Many teachers, masters and gurus, repeatedly make the same almost identical claims, throughout their voluminous writings, that undoubtedly are very impressive to the pure consciousness of their readers , even for the sole reason of their obsession about these truths, and large number of repetition every where in their teachings.
Examples of such teachers are Buddhist influenced teachers like Krishnamurti, Rajneesh-Osho, Eckhart Tolle etc. I selected 5 such claims that in spite the fact that I read all the above teachers for decades, and love and enjoy their mainly inspiring and enlightened views, they never persuaded me for the truth of the next particular 5 claims.
Here is what they repeat constantly:
Here is what they repeat constantly:
Absolute "enemies"
1) Ego, is the cause and the root of almost all problems
2) The mind (concrete, mortal) is the root of almost all problems too.
3) Goals, success, becoming is the poison of life.
Absolute "solutions"
4) By focusing in the present, almost all problems are solved.
5) All most all problems are solved too by focusing in the heart.
There is no doubt that there is a lot of truth in these claims, but the obsessive repletion in all situations, I think provokes a more correct and impartial attitude on the above 5 claims.
Here is how I perceive the truth about the previous 5 points, which of course, cancels the absoluteness of these claims.
1) Ego, is the agent that usually decides what is self, in our existence and what is not. As long as Ego limits the self and does not let it include what usually we do not consider as self (subconscious, others, hyper-conscious etc) it plays a negative role to our evolution. And this is very often the case. E.g. many people consider their body only as self, and this limited self requires an ego to sustain its boundaries. But if Ego, is becoming the reason we expand and grow ourselves or at least it follows and protects the steps of the the growth of self , then its role is positive in the evolution of our existence. Although self maybe growing and evolving, it always takes an Ego, during its evolution to decide what is self and what not.(Even if we claim that ourselves is everything that exists!).
2) The human mind, they say is at least of two parts, the concrete mortal mind and the abstract immortal mind, which interacts more with the eternal soul. There is no doubt, that our civilization imposes on us ideas in the concrete mind that may lead us to unhappiness and away from our true soul consciousness. But not all problems come from the mind. Physical reality maybe the source of many problems too, which are represented in our mind but are not created in our mind. The constant pain, blood and killing of the animals in the jungle, is not a problem created by the human mind although it is represented in it. In a deep silent meditation, the concrete mortal mind is to be transcended so as to find the true intent of the soul. This does not mean that we must destroy it, or make it non-usable or useful at all in our life. On the contrary we must perfect it as much as possible and seek cognitional unity through it. . But we must not forget, that the mind (either concrete and mortal or not) is not all of our existence.
3) Goals, especially the superficial ones imposed by the dogmas of a society with high inequalities in money and power, can and do bring misery, frustration and unhappiness. Especially of these goals are money, power, fame by themselves. As human beings in deep meditation that transcends our space-time goals hither too, must find the intent of the consciousness of the soul, at first. But then if we devices a plan to realize within space and time goals this intent, then we do find fulfillment and happiness. This may involve goal setting and becoming. But also this realization maybe instantaneous too, as ability to experience states of our existence internally and not as ability to get impressions from external space-time defined goals. Both may be. But the poison is not the goals or the becoming, but the ignorance of our true self as soul intent and the involvement of the soul to wrong endeavors.
4) When we do not have goals and plans, when we are in holidays we are of course focusing in the present time only, and temporarily we may feel better. But we all know that by focusing in the (mortal) present only we become unwise, we are drifted, and the present becomes worse and worse. And drifting in the current of the river is good only temporarily if we can at any moment navigate also against the current and avoid falling in the waterfall. A tornado destroys our house, it is summer. We may be inclined to enjoy the present of the day by swimming in the lake, instead of building the house again, which is a goal that may take months, and we will enjoy its benefits only in the future. Then one day in the summer we rip apart our cloths. We may be tempted to go fishing and enjoy the present time of the day, instead of sewing new cloths, which is a goal, and its benefits will be appreciated only in the future days. Slowly but steadily by focusing only in the present the present becomes worse and worse. On the other hand it is true that in deep meditation when we want to be our eternal consciousness then past and future are transcended, because eternal consciousness is beyond the mortal time-fabric. Nevertheless the present too is transcended in addition to past and future. The eternal consciousness (soul) of our existence it is not timeless in an absolute way! It has its own time of a different frequency. But this eternal deeper time flow is entirely different that the flow of the material time of the mortal body! Therefore in withdrawing ourselves in our eternal consciousness we are transcending material mortal time, and therefore we are in a timeless realm from the point of view of the material mortal time.
The causal (time) flows of the mortal and the immortal are independent and may become correlated in deep meditation, as two wheels that touch each other and turn; the very small wheel (our mortal time) and the vastly large wheel (the immortal "timeless" time) and where they touch is seems to us as if the "present" of the immortal time. The mortal present would never be adequate enough to deal with our issues, while the "present" of the eternal consciousness is!
I believe the correct expression is to FOCUS NOT IN THE PRESENT TIME BUT IN THE PRESENCE OF YOUR IMMORTAL PSYCHIC CONSCIOUSNESS. (see also post 117) It is different! Because the presence of psychic consciousness may be also in memories of the past and dreams of the future. And in fact the present may be no better from the past or the future. All the three, past, present and future are temporal categories. While being in the presence, in the " I am present" (not "I am in the present time" ) is the real valuable focus and flow. Because it is consciousness, awareness and gives the ability to change the states of the consciousness, thoughts, emotions etc, and therefore the actions, leading to a better freedom, fate, and society.
5) No doubt the soul consciousness is that which can expand and develop the self. And the soul consciousness for people with little developed mind is discovered through the heart. But the soul consciousness can be discovered by the abstract mind too, for more intellectual people. And in our existence there is also the spiritual self. As in nature all the three states, solid liquid and gaseous make all reality, and not only one of them, although e.g. through the gaseous state (which includes fire and sound) may be easier to change the other two states.
2) The human mind, they say is at least of two parts, the concrete mortal mind and the abstract immortal mind, which interacts more with the eternal soul. There is no doubt, that our civilization imposes on us ideas in the concrete mind that may lead us to unhappiness and away from our true soul consciousness. But not all problems come from the mind. Physical reality maybe the source of many problems too, which are represented in our mind but are not created in our mind. The constant pain, blood and killing of the animals in the jungle, is not a problem created by the human mind although it is represented in it. In a deep silent meditation, the concrete mortal mind is to be transcended so as to find the true intent of the soul. This does not mean that we must destroy it, or make it non-usable or useful at all in our life. On the contrary we must perfect it as much as possible and seek cognitional unity through it. . But we must not forget, that the mind (either concrete and mortal or not) is not all of our existence.
3) Goals, especially the superficial ones imposed by the dogmas of a society with high inequalities in money and power, can and do bring misery, frustration and unhappiness. Especially of these goals are money, power, fame by themselves. As human beings in deep meditation that transcends our space-time goals hither too, must find the intent of the consciousness of the soul, at first. But then if we devices a plan to realize within space and time goals this intent, then we do find fulfillment and happiness. This may involve goal setting and becoming. But also this realization maybe instantaneous too, as ability to experience states of our existence internally and not as ability to get impressions from external space-time defined goals. Both may be. But the poison is not the goals or the becoming, but the ignorance of our true self as soul intent and the involvement of the soul to wrong endeavors.
4) When we do not have goals and plans, when we are in holidays we are of course focusing in the present time only, and temporarily we may feel better. But we all know that by focusing in the (mortal) present only we become unwise, we are drifted, and the present becomes worse and worse. And drifting in the current of the river is good only temporarily if we can at any moment navigate also against the current and avoid falling in the waterfall. A tornado destroys our house, it is summer. We may be inclined to enjoy the present of the day by swimming in the lake, instead of building the house again, which is a goal that may take months, and we will enjoy its benefits only in the future. Then one day in the summer we rip apart our cloths. We may be tempted to go fishing and enjoy the present time of the day, instead of sewing new cloths, which is a goal, and its benefits will be appreciated only in the future days. Slowly but steadily by focusing only in the present the present becomes worse and worse. On the other hand it is true that in deep meditation when we want to be our eternal consciousness then past and future are transcended, because eternal consciousness is beyond the mortal time-fabric. Nevertheless the present too is transcended in addition to past and future. The eternal consciousness (soul) of our existence it is not timeless in an absolute way! It has its own time of a different frequency. But this eternal deeper time flow is entirely different that the flow of the material time of the mortal body! Therefore in withdrawing ourselves in our eternal consciousness we are transcending material mortal time, and therefore we are in a timeless realm from the point of view of the material mortal time.
The causal (time) flows of the mortal and the immortal are independent and may become correlated in deep meditation, as two wheels that touch each other and turn; the very small wheel (our mortal time) and the vastly large wheel (the immortal "timeless" time) and where they touch is seems to us as if the "present" of the immortal time. The mortal present would never be adequate enough to deal with our issues, while the "present" of the eternal consciousness is!
I believe the correct expression is to FOCUS NOT IN THE PRESENT TIME BUT IN THE PRESENCE OF YOUR IMMORTAL PSYCHIC CONSCIOUSNESS. (see also post 117) It is different! Because the presence of psychic consciousness may be also in memories of the past and dreams of the future. And in fact the present may be no better from the past or the future. All the three, past, present and future are temporal categories. While being in the presence, in the " I am present" (not "I am in the present time" ) is the real valuable focus and flow. Because it is consciousness, awareness and gives the ability to change the states of the consciousness, thoughts, emotions etc, and therefore the actions, leading to a better freedom, fate, and society.
5) No doubt the soul consciousness is that which can expand and develop the self. And the soul consciousness for people with little developed mind is discovered through the heart. But the soul consciousness can be discovered by the abstract mind too, for more intellectual people. And in our existence there is also the spiritual self. As in nature all the three states, solid liquid and gaseous make all reality, and not only one of them, although e.g. through the gaseous state (which includes fire and sound) may be easier to change the other two states.
We should not forget that to understand better what these teachers meant, we must not look only to what they say, but we must look more to what they did, and what was the impact to people around them.
Imagine that you mute their saying like in soundless cinema, and observe what they do, and what structures of human interactions they create around them. Because this may reveal sometimes a new meaning to what they say and sometimes even the opposite of what they say.
Imagine that you mute their saying like in soundless cinema, and observe what they do, and what structures of human interactions they create around them. Because this may reveal sometimes a new meaning to what they say and sometimes even the opposite of what they say.
If we look carefully and apply the above 3 absolute enemies and 2 absolute solutions to the practice of these teachers, we realize that it is almost a perfect recipe for them mainly and their practice, personally, and not so much perfectly for the listeners, because:
1) The Ego of their visitor and listener must be circumvent in order to accept the truths of the speaker and teacher. (Unavoidably he/she must submit to any ego of the speaker, e.g. by not arguing much, and giving more time for the speaker to speak than for the visitor to speak).
2) It case of problems real or not, it is always easier to attribute them to the mind of the visitor and listener , and try to change his attitude towards the problem, instead of really solving it.
3) The teacher and speaker has no goals. No concerns what to do next. Only to go and speak and be happy. He does not need to program his teachings Everything is improvisation. And the donations of the followers and admirers will cover all expenses of the past present and future.
4) The teacher and speaker only needs to focus in the present to what he listens and what he will say. Actually it does contain past, present future that differ only a few minutes in shaping the phrases, thus it can be called only present.
5) The teacher and speaker must relate with the heart mainly to the visitor and listener, because it is this that the visitor will value not the special expertise of the teacher to any science or human profession.
1) The Ego of their visitor and listener must be circumvent in order to accept the truths of the speaker and teacher. (Unavoidably he/she must submit to any ego of the speaker, e.g. by not arguing much, and giving more time for the speaker to speak than for the visitor to speak).
2) It case of problems real or not, it is always easier to attribute them to the mind of the visitor and listener , and try to change his attitude towards the problem, instead of really solving it.
3) The teacher and speaker has no goals. No concerns what to do next. Only to go and speak and be happy. He does not need to program his teachings Everything is improvisation. And the donations of the followers and admirers will cover all expenses of the past present and future.
4) The teacher and speaker only needs to focus in the present to what he listens and what he will say. Actually it does contain past, present future that differ only a few minutes in shaping the phrases, thus it can be called only present.
5) The teacher and speaker must relate with the heart mainly to the visitor and listener, because it is this that the visitor will value not the special expertise of the teacher to any science or human profession.
In addition , in the case e.g. of Rajneesh-Osho, and similar gurus, what they say and suggest when they answer questions, takes much real life meaning and their wisdom can be appreciated , if we remember that usually are suggestions to visitors to adopt a new life in his Ashram (spiritual community), or to already members of his ashram to adopt a new attitude of life in the ashram.
One must listen to what Osho has said WITH REAL AWARENESS not only with the awareness that Osho suggests. For example Osho
1) Admits that he was selling Bliss (not giving it for free) and he made a fortune by it therefore with great selfishness as private interest. This is plausible to explain as he started his life in a very poor family. for example in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRo_L1RiGWw
2) He admits that he was a spiritual playboy and we all know that in sex the egotism of the body is very significant. E.g. in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsyVpN-fOUA
3) He admits that he was owning 90 Rolls Royce cars (limousines, should we assume most probably not at the same time? ), that he is a guru of the rich people not the poor, while in the same video he is accusing politicians for letting children starve to death in Africa. He certainly could do something himself by liquidating his Rolls Royce and keeping an ordinary car, and giving money to poor African families thus saving children from death. his indulgence to unique luxuries only fir him in is ashrams, is no doubt an indication of a big EGO , while at the same time he is speaking of dissolving the ego, with his visitors (or probably is about the ego of his visitors) ! The particular video starts with a question about "light" and the immediate spontaneous answer of Osho is one that shows that unswers "light" as "conformable" "Luxurious" etc. And this suggests that with the awareness that Osho suggest we cannot see any hypocrisy here, but with REAL AWARENESS we do see hypocrisy as a result of putting personal convenience as the first priority. And even more a normally irresponsible use of words, and speaking, which he himself admits as he says that he is but a spiritual fool , a sage. (Of course this does not mean that with his spirituality he may not state something really profound that many intellectually perfect and elaborate people are missing, but also it means that he may very often say mindless and foolish things too). He also admits that he has no consistency or commitment about what he says and what he does. He practically plays with the words and their meaning, giving sufficient distance from his own actions! In other words his words might be what people would like to listen, to ease their souls , but do not agree with his choices of his own actions always! This of course is very close to deceiving in a seemingly spiritual way. He had change attitudes and beliefs many times. For example for years he was accepting the homosexual people, and suddenly from a year and on (being rich by then) he rejected them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo_P2rbEtwo
4) He had repeatedly stated that his job is to confuse and disturb people (for good purposes of course according to him) but we really know that it was also and had benefits for his private wealth making interest too. .
5) He had claimed that "anybody who gives your a belief system is your enemy" (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBEIeRSLb8k ), while at the same time most of his statements and quotes are of the kind of beliefs to most men,and I assume in many cases for him too. This is so because that is the way the human consciousness works. It cannot work without beliefs at all. You may claim that you do not believe such and such statements, or some religions etc but you are not true and you cannot claim that you believe nothing. The same with his statement that he is not using his mind. He very well was using his mind, were shaping meaningful and phrases with syntax and complicated meaning. The same applies to Krishnamurti also when he claims that he is not using his mind too. Of course both Osho and Krishnamurti were meaning that they do not use the mind as a means of discovering truth through organized reasoning (as it is done for example in mathematics) Which is quite true.But this also was simple convenient to them, as the were coming from a eastern India culture, that mind and sciences are absent, and were visiting the west Europe and USA, where organized scientific reasoning and sciences is a core part of the culture. In order to transcend what they did not have, in India and their eastern culture they made this choice. Of course mind is not the only source of truth, and spiritual intuition is necessary too. But it would be unfair to claim the western scientists who made so many discoveries in physical, chemistry, mathematics etc, and used heavily the mind as organized reasoning lacked spiritual intuition that transcends the intellect. If on the other hand we will accept Osho statements as not beliefs , and not to be believed in face value, buts simply words, that had meaning only because the circumstances and flow of energy at the particular time, space and people, then they have radically almost no value to us reading them now, or repeating them. And the same applies to Krishnamurti.
(http://sannyasnews.org/now/archives/468)
Happiness for the people in the community of Rajneesh-Osho was coming through
1) Escape from the mundane survival mode
2) Eradication of hierarchical power dependence, like employer-employee relations, ownership of share holders to employees, family/relatives dysfunctional relations, authorities power dependencies, over indulgence psychologically to the ownership of private property etc
3) Improvement of the quality of emotions, getting rid of jealousy, hatred, anxiety , fear, greediness , hypocrisy , egotism etc
4) Non-instructional introversion and meditation that transcends space and time and the superficial concrete mortal mind so as to find the consciousness of the immortal soul through the heart.
5) Vegetarian nutrition
6) Dances, art-celebrations, music, singing painting, writing etc
7) Liberation from intimate sexual relations problems, derived from hypocrisy lies, fear, violence, deception, non-realistic commitments and expectations etc.
8) Liberation from prejudices in all areas of life
9) Liberation from unhappy dogmas of religions, sociology, politics, economics, ecology etc
10) Liberation from false ambitions, related to money, fame, social power, racial discrimination etc.
11) Liberation from stressful schedules, and failing projects or targeting and goal settings, concentration on the present and liberation from "becoming" something else than what we already are.
12) Liberation from a false and unhappy organization of life, and emphasis on the spontaneous free, fluent element of life.
13) Changing of negative attitudes, beliefs, and prejudices toward life itself.
14) Increase of awareness and consciousness in all levels of life.
15) Closer contact with nature in gardens and parks .
One must listen to what Osho has said WITH REAL AWARENESS not only with the awareness that Osho suggests. For example Osho
1) Admits that he was selling Bliss (not giving it for free) and he made a fortune by it therefore with great selfishness as private interest. This is plausible to explain as he started his life in a very poor family. for example in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRo_L1RiGWw
2) He admits that he was a spiritual playboy and we all know that in sex the egotism of the body is very significant. E.g. in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsyVpN-fOUA
3) He admits that he was owning 90 Rolls Royce cars (limousines, should we assume most probably not at the same time? ), that he is a guru of the rich people not the poor, while in the same video he is accusing politicians for letting children starve to death in Africa. He certainly could do something himself by liquidating his Rolls Royce and keeping an ordinary car, and giving money to poor African families thus saving children from death. his indulgence to unique luxuries only fir him in is ashrams, is no doubt an indication of a big EGO , while at the same time he is speaking of dissolving the ego, with his visitors (or probably is about the ego of his visitors) ! The particular video starts with a question about "light" and the immediate spontaneous answer of Osho is one that shows that unswers "light" as "conformable" "Luxurious" etc. And this suggests that with the awareness that Osho suggest we cannot see any hypocrisy here, but with REAL AWARENESS we do see hypocrisy as a result of putting personal convenience as the first priority. And even more a normally irresponsible use of words, and speaking, which he himself admits as he says that he is but a spiritual fool , a sage. (Of course this does not mean that with his spirituality he may not state something really profound that many intellectually perfect and elaborate people are missing, but also it means that he may very often say mindless and foolish things too). He also admits that he has no consistency or commitment about what he says and what he does. He practically plays with the words and their meaning, giving sufficient distance from his own actions! In other words his words might be what people would like to listen, to ease their souls , but do not agree with his choices of his own actions always! This of course is very close to deceiving in a seemingly spiritual way. He had change attitudes and beliefs many times. For example for years he was accepting the homosexual people, and suddenly from a year and on (being rich by then) he rejected them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo_P2rbEtwo
4) He had repeatedly stated that his job is to confuse and disturb people (for good purposes of course according to him) but we really know that it was also and had benefits for his private wealth making interest too. .
5) He had claimed that "anybody who gives your a belief system is your enemy" (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBEIeRSLb8k ), while at the same time most of his statements and quotes are of the kind of beliefs to most men,and I assume in many cases for him too. This is so because that is the way the human consciousness works. It cannot work without beliefs at all. You may claim that you do not believe such and such statements, or some religions etc but you are not true and you cannot claim that you believe nothing. The same with his statement that he is not using his mind. He very well was using his mind, were shaping meaningful and phrases with syntax and complicated meaning. The same applies to Krishnamurti also when he claims that he is not using his mind too. Of course both Osho and Krishnamurti were meaning that they do not use the mind as a means of discovering truth through organized reasoning (as it is done for example in mathematics) Which is quite true.But this also was simple convenient to them, as the were coming from a eastern India culture, that mind and sciences are absent, and were visiting the west Europe and USA, where organized scientific reasoning and sciences is a core part of the culture. In order to transcend what they did not have, in India and their eastern culture they made this choice. Of course mind is not the only source of truth, and spiritual intuition is necessary too. But it would be unfair to claim the western scientists who made so many discoveries in physical, chemistry, mathematics etc, and used heavily the mind as organized reasoning lacked spiritual intuition that transcends the intellect. If on the other hand we will accept Osho statements as not beliefs , and not to be believed in face value, buts simply words, that had meaning only because the circumstances and flow of energy at the particular time, space and people, then they have radically almost no value to us reading them now, or repeating them. And the same applies to Krishnamurti.
6) Osho was also a contemporary Wealthy Socrates. Except that Socrates was utilizing in a significant way the detailed reasoning with his Maieutic method while Osho was simply talking slowly, giving emphasis to a pleasant feeling of Bliss. And that Socrates accepted to take the poison and die while Osho would ever accept it if he was aware of it. The rumors say (and that is what he had stated that he believed too) that when he was arrested, in United States, because in his Ashrams were many illegal in US refugees , he was contaminated (poisoned) by a specific radioactivity, through his mattress, when sleeping in his prison cell. This gave him an illness from the one only side of his body (that which he used to sleep) which led him to death 3 years later in India.
Having said the above about Osho and Krishnamurti that are somehow negative remarks, we should not miss the very important point, that Osho's and Krishnamurti's sayings contain great spiritual truths too, and had helped many people that either had meet them or not, to be in closer contact with their immortal souls, and raise their frequencies thus awaken in a very critical turn of the earthly civilization. The current civilization is very often utterly hostile to the immortal human soul, and Krishnamurti and Osho have contributed in curing this issue. Both also helped liberating the spiritual journey of human beings from the authority, manipulation, and alienation, that various religions imposed to people seeking inner involvement. For all the above we should be grateful to them.
Having said the above about Osho and Krishnamurti that are somehow negative remarks, we should not miss the very important point, that Osho's and Krishnamurti's sayings contain great spiritual truths too, and had helped many people that either had meet them or not, to be in closer contact with their immortal souls, and raise their frequencies thus awaken in a very critical turn of the earthly civilization. The current civilization is very often utterly hostile to the immortal human soul, and Krishnamurti and Osho have contributed in curing this issue. Both also helped liberating the spiritual journey of human beings from the authority, manipulation, and alienation, that various religions imposed to people seeking inner involvement. For all the above we should be grateful to them.
(http://sannyasnews.org/now/archives/468)
Happiness for the people in the community of Rajneesh-Osho was coming through
1) Escape from the mundane survival mode
2) Eradication of hierarchical power dependence, like employer-employee relations, ownership of share holders to employees, family/relatives dysfunctional relations, authorities power dependencies, over indulgence psychologically to the ownership of private property etc
3) Improvement of the quality of emotions, getting rid of jealousy, hatred, anxiety , fear, greediness , hypocrisy , egotism etc
4) Non-instructional introversion and meditation that transcends space and time and the superficial concrete mortal mind so as to find the consciousness of the immortal soul through the heart.
5) Vegetarian nutrition
6) Dances, art-celebrations, music, singing painting, writing etc
7) Liberation from intimate sexual relations problems, derived from hypocrisy lies, fear, violence, deception, non-realistic commitments and expectations etc.
8) Liberation from prejudices in all areas of life
9) Liberation from unhappy dogmas of religions, sociology, politics, economics, ecology etc
10) Liberation from false ambitions, related to money, fame, social power, racial discrimination etc.
11) Liberation from stressful schedules, and failing projects or targeting and goal settings, concentration on the present and liberation from "becoming" something else than what we already are.
12) Liberation from a false and unhappy organization of life, and emphasis on the spontaneous free, fluent element of life.
13) Changing of negative attitudes, beliefs, and prejudices toward life itself.
14) Increase of awareness and consciousness in all levels of life.
15) Closer contact with nature in gardens and parks .
