Nice quotes, Vaj, thanks for posting.
the following is from my intellectual understanding:
The advaitic self-inquiry approach,
which I have heard from Mooji,
would be( roughly ) to realize that since
I see/feel/experience the Bliss,
I cannot be it.
the inquiry would be
Who sees/feels/experiences the Bliss?
This is before full Awakening, during the neti-neti phase.
During this phase, it's helpful to realize that:
'I' am not my experiences.
and ask Who is the experiencer?
After full Awakening, in this phase,
There is nothing but Self !
( which is Awareness, Bliss, God, Love,
whatever ).
In this ?final? phase, I am also my experiences.
But 'I' and 'me' are no longer personal
supposedly and neither is the Bliss
( it's of a different impersonal quality now).
Some who are having experiences
may dispute the latter. I don't know at this point.
This is my 2cents understanding so far.
Santi,
amarnath
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Feb 24, 2008, at 12:40 AM, Rick Archer wrote:
I agree with Amarnath that many people in the movement seem very
egotistical. Back on my 6-month course, most of the great
experience guys had huge egos, and were always competing with
each
other in terms of whose experience was flashiest.
Here's that quote again :-). You hit that one right on the head:
Bliss
Whenever you consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions
for
bliss occur, if you fall under the control of that by becoming
arrogant
or conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual
path. Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which
most probably is the accumulation of merit or the removal of
obscurations, as soon as the bliss occurs, you think, ''That's my
nature. Based on that, you become arrogant or lazy, thinking, Well,
I've accomplished it. This is the greatest obstacle to the spiritual
path. This is what creates the realms of deva-gods.
Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit of
felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because
happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle.
Once it arises, that's where the path stops.
This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving
up happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become
mesmerized by happiness as the end result. You realize that, Ah, now,
the good quality of this is that I am fortunate, and this is another
result of the great fortune of the path and the result of the
accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds. Even more than ever, I will
carry on with the work at hand to achieve liberation from cyclic
existence.
So with more diligence and more courage, you continue listening to
teachings, contemplating, meditating, and appreciating this precious
human rebirth.
--from Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga
http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=METRDR
by Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, translated by Sangye Khandro and B.
Alan Wallace
