--- In [email protected], "Marek Reavis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Comment below: > > --- In [email protected], Vaj <vajranatha@> wrote: > > > > > > On Nov 17, 2006, at 10:46 AM, sparaig wrote: > > > > > Neither simple nor complex. > > > > > > And you keep claiming that shamatha is the same as TM. Here's > what > > > an apparently > > > famous Shamatha advocate says about shamatha. He, at least, has > the > > > excuse that he > > > never learned TM: > > <gracious snip> > > > > No that's NOT what I claim. I merely said TM is a *form* of > Shamatha. > > That's certainly not to imply that all forms of Shamatha are the > same > > as TM, they are not. > > > > There are literally hundreds of different styles of Shamatha. > > > **End** > > Reading Sparaig's excerpt from the Shamatha teacher, it seemed to me > to be, in essence, a verbose description of what Maharishi was able > to succinctly capture in his teaching of an effortless meditation. > > But even Maharishi described his meditation, in the beginning days of > his mission, as a form of mind control. That conceptual paradigm > was/is a long-established one and, reading that description (of > Shamatha) from the vantage point of a long-time TMer, it seems to be > describing (albeit kind of complicatedly) correct meditation to me. > > The problem for the person being presented with that description of > meditation would seem to be how to figure out, from all that wordage, > that all you need to do is effortlessly think/use the object of > meditation (whatever that would be in the Shamatha tradition) and > whenever you were aware that you were no longer thinking/using the > object of meditation, to quietly come back to it in the same, natural > way that you think any other thought. Just effortless thinking. > Effortless effort. > > It's a situation somewhat parallel to reading Nisargadatta. All his > books are just transcriptions of questions and answers from his > satsangs. His words and teachings are so clear to me (as a long- time > meditator), but you read how the people posing the questions > (oftentimes) just don't seem to understand what it is he's telling > them to do. When I started practicing his instructions re self- > inquiry it was like turning on a light -- so easy, so simple, so Self > evident. But I wouldn't have gotten any of that (I don't believe) > unless I had the experiential background that Maharishi and my > meditation practice has provided.
That is exactly my experience also. All the Masters are saying the same thing, using different language. Without the experience of the reality behind their words, as we get from transcending, it would all be fragmented knowledge, divided into sects. That's why it is perfectly natural to see that Benjamin Creme and Maharishi Maheh Yogi are correct in saying that Heaven is walking on Earth. For more information, please see: http://www.sharintl.org
