BEYOND DUALITY Sketches of Enlightened Spiritual Teachers of Modern Times Researched and compiled by: Dr. Norman Williams Col. K. K. Nair And Barry Oborne Production and Copyright text © 2004: Norman Williams, 209 Markham St. Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia. Copyright artwork © 2004 Alive Creative Design, 175A Brown St. Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia, and Barry Oborne, E.mail: [email protected] The profits of this book, after tax, are donated to various charities in Third World Countries. 1 CONTENTS Authors’ Note 3 Foreword by the Honourable O. Rajagopal 4 Introduction - Perceptions of the World 5 PART - I GREAT MYSTICAL SAINTS. SATGURUS, AVATARS AND ENLIGHTENED SPIRITUAL TEACHERS of the 20 th CENTURY 10 Ch. 1 - Sri Ramakrishna and Disciples 10 Ch. 2 - Rama Tirtha 19 Ch. 3 - Bhagawan Nityananda 23 Ch. 4 - Sri Ramana Maharshi 28 Ch. 5 - Jiddu Krishnamurti 38 Ch. 6 - Paramhansa Yogananda 46 Ch. 7 - Sri Anandamayi Ma 51 Ch. 8 - Neem Karoli Baba 59 Ch. 9 - Swami Sivananda 63 Ch. 10 - Swami Chinmayananda and other Swamis 66 Ch. 11 - Bahi Sahib - the Sufi way 68 Ch. 12 - Papaji 75 Ch. 13 - The Dalai Lama 80 Ch. 14 - The Venerable Ajahn Chah 86 Ch. 15 - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 92 Ch. 16 - Robert Adams 98 Ch. 17 - Satya Sai Baba 104 Ch. 18 - Mother Teresa 111 Ch. 19 - Amma 115 PART - II ENLIGHTENMENT TEACHERS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM 128 Ch. 20 Ramesh Balsekar 129 Ch. 21 Vijai Shankar 131 Ch. 22 Byron Katie 135 Ch. 23 Eckhart Tolle 138 Ch. 24 Satyam Nadeen 144 APPENDIX I-A COURSE IN MIRACLES-A Synopsis 149 APPENDIX II- SCIENCE AND RELIGION 153 POSTSCRIPT - A SUMMARY 161 BIBLIOGRAPHY 170 COVER: A depiction of the Mahayantra, the Sricakra, a figure of special power symbolic of the Divine Mother who is the Source of all Consciousness and of all phenomena. 2 AUTHORS’ NOTE Many recent religious commentators draw attention to the shocking events that are taking place in the world today. Religions back factions in war, pedophilic priests abound and women are abused in the name of religion. The environment is in dire straits, corporations plunder peoples’ savings, and even with the wonders of modern technical farming, around one billion people go to sleep hungry every night. Moreover, although a thin veneer of sensitivity has appeared, the results of altercations are no less unpleasant than the brutality of the dark ages. It seems that science, technology and democracy, that were to deliver a world free of hardship, disease and unpleasant things like bugs, is letting us down. So what hope is there for what can be thought of as ‘liberation’ for mankind? It does not seem that civics or religion can provide the solution to mankind’s problems. The religions, for the most part, seem to be much too far removed from their ‘Source’, and in civics (and the religions) there is too much thinking, planning, scheming, judging and self-interest for anything they contrive to be effective in providing whatever-it-is that mankind needs to be happy and live in harmony. From whatever angle it is viewed, the problem seems to lie with mankind’s level of consciousness and in the egoic thought system that he has developed. And in every case it seems that, in the presence of the seers, the founders of religions (and also many who didn’t found religions), a different state of consciousness was engendered; albeit, in most cases, for only very limited periods of time. It was with this in mind that we undertook to look at the lives, actions and teachings of individuals of modern times, who seemed to us to have what the seers of ancient times had. The result is the present book, and we would like to point out that it is not filled with the comments and interpretations of he authors. Rather, it is comprised almost entirely of the sayings of the individuals themselves, and the observations, comments and conclusions of people, still living in many cases, who knew them; or others, were there has been a clear and contiguous lineage. In most cases the places where they lived and taught have been visited, and in the case of the still-living ones, they have, where possible, been visited or even spoken to. The reactions to the book, and we have seen many now, have varied. Most people, at least, have found it interesting. A very few have found it offensive; it did not conform to the mental images they had of one or several of individuals sketched. But with yet others, particularly those whom we feel may have been searching, an extraordinary resonance seem to have come from the words in a manner that can best be described as the generation of a feeling of love. The words of the masters seemed to have had, for them the power to neutralize, for a moment, the overbearing nature of the egoic mind and to reveal something quite pristine. It could be said that everyone, at some point in their lives, comes face to face with the demon of the egoic mind, and that there are enlightened individuals who have realized this Truth so that their words can help dispel the demon. These are some of the things that they have said: “The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unloved - they are Jesus in disguise. Speak kindly to them. Let there be kindness in your voice... Don’t only give your care; give your heart as well... The poor give us much more than we give them. Only in heaven will we know just how much we owe them for helping us to love God better - because of them.” From: Mother Teresa, Chapter 18. “In our lives we have two possibilities: indulging in the world or going beyond the world... Worldly wisdom, however appealing it seems is only so in a worldly sense. The Buddha taught the practice of letting go. Don’t carry anything around... Peace comes from doing this with your whole body and mind... Not clinging any more, or if there’s still clinging, it becomes less and less. From: Ajahn Chah, Ch. 14. “Mind is thought existing as subjects and objects. In life the first wave of consciousness is ‘I’, then ‘I am’, then ‘I am this, I am that’, and ‘This belongs to me.’ Here the mind begins. Now keep quiet, and do not allow any desire to arise from the Source. Just for an instant of time don’t give rise to any desire. You will find that you have no-mind and you will see that you are somewhere indescribable, in tremendous happiness. And then you will see who you really are.” From: Papaji, Ch. 12. 3 “My voice is your voice; no powers, kings, devils or gods can withstand it - inevitable is the order of Truth. My head is your head; cut it off and a thousand will grow... I shall shower oceans of love and bathe the world in joy. All societies are mine! Come; for I shall pour out floods of love. Every force is mine, small and great.” From: Rama Tirtha, Ch. 2. “Each and every drop of Mother’s blood, each and every particle of energy is for her children... The purpose of this body and of Mother’s whole life is to serve her children.” From: Amma, Ch. 19. “In the strange stillness of that part of the world (the Rishi Valley in India), with the silence undisturbed by the hoot of owls, he woke up to find something totally different and new. This was in no way to be confused with, the gods of ‘religion’: Desire cannot possibly reach it, words cannot fathom it, nor can the string of thought wind itself around it. The whole universe is in it, measureless to man... There is only a sense of incredible vastness and immense beauty... It is a world without image, symbol or word, without waves of memory. Love was in the death of every minute and each death was the returning of love. It was not attachment; it had no roots; it flowered without pause and it was a flame which burnt away the borders, the carefully built fences, of ego consciousness.” From: J. Krishnamurti, Ch. 5. She had an experience of a blue flame: It slipped itself into her heart and she looked at it with wonder, “It was still, small, a light-blue flame trembling softly, and it had the infinite sweetness of pure love, like an offering of flowers made with gentle hands, the heart full of stillness and wonder and peace.” From: Chasm of Fire, See Ch. 11. “In the midst of chaos I know that all is well! No thoughts about it - just a gentle, loving gratitude that is always present. When you were a small child, you heard your God speak to you, and you listened. Then the mind grew strong and dominated your life. (Then), after a lifetime of futile seeking... God comes back into the forefront of your awareness.” From: Satyam Nadeen, Ch. 24. “The nameless, formless Reality, the transcendent awareness in which you will become permanently awake, is precisely the same Reality that you have perceived blossoming around you... The perfectly peaceful Absolute is not different from the playful relative universe.” From: Ramakrishna, Ch. 1. “I opened my eyes and the soft luminosity filtering through the curtains was love itself. Everything was fresh and pristine - as if it had just come into existence.” From: Eckhart Tolle, Ch. 23. “All my rage, all my thoughts that had been troubling me, my whole world, was gone.