Letters to the Editor
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Self-Hatred?
Is it some kind of self-hatred that the left wing, liberal journals pick apart the yogis and yoginis, the practice of meditation and devotion to a Guru?
In 1975 I visited Stephan Gaskin's Farm. I had already been prepared by a teacher who followed a Guru, lots of vegetarians and the rest of youth culture for this great event. Stephan wasn't there unfortunately. His genius continued to spread however with the creation of PLENTY.
I was on a trip around the country with a woman friend and we later went to Boulder where The Naropa Institute was developing under Chogyam Rimpoche. Allen Ginnsburg was a teacher there.
Nowadays you can't find a liberal person who can be so kind as to pronounce names correctly. Spiritual Masters are the equivalent of Ayatollahs to them getting thrown into a big mish mash of "what?" They can't imagine a world beyond their material body's but talk about human potential. I guess humans have potential to the liberal they just don't have the union with God kind of potential.
It's so nice to see Salon do an article on a spiritual master. I see some related material as well that apparently accuses Sai Baba of child molestation and another where a "westerner," (Salon is not prejudiced, it allows all yuppies to record their experience of the east in there e-magazine) finds "some peace."
I'm happy to get the latest gossip from Salon.
If this is the attitude of the political enlightened, I wonder how the right feels about us, the meditating, the believers in the world peace within. And I wonder what they do about it? Can they enslave us economically as is the accusation in many 3rd world countries. Can following a Guru keep you out of a job or make you lose one?
I guess I shouldn't keep hoping Salon (or Mother Jones whom I once gave money to develop her investigative journalism) to find the answers to those questions.
What Salon and other liberal jounals have offered me is a reminder that some people will call me a "meditating fairy" but that they won't.
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I want a pair of bunny slippers
You know with the fake bunny heads and ears. Hardcore soft furriness.
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arguments, skepticism, hugs
I'm a solid skeptic. I wouldn't deny many of the charges against most hierarchical religious organizations, and I enthusiastically recommend the book "The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power" as critical reading for anyone with a critical mind.
That said, I once waited in the day-long line to get a hug from Amma, and the experience was one of the most extraordinary of my life. First of all, as exhausting as sitting for eight hours is, Amma does it longer, all the while giving long, intense hugs to thousands of people, and remains utterly fresh and energetic through it all. That's a major feat, and she does it all the time.
Second, after my hug, I went home and fell into a delirious fever that lasted the whole night. The next morning, I was completely well and felt brighter, stronger, clearer, and happier than I ever had before in my life. I can't put the feeling into words, but it was like I had been blasted through with some industrial-strength cleanser.
I'm not making any grand arguments. All I know is what happened to me. Sometimes, amazing people happen. This may be one of those times.
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Fucked up!
It's a sad state of affairs when you have on the one hand people equating an unpretentious and genuine hug from Amma with a spiritual experience and on the other people getting pissed off and cynical about it. You're both fucked!
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Response to Serai1
Serai1 asks: "I can only ask them what exactly they're doing..." about the atheists.
I am an atheist and I have done plenty in my 37 years, including tutoring kids in inner city schools, building houses with Habitat for Humanity (along side Born-agains), and lots of other community service. Many other atheists I know also do lots to help the poor and downtrodden. One reason why atheists look down on the religious is that the religious often think that they are the only people in the world doing good things to help others. They think that all atheists must be self-centered hedonists. However, plenty of atheists are actually motivated by their belief that the afterlife is just a hoax and that all we have in this lonely universe is each other.
Don't get me wrong, any motivation for doing good is OK by me. Certainly, I admire MLK, Sister Theresa, and Gandhi, all motivated by religion. However, religion is not the only legitimate motivation to help your fellow man.
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Get a Life
I wasn't going to comment on this, but the posts got me riled, particularly most of those chosen by the editors.
Talk about a bunch of talking heads? Talk about ego, and the me, me, me syndrome? Wow. The new generation appears more uptight than the last.
I thought America went through this--and yet it looks like spirituality 101 in blogland. A guru is who you make them, what you need, want and project onto them. That's basically how it is with any relationship of a spiritual nature, except in India they codified it 5 or 6 thousand years ago--maybe longer.
You want love and hugs and kisses--you surrender--and give it to yourself. Dharshan is probably the oldest practiced religious ritual on earth. It has worked for a reason. As long as people are "human" (to the extent we are not simply talking heads) the Amma's will appear and supply what is missing.
She appears firmly grounded in the tradition--a true patron to her people--who desperately need her--and what more can be asked?
Lighten up kids, the world is bigger than you think. I feel sorry for all the paranoids who feel they have to be smarter than a hug. The mind is a nice place to visit, but a terrible place to live. If you don't believe me, keep on living until it's your turn to face something your mind can't control. It's just a matter of time.
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If you're Hindu
Won't Siva give you an 8-armed hug? Once you go Octo, you always come back, again and again and again in an endless wheel.