greybeard wrote:
Christ was enlightened--The Kingdom of Heaven lies within--The Father and I are one
Seek ye first the Kingdom.--Of myself I do nothing. That's could be read as pure non-duality.
Many paths but one mountain.
The mountain being-- discarding all that is not Truth Neity Neity.
All I know for sure is "I am" independent of all else---ie no subject nor object.
Nothing needed to confirm that.
Hi Chris, I am off the train. I am not interested in watching videos even if i had the bandwidth. I am not reading any more mystical works. I have my own part of the elephant described and, as you appear to be, I am comfortable with my experience and knowledge. I am not looking to preach, or convince anyone, I am simply describing my path up the mountain.
As I see it, you are advocating a higher form of samadhi. I believe I have experienced advaita twice in my life and that opened doors and pathways that were not open to me previously. I have described my path as best I can. It only because I am writing again, and reformatting my yoga book that I am even here discussing it.
And even that isnt quite true, the only reason I am in the mists is that I bought credit for the internet to try and help a friend in south america who is dying. But she wants to die and doesnt want anybodys help, so i sent my love and thanked her for her selfless and difficult work of many years. we have to respect each other's wishes and belief systems. I would support anyone in their belief and hope they would do the same for me.
I also tried to help a guy with cancer, and might have done, might not have done, but it turns out he was a publisher and there is a chance to publish my books, hes retired and wants to do it.. why not? For me, I want my studies and experiences recorded as much because I am tired of repeating myself as I am over it all. But it would be nice to self publish even if I keep the work private. Books have been a huge part of my life, even when traveling with a rucksack! I actually have an ayurvedic massage manuscript, that I use myself and friends have but I hadnt considered publishing it, and now I probably will.
I have a tarot manuscript that LLewellyn were interested in a while back, but copyright issues meant i needed to design my own tarot deck (this is tarot as a pictorial representation of all of the esoteric religions - not divination or new age stuff.). Any artists out there?
and who knows?
All of this came about as a result of buying internet credit, so another lesson learned, dont buy credit.
I am typing up my final manuscript until I fix my van and drive to build my forest garden, compost toilets.. I will likely have a few books but no internet
but anyway, thats me.. i'm just popping into the mists and saying my piece as I thought I had something to contribute, and I am happy with my last post above, its a good summary, it'll do me. Also, and this is important, these are my experiences, not what I have read in books. I used my studies to support my experience.
If I stick to yoga for a second, then there are many paths described towards self realization, some vastly different to others. Thats's just yoga!
No size fits all, we have to work these things out for ourselves, which is another reason I dont talk about this much.
I am out of the mists now for a while, I always look in when I can and it is much easier with broadband, if I find somewhere that has it.
Before I go, I would like to mention another part of my experience, but I hesitate to do so, for a number of reasons. But here goes. Forget definitions or states for a moment. I believe that advaita is the same a buddhi-intellect. Now, if anybody - and lets really put the cat amongst the pigeons - if a woman reaches advaita, can she call herself buddha? well, on one level, yes she can, but thats where it all starts to get very emotive with folk and we needed better labels. If someone tells me they are enlightened I think they are idiot, if someone tells me they have experienced advaita or samadhi or a specific term from another teaching, eg Buddhism, then I would like to hear their story.
Forget the question of whether Siddhartha Gautama was a real person, - what did he do to achieve or attain buddahood?
‘Buddha’ was born Siddhartha Gautama, perhaps around 400BC in India and practiced yoga (he wasn’t a Buddhist, obviously). I would have thought that made him an Indian yogi, but what do I know? Anyway, Orthodox Buddhism has basically made him a god now and what i just wrote would be blasphemy in some countries, its ridiculous! but its also true.
I dont know what state siddhartha reached, advaita for sure, and what else?, i dont know. Nirvana is way above advaita, that is stepping off the wheel of conditioned existence, understanding reincarnation. That stuff is so far above my experience that it may as well be a sci-fi movie. of course monkey does like his mental masturbation but thats all it is. 'mindwa nk' ! having just slagged off the theravada buddhists for making buddha god, i will say its nice to have the original teachings, or whatever was written down 600 years later and called original.. whatever! i am not interested in the history of it for the moment.
My point is (or rather isnt, im making this up as i go along, can you tell? even to the point where i wonder if i should stop and compose something offline)
buddha-intellectis a valid word for advaita. buddha-intellect doesnt make you buddha.. or does it?
now onto less solid ground, i believe that christ consciousness has everything to do with the heart chakra and nothing to do with any historical figure. I have always failed at my attempts to get into the bible, its just not worth the massive effort for the little or no gain. I do like esoteric christianity very much, but they recognize christ-consciousness as a distinct and definable term, which also sits on their tree of life.
so if Jesus existed, same as with siddhartha above, then becoming christ was a state of being, a properly functioning heart chakra and energy, love is an energy not a concept. it is a form of prana. does having a functioning heart chakra make you christ? well it gives you christ consciousness. same as with buddha above.
greybeard wrote:
Christ was enlightened--The Kingdom of Heaven lies within--The Father and I are one
no Chris, enlightenment is new age bullshit, he achieved advaita. the rest of that quote is attributable to esoteric works and I dont know that he attained that state, which would be nirvana? or an advanced state of samadhi, but never ever enlightenment
? who knows? i think jesus experienced what thousands or millions of folk have achieved since. but thats my belief. i didnt know him personally (if he ever existed).
now here's the rub. and where i hesitate even further.
Vajrayana Buddhism actually calls Bodhi nature advaita. Mahasukha (‘great bliss’; a form of samadhi) is achieved when Bodhi nature is coupled with compassion (upaya), but I think christ consciousness is basically upaya.
now, lets see who jumps up and down the most in their attempt to call me a blasphemer, because, why couldnt you call someone who achieved mahasukha a god? well ironically, in esoteric circles you can, and if you work it back from there then this geezer called jesus had bodhi-consciousness and christ conscioussnes, so maybe he was a god. he was buddha and christ both, isnt that a god?
but, and here is the rub, mahasukha isnt the end either, I have experienced it briefly, or what i consider to be it..its just the start of the next level...and still an order of magnitude again to what you are describing Chris, there is still work to do, more stations to pass by to reach the state you describe to me, which is (as i say) an advanced form of samadhi.
what comes after god? you have bodhi-intellect and christ-conscioussness , then what? there is more.. but what is it?
these terms are all so very emotive, if i had written the above, and i could have, without mentioning buddha or christ, just using terms from Vajrayana Buddhism then it would not be considered blasphemous, but i believe the terms i used above are all consistent and interchangeable as described.
phew! this time i really am out of here! have fun folk!
(but hang on, there is no fear in advaita right?)
anicca eh? lol}
) seek to lose to achieve enlightenment ( 
)
i want it all... and i want it now
