--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, gullible fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Bob Ferguson told this story at the Wellesley TM > Center back in the mid-70s, except the disciple was > not Guru Dev and the disciple did not come to a > satsang to convey what he meant. Considering Bob's > memory of this story was likely pretty fresh thirty > years ago, I'll go with Bob's version.
The tale also has its counterpart in Tibetan tradition, with an entirely different set of characters. Good stories tended to be...uh...borrowed and...uh..."recast" in different spiritual traditions similar to how people remake movies. It's good to see that this trend endures. :-) Personally, I found that the most telling thing in MDG's rant ( parts of which I finally read because so many people were so ga-ga about it :-) was the seemingly one-to-one relationship of "defense of bhakti" with the strong, almost agressive assertion that something *other* than the ego is "in charge" of action and the functioning of the universe, and that the ego is *separate* from that "other" that runs the universe. Seems awfully dualistic to me. The oft-repeated theme is that one cannot "trust" the self, and that therefore one must put one's trust only in the Self. But the *assumption* underlying this is that self is false, an illusion, *not* a legitimate aspect of Self. In other words, the self is not "really" the Self...Self is "other." I honestly think that if you scratch the surface, you will find that many people who embrace the bhakti path really believe in some concept of God and a form of predestination, in which "they" (the ego or self) don't really act, only "it" (the Self, God, whatever) does. It is a belief in "God the Other," something *other* than their localized self being the doer, with their individual self cast as inherently flawed and imperfect and, essentially, lower than the lint in a snake's navel. :-) Therefore, having this belief as a *foundation* for their view of the universe, they naturally choose *not* to identify with or put their trust in something they despise (them-selves, the ego), but in something "other" or "not the self" that they can idealize and put up on a pedestal (God, the Self, the guru). It's just a theory, but I think it's worth pondering. The bottom line of MDG's rant, if you analyze it, is that the self is BAD, a "thief," and that only the Self is good. That's certainly an interesting take on Unity, n'est-ce pas? Seems to me that his position could be synopsized as, "I hate my self, therefore I put all my faith and trust in something *other* than my self. And if you don't do the same, there is something wrong with you...I feel 'com- passionately sad' for you." :-) ------------------------ 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/
