--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Premanand Paul Mason" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Whilst speaking about meditation MMY has usually made sure to > position a picture of Guru Dev behind him . Also, when speaking about > Guru Dev himself he always held him to be a shining example of > spirituality and completeness. So for TMers, Guru Dev represents the > model of spiritual attainment - enlightenment. Whilst there are other > models in other traditions, in the world of TM Guru Dev is the > primary example. > > I don't know about the rest of you, but I got a series of shocks when > I came to read of Guru Dev's lifestory and teachings. I had envisaged > someone whose teachings would be light, optimistic, yogic and bright. > Instead, I read in his teachings one steeped in the Hindu teachings > which many of us would have associated with the Middle Ages rather > than a man of enlightenment. > > Be that as it may, he is the example that has been offered by MMY, > and therefore deserves close consideration. Clearly, there is an > undercurrent of humour and light pervading the teachings. But I am > still concerned that enlightenment as portrayed by him seems so > against freedom of thought and action. It appears that MMY too had > reservations about his attitude to fatalism. I quote from a > biographical sketch he wrote in 1955, two years after Guru Dev's > passing:-
> 'He for himself would allow things to go on as they are ordained by > the hand of destiny, but His devotees have many a time changed the > course of fate of themselves and of the people.' > ******************** What this means is that Guru Dev recognized that the entropic direction of the continuous 4.3 million year Yuga cycle (from high levels of consciousness and long life in the 1.7 million years of the Sat Yuga to the doglike and short life in the ~400K years of the Kali Yuga) is the way life has always been, and for a reason. Creation has be to in the direction of entropy (increasing disorder) because, otherwise, everybody would simply gain perfection right away and the creation dream would disappear in a puff of enlightened light. In order for the dream of creation to continue, the average value of human consciousness on earth has to decrease over time until it gets so bad, at the end of the Kali Yuga, that Nature simply pulls the plug on most of the human biomass and a small population begins to live the beginning of the yuga cycle, Sat Yuga, once again. However, as MMY notes, many followers of Shankara, out of compassion for the people living lives of ignorance and misery, have whispered the knowledge of how to contact one's inner divine nature through TM, and therefore brought a spell of relief to the ugly and brutal life that is lived in the Kali Yuga. Anybody can gain enlightenment in any epoch of the Yuga cycle, but ultimately the direction of the average value of consciousness on earth is increasing disorder, and you can't argue with it -- this is just the play of the divine, and sooner or later everybody living in misery gets tired of doing so and opts out of the creation cycle by diving within and gaining enlightenment, an option which is actually easier and more attractive in the Kali Yuga because the atmosphere is so lousy that one becomes hungrier for experiencing the bliss of one's own infinite consciousness. Bob Brigante http://geocities.com/bbrigante/updates2006.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/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/