Reference: posted by: gckier on 6/26/00 to Kirpal Singh Satsang Club; Message number 444
There is, and has always been, a real paradox in that if we are spiritual, why need we do anything at all in the way of sadhana?. The Advaita or non-dual philosophy, which Master discusses at some length in "Crown of Life" states that we are always That, and advocates a practice known as "Atma Vichara", or self-enquiry, rather than meditation on inner Sound or Light. Yet the saying of something is not the realizing of it, even though the current proliferation of Advaita "masters" (which make the same proliferation of Sant Mat masters seem minor by comparison) repeating the same simple formula is considered by some as evidence that that works, it clearly does not. And people who practice paths without a sense of non-dualism are often extremely confused and dogmatic. Master distinguished between inner and outer knowledge, but also between intellectual knowledge of spiritual truth, and the real knowing through experience. He offered what he called a "practical method of self-analysis". Intellectual or philosphical knowing even of the Divine, being of the mind is still "apara". "Even a child can have it" he would say. That kind of innocence is embarassing, but necessary. If one can meditate with that innocence, there would be far less confusion.
Reference: posted by: vejeestu on 6/26/00 to Kirpal Singh Satsang Club; Message number 445
In the last year or two I have sat at the feet of or watched videos of five individuals said to be "enlightened" in the advaitist type of manner, through direct apprehension of Truth, Self, or what have you. All of them impressed me to some extent as genuinely freer by far then the average bear individuals. Clearly, there is a noble realization that may be obtained by sudden or direct apprehension of Self. However, in each of these cases there were some distinctly missing pieces and a sense that while there is something wonderful and worthy of aspiration in their conditions, they were not in the same category as the Masters of Sant mat by a long way. Beautiful teachers all the same, and pointing the way and indicating the direction of human evolution beyond psychology.
Having said that, I would like to pitch for the fact that sometimes inner experience can come in the form of consciousness itself without vision or sound as such. Without getting into details, a few years ago I had a meditation experience that was transcendent yet absolutely distinct. I could still describe what was happening in detail, and yet it was beyond the pale of my mind to receive as vision or audition. It occured as if there was vision but there was not. It would be like a blind man standing among a group and having an experience of what the group was doing and saying, but not seeing it or even, in a sense, hearing it.
Sometimes "gnosis" of a degree or of a kind can come through means apparently unorthodox or in ways not quite fitting the doctrines of the Master's. It is apparent to me that the Master Power reaches and raises souls through many means. I came out of and fell back into the same experience three times during the course of the meditation, confirming the 'solidity' of the experience,
Although the Masters lay out the path of ascent, they do also reach initiates and seeking souls with experiences of realized truth in ways that transcend any doctrine.
Gnosis or apra vidya is most purely and thoroughly experienced by the conscious surat having the direct experience of its ascent, yet spirit as all pervading reality, can confer preliminary experiences of apra vidya, or realized truth, through various approaches. The Masters, in my view, are much broader in their approach and much more liberal in their embrace of the same then we often give credit.
Reference: posted by: gckier on 6/27/00 to Kirpal Singh Satsang Club; Message number 453
I agree, especially in the case of Master Kirpal. He seemed to embrace and stress non-dualism, while offering the path of, and guidance through, the way of ascent. Personally, I believe he did this better than anyone. And I agree also that spiritual experience comes in all shapes and sizes, and we ahould be grateful for any of it, even that which does not fit into our preconceived idea of what it should be. Visions are so sought after that we miss out on allot of cool stuff.
Reference: posted by: WayOutWesley on 6/29/00 to Kirpal Singh Satsang Club; Message number 463
"Life' and 'Death' are correlative terms. In the realm of relativity we cannot think, speak and act except by putting one thing in juxtaposition to another. This is the way to understand what is phenomenal. In multiplicity, we are confronted at every step with complex jigsaw puzzles, and have, therefore, to follow an analytical process of sorting out the component parts in each case, to name them individually and to put one in relation to the other, so as to comprehend something of it on the plane of the senses and the intellect. Thus by the very nature of things, and by the nature of the cognizing faculties with which nature has endowed us, we live by the knowledge of the parts only and never get a true picture of anything in its totality. Since we have no knowledge and experience of the noumenon, we are content all the while with forms and colours of the things we see, their attributes and characteristics which may be apparent on the surface, without penetrating into the depth, the central life-principal which is the self-same in all in spite of the differences in the mass, the density, the volume, the weight and the shape of what we see and observe. Like the Lady of Shallot, we live all the time in the world of shadows as reflected in the reflecting mirror (of mind and intellect), with our back turned, as it were, even upon the objective world around us, what to speak of the subjective world in each one of us--the world of reality with wonders greater, vaster, more gorgeous and more glorious than anything in the physical." Kirpal Singh from the intro to The Mystery of Death
The paradox and the problem is that in order to try to talk about the spirit we are forced to do it with the tools and mindset of the multiplicity. Spirit has to be experienced....
Yet we argue and trip over words and descriptions that cannot possibly take the place of real experience.
Reference: posted by: john_st_john on 5/26/00 to Kirpal Singh Satsang Club; Message number 163
Denver, January, 1969...my old friend charges into the apartment, kicking off snow. He begins to tell me about the meditation meeting he attended the night before at the Denver YMCA...all about some Master from India...a little heavy for his tastes. "And I got this book", he says, a hard bound, black, Indian edition of Naam or Word. He goes on about the meeting. When I asked a couple of questions, he tries to sell me the book. I pondered for a moment...then remembered I had a pair of old ski gloves kicking around in the trunk of my car that somebody had left there. Trade?? "Sure", he says without hesitation. The next day I tear into Naam or Word. I know nothing about religion. I care nothing about religion. I struggle with new terminology. But, I keep plowing. The author is starting to bore me...he keeps saying the same thing over and over. His examples keep repeating the same statements in different ways...then more examples from this religion and that religion...finally, half way through it hits me. I get it. The sociology major, anti-war activist puts the book down. I suddenly realize I have come upon a very great truth. A truth that I know other people don't undestand. A truth, that if they did understand, would make a huge impact in human integration and world peace. All of these religious systems are based on the same essential truth. All of the founders had basically the same experiences. They explained it in different ways and the people that followed them made them and their messages look different. But, in truth, they were all saying the same things. They all had essentially the same inner revelations.
Wow. I could not get that truth out of my mind and I never will. Religous and cultural differences are all based on misperceptions and misinterpretations. We really are one.
Thank you, Kirpal, for never allowing me to forget this for an instant.
Reference: posted by: WayOutWesley on 5/26/00 to Kirpal Singh Satsang Club; Message number 164
Yes, That is what also hooked me about Kirpal Singh....Its has been an eye-opening experience for me on the other clubs as I read about exclusivity and superiority and inferiority etc..etc...*(sigh)
If ever there was anyone more open to other paths and belief systems I do not know of them.... Kirpal was a bridge-builder and 'uniter', doing the same thing in the physical that he did in the spiritual...Showing us our ONEness.
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