thx, on his stmt that everything is physical, consciousness is a product of brain functioning, etc; sounds a lot like Sam Harris. (scientific materialism), brain comes first. ... Doesn't mesh with Sant Mat, in which the prized states rely on "rising above bodily consciousness", completely disassociating from the physical. One can carry the argument further, in which somebody is traveling out of the body but in the meantime a home invader comes into the house, seeing the corpse-like body laying there, and shoots it dead. The "entity" - person comprised of subtle bodies, would then no longer be able to return to the physical. However, being dead, he/she would definitely not be a product of brain functioning. ... A reversed statment might involve the subtle bodies and karmic tendencies being the prior cause of brain functioning; since if everything is a result of brain functioning, this leaves out the possibility of people existing beyond the physical, doesn't it? ... Sorry, but I'm dismissing the brain functioning argument as a base, grossly false form of scientific materialism; typical of the Harris pov but I would expect better from MMY. At least he should read Shankara. ... But I can see into his strategy. As soon as one opens the door into the possibility of other dimensions and realms "beyond" the physical, it's a slippery slope to Deity worship; something poisonous apparently to MMY's mind.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" <LEnglish5@...> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@> > wrote: > > > > It kind of shows how un-seriously Maharishi took this information that it > > would be up to ME to cough up this furball! > [...] > > And given that the so called enlightened have so totally NOT lived up to > > the > > hype of what these states mean according to Maharishi, a more humble > > approach would be appropriate. > > Er, according to MMY, if one is actually in Unity Consciousness, one can > perform any and all of the sidhis at any time. I don't know that he or anyone > else (at least anyone within the TMO still) ever claimed that for themslves. > > > > They may turn out to be really useful states of mind. ( I know, I know, > > they > > aren't states of MIND, only that they really are from my POV. Nobody has > > demonstrated transcending the brain's activity to my satisfaction.) > > > > > I don't recall MMY ever saying that enlightenment involved transcending the > brain's activity. > > In fact, this is one of my favorite quotes from him: > > Spiritual and Material Values > > "Every experience has its level of physiology, and so unbounded awareness has > its own level of physiology which can be measured. Every aspect of life is > integrated and connected with every other phase. When we talk of scientific > measurements, it does not take away from the spiritual experience. We are not > responsible for those times when spiritual experience was thought of as > metaphysical. Everything is physical. Consciousness is the product of the > functioning of the brain. Talking of scientific measurements is no damage to > that wholeness of life which is present everywhere and which begins to be > lived when the physiology is taking on a particular form. This is our > understanding about spirituality: it is not on the level of faith --it is on > the level of blood and bone and flesh and activity. It is measurable." > > -Maharishi Mahesh Yogi >
