Jones Beene
Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:58:10 -0700
--- Edmund Storms wrote: > study the life and teachings of Sai Baba These details do not do justice to the man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirdi_Sai_Baba_movement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirdi_Sai_Baba A lazy-boy-lab "experiment" for the spiritually inclined, or even the spiritually declined, might be of interest ... ...direct from the Church of the Presumptuous Assumption. ... that is, if you should want to take a flyer on "push/pull" meme transference at the most visceral level, darshan, then this particular meme is fairly well-developed and active - without priestly or guru assistance ... and being more geographically and culturally removed, may be more surprising... Procedure- you must sit still for twenty minutes without nodding off and in a quiet focused meditation. You do not need to know anything about the subject or teacher - just begin the experience with a mantra like sai-baba, and concentrate on deep breathing. Precautionary warning to xenophobes: A single meditation experience, informal and unstructured, but focused on such memes can result in unintended guru-less shaktipat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaktipat Sai baba shared Martin Luthur's 'priesthood of believers' ideal in a different cultural context (which ironically is most often completely ignored by modern Baptists - who typically adore and cling to their Pastors). Anecdotally, the phenomenon seems to occur in a few per hundred individuals, almost at random... so scientifically - it could be called insignificant. The advantage of cross-cultural meditation is that in many cases you may try to consciously avoid a positive reaction, out of fear, but cannot.... ... worth noting: if you consider yourself to be "born again" you probably already understand what shaktipat is about, under a different guise. ... a rose by any other name... Signed, Pastor Rod Flash Church of the Presumptuous Assumption.