On Sep 25, 2007, at 1:52 PM, Marek Reavis wrote:
ne thing that Tom has talked about in the context of satsang is the resonance within a group that is consciously communicating about consciousness; that there is a stepping up of the vibration within a group like that that expands one's own consciousness.
I honestly think most of what is experienced in the vast majority of satsang type settings, like Tom is referring to, is no different from that experienced in a men's groups (remember when men's groups became the "in" thing a 10 years ago or?) or any type of self-help group. It's the same basic energy dynamic IME, esp. if we go to that setting with that idea in mind or with some sense of anticipation.
And too, at times it seems that some individuals got some hit or resonance off of me (and without me doing anything consciously to provoke it). There have been some interesting examples with a few clients and probably most of us who formerly taught TM can relate to that experience, too.
I've had this happen when teaching meditation--and I've heard it from other teachers as well: reports of lights, energetic phenomenon, dream visitations, etc. While all very flattering, they were due to no intention whatsoever on my part. That type of experience has forced me to conclude that it is what people bring to a setting, consciously or subconsciously as an expectation, that sets up such experiences.
As a further validation, I found when I went into clear light meditation retreats, where I'd have to be in total darkness for extended periods of time, the visionary material that would come up deep within would almost always at first be projections of subtle and super-subtle thought constructs I was maintaining as beliefs.
It was only after such (very convincing and seemingly "profound") experiences resolved that some form of pure vision could begin to develop.
Certainly the mindset (of the darshan receiver) and the setting are factors which provide a fertile ground for the experience of a purported saint's darshan. Most interesting to me would be the occassion in which the darshan came from an unexpected source, i.e., one that neither the darshan receiver anticipated and was in no other way elevated or singled out from the background as a 'possible' or anticipatory source; in other words, not someone on stage or sitting elevated on a dias, or behind a microphone covered in garlands, etc. This would be the unprepossesing, humble saint type of darshan -- illumination radiating from someone shining bright in his or her own effulgence. Has anyone ever experienced anything like that?
Absolutely. Some from humans, some from non-humans.
