on 8/27/05 1:03 PM, Patrick Gillam at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Interesting history of darshan in the West. Still, > there's a Wednesday night satsang in Fairfield > premised on the fact that people seem to "get it" > when in the physical presence of others who've > got it. > > What I'm picking up from this discussion is that > there is darshan that's all about the wakefulness > in the room, and there's darshan that's about > shakti, or energy. Different things?
Same thing IMO. I go to that meeting regularly. The collective influence of so many awakened in one small room seems to produce the same effect as some saints seem capable of producing alone. Same effect I felt in the program hall when 8,000 assembled for the Taste of Utopia course. I suppose 8,000 one-watt bulbs emit the same light as one 8,000 watt bulb or 100 80-watt bulbs. That's probably why the Vedas recommend the company of the enlightened as a powerful evolutionary influence. > > - Patrick Gillam > > Vaj wrote: >> >> It's been interesting to watch this whole idea of "darshan" as something >> "important" develop. From my perspective, it's largely an artifact of >> spiritual materialism and one-upmanship in the spiritual supermarket. >> >> Originally "darshan" was just hanging with the guru. >> >> It began to take importance as a buzzword when Baba Muktananda brought the >> Siddha tradition to the west. In his trad. darshan *is important* because it >> is part and parcel of how the teaching was transmitted. He (and his >> successors) had the unique siddhi of transmitting shakti, either >> deliberately, or just by being in their presence during nightly "darshan". >> Attending one of these events one would see people who had never meditated >> going into deep spontaneous absorptions, assuming yoga asanas spontaneously >> and a long list of experiences. >> >> Good news like this spread fast. It also upped the ante in the spiritual >> supermarket. If we had the "highest" teaching, then surely OUR teacher had a >> profound "darshan" as well! Never mind if you were from a totally different >> tradition where shaktipat was *not* part of the game plan--darshan was HOT >> and everybody had to have it. It became like "my father is stronger than >> your father kind of mentality." > > > > > > > To subscribe, send a message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Or go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ > and click 'Join This Group!' > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > -- Rick Archer SearchSummit 1108 South B Street Fairfield, IA 52556 Phone: 641-472-9336 Fax: 815-572-5842 http://searchsummit.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
