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Sunday, February 25

ANDREW

Wanting something doesn't necessarily mean you don't already
have it.

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JAN (SEEKER)

If Sri Nisargadatta was so advanced how come he still had the
need to smoke? Isn't habit and need attachment? If a 'minor
experience' destroyed my most powerful
desire/passion/pastime/habit. I do not understand how others far
advanced can still be attached to their habits.

I do not understand how someone who has seen the 'light' could
still be interested in candles and match sticks? love, seeker

BHADRAIAH

Friends

I know this as fastest nonduality board on the earth. How is everyone
doing? I see a new concept invented everyday, and you guys must have
travelled to non-duality back and forth a hundred times over by now!
I dont think I can keep pace but I will try.

Smoking: The book says dharma is treating all living beings equal,
and it means treating all living cells in the body equally. So it is
OK to harm a few cells for world peace, but not other way round.
Smoking is good for a few cells but bad for most others, so it
avoidable. I did a lot of my research under influence of nicotine
between 1982-90 and kicked it in 1990. Ofcourse not by self control
but one day I put my fingers in the throat and found some hard things
and thought they are cancers. Later the ENT doc told me the hard
items are in everybody's throat. Effectively I kicked the habit out
of ignorance and fear. May be I shouldn't have? Those who smoke try
it out.

We have much bigger habits to kick than smoking. Smoking and other
worldy habits are peanuts. More on this later

Bye
Bhadraiah

JAN BARENDRECHT

The simple and obvious response would be "because candles and
sticks are "that" too"... In the same sense is a post I found
long ago and for some "renouncers" could be shocking:

Videhamukti is described in Chandogya Upanisad 8.12.3: "Thus
does that serene being, arising from his last body, appear his
own form, having come to the highest light by the grace of
Supreme Person. The liberated soul moves about there laughing,
playing and rejoicing, in the company of women, vehicles and
other liberated souls." As Baladeva Vidyabhusana explains in his
Govinda-bhasya commentary on Vedanta-sutra, the liberated souls
are in threefold union with the Lord: 1) they are in the
spiritual realm of God, which is not different from God Himself;
2) by their constant meditation upon Him, God is ever-within
their souls, and 3) they are in union of love with the personal
form of God that appears before them. From this state, the
concluding code of Vedanta-sutra declares, anavrittih sabdat,
anavrittih sabdat, "There is no return (to the material world).
Verily there is no return, for the Vedas so declare."

Nothing to add to the above quote :)

HARSHA

Dear Seeker,

Ask any and all questions. That is the mark of a True Seeker. Do
not be intimidated by criticism or counter questions, but
reflect on them or ignore them as your inclination.

When we are thirsty for the Truth, we are not interested in our
image. We are interested in the Truth! Ask your questions. The
asking itself is a movement of energy. Something inside is
shaping these questions. Let it have free reign. Ask your
questions honestly and the pattern of your path will start to
emerge. You are on the right track.

DAN BERKOW

Hi Harsha!

I like the sound of what you say here.

If I'm concerned with my image, or your image,
or whether someone approves or disapproves
of my image, of what image I can use to conceive
of truth -- then all I've got, after all, is that image
and the attempt to maintain it.

I like the sound of the "First Commandment" as
well -- make unto me no image -- (regardless
that much of the rest of the book provided
images -- I suppose each hears what can
be heard at that time ...)

So ... resonations here ...
Ask honestly and deeply, and
then the asking itself is opening,
and with opening, what more
needs to be asked or stated?

Unknowable, imperceivable,
unstated this is ;-)

Never to be registered,
never to be regurgitated ...

So relax and open,
regardless of all the stating,
knowing, experiencing,
perceiving that is being provided
and regurgitated ;-) ...

ANDREW MACNAB

I don't know either, nor care particularly. N. said something
like why not let the body have what it wants? He was an
uneducated guy, living in an earlier time, maybe he didn't know
how harmful it was. Maybe he wasn't "so advanced", but just an
ordinary guy who happened to have discovered he true nature and
tell about it.

He was him, I'm me, you're you, the point is to be authentic and
original as oneself. Take whatever's helpful, discard the rest.

WHITE WOLF

...nisargaddatta was a great student who loved his teacher with
true devotion...perhaps you have already run further up the
mountain than he was able...do not concern yourself with the
mote in another's eye before removing the beam in your own...ask
youself instead...do i love the Beloved even unto the death of
desire itself?....as a buttefly is attracted into the
flame...allow your love for the Beloved to burn you into
ashes...go forward and embrace the death of self and so return
to Self...love arose to a great height and reached a great depth
nisargaddatta...how much greater will love arise in you now that
he has gone before us and prepared the way for us...we are
called to an even higher love than his...he is a spiritual
ancestor upon whose shoulders we stand so that we can reach just
a little higher...

MATTHEW FILES

i wouldn't assume that he had a need, habit or attachment in
regards to smoking. ... try giving it a few years till you draw
a firm conclusion as to what that experience effected. It may
not be what it seems right now. ... one way to look at it is
that if certain habits get in the way of ones relationship to
the divine then they go. If not then they stay. Not our choice
either way. But it does become obvious over time, which are
which.

JERRY

What knowledge have you not borrowed from someone else? What do
you know? What do you own? What do you trust? Where do you turn
when nothing makes sense?


______________________________________________________________

JAMES TRAVERSE

Hi Folks,

I'm created a new web page 'The Art of Yoga' and I
welcome your comments. You can use either the email link or
guestbook at my web page to contact me.

Thanks, James

http://yogadoesyou.com/Art%20of%20Yoga.htm

If this link does not work please go to -
http://www.yogadoesyou.com and select 'The Art of Yoga' link
from there.

___________________________________________________________________

GREG GOODE

Hi Sarlo, Harsha, Omkara,

Thanks for the nice affirmation yourselves! Yes, affirmation and
denial are two sides of the same coin. It's a coin. Thanks and
no-thanks are another coin. There are lots of coins. So what
else is new? (said in a New York accent) :-)

I really do think Sarlo's list is a unique one. I signed up for
it later the same day he announced it. It's about teachers and
mostly that; a place for folks to be as skeptical and
questioning and cautious and critical as they want to be. Many
people have questions about this and that teacher. Is this one
enlightened? Is that one from the Papaji school? Is there sexual
or financial or psychological abuse in Swami Chickentikkananda's
ashram? So in addition to Sarlo's wide acquaintance with the
spiritual supermarket, once the list has lots of subscribers,
there will be more and more helpful reports from the field.

One thing - are gurus less popular now than, say, 5 years ago?
Or more?

Love to all,

--Greg

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DAKINI

<speechless>

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"those who say, don't know. Those who know, don't say." ;-)
"He who speaks does not know. He who knows does not speak." -
Lao Tsu

what really facilitates communication is our ability to listen.

Speak, speak! ;-)

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<listening...>

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