Challenges Along the Road
I was not a follower of Radha Ma. I only knew her trough the little footage on the net. She seemed honest, a bit strange perhaps, but in a good out-of-the-box way. Yeah, she seemed fresh. She was oozing ´It.´
But, perhaps it was too good to be true, because she killed herself.
It´s just too wacky.
Somehow, I have great hesitance saying anything intelligent about it.
After hearing about her death I was planning to write something that would touch upon the subjects of Realization versus Enlightenment, and the nature of Enlightenment, false guru´s etc, etc... You get the drill.
But it would be a repetition of the same old same old...
Perhaps tomorrow it will come out that the Buddha never existed. That Ramana had a secret life as a serial killer etc... Sounds kinda funny doesn´t it?
But this is the point: as a seeker I´m looking for the Truth, and the Truth remains the Truth even if every guru is a fraud.
Which is is not my point of view btw. I also don´t see Radha in this way – although she was a very troubled woman.
Ultimately we have to stand alone – only our own seeing counts.
To stand alone is the primal fear – ánd the ultimate longing!
Let´s use everything as an invitation to Truth.
kind regards,
a seeker
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Sorry arjen but the comedy of my dubbel clicks went on. I asked Richard to help me to delete the dubbel comments and he did it very scrupulously deleting even my second singel one. May be I should try to put it down it again...
Hi Anna,
It´s cleaned up nicely I see. Perhaps a bit too nice, because I also don´t see your Almaas quote anymore.
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It is almost impossible to not have a certain expectation of the behavior of an enlightened person. Probably through time this expectation has changed quite a lot. Especially the last few years most people are able to make a distinction between a saint (which probably is a fiction) and an enlightened being. But what´s hard not to expect from an enlightened being is compassion. Which, while I think about it, stems from a certain fearlessness. Yes, the lack of neurotic fear, that I do expect in an enlightened being.
I wonder if a suicide case like this is an example of the lacking of compassion. Perhaps it depends on which level you look at it. It sure isn´t a nice invitation for novices. And there is a difference between a delicate form of euthanasia and killing oneself.
But like you pointed out, it could also be the result of a mental illness.
A thing like this always brings up the issue if enlightenment even exists.
I think there can be a thing we could call Self-recognition, a true recognition which is irrevocable. And then still vasanas (tendencies) can keep coming up. Only if all vasanas (or the one root of them all) have been fully met, then we can speak of Enlightenment. But this is extremely rare, so rare that enlightenment can almost only be seen as a theoretical state. Perhaps the Buddha truly reached enlightenment, who knows.
This last week my search has deepened somehow. There were two possible directions: one was the path of the ego (just call it quits, because it´s all one big scam – the blind leading the blind.) But of course I couldn´t choose this option, even if I made myself believe that I wanted to, because I´m to far down the rabbit hole... So there was only the second optionless option: see the big picture and take this Radha thing up as a sort of koan. Something which you can´t wrap your mind around. ¨Once there was a guru who lit herself one fire...¨
On the ´human to human-level´ I disagree with her act. From a higher vantage-point though I see that the Truth can never be harmed; I can not point to something which is wrong or right.
One thing that we have to look out for in my opinion is that we don´t mix these levels. For example: if we feel down about something we have to acknowledge this, and not try to polish it away with the notion of a higher level. In reality there are no levels, and in this Reality feeling puzzled or even angry about the behavior of a guru is totally welcome.
Yes very nicely cleaned indeed. Poor Richard,having enough and to spare with the site, he must even assist ladies who cannot cope with computers!
Here is Almaas quote again:
"Many religious perspectives tend to turn the inner journey into a heavy sanctity, a dull morality, a perverse holiness. Given this tendency, it is no wonder that so many people are no longer interested in religion."
My point with this quote was that there is a risk to project such perspectives even on other spiritual approaches, forgetting the human dimension of the person.
But thank you for your extensive answer. Your viewpoints about enlightement are clear and interesting. I also think that there are more and more persons who question the old concept of enlightement/realization.In fact this questioning comes quite naturally as the number of teachers is increasing, together with the litterature on the subject, the spreading of these ideas and of people`s different interpretations.
And maybe you are right: Could the enlightement,being so rare, almost only be seen as a theory? Actually, what do we really know about all these teachers? We can only know the inside of ourselves. Our "inner journey home" is primarily all that matters, teachers,teachings and words being only implements.
To me "a journey" means also a process.It is more in this way that I conceive a possible realization. And it is not a straight line upwards but rather an ascending spiral, meaning it comes back all the time yet on a higher level in an ongoing movement. An when or if it is given to me to reach a more liberated state, the spiral is still moving on.
So in this case there are no levels, as you are pointing out. There is only this spiral and in it there is room for everything, incl. feeling puzzled and angry, but even patience, compassion etc...
We take on a human body
and delight in what we take on,
and every change
in this constantly changing form
is an opportunity for rejoicing.
The infinite possibilities of the human!
Thus the Master wanders at ease
in a world where nothing is unwelcome.
She delights in sickness and in health,
she delights in an early death,
she delights in old age,
she delights in the beginning,
she delights in the middle and the end.
No experience can happen
that she would exclude or reject.
In this she is like the Tao.
That is why she can serve
as a perfect example to others.
From "The Second Book of the Tao" by Stephen Mitchell
Hi arjen!
Since I`ve been walking around these last few days ruminating on your post, I thought I might say some words about my own reflections although I don`t think they are so intelligent either, but I understand how you feel.
Reading about Radha Ma I remembered how I myself reacted many years ago when I heard that the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg had committed suicide. Of course he wasn`t a "guru" , but he was well known for his theory of stages of moral development and I remember myself asking the same kind of questions: How is it possible...etc.
Maybe we project some idea of perfection on a person who, even if he has reached high stages of s.c.realisation, he or she is still a person with a body-mind functions.It just cannot be otherwise.
If such a person gets a brain injury in an accident or gets sick (depression is a disease too), what happens to his enlightement then? Yet the Truth still remains untouched.
An other question I`ve been asking myself is: Why would a realized being not commit suicide if he considers that it is time for him to leave?
It is true as you say that we must stand alone and actually it scares me too, because even when I feel I can entirely rely on a teaching nevertheless I know that I must walk my own way alone .
Anyhow I enjoyed your humor, it helps a lot!
Anna