Sunday, March 25, 2007

A Message For Our Friends



The most important thing that I’d like to share with those of you who are reading this blog is that everything that you ever dreamed of, aspired to, or wished for regarding spirituality and enlightenment is possible. Not only is it possible. It can definitely be attained in this lifetime.

If you’ve been on the spiritual path for many years and haven’t experienced what you expected, don’t be discouraged. You can, and will, experience enlightenment. If you were disappointed by teachers that you felt didn’t have integrity, or if you got turned off by the politics of spiritual organizations, don’t be dismayed. If you’ve been meditating for years, but wonder why you haven’t experienced what the guru’s described in the books that inspired you in your youth, don’t blame yourself. If you lost hope and got diverted along the way, please don’t settle for anything less than what you know in your heart is your true purpose in life. As all the saints and sages throughout the ages have said, “Human life is precious. Don’t waste it.”

Find an authentic enlightened teacher that suits you and apply yourself to practicing what they teach. A living Siddha master can speed up your process and make possible short cuts in what could otherwise take lifetimes. Our experience at Sri Sai Kaleshwar’s Soul University in Penukonda, India has demonstrated to us without a shadow of a doubt that we are all divine souls and have infinite potential.

Jesus Christ said, “Even the least among you will do greater wonders than these.” He was an incarnation of Pure Love and was telling the Truth. Believe him.

As Sri Sai Kaleshwar says, "Why can't you be a master like Jesus Christ, Buddha or Shirdi Sai Baba? You can."

Have the courage to throw off all obstacles that are hindering your spiritual development and are keeping you from achieving your purpose in life. As Buddha said, “You must desire enlightenment as intensely as someone who is trying to escape from a burning building.” Take a stand for your Self. Be courageous. Become fearless. Be a hero.

Once you have committed yourself and set your intention for enlightenment, the Divine will respond and support you. This is guaranteed. It’s a Divine law but first you must make the choice. Once you have whole-heartedly dedicated yourself to attaining Enlightenment, Self-realization, the Ultimate Reality, God-Realization, it is in the hands of the Divine and it will come to pass.

Don’t think that only special people become enlightened. This is one of the biggest obstacles to enlightenment. The spiritual history of the world is full of examples of ordinary people, and even the biggest sinners, who attained enlightened.

Milarepa, the most famous saint in Tibet, earlier in his life, was a black magician who was responsible for killing many people. After his family was murdered in a land dispute, Milarepa, in order to gain revenge, conjured up a hail storm to kill his enemies. Later, Milarepa became the disciple of Marpa, in the lineage of the Indian Siddhas Tilopa and Naropa, and attained enlightenment.

In Christianity, and throughout other religions, there are numerous examples of prostitutes attaining enlightenment and God-realization. Jesus stopped the crowd from stoning the prostitute Mary Magdelene, who then became his closest disciple. This is not rare. Many spiritual traditions speaks of prostitutes attaining great mastership and realization. Perhaps this is to make it clear that even those who are the most looked down upon by society can attain enlightenment?

Also, in the Christian tradition, the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus comes to mind. Paul was a fanatical persecutor of saints. He would provoke the saints to blaspheme and then he’d testify against them in court, resulting in them being put to death. He’d even travel to other cities to do this evil work. While traveling on the road to Damascus one day, Paul saw a light in the sky and fell down in fear before it. The light spoke to him and asked, “Why do you persecute me?” Paul asked the light who it was and the light replied, “I am Christ and when you persecute them, you persecute me.” Paul was instantly converted on the spot.

If the likes of black magicians, prostitutes and the murderers of saints can become enlightened, surely we can too. God’s grace, the Divine Light and Love, can descend to bless anyone, anywhere, at any time. In fact, it is always blessing us, but we are just too busy looking the other away. All that is required is for us to turn toward it and open our hearts to receive it. As Shirdi Sai Baba said, “Take one step toward me and I will take ten steps toward you.”

5 Comments:

At 12:22 AM, Blogger Shurbhi.in said...

sir,
you have really explored and seen the REAL India and its spirit!

 
At 12:55 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Wow what a blog. I'm going to have to bookmark this one and read it when I have some more spare time.

Thanks for taking the time to provide such great content. Keep up the great work.

PS. I was in Kaleshwar's ashram myself for a couple of weeks in 2005.

 
At 12:59 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I forgot to mention... I got a good chuckle at your first job as a monkey chaser. Those monkeys stole some rotis from a female friend of mine's plate. They gave her a good scare, but we laughed afterwards.

My first job as I recall was either washing dishes. My second job I believe was sweeping the floor of the temple where Shirdi Baba's statue was.

Never had I swept a floor with so much gratitude for having such a job. It was emotionally a beautiful experience.

Beauty & truth and in everything and everywhere, if only we have the eyes to see, and the heart to feel it.

Best wishes.

 
At 2:04 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Just read your list of books that impacted your spiritual path.

Of those I only read 2 of them (Autobiography of a Yogi & Zen Flesh, Zen Bones). The latter, little book was pretty amazing for me actually.

If I were to narrow down my entire collection of spiritual books (a few hundred) to the top 2 books, I would pick:

1) I AM THAT - by Nissargadatta Maharaj
2) Initiation Into Hermetics.

1 - The first is collection of talks between Nissargadata Maharaj and people who visited his house for satsang. Maharaj was deemed to be fully enlightened, and taught Vedanta (non-dualism), in the (indirect) lineage of Ramana Maharshi of southern India. What I like about this book is that you can open it up randomly to any chapter and just start reading it, and every time you are guaranteed to get a huge slap in the face in terms of making you stop and contemplate the Truth of reality. Some people have even claimed to have attained enlightenment from just reading certain passages in this one book. Many contradicitons in the way you live your life and the way you think will be highlighted, and the path will always lead you back to questioning who you really are (Who Am I?) which is the last 'question' to be _realized_ in all spiritual paths before Enlightenement is achieved. It's the kind of book where you can read 1 page and it may take you days or weeks of contemplation to absorb the teaching. If truth could be put into words, this book would be it. There's also a few Youtube videos of Maharaj that you can watch. I also recommend the Ramana Maharshi videos and books.

2 - Very few people have heard of this book IIH (Initiation Into Hermetics) by Franz Bardon, but believe it or not it has a very significant similarity to Kaleshwar's path. Both are tantric paths - paths that require the attainment and mastery of siddhis in order to mature to the fullest a human being can mature prior to Enlightement. Siddhis are not required (at all) to attain enlightement as is proven by all the Vedanta and Zen Enlightened masters, and in fact Siddhis become the property of the Enlightened, so it begs the question why struggle so hard to attain them prior to enlightement? And further, what assurances do you have that your Ego will not mis-use such powers? Extremely few are those who possess siddhis, and far even fewer those who do not become stagnant in their progress as they rest on their (siddhi) laurels and sell themselves and spirituality to the public. So where does the book IIH come into play, and how is it any better than what Kaleshwar is teaching or how does it add to his teachings?

IIH in simple terms is a practical book that takes you step by step (very literally) from neophyte to adept (and even beyond, if you can believe it - in books 2 & 3 of the series). It is a book written by a supposed western master (Franz Bardon), dedicated to the lone student who does not have a guru. If you think about the Guru/disciple relationship. The guru is always there to guide the student and make sure most if not all of the pitfalls are avoided. The sincere student without a Master, how is he to ascend the spiritual path? Well, this is where IIH comes in. The attainment of more and more siddhis, each subsequent one resulting in more and more amazing manifestations, is to be used strictly as a measuring tool of your progress. I.e. When you can achieve this siddhi, you will have completed step 4 of 10, and may carry on to step 5. But don't be fooled, 95% of people don't make it past step 1 or 2. But if you complete step 2, you will have done the work of dozens, possibly hundreds of life-times. Never have I seen a book that takes you step by step, through ALL the siddhis, until you attain full Enlightenment. Not even Kaleshwar has written such a book, and I wonder if his secret palm leaf books even provide such details. And yes, the IIH work is in great part derived from eastern, specifically Yogic/Indian traditions and does put a lot of emphasis on the 5 elements. off the top of my head the siddhis are: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsencience, levitation, real astral & mental travel (aka: yoga samadhi) * quite different from the popular western concept of 'astral projection'*, manifestation of obects into the physical realm - inanimate & animate, mind reading of humans and other lower life-forms (becoming one with them to fully understand them), communciation with spirits of all levels imaginable (angels, demons, the dead, entities from 4 of the 5 elemental realms), conjuring spirits from the spirit realm into the physical (i.e. divine mother, although that particular one is not specifically mentioned),teleportation/bilocation of the physical body, invisibility, control of the 5 elements (i.e. manifestation of fire - pyrokenetics or warming up a room, using water element to bend any mentals, etc); amazing healing capabilities to the extent of healing an entire room filled with dozens of people (not just 1 at a time), and on and on it goes. Just read the book. ALso I strongly suggest reading (A Bardon Companion - which is written by a still living person whom is suspected to have mastered many of the steps. This book is a practical commentary answering many student's questions in the path of IIH). One of the major differences is that IIH is not based on mantra repeition as is Kaleshwar's program and is more suited to the Western student.

Best wishes.

 
At 12:33 AM, Blogger DilipSharan said...

Wonderful words and inspring for seekers like us to feel reaasured that no matter if i have failed, the almight will still give me opportunity to expereince him. thanks you jai shri krishna, hari om tat sat.

 

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