jijaji

shvu posted 04-08-2001 05:47 AM PT (US) -- Finding a liberated soul: Frankly, this is a difficult task and is not clearcut. Most people usually put on a show and deceive people. Anyone who knows how to pass off as a guru can play this role. I can do it myself because I know exactly what sounds pleasing to whom. If I never get exposed, I will go down in history as a great Guru. **Yea I could do it also shvu, my only problem would be what color robe to wear LOL ;^) Some examples, 1. Swami Sivananda had a Yoga school in the himalayas. Once one of his disciples saw him eating pickles behind closed doors. That was disillusioning for the disciple. A Guru must be someone who has experienced his teaching. If Swami Sivananda lacked discipline himself, he should not have been teaching others to be disciplined. ** With all due respect shvu..they could have easily been some canned mango pickle! he he ... 2. Osho Rajneesh was considered a great Guru until he was exposed. Ultimately he died in prison and is rumored to have been poisoned to death. If Rajneesh had died earlier, he would not have been exposed and he would have gone down in history as a great liberated soul. ** He did not die in prison dude...his Sanyasins claim he was poisoned in prison and died later back in India at his ashram in Poona. (there's a whole book on it)..not worth reading as far as I am concerned. OSHO was eating Valium like candy in his last years to aid his lectures. This group of idiots always bugged me..because they just SAT there in front of this rajneesh guy rattleing on and on..talkin all this and that and no one really questioned. They just "allowed the master to pour into them" OH YEA! Anyway..sorry to ramble but that OSHO guy was the worst! 3. The general western opinion of India was that India was full of spirituality. Paul Brunton, a english journalist was a spiritual seeker and came to India with high hopes during the 1940s. He searched high and low for a genuine Guru and was disappointed. He found out the hard way, that most of the people parading as Gurus were bogus. He made plans to leave and had a meeting with the pontiff of Sringeri. This person told Brunton that there was a person named Ramana who could help him. Brunton by then, had lost faith and was not interested. However circumstances pushed him to make a trip to Ramana and that meeting blew the top of his head off. Finally, after his long search he had found what he was looking for. ** Have you yourself found true Sad-Guru shvu..? you are a follower of advaita? correct? forgive me but I am new on this forum and am not familier with all the people here! It is no picnic searching for a Guru. Eventually we may find someone who fits the description we have in mind. From there, it is faith. It will be our good luck, if he is genuine and our bad luck otherwise. ** Mind is one thing...Diksha from a Sad-Guru in Parampara is another. Diksha into an authentic guru-parampara requires direct contact with the Guru receiving mantra etc. directly from the lips of the Guru himself. And this is goes for systems Vaishnav, Shaviate, Shakta, Advaita etc. To imagine some self-realized soul from a past time to be one's Guru, with him or her handleing all aspects of traditional Guru-diciple relationship is pathological and somewhat delusional. That is not to say..that one cannot get inspiration from ALL self-realizied masters from the past. One can of course...but to blur it with thinking one has a special relationship with that person has something to do with the EGO as far as I am concerned! Cheers peace jijaji

jndas says; "Regarding the source of the text Navadvipa-mahatmya, these stories of Chaitanya meeting the previous acharyas in His aprakata-lila are originally found in Bhavishya Purana" Dear jndas.... Is there a current translation of this purana? Does it directly mention Sri Chaitanya, Ramanuja and Madhva by name? I have my doubts.. Also what about the Chaitanya Upanisad that was introduced by Bhaktivinode Thakur? It is not recognized by any other school nor mentioned by any other list of known Upanishads! jijaji

The variety of schools, namely, Vedas, Saankhya, Yoga, Paasupata, and Vaishnava came to be formulated to satisfy the varying tastes of men. Though their directions may appear to point differently, yet, as one pursues any school with the constantly ordained it, after a shorter or longer journey, as the case may be, one will ultimately reach the Supreme, which is Omnipresent, even as all rivers flowing in different directions reach the ocean, which appears at land's end everywhere and envelops the globe in all directions. Like the ocean, the Supreme envelops all - sarvam aavrtya tishthati.. To whatever school one may belong, one ought not to linger or stop on the way. If a person adheres to the chosen path without faltering, God will dower each votary, whatever his predilection, with constancy of faith to pursue his path with devotion. All of you are familiar with the scene at a railway station, as soon as a train arrives and the passengers emerge out of the platform. A passenger will be stormed by drivers of a variety of conveyances, each trying to snatch his baggage in order to attract him to his vehicle. In whichever conveyance he ultimately decides to travel, his destination is his home. Similarly the protagonist of each school of religious thought try to attract the seeker after truth by saying that their school is the easiest and surest way to realise the truth. When it is recognised that all paths lead to the same goal, there is no necessity to change the path one is already following. There is also no room for hatred towards a person following a different path. The temple, the God installed therein, and the form of worship, all these three may differ for different people, due to difference in taste. But what is required of one is to persist in the path one is following. From Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Website. jijaji

Great topic! jijjai