--- In [email protected], t3rinity <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So, if I feel a general > hostility to any Bhakti attitude, once it comes up, > it's simply my perception over the years.
Cool. That and a buck-fifty will get you a bad cup of coffee at Starbucks. > Show me one post, just one single post of yours, were > this attitude is brought up by you as something positive > and valuable in spiritual life. It's not existant, and > that tells a lot. It's just not there, period. Another alternative, that you don't seem to have considered, is that bhakti is *irrelevant* to my life at this time. I have no spiritual teacher; I am not part of any formal spiritual path; I'm on my own and I enjoy things that way. If that situation changes in the future, I'll enjoy what it changes into. You are very much on record as saying that this path of mine represents a *failing* on my part, a *lack* of something that you consider essential. I think that's just self-importance and elitism, and that it ignores a simple fact you'd rather not deal with -- people are *different*, and have different predilections in life. I haven't seen you write very much about mysticism and occultism. If I were interpreting things the way you do, I'd be saying that those things were *lacking* in your spiritual path. That's your reasoning, right? :-) Look...just to get your bulldog self off my ass...here's what I think about bhakti. I think that having a deep love for one's teacher is a great thing, period. But I also tend to respect *mature* love more than I respect *immature* love. What you were admiring in MDG was, IMO, immature love, the kind that cannot accept the possibility of the person they love having any faults. Mature love, on the other hand, is about loving the other person "warts and all." The intellect is still active in mature love. In immature love the intellect has been discarded; it's more akin IMO to infatuation than in a love that has lasted years or decades. My best friend is a total bhakti. He's madly in love with his current teacher. But at the same time, he also realizes that his current teacher is very human, and has a few quirks. One of these quirks involves expect- ing her male students to have sex with her. My friend has a long-time girlfriend, whom he *also* loves very much. He's not about to jump into the sack with his teacher just because the teacher wants him to. Now if I understand *your* position, you'd say that my friend isn't doing "true" bhakti because he hasn't fully surrendered to his teacher, and doesn't do what- ever she says to do without question. Well, sorry, but fuck that. I think a *lot* of people embrace bhakti so that they can *avoid* taking responsibility for making their own decisions. They not only *like* having the teacher make all the decisions for them, they *need* a teacher to make all their decisions for them. That, to me, is *not* bhakti; that's just being a wuss, and it's a path fraught with danger. Not all teachers are *deserving* of students following their instructions without question. Some of Maharishi's followers followed his instructions without question when the instructions were to smuggle suitcases of money across international borders. Some of them almost certainly follow his instructions to raise money for projects that they *know* will never be undertaken. >From what you've written here, I have to suspect that you would consider these students' actions to be a *good* thing. I think it just makes them wusses, and suckers. Different strokes for different folks. The bhaktis I admire are the ones who love their teachers thoroughly, *while* taking responsibility for making their own decisions, even if those decisions go against the wishes of their teachers. If you feel that's not bhakti as you define it, cool. I wish you well with your definition. So there's your post from me on bhakti. Now fuck off and bhakti till you drop, and allow those of us with other paths to follow them without you saying we're lower than you are *for* following them. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/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/
