--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- gerbal88 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > snip > > > Having met many teachers, it is now not a problem to > > conclude with a > > fair degree of certainty [like everything, > > constantly subject to > > change, of course] that MMY is in no way "the real > > thing". He is > > clever, intelligent, quickwitted, charismatic and > > widely experienced. > > This enables him to play god better than god, but > > doesn't make him > > the real thing. > > I think the distinction has to be made here that > whether a guru is the "real thing" or not has a lot to > do with the karma/dharma between the student and a > particular guru. Some people experience the infinite > radiating from some gurus/teachers and others think > that people that say such things about that particular > guru are crazy. For me MMY has always been a profound > catalyst for triggering deep experiences of > consciousness. He therefore functions in a guru role > for me. Now SSRS is in that role and has the same > effect on me as MMY used to. Other gurus I've seen > don't have that effect on me. It doesn't mean they > can't function as a guru for somebody else, just not > me. MMY is the real thing....for me. His surface > behavior ultimately means nothing.
Nicely said. I agree. I think it's like falling in love. Hell, it IS falling in love. You see some teachers, and the spark just isn't there. Their great teachers, they are exactly how they presented themselves in their singles ad, but there's no magic. Then you answer another ad in Spiritual Singles Weekly and you meet someone who just blows your socks off, and you're a goner. The guy I studied with after Maharishi, Rama, came up with a remarkably good one-liner once, in one of the first public talks I ever saw him give, before I was his student. I'd been attending his talks for a while, but I hadn't really thought about the fact that I had been driving all the way across L.A. every night for ten days. I was still telling myself that I was Just Curious. At this particular talk, Rama gave this long, eloquent dharma talk on the difficulty of knowing whether anyone was enlightened. He talked it up one side and down the other. From one point of view and state of attention, you could be certain that Swami Mahananda was enlightened. No question about it. But then you shift point of view and state of attention, and no such certainty is possible. At the end of it one of the people in the audience stood up and asked, "If everything you say is true, and you can never really tell whether a teacher is enlightened or not, how do you know when you have met the right teacher for you?" Rama laughed and said, "Oh that. That's the easiest thing in the world. You just can't stay away." That line pretty much did it for me. I signed up as his student, studied with him for many years, and have never regretted a day of it. He "worked" in a guru role for me. Maharishi had that same effect on me. I met him, signed up as his student, studied with him for many years, and have never regretted a day of it. That doesn't mean, however, that I think his surface behavior means absolutely nothing. And it doesn't even necessarily mean that in retro- spect I think he gave great darshan, just that I was in love. I couldn't stay away. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
