( only "new" because of misinterpretations )
There are obviously many views as to what Enlightenment and Awakening are, and therefore the resulting controversies about the status of spiritual teachers. I would like to offer my 2 cents views on this from contemplating and reading many books on Ramana Maharshi and on the life and teachings of several of his "awakened" disciples as well many other spiritual books including "Awaken Children." This is the gist( the essence ) of what is presenting itself as a seemingly a new paradigm which does seem to explain a few things in a non-dogmatic way. The state of "Enlightenment" has been idealized by time, past, scriptures as a state of "Perfection" reserved only for a few Incarnations, Saints and Sages. Traditionally, this "perfection" is said to be attained by exhausting all of one's karmas. But the scriptures also say that the karmas are so vast as to be inexhaustible. What to do? Well, one simply answer is Grace( with God the impossible is possible ). But, this still leaves a lot of unanswered q's for seekers to deal with via all sorts of spiritual practices, teachers, teachings, insights, self-exploration, life, etc. And, nothing wrong here. The spiritual effort must be put forth if that is what one desires, just like material effort is needed, if that is what one desires. Bear with me. We are now living in an amazingly special time where predictions of inevitable great earth changes, perhaps realigning of earths axis, perhaps a phase transition in the collective consciousness of the human race? Or, perhaps, even, the extinction of the human race as we know it? Wouldn't you feel that, at this time, there must be several amazingly great beings( perhaps even incarnations ) on planet earth right now offering us options had we but eyes to see? Even during the time of Jesus, didn't he say "if they are not against us, they are with us?" But, to get back on track to the main point here. There seems to be an extraordinary phenomenon( with of course the unavoidable confusion and controversies ) of many many seekers talking about their "awakening" experiences. Including Darcie and many many others outside this forum( this was written for another forum before posting FFL ). Some had a lifetime of spiritual seeking; others none, in this lifetime at least; everything in between; even non-believers are "awakening." And this is not restricted to following one teacher only. Some have no teachers. Some of these "awakened" teach; others just live their normal lives but in a "natural" way. In all this, there seems to be a shift in the seeker's focus from the so called "unattainable perfect enlightenment" to simply "awakening to one's true nature." Awakening to the substratum of who we already are in each moment of "now" but are not "aware" of it because of the thought-dream that we are dreaming. Or, like the clouds( thoughts ) hiding the sun( Self ). >From the POV of non-duality, Enlightenment and Awakening are actually one and the same and at this level there is no judgment of the other because there is no other, there is only the ONE. However from duality POV, it is more practical to look at it as a process. In this process, instead of working very hard to exhaust the inexhaustible karmas, it is suggested to put all that energy and all desires into one desire "to awaken to one's true nature" first. Because, without "awakening" first, it is in fact impossible to make even a substantial dent in exhausting one's vast karmas. But, once the process of "awakening" starts, and is continued, and is deepened more and more, and is stabilized here and there, then it is indeed possible for God's Grace to take over and do that which is impossible for the "me" to do. Perhaps this new paradigm is the explanation for the seemingly imperfect behaviors of many "awakened" spiritual teachers who are in the process of exhausting incredible amounts of karmas. From this perspective, one might wonder how they manage to be as charismatic and beautiful and loving and strong as they seem to be to many of their devotees. And since no one can predict when and which karmas will surface, it seems even the greatest of teachers might seem to fall. There are several vedic stories to illustrate this and the "fall" is usually for a short time. Perhaps this is why one Amma said that we might be too rough with our standards which we apply to others especially teachers. Is this not? why Jesus and all genuine sages like Ramana, Ammachi and others caution us to "Judge only yourself!" With this perspective, perhaps all my words above should not be taken too seriously and if any feel offended or irritated please forgive "me," forgive "you," and see what truth there is in the silence of your own unspoken heart. Is it not true that ? "Truth cannot be spoken!" "Silence is the only (absolute) Truth and all words are a distortion of it." Except for these: "Om Santi, Santi, Santi Om!" ( there is always an exception ) Love and Light, Anatol PS ~ reading a wonderful book "Papaji Amazing Grace" by Premananda with interviews of 15 seekers of enlightenment and their awakening; after a gamut of life experiences, many teachers, practices, etc all found their way to LuckNow, India where Papaji was from 1990-1997; he helped hundreds: some to "start" awakening, others to "deepen" their awakening, some to "stabilize" and for some to "finalize" although there really is no finality to that which is infinite. Papaji was one of several amazing disciples of the great sage Ramana Maharshi.
