Dear qntmpkt,
Although Mt. Athos is Greek, there are russian monasteries and sketes
(smaller hermitage-like facilities) on the islands. And yes, there are always
rumors about orthodox monks. Levitation in orthodoxy is uniquely tied to the
experience of transformation of the body and mind by the energies of god's
manifest presence (as typified by the transfiguration of Christ on Mt. Tabor).
This is exstatic rather than yogic, much as Patanjali would define the capacity
of Ishvara to hurl a devotee into any level of samadhi or even into the field
of the eight great maha-siddhi's just because he loves to rewards those who
love him.
But who knows for sure? Gossip is cheap and the number one topic of
discussion on Mt. Athos is greek politics. Then again this is not true for the
fervent monks who abandon even the thought of the world much less the world in
it's viscious deceipts.
As far as the general view, Mount Athos is one of the last repositories of
authentic christian monastic life on the planet, although there are a few
benedictine monesteries in europe that I hear are the real-est of the real
thing. IMO Christan spirituality is profound to the degree that it is
neoplatonic and the orthodox have preserved this legacy to the greatest extent
among the different churchs. But having given them such a laudation, I might
add that some of the most fixated and small-minded true believers you could
meet on this planet reside among the eastern orthodox. ("Go figure"seems to be
the standard FFL exclamation for such a strange recognition.) In other words,
some of the most variant specimens of spiritual depth you could find anywhere
exist among the orthodox. As an example, when I first visited with an orthodox
priest (approx.1976) he had never spoken with a white man (this means wasp) who
seemed interested enough in the church to "convert" and become a
"christian". It was just totally outside his born in greek-land upbringing.
However, after 2-3 minutes of polite conversation, he suddenly looked over at
me from his church desk and said - "To put it plainly, God became man so that
man can become God. This is the purpose of human life and this is the purpose
of the orthodox church." Trust me qntmpkt, this is not what I heard at the
Southern Baptist church of my parents. And, I might add, it struck me deeply at
that moment.
Point of the story? Spiritual traditions of extraordianary depth and fullness
bleed through the narrowly circumscribed minds of people who participate in
them. These traditions actualize themselves in the very thoughts and lives of
those people without the slightest regard for ordinary conventions. They
radiate grace and blesssing in ways that defy every mode of intellectual
understanding. Sometimes we are lucky enough or blessed enough to receive part
of this touch.
Flying is optional.
empty
qntmpkt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
--on Russian Orthodox monastery. There are rumors of levitating
monks at Mt. Athos.
- In [email protected], billy jim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I read your link. I agree with you entirely. Trevor Leggett did the
yogic world a great service by translating this commentary. I spoke
with a Sankya-Yoga scholar a few years back about this text. He had
some issues with Leggett's translation at times but agreed with the
overall clarity of the presentation. This scholar is a long time
meditator, tm teacher, former miu prof and longtime student of ssrs.
I saw him recently in ssrs's hotel suite while he brought some of his
students (part of his local university kriya group) in for darshan.
He had an interesting critique of Ian Whicher's "The Integrity of the
Yoga Darshana". I even found out that Gregory Shaw was his roommate
at UCal-Santa Barbara. (You may not be in to this stuff but Shaw is
one of the top commentators on the Neoplatonic Theurgy of Iamblichus,
2nd-3rd A.D. This is the origin of the short-lived tantra of the
western world, a profound tradition assassinated by the christians.)
>
> You might also know this, but there is now another translation of
Shankara's vivarana on the YS translated by T.S. Rukmani. I purchased
it throught Amazon, as a two volume hardback for $65. She is a well
accomplished scholar and used her previous translation of Patanjali
(done with Vacaspati's commentary) as the YS basis for the Vivarana.
She then dropped in Shankara's vivarana text as the main part of the
book. She believes that the vivarana is the work of one of the yogic
Shankaracharya-s from one of the traditional math-s. She cites what
she believes are stylistic reasons for this assignment. She is an
academic and is paid handsomely to generate such informed opinions so
we should take her opinion just for what it is. In either case,
whether Adi-Shankara or a later Shankaracharya, the vivarana is a
uniquely fertile contemplative source for the yogic student - ie. for
people who want to move deeper into the knowledge base.
>
> One thing I like about Leggett's version is the staightforward
clarity of the translation which just lends itself to easy
comprehension of Shankara's analysis. I found that by studying
Shankara's commentary on the sutras dealing with dharana (YS 3.1) and
dhyana (YS 3.2) , I was able to validate the accuracy of MMY's
teaching about the yogic process of sanyama. He is indeed teaching
Patanjali's sanyama, and not Vajra-naughts some-a-yo-mama. Half-baked
sadhaka-s with god-like pompous egos should rest their attention in
the ground luminosity and then just shut-the-fuck-up. After a while
their hearts might softten just enough so they can care more about
what is truth and a whole lot less about themselves and how they
appear to other people.
>
> As a side note here, my interest in this forum is simply to assay
the state of mind of some of fairfield's own meditators. I don't know
if this forum is representative or not, since I only know a few
people now living in fairfield. For my part, I am a non-recertified
tm-governor (Fiuggi, 1972), and student of ssrs - an extraordinary
person who has stayed with me at my house and from whom I have
received guru-mantra (rather than sahaj mantra). However, I am also a
student of a Kagyupa Lama who is an adept of mahamudra and dzogchen.
He is both a Kagyupa Khenpo and a Geshe (from Ganden monastery). He
will be staying at my house at the end of this month for a 5-day
retreat on practicing the three views of emptiness, tantra and
dzogchen-kadag in daily life. Both of these gurus have given me
profoundly deep teachings although in quite different ways. In this
matter I have been most fortunate.
> Also, and perhaps in the interest of disclosure, I should add
that I spent three years in a russian orthodox monastery, a tradition
incredibly rich in yogic-like spiritual teachings. It was there that
I learned some important yogic techniques - how to pray standing up,
how to bow, how to sing and chant in four part harmony and how to
drink iced zubravka vodka as a challege sport. - Not necessarily in
that order I might add.
>
> By the way, too bad we couldn't look deeper into the issue of
advaita and madhyamaka. John Arapura, McMaster University has
replicated Heidegger's quest for the origins of metaphysical
recognition by examining the foundations of Vedanta and Madhyamaka.
It is a facinating inquiry into the difference between logos (Vac) as
the self-revealing shruti of Brahman and dialectics as the analysis
of the world from the midst of its own flux (santana).
>
> Anyway, so much ... for so much thinking. Thank you for your
reply to my post.
>
> May the dogs wail, and may the moon hum.
> woof woof arf arf
>
> empty
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Richard J. Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Billy-Jim wrote:
> > Have you read Shankara's vivarana on Patanjali's
> > sutras dealing with Ishvara?
> >
> Bill - You are wasting your time here. From what I
> can tell, not a single informant on this forum has
> even heard of Shankara's vivarana on Patanjali's Yoga
> Sutras. Years ago on Usenet, I tried to strike up a
> dialog on this subject, to no avail. This is not
> surprising, considering that the most informed
> respondents here can't even tell the difference
> between Shankara's Vedanta and Nagarjuna's Madyamaka.
> Judy Stein and Michael Dean Goodman proved, using
> Nagarjuna's Four Negations, that Brahmna was devoid
> of Being. Can you believe that?
>
> Read more:
>
> Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental
> From: willytex
> Date: 9 Dec 2004 10:31:10
> Subject: Shankara on Yoga Sutras
> http://tinyurl.com/29qv6g
>
> "Shankara on the Yoga Sutras"
> The Vivarana sub-commentary to Vyasa-bhasya on the
> Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
> Translated by Trevor Leggett
> Routledge & Kegan Paul 1983
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your
story.
> Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.
>
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