What are your thoughts about Sri Ramana Maharshi?
- Thread starter Awake
- Start date
everneo said:
This is the belief that bodhisatva will come back to earth so as to help all others attain Buddhahood.
For a start it presumes as its premise the doctrine of karma.
although Buddhism greatly challenged the Hindu religions belief and practice of karma, whereby certain groups are created in society, the lowest one have to literally shovel the shit of the highest. Yet STILL with the idea of 'enlightenment', Buddhism STILL insists on karmic achievement. Thus it has 'masters'. men who are presumed to be more up-the-ladder than your average 'man'
i don't agree with any of that. Thus the belief in A VERy advanced being coming back to help us achive eventual escape from 'the wheel of birth and death' also doesn't appeal, as it is a part of all that myth
the core of this belief is patriarchal. The desire to ESCAP:E Nature. patriarchy fears Nature, fears the dark, sexuality, the 'messiness' of Nature, and thus seeks some ideal all-blissful dimension that is far away from all the vicissitudes and diversity of lifedeathregeneration
so that myth of bodhisvitta is at odds with my pagan LOVE of Nature, in all its wildness
you know, you should explore the emergence of this manly need to escape Nature. it is really interesting. ANd it is still with us with mechanistic science, and new ageism!
everneo said:Most of us don't feel guilty of being being 'me' and 'you' etc.. The fact is we try to get the best out of the illusion. Ramana is for those who want to go beyond that. Very few of his 'followers' dared to choose that way. Meanwhile have a nice time with your being 'you' as percieved by you now. Time is not yet ripe for a guru.
d__ you are not getting my point. i HAVe been through the road you are thinkin about...have bought the tshirt?......believe me or not. if you think i am a failure cause i gave up gurus, what can i say. so try it.....?
When you need a guru don't hook to him, just think over what he says.
d__haha,,sounds esy doesn't it when you say it like that. but they aren't stupid you know. hookin someone..many, needs craftiness. usually masked as 'doing you good' bla bla
Don't go anywhere near the 'gurus' who massage your ego like JK and those 'gurus' who need you for their material & egotistical prosperty.
JK massaged egos? you must'nt have read him. if anything he was very stern
mercurio said:
HEY, THANKS for this great link. it is really important to know. i haven't read it all yet, but will
things that rang out....where he says that the cult say you are 'blessed if you are feeling great of feeling bad'...this is like the double bind mirror image 'damned if you do damned if you dont' trip. either way the cult leaders keeps getting the dosh!
was really upset to hear of the physiolgical and psychological stress the gullible followers are suffering
and i was disappointed that at the end of his first link about his story he yet still enourages people to try the 'proper' 'enlightenment' rtechniques....errrrrrr
also, an insight--something i have been aware of for quite a while in my research into Buddhism
It's where author tells how they seek to totally destress the person. and blame A L L problems on individual stress. right?
now, what that dogma is saying is: it doesn't mater about ACTUAL injustices in the world, inequality etc. what IS the real problem is INNEr stress
compare that belief with the 'scientific' belief in 'mental health'. In this too, there is no mention of stress being imposed from an inhumane system people have to live in. No, rather the individual is balmed for not having the right 'chemical balance', 'genes' etc. and their answer is medication
i see these two belief systems to be ideologically commensurate
Since you don't like the master idea, i leave the 'grandmaster' buddha to someone to explain.duendy said:
Since the mother nature does not reveal her goodies much to me so that i too can play along, she looks very cruel to me. Though i like the goddess idea i am afraid of her indifference towards me/us. I have a strong suspicion that if God has a gender, it must a 'She'.
everneo said:Since you don't like the master idea, i leave the 'grandmaster' buddha to someone to explain.
d_well hehe..if i aint hot on masters, i'm not gonna be on fire about GRANDmasters is i?
Since the mother nature does not reveal her goodies much to me so that i too can play along,
d__ar you waering clothes? have you recently eat? are you breathing air? have you access to water.....? are these not 'goodies'? what do you mean by goodies then?
she looks very cruel to me. Though i like the goddess idea i am afraid of her indifference towards me/us. I have a strong suspicion that if God has a gender, it must a 'She'.
Explain to me more what you mean by 'cruel'. death?...we can only talk togther when you explain more about what you are meaning. i know--vice versa
My view on gender is that it isn't gender specific but rther a continuum
the important note is that women natrually birth, so it was understandable that our primeval understanding is in a GODDESS. for Earth women birth us, and Earth births what nurtures us. Though it must be understood that god was recognized too. but in the Mediterraian mythic stream, he was son/lover/consort, as soon as th patriarchs create a concept of 'God' as 'Father' then we begin to get the demonization of Goddess/women/Nature. so it's a profound transition. for whereas Goddess was immanent and transcendental, 'God' was only the latter. 'He' was believed to be CREATOR of matter, but not immanent. it was not his BODy as it was Goddess's. So then we get the de-spiriting of matter, and spirit is placed abover, or is seen as bing trapped in matter. Then is the desire to release it, and to get back to the spiritual realm
you talk about cruel. maybe you mean the patriarchal system of oppression which you are unconscious of and blame Goddess? what do you mean?
duendy said:
Yep, good link, with a personal but rather balanced and well-documented 'complaint'.
On bodhisattvas (now I think I see where you're coming from):
I agree with your observations of patriarchal thinking in Buddhism up to a point. Turning faith into a religion tends to do that. You'll find the same problem with full-time priests and mullahs.
Buddhism originally was and again should be about a personal way to enlightenment. Bodhisattvas are nothing more than people who have been around the block a few times more often than most, or have stumbled on a neat trick they share with others, not use to their own benefit. Actually, they might as well give up on the whole thing and zap onwards, since that would be totally counterproductive.
Their idea is not an escape from nature, or some perfect sub-dimension we have to retreat into. Nature is a process, growing towards something. Maybe part of that process is a kind of 'soul refinery'. We only see part of that process, and should not think that's 'all there is', and desperately try to keep everything we know exactly like it is - now that would be unnatural indeed.
And really, somebody who would prefer to subjugate his own fellow beings could by definition not be guided by anything remotely resembling buddhahood. Wouldn't work. Might as well either move on, or become a Hinduistic Deva and pester the bejesus out of everyone.
Nah. :m:
Last edited:
spidergoat said:
Hate three in a row, but couldn't resist:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4216431.stm
Ahh.. when a bodhisatva looses interest,temporarily ofcourse, in worldly pleasures because of overdose he runs away from home leaving his wife,child and burdens of responsibility. Now he is called buddha. This cyclical process repeats till he teaches everyone on this planet this trick.mercurio said:I think you would do yourself a big favour to look up the difference...
Or when a bodhisatva catches a discease called 'escapea' he transforms to buddha.
spidergoat
Valued Senior Member
I heard Maharshi shit pure gold nuggets and levitated around the ashram sweeping the floor with his prehensile mustache.
From what I have read of Sri Ramana Maharshi, I have to agree with everneo. He truely was an evolved soul. I have nevered seen anything that would say he had any sort of bad intentions. He didn't degrade others. Actually, he hardly spoke at all. His reputation wasn't one of "holier than though". He lived a simple life that attracted attention because he was so humble. People came to him to find out how he could be so calm, and comfortable with so little while facing the diversities life has to offer. I am not a fanatic but I keep an open mind about those who seem to know "other worldly things" that the rest of us only wonder about.
spidergoat
Valued Senior Member
I'm sure he was a great guru and stuff, but-
The point isn't that he's not great,
but that you are too.
The point isn't that he's not great,
but that you are too.