What is Conscionable? Those voices recorded on all sides of the Rajneeshpuram documentary are such studies in dynamic of trust: from a trusting ‘benefit of doubt’ to extending trust, to violating trust. Bad character in trust evidently is consequently hurtful spiritually as it happens.
Teaching #22 “Honor those who deserve honor, disdain those who deserve disdain. Mingling with characterless people is like listening to the Gãtagovinda or Sårsàgar from a whore. If you drink water from the Ganges, take it from where the stream is clean; don't drink Ganges water flowing from a gutter. If a teacher is of good character, then listen to him. If you follow the words of a characterless person, it only serves to magnify your own lack of character. The character of a Bhagavàn devotee must be exceedingly good. You should understand that if someone is of poor character, he is not a [real] devotee, and is just putting on a show to cheat people. Save yourself from such deceitful people, and save innocent pious people from them. Only he who is endowed with character is fit to be respected. A sweetmeat (laóóå) made of bad ghee will be crooked and bad; but when made of pure ghee, its shape will be good. If somebody declares that he is spreading devotional teachings of Bhagavàn, then he should have an impeccable character. Only then will people know that through devotion to Bhagavàn (the Transcendent), all past sins can be destroyed and present problems can be overcome. As a matter of principle, one should reject those deserving rejection and honor those deserving honor. If unworthy people are honored, then their number will increase and their stench will spoil society.” -Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Maharishi’s teacher. Of Spiritual morality and ethical behavior, inside Swami Brahmananda Saraswati's discourses the importance of moral behavior and the company we keep is very much a thread that runs through his satsanga. SBS groups together the study of spiritual works, cultivating transcendence (meditation practices) and also behavior that does not impugn the spiritual subtle system. The discourses are short talks given as practical spirituality. They are erudite and grounded with folk sense of countryside humor (mid-20th Century). For the discourses of Swami Brahmanada Saraswati find: http://www.lulu.com/shop/lb-shriver-and-translation-by-cynthia-ann-humes/the-sweet-teachings-of-the-blessed-sankaracarya-swami-brahmananda-saraswati/paperback/product-21350609.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/lb-shriver-and-translation-by-cynthia-ann-humes/the-sweet-teachings-of-the-blessed-sankaracarya-swami-brahmananda-saraswati/paperback/product-21350609.html [ email reply.. This has nothing to do with being 'judgmental.' Just about everyone associated with the IAA knows that 'minding one's own business' has to do with how we do our Program. That is clear from the context of Maharishi's saying it on his talks, which we hear all the time. It may not be clear for anyone who do not hear those talks all the time. ] Ethics, Later on MMY counseled a type of self discipline.. to be happy and "mind your own business" towards being regular practicing meditators and ‘on the program’ as a basis for behavior. This instruction would be a spiritual working ethic maybe different from social cultural ethic like the Golden Rule, that kindness seems overtly more to do with effects of behavior on subtle psycho-spiritual light-bodies of people. What is unconscionable, in TM? "Thou shalt not.." Anything particularly unconscionable, hurtful, in the community of TM? wrote: The Transcendentalists’ Morality.. In the ™ movement we were told some little details about Maharishi’s teacher Guru Dev, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. About how Maharishi first met SBS and also about how Guru Dev found his own teacher. On advanced training residential courses with Maharishi back in the 1970’s for those of us who were TM teachers there was a typed one page translated discourse of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, of Guru Dev’s that was let to be passed around. This was the talk warning of the selling of life for the price of spinach. An advice that held intrinsic value that was important clarification, like a moral wake up, for people in TM then. Discourse 59 “After experiencing 8,400,000 births, we have obtained this rare human body; don't waste it. Each and every moment of life is very valuable. And if you don't understand its value? Then you will have nothing else to do but weep, and you will have nothing in your hands in the end. You are a human being, therefore you have the power to discriminate what is good and what is bad, and you can accomplish the greatest human goals. Don't think of yourself as weak or fallen. Whatever has happened in the past, understand that it was done unknowingly. But now be careful, begin doing the type of acts appropriate for a human being. Discern for yourself what is good and what is bad. Adopt the good and reject the bad. As a human being, if you don't know Paramàtmà (the Transcendent), then understand that you have sold a diamond for the price of spinach. One does not worship Paramàtmà for the sake of Paramàtmà. One worships Paramàtmà to remove one's own sorrow, lack of peace, ignorance, and lack of power. Paramàtmà is all knowing, omnipotent, and full of limitless bliss. Through worship, one can grasp on to his unending power. The fulfillment of this superb act is the real purpose of human life. If there is no effort made toward this, then understand that you have cheated yourself.” http://www.lulu.com/shop/lb-shriver-and-translation-by-cynthia-ann-humes/the-sweet-teachings-of-the-blessed-sankaracarya-swami-brahmananda-saraswati/paperback/product-21350609.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/lb-shriver-and-translation-by-cynthia-ann-humes/the-sweet-teachings-of-the-blessed-sankaracarya-swami-brahmananda-saraswati/paperback/product-21350609.html Evidently there is a behavioral axis between self-interest and altruism.. and maybe not strictly related to 'consciousness', as we have seen. A hardwired morality of self-interest v Altruism.. In a core worldview that life is nakedly a selfish struggle for money and dominance the great act of moral decoupling woven through this in this worldview, morality has nothing to do with anything. Altruism, trust, cooperation and virtue are unaffordable luxuries in the struggle of all against all. Everything is about self-interest. Powerful, selfish people have always adopted this dirty-minded realism to justify their own selfishness. The problem is that this philosophy is based on an error about human beings and it leads to self-destructive behavior in all cases. The error is that it misunderstands what drives human action. Of course people are driven by selfish motivations — for individual status, wealth and power. But they are also motivated by another set of drives — for solidarity, love and moral fulfillment — that are equally and sometimes more powerful. People are wired to cooperate. Far from being a flimsy thing, the desire for cooperation is the primary human evolutionary advantage we have over the other animals. People have a moral sense. They have a set of universal intuitions that help establish harmony between peoples. From their first moments, children are wired to feel each other’s pain. You don’t have to teach a child about what fairness is; they already know. There’s no society on earth where people are admired for running away in battle or for lying to their friends. Paraphrase, -David Brooks, NYTimes wrote: MMY would tell us simply, ‘never do that which you know to be wrong’. In behavior by spiritual standard of what enhances or is withering to spiritual progress, certainly in life as we live it this would seem to say, in the pursuit of happiness repent those sinful ways that are hurtful to and against spiritual progress in your own life or in the lives of others. Repent! Right now, make haste! From e-mail: If one looks at all the criticism of the Mvmt over the years, most of it boils down to lack of 'development of the vertical at the expense of the horizontal.' That is a cerebral way to put it, development of consciousness at the expense of relationships, including ethics and mgmt, most of the rest boils down to the need for more professional training in the area concerned. ™’ers are not more moral or ethical. We can't become a religion or ethical society by talking about ethics. That would not work for the Mvmt. We are here to teach transcending. But we should talk ethics and morals, esp ethics, among ourselves in the Mvmt. But I focus on mgmt for the reason I gave. Evidently ethical behavior may not be correlated with 'development of consciousness'.. As in TM science research ‘moral reasoning’ is simply reduced and measured in standard testing as ‘quick thinking’ which apparently is not necessarily the same measure as ethical or compassionate behavior. Long time meditators or gurus though potentially more ‘aware’ evidently are not necessarily more ethical. Ethical spiritual virtues evidently are felt in life by the human spiritual body and ethical behavior on a ‘behavioral axis’ it seems is cultivated differently in life by culture. Spiritually cultivated ethics felt and lived apparently is very much about the condition of spiritual life in the body (polyvagal?) and not necessarily related directly to a consciousness continuum of states of consciousness. wrote: Yes, evidently the heart of spirituality is embodied in the Polyvagal and affected in its expression by spiritual practices such as meditation, culture and epigenetic stress. It seems that In an awake conscious life, as transcendentalists call this, ‘a life well lived’, that ethical behavior is felt primarily by whether behavior enhances or withers spiritual life. That simple. A felt discernment of a whole of the spiritual human system of being. yifuxero writes: Thx, the development of the Polyvagal nervous system (physical representation of empathy and compassion); appears to be (or can be) somewhat independent of the states of Consciousness mentioned by MMY. Thus, it does not necessarily follow that a person in (CC, UC....) is well developed in regard to empathy, compassion, and free from Narcissistic tendencies. Spirituality and the ‘Behavioral Axis’.. FW: a narrative: “People in the meditating community are not by any means fully developed, I see dysfunctional, disrespectful behavior often in and out of the Dome. I see people having a lot of experience of CC (cosmic consciousness) who often do not behave like saints. I know of one man who says he went into CC in high school and is now full of GC, UC and BC experience and often reports them to IAA anonymously. I asked an employee of his what it was like to work for him. The employee said, "It's all about him." and “That saint does not know how to treat employees / people”. My spouse is a friend of the wife, and told me that the saint's wife said more or less the same thing about living with him. Higher states of consciousness, and being on the path of them, is not all there is to sainthood or life. That's one thing that has become clear esp in the past years. There is the behavioral axis also. Ultimately, all is one, but in practice, these often need to be treated as two. Otherwise, one ends in the mood-making soup. Administration needs to be skilled, and ‘sainthood’ appreciated and guided. “ .. Despite their zeal, in perversity they perish. Om how humankind blame the Divine Pitrs. From us they say comes evil, but through their own perversity are more than is their due they meet with sorrow. Forewarned, for vengeance follows. The opening council, Paraphrasing, -Homer, The Odyssey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitrs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitrs Communal Scruples? Asking around, apparently some individuals have been ejected from the movement community as sexual predators, copping conning abusing while using jyotish, or bullying a spiritual status on their victims. Some number of years ago a flamboyant guy who infamously was preying on MSAE age girls was threatened with arrest by a father then who was an attorney and the guy subsequently left Fairfield. Evidently more recently some guy who had been on Purusha was using jyotish and spiritual specialness to sexually predate young women and also conning money, the guy evidently was evicted from Utopia Park and kicked off campus. Another longtime predator preying by specialness and general nuisance of the meditating community was purposely separated from the movement some long time ago is still separated and about. In more recent times a warning went out by e-mail around the meditating community about someone returning to town who had fleeced by con some lot of money from people in investment scams. Would be, communal norms.. Yifuxero writes: The definition of unconscionable = doing something you know to be wrong? Doesn't make sense. ISIS killers are performing A-dharmic acts that they believe are right. Belief or unbelief in an action doesn't dictate the degree of Conscionable-ness. Conscionable = Dharmic? I'm still trying to figure out how/where King Tony became rich enough to purchase a beach-front property in FL. Evidently there are some communal scruples that can operate along the lines of the Golden Rule as members generally may become adversely affected by some criminally asocial behaviors inside or around the TM community. Though the processes may not necessarily appear transparent. Conscionable .. Is there anything that is unconscionable, in TM? “Not right or reasonable” “Unreasonably excessive” https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/unconscionable M would advise us, “Never do that which you know to be wrong”. Are there things Reprehensible, in TM? Synonyms for Reprehensible: deplorable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+deplorable&forcedict=deplorable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIHDAA, disgraceful https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+disgraceful&forcedict=disgraceful&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIHTAA, discreditable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+discreditable&forcedict=discreditable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIHjAA, despicable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+despicable&forcedict=despicable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIHzAA, blameworthy https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+blameworthy&forcedict=blameworthy&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIIDAA, culpable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+culpable&forcedict=culpable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIITAA, wrong https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+wrong&forcedict=wrong&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIIjAA, bad https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+bad&forcedict=bad&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIIzAA, shameful https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+shameful&forcedict=shameful&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIJDAA, dishonorable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+dishonorable&forcedict=dishonorable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIJTAA, objectionable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+objectionable&forcedict=objectionable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIJjAA, opprobrious https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+opprobrious&forcedict=opprobrious&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIJzAA, repugnant https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+repugnant&forcedict=repugnant&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIKDAA, inexcusable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+inexcusable&forcedict=inexcusable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIKTAA, unforgivable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+unforgivable&forcedict=unforgivable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIKjAA, indefensible https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+indefensible&forcedict=indefensible&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoIKzAA, unjustifiable https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1082&bih=462&q=define+unjustifiable&forcedict=unjustifiable&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3uI6W1NPRAhUL0oMKHXGBBvwQ_SoILDAA; conscionable Acting, or wishing to act, according to one's conscience; habitually governed by a sense of what is right; scrupulous;. Of or relating to conscience or equity. Legally valid; equitable, just. Now also in weaker sense: justifiable, reasonable. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/conscionable ..A weak link possibly telegraphing that things might not have conscionably changed inside TM was the mayor of Maharishi Vedic City ginning up some numbers to imply to an outside remote listening audience that the population of M Vedic City and the number of pundits residing up there are both larger than what is closer to fact. From Fairfield coffee house reviews today, about the 12 Jan community meeting folks were appreciative of Hagelin’s straight ahead report of how it was going for teaching of ™ in America, Craig’s talk of the University and Beall’s talk about the school. ..Though while Hagelin and all were constrained in hyperbole, the Mayor of Vedic City evidently was not. A weak link possibly telegraphing that things might not have conscionably changed inside was the mayor of Maharishi Vedic City ginning up some numbers to imply to an outside remote listening audience that the population of M Vedic City and the number of pundits residing up there are both larger than what is closer to fact. ..Pinking up and seeming with a rush of true-believing while at the podium microphone this seemed an unfortunate confirmation. ..As to what is up there in M Vedic City it is in fact enough extraordinary in itself that the MVC Mayor there really did not need to do what he tried. ..Oh that they would know better by now than to foment any liability of lies and half-truths but instead could error more definitely on the side of the asset of honest truth. Also from the Mayor of MVC's talk, he’d like to build a Maharishi Invincibility Tower there in MVC too. It was a movement kind of meeting. John Hagelin MC’ed the meeting in the Dome to sync up with the International meeting. He started by giving a report on the condition of the teaching of ™ in the United States, that is something that he oversees. The metrics are encouraging in numbers of active ™ teachers, numbers of new meditators, a group of new teachers who are in training, collaborative programs to teach people to meditate in corporations, military, government and schools. The University report included an explanation of the new regenerative agriculture program. The meeting moved on with international reports. The cushioned power chairs on the stage in the Fairfield Dome held some more women than usual though the powerful men who hold more of the controlling ownership in the movement were more likely over in Europe with the larger January 12 meeting. BRAHMANANDA SARASWATI FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS http://globalpeaceproject.net/ http://globalpeaceproject.net/about-us/the-foundation/brahmananda-saraswati-foundatio-board-of-directors/
