Meher Baba

[Alexander]

Haha yeah, True Alex, Jeff is advanced. 

How have you been lately Alex?  My retreat is proceeding nicely.  I was recently reading about the like of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.  I really didn't know much about him besides his 3rd eye meditation.  I was supprised to find many of the practices he did were similar to mine.  For a long period of time he was apparently doing Kali worship, which is the main practice of my current retreat in addition to sitting meditation.  I have been getting various realizations from her. 

-David

Not sure about Ramakrishna. But Kali and Shiva are always a good bet

[Jhanananda]

I spent 10 years studying Sri Rammakrishna and Vivekananda.  However, I found the Pali Canon really has the most precise description of the interior life of the mystic so far.

[KriyaYogi]

Interesting guys.  Yes I work very closely with Bagla Kali since 2018 I think I will read more about Ramakrishna, he apparently had major realizations and major Samadhis through her.    I guess every path is different.  I had no idea his path involved her until a week ago.

Ramakrishna apparently worked with apparitions of Kali at the end.  I have seen her sometimes and she told me a bit about where she comes from in the cosmos but usually I cannot see her full body clearly with all her clothing. 

Sometimes I can see the clothing my other house spirits wear but it is still developing.  The conversations I have with spirits are very nuturing, they have a very pure energy with little ego which I think is uplifting for my psyche like working with an Earth Satguru.  I suppose these sorts of interactions where what washed away many ego attachments for Ramakrishna.

-David

[Tad]

David,

Looks like you have a lot of interesting experience. A couple questions for you:

1. Who were your most influential teachers?
2. What do you see as the ultimate end state of your practice?

[Tad]

Tad if you want to connect with an additional real Siddha I suggest Jeff's friend Michael Hawkins.  I feel bliss when I watch his youtube videos, although I don't know if he takes students, its such a burden to take students isn't it?  We all have so many of our own issues.

-David

Thanks. I remember reading his posts here on the forum. I will try to look up his videos. Agreed about students. This is probably one of the reasons why Gotama hesitated so long before he started tesching after awakening.

[Tad]

Tad if you want to connect with an additional real Siddha I suggest Jeff's friend Michael Hawkins.  I feel bliss when I watch his youtube videos, although I don't know if he takes students, its such a burden to take students isn't it?  We all have so many of our own issues.

-David

Or just keep talking to Jeff, the American arahant

Jhananda is the Greatest of All Times (GOAT)!

[Jhanananda]

Interesting guys.  Yes I work very closely with Bagla Kali since 2018 I think I will read more about Ramakrishna, he apparently had major realizations and major Samadhis through her.    I guess every path is different.  I had no idea his path involved her until a week ago.

What I find a bit interesting is Ramakrishna was prone to ecstatic trances while standing, which is not at all what I tend to experience, but it does remind me of Socrates. Perhaps you have read the complete dialogs of Plato.  If not I highly recommend it for contemplatives, even though there is nothing in them that suggest a formal meditation practice, but the use of logic and critical thinking and ecstatic altered states of consciousness are.

Ramakrishna apparently worked with apparitions of Kali at the end.  I have seen her sometimes and she told me a bit about where she comes from in the cosmos but usually I cannot see her full body clearly with all her clothing. 

Sometimes I can see the clothing my other house spirits wear but it is still developing.  The conversations I have with spirits are very nuturing, they have a very pure energy with little ego which I think is uplifting for my psyche like working with an Earth Satguru.  I suppose these sorts of interactions where what washed away many ego attachments for Ramakrishna.

-David

David, I find the deeper I go the less anthropomorphic the beings I meet in the immaterial domains are resulting in the deepest/highest states beings are just points of light and love. Conversely, the more anthropomorphic the closer to the earth plane the least ecstatic, and least depth, the state.

Tad if you want to connect with an additional real Siddha I suggest Jeff's friend Michael Hawkins.  I feel bliss when I watch his youtube videos, although I don't know if he takes students, its such a burden to take students isn't it?  We all have so many of our own issues.

-David

Thanks. I remember reading his posts here on the forum. I will try to look up his videos. Agreed about students. This is probably one of the reasons why Gotama hesitated so long before he started tesching after awakening.

I have kept in touch with Michael.  He has recently been through some life trauma, but I hope he comes back to this forum, because he was such an excellent contributor.  To me, it takes a community to inspire others to lead a rigorous, self-aware, contemplative life; however, most mystics never find that community, so end up practicing and attaining on their own, and more often than not never even enter the historic record.

Tad if you want to connect with an additional real Siddha I suggest Jeff's friend Michael Hawkins.  I feel bliss when I watch his youtube videos, although I don't know if he takes students, its such a burden to take students isn't it?  We all have so many of our own issues.

-David

Or just keep talking to Jeff, the American arahant

Jhananda is the Greatest of All Times (GOAT)!

Thanks folks.  You are so kind.  Do keep in mind this is not a personality cult.  This is a community effort to get the most people to the greatest depth for the longest period, which means it will have to be a community effort.

[KriyaYogi]

>>>
What I find a bit interesting is Ramakrishna was prone to ecstatic trances while standing
>>>
   
   I have had trances in front of a mirror, standing maybe.  Probably better to discuss in another thread.


>>>
David, I find the deeper I go the less anthropomorphic the beings I meet in the immaterial domains are resulting in the deepest/highest states beings are just points of light and love. Conversely, the more anthropomorphic the closer to the earth plane the least ecstatic, and least depth, the state.
>>>
    My experience is these spirits have those forms in higher realms but put on a veil of a bipedal form for us as they come down.  My main angel friend told me that in her true form she is like that, an orb with wing like protrusions.


>>>
Thanks folks.  You are so kind.  Do keep in mind this is not a personality cult.
>>>
   Just trying to be supportive, I am pretty confidant that I can read a Guru's level by the amout of energy /emotions I feel coming out of him or her is what I was saying.  That empathic skill has really paid off for me over the last ten years.

[Alexander]

What I find a bit interesting is Ramakrishna was prone to ecstatic trances while standing, which is not at all what I tend to experience, but it does remind me of Socrates. Perhaps you have read the complete dialogs of Plato.  If not I highly recommend it for contemplatives, even though there is nothing in them that suggest a formal meditation practice, but the use of logic and critical thinking and ecstatic altered states of consciousness are.

Seconding the recommendation of Plato and Socrates. As the Oracle said, Socrates was the wisest of the Greeks. He had the Form of wisdom in him.

And Plato? That man knew it all.

David, I find the deeper I go the less anthropomorphic the beings I meet in the immaterial domains are resulting in the deepest/highest states beings are just points of light and love. Conversely, the more anthropomorphic the closer to the earth plane the least ecstatic, and least depth, the state.

I agree with this. In the higher domains, you become simply a point of infinite consciousness.

Thanks folks.  You are so kind.  Do keep in mind this is not a personality cult.  This is a community effort to get the most people to the greatest depth for the longest period, which means it will have to be a community effort.

And he's humble too! 10/10, would be his disciple again

[Alexander]

Ramakrishna apparently worked with apparitions of Kali at the end.  I have seen her sometimes and she told me a bit about where she comes from in the cosmos but usually I cannot see her full body clearly with all her clothing.

Yes, she's a... mysterious one.

[Jhanananda]

Thanks, Alexander, for your continued support of the community here.

[Tad]

Here is another beautiful piece of Meher Baba's teachings. I really love his philosophy.


Meher Baba

TWELVE WAYS OF REALIZING ME

LONGING ... If you experience that same longing and thirst for Union with Me as one who has been lying for days in the hot sun of the Sahara experiences the longing for water, then you will realize Me.

PEACE OF MIND ... If you have the peace of a frozen lake, then too, you will realize Me.

HUMILITY ... If you have the humility of the earth which can be molded into any shape, then you will know Me.

DESPERATION ... If you experience the desperation that causes a man to commit suicide and you feel that you cannot live without seeing Me, then you will see Me.

FAITH ... If you have the complete faith that Kalyan had for his Master, in believing it was night, although it was day, because his Master said so, then you will know Me.

FIDELITY ... If you have the fidelity that the breath has in giving you company, even without your constantly feeling it, till the end of your life, that both in happiness and in suffering gives you company and never turns against you, then you will know Me.

CONTROL THROUGH LOVE ... When your love for Me drives away your lust for the things of the senses, then you realize Me.

SELFLESS SERVICE ... If you have the quality of selfless service unaffected by results, similar to that of the sun which serves the world by shining on all creation, on the grass in the field, on the birds in the air, on the beasts in the forest, on all mankind with its sinner and its saint, its rich and its poor, unconscious of their attitude towards it, then you will win Me.

RENUNCIATION ... If you renounce for Me everything physical, mental and spiritual, then you have Me.

OBEDIENCE ... If your obedience is spontaneous, complete and natural as the light is to the eye or smell is to the nose, then you come to Me.

SURRENDER ... If your surrender to Me is as wholehearted as that of one, who, suffering from insomnia, surrenders to sudden sleep without fear of being lost, then you have Me.

LOVE ... If you have that love for Me that St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me, but you will please Me.

[Alexander]

It is beautiful. It reminds me of Teresa of Avila. The "Spiritual Marriage" of the soul with God.