the concept of "A Creator" so popular when a fourth grade student is taught that all is matter / energy and neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed (and thus there being no way that any creator or Creator can exist?)
To review reasons 1-4:
Reason #1: Maharaj: ""First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and ... you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."
Reason #2: Just as no child is intuitively driven by "A Santa Claus Spot" to believe in Santa Claus, no child is intuitively driven by "A God Spot" to believe in God.
Reason #3: Programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing.
Reason#4: There's always a perceived payoff, including a clean slate followed by the ability to start over doing whatever one wants and then get the slate cleaned again after that, ad infinitum.
To continue:
Reason #5: Status in the community
Reason #6: Reinforcement of a sense of better-than-ment
Reason #7: Admiration
Reason #8: Praise
Reason #9: Acceptance and approval from parents, relatives, friends, society
Reason #10: Rewards and "blessings" now
Reason #11: Rewards and "blessings" later
Reason #12: Eternity in a paradise / eternal bliss / eternity in a celestial brothel, whatever
Reason #13: The avoidance of punishment now
Reason #14: The avoidance of punishment later
And the requirement for the continuation of believing that those reasons make sense is the continuation of a warped perspective which set one up to buy into such concepts in the first place.
A clear and proper perspective can only come post-Realization, but it does not actually come in all of the cases of Realization that are claimed. Prior to Realization, there is no distortion-free perspective at all. In a relative existence which is marked by duality, the things considered to be "good things" are totally blown out of perspective, so there will be talk of "the most wonderful thing that has just happened" or talk of "the most wonderful person that I met that I feel I'd like to spend a lifetime with" or reporting that "the new person I'm dating and I tried to write a pro-con list about each other, but we both found only pro's and not a single con." Distortion. Distortion. Distortion.
Conversely, the things considered to be "bad things" among those lacking clear perspective are totally blown out of proportion and then there is talk of "the worst thing in my life just happened." Distortion and instability and fluctuation and even chaos become the abnormal "norm" in the absence of clear perspective. Those with no clear perspective abide forever at the extremes of duality rather than within the envelope of stability and sanity and logic and reason.
Furthermore, those who only complete two of the three legs on "the Advaita / Nisargan journey" have no clear perspective either, believing that - since they completed the second, going-back-out leg as described by Maharaj - they have now "moved into the Absolute."
They stop there rather than having followed "in reverse the path by which they came" and then having "come back" to the relative while staying in touch with Reality (a.k.a., "THAT") and in touch with reality (a.k.a., the realities of the AM-ness).
It is also to be understood that perspective in some ways is a combination of art and science.
(Recall that Maharaj said that someday science would advance far enough that it would support all of the non-dual teachings. Science is one antidote for the absence of perspective. If one does not understand (or rejects) science, then one in such a state of ignorance might claim that a hurricane hit a particular city because of the negative karma of the people there; or one trapped in ignorance might offer a distorted, no-accurate-perspective-no-science-involved view that natural events - tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes which create havoc in coastal regions - are "signs from God" that the people punished thusly better change their ways.)
As Maharaj noted, science and facts are at the core of the light-bringing understanding that non-duality offers, science being a part of what some Realized teachers use to support the "philosophical," non-dual pointers that they offer.
DEFINING PERSPECTIVE
Some definitions of perspective were mentioned early on with a note that they would later be discussed in more detail. The following are now offered for consideration:
Perspective can be seen as a combination of "the art and the science of so delineating all that is witnessed in order that all shall seem to grow smaller when receding from the eye." (Molehills, therefore, are no longer mistaken for mountains.)
Perspective is "a way of regarding situations, facts, happenings, etc, and judging their relative importance accurately" (concluding usually that they are all much ado about nothing);
perspective is "the proper or accurate point of view" or "the ability to see objectively and sanely and wisely";
perspective is "a particular way of viewing things in a manner that is always diametrically opposite of the way that the masses view things"; and
it is "a 'point of view' that is taken from a particular or unique vantage point."
Among the Realized, that "vantage point" is the platform of Pure Witnessing. From there, all can be viewed in proper perspective. If something is in perspective, it is considered as only a small part of a complete situation so that one has an accurate understanding of it and is no longer "fooled" or "foolish" or "a fool." (And only if the functioning of the totality is understood can the "complete situation" be viewed in proper and accurate perspective.)
Where the Nisargan (Natural) Yoga understanding has been combined with Full Realization, then the following perspectives have happened with some few on the planet:
a. natural events are understood to be natural events, not supernatural events that are used by some "power from another world to send signs or messages by way of disasters"; and
b. natural events are not believed to be tools used by some "accountant-type power in the universe" who (or that) keeps track of every human's activities on an other-worldly balance sheet and who tracks which people are doing "good things" and which people are doing "bad things" and to whom "disasters must therefore be sent in order to re-balance the karmic energy in the universe."
The perspective here is that such magical thinking is evidence of ignorance, or insanity, or a desire to employ a shrewd means for manipulating and controlling people, or all three.
The perspective here is that there is no difference at all in Human Form "A" and Human Form "B" or in "Speck of Conscious-Energy 'C'" and "Speck of Conscious-Energy 'D'"; yet there is no denying that
. . . there is a major difference in the way that the relative existence plays out for the Realized that are abiding naturally - as their original nature - vs. the way that the relative existence plays out for those who are trapped in ignorance and darkness and who are being driven by their distorted perspectives (including the non-Realized masses as well as many of the non-Realized persons who are claiming to be Realized).
[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]
MAHARAJ: "I Talk to You from the Perspective of the Universal Consciousness," Part Thirty-Three
So why did seekers who offered praise of Maharaj's earlier pointers begin offering criticism of his later pointers? And why did Maharaj receive less attention from seekers than did his contemporaries?
As Maharaj did say and would say again: "It's simple."
Early praise was received from a mostly-Hindu audience of persons who were primary religious above all else. Following his guru's advice, Maharaj initially offered traditional Hindu / religious sessions to attract the only audience available at the time and then used that captive audience to "slip in" some non-dual pointers as well. Thus, his early version of the Ultimate Medicine was a religious / non-dual compound.
Later, after the publication of I AM THAT, more Westerners found their way to Bombay and up the winding staircase to his loft. Most had no Hindu background and claimed to be on a "spiritual journey," so Maharaj's version of the Ultimate Medicine shifted to a spirituality / non-dual compound to suit that new audience.
Eventually, after he saw that the results of the version(s) of the Ultimate Medicine being offered by him and his contemporary teachers were practically nil (guesstimating that only 1 in 100,000 were being freed from the Ultimate Sickness, later modifying that to only 1 out of 1,000,000 and eventually modifying that to only 1 out of 10,000,000) he made another change in the formula of the remedy being offered to try to treat the Sickness of those who came his way:
he refocused his attention on treating the mental aspects of the Sickness rather than buying into the prevailing theory that the Ultimate Sickness is a result of people not being religious enough or a result of their having a spiritual malady; instead, he began explaining that the problems of humanity all center in the mind.
That is why during his later years he said of the book I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today." He went on to say, I am "emphasizing different aspects" and invited seekers to focus on those "different aspects" which were rooted in his new and different perspective regarding the Sickness and the proper Medicine.
So why did seekers who offered praise for the content of his earlier pointers begin offering criticism of his later pointers?
1. Because those initially happy were listening to his earliest talks when he was speaking mainly from the same perspective as his audience members who had assumed the role of "The Super Religious Ones;
2. because those who came afterwards and were happy with Maharaj for a time were listening to his talks when Maharaj was speaking mainly from the same perspective as an audience who had assumed the role of "Spiritual Giants";
3. because of the truth revealed about human behavior as expressed by a British writer whose words can explain the nature of the critics of Maharaj's later message. To paraphrase: "When a truly wise man appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him."
So when Maharaj turned his focus to the actual mental roots and psychological aspects of the Ultimate Sickness, his message became anathema to those playing the role of "The Super Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant."
And why were some of his contemporary teachers able to spend small fortunes building ashrams which could accommodate huge numbers of seekers (and, in some cases, build large fortunes in the process) when Maharaj did not? First, he turned down an offer from a wealthy visitor to build an ashram for him. Secondly, after he began speaking with a totally different perspective from the mostly-religious perspective he held early on, the religious persons turned against him and criticized him for catering to the whims of Westerners. The number of religious seekers dropped off as the number of Western seekers increased;
during the mid-years, when he began speaking with a totally different perspective from the mostly-spiritual perspective during the middle period of his teaching, the spiritual persons turned against him and criticized him after he noted that "You people take yourselves to be spiritual giants; next to you, I am a mere spiritual pygmy"; thus, the number of visitors dropped off again;
and during the later years, when he realized that the Sickness is a mental illness and began talking from the perspective of one that understands exactly how the mind forms, and understands exactly how it becomes corrupted, and also understands exactly how the mind drives ignorant and insane thoughts and words and actions, his critics said that "Maharaj's egotism took control of him and pulled him right out of offering a religious / spiritual message of Truth and to offering his own personal message." Another huge drop off in praise for Maharaj happened.
[It still continues on some fronts. One critic recently wrote: "The first book of Maharaj's talks that I found and read had his later talks in it and I'm so was glad that I was told to ignore the later talks and go back and read what he said in I AM THAT when he was still humble and still teaching the Truth." In fact, one of the lines (in bold below) from the movie "A Few Good Men" which was delivered by the Jack Nicholson character named Colonel Jessep would apply to that critic:
Colonel Jessep: "You want answers?"
Kaffee: "I want the truth!"
Colonel Jessep: "You can't handle the truth!"]
But the psychological message Maharaj offered at the end, focusing on the mind aspect of the Ultimate Sickness and inviting seekers to be rid of the mind and to reach a state of zero concepts in order to truly return to "The Child Ignorance Stage" / "The Child No-Knowing State," well, that message was not nearly as appealing to the ego-state and accompanying egotism of "The Super Religious One" and was not nearly as appealing to the ego-state and accompanying egotism of "The Spiritual Giant."
Why? The last thing that most persons then wanted to hear – and the last thing that most persons now want to hear – is that "you have a mental problem, and neither religion nor spirituality can cure that; to the contrary, religion and spirituality actually aggravate mental problems because (A) mind problems involve being out of touch with reality (and Reality) and because (B) the assumption of false religious and / or spiritual personas only aggravate being out of touch with reality (and Reality)."
The result of being out of touch with reality? A warped perspective. The result of having a warped perspective? Being out-of-touch with reality. An endless loop is set up, and most will spend an entire manifestation being driven by what was added, by that which jerks children out of the "The Child Ignorance Stage" / "The Child No-Knowing State" and infects them with the Ultimate Sickness as they are pumped full of hundreds of thousands of concepts and hundreds of thousands of beliefs and develop the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness which Maharaj said are mental in their nature, namely, the mental symptoms of "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity."
That kind of straight talk (which comes when the consciousness speaks from a clear perspective and via an actual understanding of the real roots of the problems of humanity and an actual understanding of the real solutions for the problems facing humanity) is a most unpopular kind of talk when heard by those who are totally removed from reality and from truth and by those who are trapped in the arrogance of their own high self-esteem and the ignorance and insanity of their warped perspectives which were set in place through no fault of their own but by warped programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing instead.
And it is that kind of warped perspective and those levels of ignorance and insanity which set persons up to buy into the most ignorant and insane ancient teachings which were dreamed up millennia ago as well as to buy into the most ignorant and insane present-day teachings which have been dreamed up more recently. Among those ignorant and insane present-day teachings are supernatural and nonsensical concepts about "sacred contracts" and " A God Spot" (not to be mistaken with that other kind of "G-spot" which might better serve such rigid types who spend their days pontificating about "sacred contracts" and " A God Spot" and philosophy and ideology and dogma and other-worldly things while being totally out of touch with relative existence things.)
So this was asked yesterday: "Why, therefore, is the concept of 'God' so attractive and pretty-much universally-accepted in spite of the fact that 'A God Spot' is just one of the thousands of bogus concepts dreamed up by persons who are attuned to astrology and ancient traditions and myths and superstitions and magic and all of the stuff rooted in ancient, pagan sky cults?"
And why is the concept of "A Creator" so popular when a fourth-grade level student is taught that all is matter / energy and neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed (offering absolute proof that there is no way that any creator or Creator can exist)?
Reason #3: All children abide for a spell in "The Child Ignorance Stage" / "The Child No-Knowing State," akin to the blank slate / tabula rasa condition. At that point, they know nothing; they have a brain, but they have nothing that has been stored in the mind part of that organ. Whatever they believe in eventually will have been taught to them and will be based in humankind's widespread "ignorance, stupidity and insanity"
(I) because widespread ignorant and stupid and insane programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing will strap each child with "ignorance, stupidity and insanity" and
(II) because that will infect them with the Ultimate Sickness which will, in most cases, result in all of them, for the remainder of the manifestation, being driven by a warped perspective and will result in their suffering from the plague of "ignorant and stupid and insane" thoughts and words and actions.
Reason#4: There's always a payoff available to "believers." If a child (a) repeatedly does to others anything he wants to do, and takes whatever he wants from others, and harms others - relatively speaking - but (b) has parents who teach him or her to say "I'm sorry" and then allow the child to escape consequences, then that child will repeatedly do anything he wants to others, and will take whatever he wants from others, and will harm others - relatively speaking – and will forever use his "Get Out of Jail Free Card" in order to constantly "wipe one's dirty slate clean." For most on the planet, God is the parent in their minds and they obtain from their God his "Get Out of Jail Free Card" in order to allow God to constantly "wipe their dirty slates clean."
Is there any chance that you or I can change what is called "this insane world?" Hardly. Is there any way that specific persons who have been infected with the Ultimate Sickness can find the Ultimate Medicine and be free of the symptoms which Maharaj identified as "ignorance, stupidity and insanity"? You bet. Some claim that can happen if one first gets a "new pair of glasses" in order to see things more clearly, with a different and accurate perspective.
But actually, one might begin by buying "a new tee shirt" which offers a new and different perspective and reminder and focus by replacing this one
with this one
Seeing clearly involves focusing, but there is no solution to a problem if the focus in on something that is not the actual source of the problem. No professional, accredited facility which treats mental illness - and which has built a history of effectively treating mental illness - uses religion or spirituality to address personality disorders and neuroses and psychoses.
And no professional, accredited facility which treats mental illness - and which has built a history of effectively treating mental illness - suggests that patients should find some way to escape from the realities of life on this planet and should dissociate completely and should avoid completely and should move mentally to some other world. Their mentally-ill patients have already done that.
The key is to pull them back into touch with reality, and that is exactly what Maharaj came to understand.
TOMORROW: Reason #5, and others.
MAHARAJ: "I Talk to You from the Perspective of the Universal Consciousness," Part Thirty-Two
How widespread are the effects of the content stored in the minds of the masses who are trapped in delusion and distortion and deception and self-deception? Widespread enough to make millionaires and billionaires of people who are arrogant enough to claim they have the answers to what are nothing more than bogus questions to start with, all dreamed up by the minds of persons who are trapped in their propensity to pontificate about their philosophy, about their ideology, about what has been stored in their minds which are now preoccupied with the theoretical, the dreamy, the vague, the faraway, the wistful, and supposed out-of-this-world marvels, involving the terrific and the fantastic.
Does any of that mind "stuff" have even the slightest value? In truth, it would take that and a $5 bill to get you a decent cup of coffee at Starbucks (and if you use your barista as a captive audience and force her or him to listen to all your philosophy, then you might end up with something being added to your coffee that you most assuredly would not want).
As always, pointers here are offered on a topic and then examples are offered to illustrate the points. So consider some of the beliefs that persons accept unquestioningly as a result of their warped perspectives which were set in place by warped programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination.
When considering what amazingly nonsensical concepts that warped perspectives can entice persons to believe, two which have gotten plenty of coverage over recent years came into consciousness: (1) the concept of "a prior, pre-birth existence which involved entering into a sacred contract in order to manifest"; and (2) the concept which claims the existence of "A God Spot."
It is said that the book entitled "SACRED CONTRACTS" can "provide the answer to the question world famous intuitive healer Caroline Myss is most frequently asked: 'Why am I here?' 'What is my mission in life?'" (Okay, that's actually two questions, but let's not nitpick.)
[Now anyone who passed a fourth grade level biology class would answer "Why am I here?" exactly as Maharaj did:
Because two adults engaged in an act of friction for the sake of pleasure or for the sake of procreating or for both. 'You' are here because one of his sperm cells raced ahead of the millions of other sperm cells and reached one of her eggs and fertilized it. 'You' are here because, after that, she lived for nine months and ate elemental plant food during that period and because those plant cells converted spontaneously and automatically and naturally - not supernaturally or miraculously but naturally - into human cells and because the end result of that naturally-unfolding process traveled along a birth canal and . . . voilà.]
"We all come into this world with 'Sacred Contracts'," according to bestselling author Caroline Myss. She claims: "Some know it as a calling. Some see it as a life mission. In short, a Sacred Contract is an agreement your soul makes before you are born," Myss explains. "You promise to do certain things for yourself, for others, and for divine purposes. Part of the Contract requires that you discover what you are meant to do." The book is said to be based "partly in astrology and partly in ancient tradition and partly in magic."
Could there be any greater evidence of egotism and arrogance than to believe that prior to the manifestation of that which was labeled "Floyd," the world was needing me and waiting for me? How truly important it would have made me had a Divine Being called me to fill some significant and essential need on planet earth, rendering me, in fact, "A Godsend." Now there is an amazing identity to assume, even better than "The Super Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant" and ranking right alongside "The Chosen One" or among "God's Chosen People" without even having to be Jewish. How truly impressive I would be, were that the case.
It would require an amazing level of arrogance for me to suggest that about myself or anyone else, and it would take an amazingly warped mind to buy into that. Yet millions of persons as a result of their assumed ego-states and the accompanying egotism have bought into that concept which offers them a very high level of importance.
Maharaj, on the notion that some God or Power of the Universe is running the world, right down to arranging births for persons who are sent to earth with prearranged tasks:
"God is not running the world. All happens by itself.'
Maharaj, on some "previous life" or "prior existence":
"To be, I need no past or future. All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me. Only those who think themselves born can think themselves re-born. You are accusing me of having been born - I plead not guilty!"
"Only mind is born, not you"
You were not born, nor will you ever die"
"Your weakness is due to your conviction that you were born into the world"
"The idea of rebirth is a concept, because for something to be reborn something has to die. What is dead? Nothing is dead. Who is there to be reborn? No one was born"
That which was not born once cannot be born again
and (understanding that neither you nor I nor some "God" has been able to change "the world" and end poverty and disease and war and misery and suffering), he said:
"If you and your God are both helpless, does it not imply that the world is accidental?"
As for a "calling" or "mission" or "purpose," Maharaj said: "There is no sense of purpose in my doing anything. Things happens as they happen - not because I make them happen"
"Living is life's only purpose"
"The world is but a show, glittering and empty. It is, and yet is not. It is there as long as I want to see it and take part in it. When I cease caring, it dissolves. It has no cause and serves no purpose"
"The real is inconceivable and cannot be harnessed to a purpose."
So how did Myss come up with her theory? Where did it come from? From her programmed and conditioned and self-serving mind, of course:
Maharaj: "God is only an idea in your mind"
"The mind 'must' have a purpose. To encourage it to free itself from the unreal it is promised something in return. In reality, there is no need of purpose. "
So much for existing prior to birth, and so much for a mission or purpose.
Now, to a concept which was dreamed up by "believers" and religious and spiritual persons who want to offer scientific proof to those who claim there is no scientific, empirical evidence that God exists, namely the concept of "A God Spot."
Those who would try to convince persons that there is a God speculated a few years ago that "the human brain features 'A God Spot'," one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality and a belief in God. Some others in their camp later concluded that "spirituality is a complex phenomenon, and actually there are multiple areas of the brain that are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences."
One writer claimed that "religion could not have evolved and could not have affected the lives of the majority of the world's human inhabitants if it had not helped them to solve the problems of surviving adversity and of raising children successfully."
He went on to explain that the "successful" raising of children assures that they will "propagate their parents' supernatural belief systems after their parents have died" and concluded, "So it makes sense that the brain might be specialized for religious experiences. Indeed, an evolutionary perspective on religion implies that humans are inherently susceptible to religious views."
In many Western cultures, recent attention during "the Christmas season" was paid to a supernatural being that lives far away but knows everything that is happening on planet earth. He supposedly has white hair and a white beard and has always been around. Supposedly, he will reward or punish persons, depending on whether they have been "good" or "bad" (which he knows because he is all-knowing, just as he knows from afar if persons are asleep or awake).
He has supernatural powers and is omnipotent, able to fly about while remaining unseen. Those who believe in him must do so based on their unquestioning faith in what their parents tell them about this most special being.
In fact, therefore, Santa Claus to a child is an exact representation of God. When children finally learn that they have been lied to by the adults in their lives, the explanation offered for the lie is that the tale was told to introduce them to the real God who is just like the fictional Santa-God.
So the question that is used to undo the warped perspective about there being "A God Spot" which automatically makes persons aware of the existence of a supernatural being (who will reward or punish, and who knows when all persons are good and when they are bad, and who is never seen but it to be believed in nevertheless) is this:
Is there also "A Santa Claus Spot?" Or do humans with a hidden agenda (namely, to control children by making them behave in a desired fashion in order for them to earn a reward and to learn that punishment awaits those who are bad) introduce the idea of their being a rewarding or punishing supernatural being named Santa Claus to immature, impressionable, gullible, easily-influenced persons?
There are children in non-Christian, non-Western cultures who have never heard a single adult so much as mentioned Santa Claus. Do they nevertheless have some spot within their brains that instinctively and intuitively tells them, "You know, there is a being with supernatural abilities named 'Santa Claus,' and if you believe in him even without ever seeing him and if you are really good, then he'll reward you and give you gifts once a year"?
Maharaj: "First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself." [Of course, that began with those who were playing a parental role with a child who identified what is deemed to be 'good" and what is deemed to be "bad."] "Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you"
"Without you as the witness, there would be neither animal nor God."
Tomorrow: The real reason that the concept of God is so attractive and pretty-much universally-accepted in spite of the fact that "A God Spot" is just one more of the thousands of bogus concepts which have been dreamed-up by persons who are attuned to astrology and ancient traditions and myths and superstitions and magic and all of the stuff that has been passed down from ancient, pagan sky cults.
MAHARAJ: "I Talk to You from the Perspective of the Universal Consciousness," Part Thirty-One
[Regrets that Google's on-going changes to Blogger have continued to leave the Search Feature working only sporadically.]
If the curse of humanity is the Ultimate Sickness (and it is)
if the curse of the Ultimate Sickness is what Maharaj identified as "humanity's ignorance, stupidity and insanity" (and it is)
if the curse of globally-manifesting "ignorance, stupidity and insanity" has become a curse of epic proportions (and it has)
the result can only be a planet-wide blight of warped perspectives which are guaranteed to come when "ignorance, stupidity and insanity" assure that persons' thoughts and words and actions are all dominated by distortions and delusions and deception and self-deception.
To review: The invitation offered via this series is to understand that the Fully Realized are no different from anyone who visits this site. That includes the actually Realized; the non-Realized who are seeking; the non-Realized who are not seeking; and those claiming Realization who think they have completed the entire "journey" but have not and are, therefore, trying to satisfy their ego-based desire to control others or to assume new "Superior Identities."
The reality: the only possible difference among all of those is in perspective. Yet many lose all perspective when they read such pointers and even react with hatred.
From the book A Different Perspective:
If one were truly "Fully Realized," the relative existence for her or him would unfold naturally with no obsessing - or getting hung up on - such concepts as:
"Absolute," "THAT," "Brahman," "God," "energy," "energy-matter," "Consciousness," "Awareness," and "being something." Are not all of those still just man-made labels generated by persons who - more often than not - become fanatical and obsessive?
Here, there is no justification for concern with any label or identity.
Here, the final understanding leads to an end to any desire to "be something" in the relative, including something that is supposedly "beyond the relative" or that is "metaphysical" or that is thought to be "truly special."
Most who read pointers that endorse reaching a state of zero concepts (as offered by some Direct Path Advaita Teachers and by some "Neo-Advaitins"), will feel as if they are dying or being robbed of their "true identity" or - more often - are hearing someone who doesn't have a clue about the profound understandings that have come to the listener or reader.
Some will feel that their "true identity" is being minimized and not recognized for the glorious post-manifestation "SOMETHING" that it is . . . all "heavenly" and "celestial" and "splendid . . . maybe even "saintly" or "godly" or "cherubic" or "spiritual" or "divine" or "holy" or "something" which they believe will be "even above and beyond" all of that.
Here, there is a "no-something-at-all" perspective.
Some resent the implication that their relevance, either during the relative manifestation or after the relative manifestation, is being decreased or diminished or underestimated. They hate the suggestion that, to have taken themselves and their beliefs seriously for so many years, was all nonsense.
They hate hearing that their years of fighting for their causes were uselessly passed in vain and were steeped in egotism and efforts to support their false identities / ego-states.
They hate hearing that their entire existence is all much ado about nothing.
They despise being told that they have been fooled.
They hate pointers dealing with purposelessness and meaninglessness.
They hate pointers which suggest that all of those times when they made mountains out of molehills was pure foolishness.
They hate the notion of "nothingness" and thrive on all their concepts that deal with "somethingness."
They hate hearing that their beliefs and their concepts are fiction.
They hate hearing that they will never be able to "change the world," that they are not even in the world, and that "the world" is in them . . . in their fiction-filled "minds."
They hate when their dualistic belief in their own eternal reward is exposed as a fraud or when their belief in an eternal punishment for their enemies is debunked.
They bristle when it is pointed out that their "life-long" attempts to defend their various concepts have amounted to nothing more than a waste of breath.
They hate to hear that the energy spent in trying to make their views understood and accepted was for naught.
They can become livid when it is noted that their actions (which earned applause from the masses who considered those actions to be "accomplishments") were for nil.
They despise the pointer that no one has ever "made the world a better place" as a result of any action, (a simple fact that anyone with even a cursory awareness of human history understands).
They hate hearing that the one they take to be "His Holiness" in not holy at all (the word "holy" simply meaning "different" - a concept which in and of itself runs counter to the non-dual message).
In Reality, there is no different-from-ness, no separation, no multiplicity, no real hierarchies, no better-than-ness.
And they hate hearing that the one they perceived to be "the wisest" – be that person a famous guru, a teacher, a "Big Name Teacher," a preacher, a priest, an ayatollah, a rabbi, an imam, a sponsor, a spiritual guide, a counselor, a dalai lama, a notable monk, a pope, an apostle, an elder, a life coach, whatever – in most cases cannot even differentiate actual, natural events from imaginary "supernatural" events.
MAHARAJ: "I Talk to You from the Perspective of the Universal Consciousness," Part Thirty
[In the previous post, this was shared:]
Maharaj said, "I talk to you from the perspective of the universal consciousness." So the question now is, "From what perspective do you talk?" Maharaj said that no one meeting him outside the loft would ever assume that he is different or that he is aware of something that most are not. If not with a seeker, he spoke in a not-uncommon manner and conducted himself in a totally not-uncommon manner fashion. He abided naturally, in an all-normal manner.
What about you? Are you talking in a way that sets you apart from others? Are you wearing garb and accouterments that are intended to distinguish you from the masses? Are you praying in public to show what a highly religious or ultra-spiritual being you are?
In such cases, it was pointed out, a new and different perspective is being called for.
There are, in fact, many signs and a variety of indicators when a new and different perspective is being called for in order to replace a warped perspective, yet that fact will not likely ever register with either seekers or non-seekers:
AMONG NON–SEEKERS
Among those who are presently non–seekers, most will never seek a different perspective from the one handed down to them by their parents and culture, and the most influential of all of the influences on their perspective will be the dogma introduced to them by their parents. Ninety-seven percent of all persons on the planet claim an affiliation with one organized religion or another. Many among the remaining 3% claim proudly, "I am not religious. I am spiritual!"
So who among those will not seek a different perspective from the one they are attached to? Consider:
Those who believe that they have reached their destination will not plan a "journey."
Those with a perspective which is firmly rooted in and inflexibly set in the belief that they have either
(a) found all of the answers or have (b) found a religious leader who can give them all of the answers or who believe that they have (c) been given a holy text which has all the answers
will never seek a different perspective.
Those who have been programmed, conditioned, etc. to never question what they have been told by authority figures will never seek a different perspective.
Yet the fact that most all of those persons who claim to have found peace when peace is obviously not the least bit present, and who claim to have found humility when humility is not the least bit present, indicates a need for a different perspective.
Those who feel that they are better than "others" not involved in religious activities or spiritual exercises will not seek a different perspective. (Of course. Who would want to change one's views if one believes that he or she is being made better than others by virtue of their current beliefs and perspective?)
And those who are called out on their belief that they are better than others - while claiming that their dogma teaches that they should be humble - will sometimes modify their stated perspective and explain, "What I mean by that statement is that I am a better person than I would be otherwise with my religion / spirituality."
Per their warped perspective, that seems to make sense to them, rather than answering this: "What is it within you that is so vile that the very worst would soon show up were you to stop your religious activities or spiritual exercises?" or "How could insanely-destructive thinking and the resultant behaviors of that type of thinking - which you claim has been removed - suddenly manifest again if your sickness has been properly treated?" (Often, the most insane statement of all is offered in answer to that: "I have been restored to sanity, but the restoration only lasts for twenty-four hours; then, I need more treatment or my restored sanity will be lost and I will return to my insanely-destructive way of behaving.")
AMONG SEEKERS / SPIRITUAL JNANIS / KNOWERS
Among those who are presently seekers or who believe that they have found what they were seeking, most will never seek a different perspective from the one that is currently driving them.
Those who have been convinced that they are now something special or holy or blessed or righteous or saintly or godly or sanctified or divine or pure or virtuous or sublime or "Real" will all (contrary to their claims) believe that they are different from and better than, so they will not be interested in seeking a different perspective from their present one which says that "they are now standing in the full light of the noonday sun, being bathed in a state of Full Enlightenment." To the contrary, Maharaj said that those types are actually still standing in the dull light of dawn, totally fooled by what he called the nonsense that comes with "kindergarten-level spirituality" and with a "kindergarten-level understanding."
Who among those will not seek a different perspective from the one which they are currently attached to, even though their thoughts and words and actions show clearly that a new and different perspective is being called for? Consider:
Those who, ironically, do all that they can to show that they are different from most (even as they talk about non-duality and the unicity and the Oneness and the unity beyond the multiplicity), are screaming for a new and different perspective. Will it be sought in such cases? Hardly ever.
Those who wear special accouterments to distinguish them from "others" or who wear supposedly sacred clothing / religious apparel / spiritual costumes which supposedly sets them off from others because of their attire's significance . . . those too are screaming for a new and different perspective. Will it be sought in such cases? Hardly ever.
Additionally, those whose false modesty drives them to wear lowly rags as outward proof of the "truly humble state" of their inner condition are screaming for a new and different perspective. Will it be sought in such cases? Hardly ever.
Those who expose all whom they come into contact with to their supposedly profound and unique take of such topics as "life" and "meaning" and "the afterlife" are screaming for a new and different perspective. Will it be sought in such cases? Hardly ever.
Those with beliefs regarding such concepts as different-from-ment and better-than-ment and apart-from-ment are persons with beliefs that are screaming for a new and different perspective. Will it be sought in such cases? Hardly ever.
All which generates a false sense of being apart from, different from, better than, divided, split, fragmented, disconnected, torn, unique, special, singular, exceptional, distinctive, matchless, rare, individualized, extraordinary, exclusive, elite, uncommon, or incomparable are exhibiting beliefs which are rooted in the deceit and deception and distortion of duality, and those trapped in deceit and deception and distortion are screaming for a new and different perspective. Will it be sought in such cases? Hardly ever.
Yet the only one whom any of that should matter to is to the one who is being invited to focus on her or his own deceit and deception and distortion (which was originally their programmers' hand-me-down deceit and deception and distortion but which was accepted unquestioningly and which has, therefore, become his or her own self-deceit and self-deception and self -distortion).
The rub? The Ultimate Sickness is like every other sickness to the degree that neither can be properly treated unless the Sickness or the sickness is first properly diagnosed and unless the diagnosis is accepted.
MAHARAJ: "I Talk to You from the Perspective of th...