i understand where u r coming from, it's the age old pounded into our skulls belief that in order to be "spiritual" one must work hard by the sweat of one's brow to "do good", "resist sin", no booze, no pot, no porn, etc... well, if u would look with an open mind at the "non-duality" teachings of the East (and recently the West with Tolle & ACIM) you would see that this pointing towards "enlightenment" advocates that there is nothing (NO-THING) outside your Self (which is the natural state of Being). These misinterpretations of "spirituality" are responsible for billions of humans being slaughtered over thousands of years (well befor the time of Christ) and continue to do so today as i type in the middle East with the USA being sucked into it over the decades as well and about to again... This is ego mind based BS that "their god" is better than another's "god", or one is real and the other false. This will never end.. the war on drugs would stand a better chance. (another war that cannot be one without OneNess & acceptance). All Love is directed towards "THE SELF" and each of us are One with That Self... all other "love" is conditional where egos "bargain" with each other for so called "needs" fulfilled, some by written contract, others just "understood" to fit their pictures of what they feel is fair and normal. This Self, Being or better yet Prescence can be experienced by simply allowing the chatter of the mind (ego thoughts) to subside, feeling the quiet which is our nature. Our Gift actually being created out of Spirit in the image of Spirit we cannot be anything but this really... certainly not the body or mind which temporary tools to test the waters of the physical till we tire of all the roles & drama. Those with eyes to see and ears to hear can understand let Presence happen... It's so simple the egoic mind cannot accept it... ego would still think God is out there or up there somewhere when God is everwhere including the very core of our being... nobody looks inside, this is the problem... even those that do (meditators, zen, etc.) still think it is something that takes decades or lifetimes to acheive... that is just ego mind BS thrown at us by missguided gurus or spiritual teachers... Even Christ said Heaven is at hand, he didn't say it was up there... Yes, Tolle does sell books, videos, seminars, etc. but there is also a ton of free videos on youtube... the profits go to a foundation... after all he can't take the $$ with him when the physical body drops, now can he? so who is going to end up with the $? the foundation to continue the teaching. check the net worth of the vatican, or that guy on TV out of Houston Joel whatever his name is...time to wake up to the fact it takes $$ to spread the word be it the truth, filtered truth or SIMPLE absolute Truth. Mooji does the same but has over 1000 free youtube videos... nobody need spend a dime. same for Tolle. NO i do not advocate drugs for enlightement... have not even taken MMJ in weeks myself but i do credit them for having caused a shift in consciousness not as defined as those by Ram Das and Tim Leary among others. Reason I've not vaped (this is a pot forum, no?) lately is it causes me to lose Presence, Being, the Self due to distractions "out there" in the world of things... not knocking it but it can only take you so far, just like booze... at some point it loses it's charm imo or at least it has for me from time to time over the years. Peace
You really don't seem to be understanding what I'm saying. And you've really snowed me under with completely irrelevant and discursive nonsense. Again, my problem isn't with the Asiatic religions and philosophies, in fact, I love them. But the fact remains, enlightenment and spiritual fulfillment largely comes from discipline of the mind and body and this requires work, lots and lots of work. And the work is never finished, not completely. You can't just lock yourself up with your meditations and prayers and spiritual readings; you have to go out and deal with people you'd rather not deal with, do things you'd rather no do. It's shattering any ounce of complacency you have. My main point is that these self-help gurus who make there way onto Opera's Book Club are swindlers, they're simply peddling the easy answers. It's newsstand spirituality, nothing more than numerous quasi-spiritual-sounding, pseudo-psychological slogans duct taped to the mind. It'll do no one any good.
Hi just thought I'd share my thoughts on the matter. I think discipline of the mind and body can only be done when one first establishes whether or not one is using the mind well and body well ( this requires awareness of the mind and bodies). In order for us to use our minds and our bodies to the best of our abilities and for the benefit of ourselves and for others it is important that we are aware of the ways in which we are currently using them ( you could almost look as this as a kind of "diagnosis stage"). Now This can be achieve through presence. Tolle advocates that we become the watchers of our minds in the here and now. This takes ones attention to the realm of being, it soon becomes apparent to once's consciousness how the mind often entertains negative thoughts, not only that but that we do not seem to have much control over our own minds. This is the main problem I feel that is the root of the complexities of the evils of society at large. We have very little control, the minds constant chatter whilst considered normal can be quite destructive. (what good is a car with no brakes?) These complexities stem from one root cause if you trace them back to their origins. If one were to then find this one root cause and take care of that, it would have a domino effect and the complex nature of our problems would "take care of themselves" so to speak. A lot of people tend to think that complex nature of our problems should warrant a solution of equal complexity, but I do not feel that this is the case. There are more elegant solutions to problems if you are open enough to realize them. I will give you an analogy, consider the complexity of our physical bodies. There are many process that occur within our bodies whose governing mechanics we know only a fraction of with our intellectual faculties. Yet these processes work for us regardless of our lack of complete intellectual understanding of them. One could look at that and say there must be a "force" that governs this incomprehensible complexity and is able to perform many functions that are crucial for the well being of our physical bodies ( How much effort are you consciously putting into circulating your blood right now?). In other words it seems that the intellect need not be aware of many things that are happening without its effort. It can certainly interfere with these processes, by making decisions that could put strain on the physical body like making unwise dietary and lifestyle choices, just as easily as it can aid the process by choosing to eat well, exercise etc. Now the way see the approach of Tolle is that he is leading us to focus on this "Force" that governs complexity in such a way that it creates a great degree of simplicity for us, provided we do not allow our minds to get in the way (as with the circulation analogy). Now these complex processes work so well, and with such profound elegance that we are hardly aware of them (how often do you notice your own breathing, the pumping of our own heart?). Even infants that are no where near the mental capacity to appreciate what the circulation of blood means, benefit from it. Having said that I feel that it could very well be plausible to say that the "hard work" element that people seem to equate as the way to go in as far as solving our problems may not necessarily be the case, it is the root cause that needs to be established. Using presence does not prevent one from going out and dealing with people that one would normally not want to deal with, or doing things that one would rather not do. In fact what it does, is that it empowers the individual to do these things with much greater ease, as the mind is not getting in the way, cluttering interactions with hostility and intolerance as is the case in many conflicts between people/nations. The unobserved mind often uses a heavy handed approach when dealing with conflicts, whilst not realizing that it is only adding the the conflict that it is trying to mitigate.
that says it all... you are still in the perception and belief of good and evil. lol the only remedy for dualisitic perception is a transformation to non-dualistic which happens when we Realize the Self at AtOneMent of all "things" / beings.. and while your at it, why not add Noah Elkrief to your list those you love to hate? another being imo reminding us of the basic principles... "it's all in the mind".. Have yourself another self righteous day with your nose to the grindstone of difficult road to enlightenment.
To let a guy with a massive ego, who thinks he understands the universe better than others Talk a lot. Typical new aged shit lol. Sent from my iPod touch using Grasscity Forum
Unfortunately, when trying to reach out and help others "get it" by use of internet, there is no way of knowing how thin or thick another person's veil is. We can only hope that this thread and threads alike will reach the right people at the right time, compelling them to search for more answers. Like the Buddha said: "For those who are ready the door to the deathless state is open. If you have ears give up the conditions that bind you and enter in." And like Jesus said: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Btw, great thread svedka
this "awareness" is so subtle and the mind chatter/inner dialogue is so persistent chasing objects, goals, sensations, situations, etc. that more often than not we are "unconscious" of it... Link below should take you to a recording of a live skype guided meditation from Lisbon that transpired on 9/6/14. There is also a translator for the Portuguese speaking attendees. Don't be concerned if you don't feel deep or that it is not working, what Mooji does is "point" not teach or zap you with a feather duster full of Kundalini energy like some 'gurus' in the past.... it is simply a reminder of Who You Are. Note: If you don't want to sit through the guy playing the instrument, slide to 11:00 min. into the video. http://mooji.org/livesatsang/
Good talk I like mooji and eckhart tolle I dont know why these people are such haters for him. If you're going to hate on one guy getting money from people why don't you hate on every exploiter and abuser out there which is a lot. You must have a lot of hate inside you to hate all those people.
Live satsang Free from Lisbon streaming now via Skype.. no software to download, no Email address required... http://www.mooji.org/livesatsang/ should run another 3.5 to 4 hrs from this posting with a 20 min. break.
Just enjoyed this 90 min. video which is a variety of clips including an interview with H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji) who was Mooji's teacher... He is the real deal imo. Edit: 10/20/20 The above link is still good but not "hot" so it needs copied to a browser and pasted. Also the CC is in Bulgarian or similar so you can click the adjustment and set it to auto generate English or any language you choose.
been reading "I AM That" by N. Maharaj, a rascal of a guru but a great one according to all accounts... Free downloads of the book in pdf are available several places on the net... below is one... at that page scroll down to the pdf icon and click to download. http://www.holybooks.com/i-am-that-nisargadatta-maharaj/
Chanting anyone? Recorded 3 days ago while Mooji and friends are visiting in London. http://mooji.org/livesatsang/
Non-Duality and the Nature of the Self This guy is cool to listen to imo. Ira Schepetin / Atma Chaitanya is a student of the ancient Indian Philosophical-Spiritual Tradition of Advaita Vedanta, which teaches the Non-Dual Nature of the Self. For over 45 years he has studied with eminent Indian and Western Scholars of the subject. He has undergone many years of ‘discipleship’ and instruction, in the original Sanskrit, with orthodox Renunciate Swamis belonging to this Non-Dual tradition. He has presented academic papers internationally and has published numerous articles on Non-Duality in various Philosophical Journals. This talk was filmed by Bill Alves on July 16, 2015 in East Hampton, NY.
Can't believe some of the stuff i was involved in 5 yrs ago when this thread started but luckily some of the video links are dead now apparently. Posting the latest "technique" i guess you could call it that i've been practicing which i feel is beneficial at least for me... If you have dabbled in the "awakening" methods this may be of interest. I've reviewed 3 youtube videos of this fellow being interviewed about his background and life as a child as well as several of his channel videos and feel he actually believes what he is putting forth... This as opposed to being a fraud who is just in the enlightenment business for the money.. I don't think he has ever made a CD or written a book to be sold but has over 1800 similar videos on his YT channel... Claims to not be channeling another entity or spirit but his own "higher self" which we all have but rarely realize. I was having trouble understanding some of the videos due to the sound but adjusted the speaker PC audio manager to TREBLE and now it's crystal clear.
this is exactly what is taught with naked awareness (Dzogchen)...once you see you are the "I AM", it all falls into place,
Yes, too subtle and simple for most of us to grasp as we are taught to make things worthwhile difficult and to look for them "out there" rather than in plain sight (within). I've not watched Moogi in years but he serves a purpose... Same for Lincoln (Higher Self Channel) haven't watched him for a couple of months... Always watching thoughts and observing actions however... Karma Yoga is the best for those without clear cut undeniable direction otherwise imo.