tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post7030585320451350152..comments2024-03-21T10:16:35.080-04:00Comments on Rituals of DisEnchantment: Just Living is EnoughUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-65948552278485437652010-08-31T10:59:09.073-04:002010-08-31T10:59:09.073-04:00Just sent you an email.
Thanks!
LucidJust sent you an email. <br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />LucidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-20956959028420030132010-08-30T19:01:23.258-04:002010-08-30T19:01:23.258-04:00LUCID
I am truly sorry; by unmoderating comments ...LUCID<br /><br />I am truly sorry; by unmoderating comments on RoD I inadvertantly allowed your comments to me to be automatically posted here. I deleted them immediately as soon as I saw this. I didn't even wait to read them, so I don't know what you wrote. If you wish, please write and tear me a new one at the following email address. I created it especially for RoD:<br /><br />seekher2010@gmail.comSeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-77350583865246070552010-08-29T17:30:31.411-04:002010-08-29T17:30:31.411-04:00The quoted material below from SeekHer is very int...The quoted material below from SeekHer is very interesting. It could indicate Muktananda's vision of where SMA needed to be located.<br /><br />'No, not there', etc., until the current location was discovered and purchasing began.<br /><br />Records of geological mineral deposits have long been on record for areas of the USA and around the world. It would only take the knowledge of someone who knew where to look to seek these records. The rest would be history.<br /><br />Siddha Yoga, SYDA, Shree Muktananda Ashram has its own water supply (listed as ground water). This alone is worth a good deal of money in today's world.<br /><br />The destruction of all aspects of the natural habitat of Lake Nityananda and the surrounding land area tells us that SYDA had no care for what it did to the environment.<br /><br />It was only after SYDA was forced into compliance that the restoration work in the Lake Nityananda are began.<br /><br />When an entire ecosystem is wiped out, as SYDA did with this project, it takes a long time before one begins to be establish itself. <br /><br />It is no stretch of the imagination to consider that the development of mineral rights would<br />be of no concern to SYDA if monetary gain were available.<br /><br />Siddha Yoga, SYDA, Shree Muktananda Ashram, under the guidance of Gurumayi Chidvilasanda has purchased large swaths of land surround the ashram.<br /><br />-------<br /><br />From SeekHer<br />Quoted material...<br /><br />Sullivan bracing for enormous rush by natural gas companies<br /><br />Big money's at stake<br /><br />By Steve Israel<br />also by Adam Bosch<br /><br />Times Herald-Record<br /><br />Published: 2:00 AM - 07/06/08<br /><br />Sullivan County, and your Pennsylvania neighbors along the Delaware, brace yourselves. The natural gas rush is on, and your lives will forever change.<br />Prospectors from national energy companies hoping to tap a fertile crescent of gas that stretches from Ohio to the Delaware River are knocking on doors, hoping to secure leases to drill on private property.<br />Supporters of the gas rush, like farmer Bill Graby of Callicoon, see opportunity beneath the lush fields of quiet towns like Fremont, Cochecton and Delaware.<br />Gas drilling will be a bonanza bigger than long-awaited casinos, supporters say. Workers in a county with one of the region's highest unemployment rates will find new jobs. Hotels, restaurants and gas stations will be jammed.<br /><br />"It'll make this area bigger than Texas," says Graby.<br />Critics say the drilling could do more harm than the massive proposed power line, New York Regional Interconnect, that would slice through much of the same Sullivan area.<br /><br />August 29, 2010 5:20 PMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-79355971715243666622010-08-29T17:06:47.962-04:002010-08-29T17:06:47.962-04:00Dayum.
That "Marcellus Shale Deposit" i...Dayum.<br /><br />That "Marcellus Shale Deposit" is freakin' HUGE:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shaleusa2.jpg<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Formation<br /><br />I'd rather predict that much of Appalachia north from New York State, west through Ohio, and southward into northeast Tennessee...will someday be natural gas boomville while also (unfortunately) poisoining the groundwater across the USA. Same for much of Michigan if you look at that other huge deposit in that state.<br /><br />Given how economically depressed both Appalachia and Michigan are, I'm basing my prediction on the forces of economics eventually winning out over environmental and other social considerations, as they usually do.<br /><br />Personally, I'm on the fence. This is a hard one. I'd never sanction harming the environment or harming the water tables of the people that live in the region and rely on the water.<br /><br />By the same token, so many are jobless, so much opportunity to grow prosperity, could result, it's hard to dismiss it totally out of hand. (Unless one wishes abject poverty on folks.)<br /><br />I find myself torn between being excited and being aghast.<br /><br />SeekHer, this was quite an eye-opener.<br /><br />DeepakAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-39572302452524059112010-08-29T16:40:25.603-04:002010-08-29T16:40:25.603-04:00And by "drowning" I meant that per my un...And by "drowning" I meant that per my understanding the Foundation had the brahmins submerge the old murti of Nit into the depths of Lake Nit.<br /><br />(Of course, my understanding could be inaccurate since it was 'shram hearsay. With all the fallacies and pure imagination that we now know was floating around over the years, what really happened is anybody's guess.)<br /><br />DeepakAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-67360991391140681472010-08-29T16:37:31.064-04:002010-08-29T16:37:31.064-04:00Ah, so.
Fracking is "hydraulic fracturing&qu...Ah, so.<br /><br />Fracking is "hydraulic fracturing".<br />Well...now the existence of a natural gas deposit THAT large underneath all that Eastern U.S. shale, is a natural resource datum I wasn't aware of. Most interesting.<br /><br />Think the Foundation is "holding out" for when demand for those mining rights get bid up even higher, can earn them top dollar on sale for those mining rights?<br /><br />And perhaps this explains the unusual name of a Pennsylvania town I used to pass through on Interstate 81 on the way to/from the 'shram: Frackville!<br /><br />As for the Nit murti in SoFall: As far as I'm concerned GM and her brahmin cohort must have "drowned" him because I used to have incredible experiences sitting in that temple with the old murti that Muk put in...but after the brahmins finished whatever Vedic processes they conducted to withdraw the prana from the old murti, and re-install it into the new one...whatever they did, I don't think it worked. I would sit by the new murti and feel absolutely NOTHING. No "shakti", no vibration, no "messages" (if you know what I mean), no NOTHING. For me, the new one was as inert could be.<br /><br />DeepakAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-9668457045018577982010-08-29T14:30:45.483-04:002010-08-29T14:30:45.483-04:00Cobra:
I agree that Bade Baba temple is special i...Cobra:<br /><br />I agree that Bade Baba temple is special in way that literally no other part of the So Fall ashram is---we were taught that the murti is chaitanya and meant to be worshipped by the entire sangham. Keeping it (him!) locked up away from his devotees is a violation; they might as well submerge him in Nityananda Lake.SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-48443148239503569972010-08-29T12:53:55.369-04:002010-08-29T12:53:55.369-04:00Deepak:
Sullivan County sits at the north eastern...Deepak:<br /><br />Sullivan County sits at the north eastern edge of the largest natural gas deposit in the US---stretching from the Catskills across Pennsylvania, West Virginia and a half dozen other central states. The gas exists within a layer of shale a thousand feet below the surface. Unlike oil, this gas cannot be extracted by drilling one or two wells and syphoning it out. Instead, a process called "fracking" is used which requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and a witches brew of toxic chemicals to be pumped into the ground, shattering the rock and releasing the gas. Under the Bush administration, Dick Cheney exempted the process of fracking from Clean Water Act, and the literally thousands of wells that have already been drilled have poisoned ground water all over the US. <br /><br />See here for more:<br /><br />http://gaslandthemovie.com/about-the-film/SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-47058615098847501192010-08-29T12:40:05.223-04:002010-08-29T12:40:05.223-04:00Deepak: From local So Falls newspaper
Sullivan br...Deepak: From local So Falls newspaper<br /><br />Sullivan bracing for enormous rush by natural gas companies<br /><br />Big money's at stake<br /><br />By Steve Israel<br />also by Adam Bosch<br /><br />Times Herald-Record<br /><br />Published: 2:00 AM - 07/06/08<br /><br />Sullivan County, and your Pennsylvania neighbors along the Delaware, brace yourselves. The natural gas rush is on, and your lives will forever change.<br />Prospectors from national energy companies hoping to tap a fertile crescent of gas that stretches from Ohio to the Delaware River are knocking on doors, hoping to secure leases to drill on private property.<br />Supporters of the gas rush, like farmer Bill Graby of Callicoon, see opportunity beneath the lush fields of quiet towns like Fremont, Cochecton and Delaware.<br />Gas drilling will be a bonanza bigger than long-awaited casinos, supporters say. Workers in a county with one of the region's highest unemployment rates will find new jobs. Hotels, restaurants and gas stations will be jammed.<br /><br />"It'll make this area bigger than Texas," says Graby.<br />Critics say the drilling could do more harm than the massive proposed power line, New York Regional Interconnect, that would slice through much of the same Sullivan area.SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-3261605401509590512010-08-28T15:20:42.488-04:002010-08-28T15:20:42.488-04:00SeekHer,
There are natural gas deposits underneat...SeekHer,<br /><br />There are natural gas deposits underneath SYDA's property???<br /><br />First I'd heard this. Where'd you learn about it? This is significant.<br /><br />First, even with as large as a plot of land that Anugraha and its surrounding held lands hold on both sides of Route 42, and with the somewhat smaller Atma Nidhi added, natural gas deposits tend to cover a larger area than just that. It would surprise me of some of the locals didn't decide to get rich quick by selling their own land's mining rights...using the same deposit(s) underneath the S. Fallsburg SYDA facilities.<br /><br />What I'm saying is that I'm surpried somebody else hasn't yet capitalized on the natural gas under the area, particularly as interest in this substance as an alternative to crude oil and gasoline grows.<br /><br />And yes, I saw the "Innies" as the fish since they're still swimming in the bowl of Kool-Aid and would feel lost and/or suffocated with out it, and us "Exxies" as the birds since we have indeed flown away and recaptured our freedom to soar. You were on the same page as me.<br /><br />DeepakAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-43005396529146372112010-08-28T13:44:04.756-04:002010-08-28T13:44:04.756-04:00hi, sorry I wasn't clear. When I mean SMA was ...hi, sorry I wasn't clear. When I mean SMA was closed i mean closed to visitors and short term stay.It still really hurts me because of Bede baba's temple, which belongs to everyone. All the time i spent at SMA was in that temple and to be denied access to that unless i intend to stay there long term is just horrible to me. It made me do a lot of thinking about how that is not a very devotee friendly environment to cultivate and that led me to do a lot of soul searching and ultimately to your blog.cobranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-35493991414267732442010-08-28T11:47:54.712-04:002010-08-28T11:47:54.712-04:00Fish and birds cannot speak to each other---that&#...Fish and birds cannot speak to each other---that's good, and makes me wonder which one we are? I vote birds, since we flew the coop and the others are still circling the goldfish bowl. <br /><br />Lurching through metaphors, the "innies" have had seven years of navel gazing to hone their rationalizations. Either they are part of a small elite, like Whitehouse, who still have limited access, or they are out there on their own hoping against hope that absence really does make the heart grow stronger. Either way, their reality in no way synchs up with mine anymore. It is literally a different path than the one we were all on together. <br /><br />BTW---Anon 4:13 comments here that the Fallsburg ashram is closed. Does that mean shuttered, cleared out, up for sale? Or simply that it only occupied by, what's the euphemism, "long-term retreat participants"? Anyone know? <br /><br />Personally I think SYDA will hold on to its property in Sullivan County as long as possible and then sell the gas mining rights. They are said to be worth as much as $1,000 per acre and that ashram sits on MUCH more land than the casual visitor would imagine. Ka-ching to the tune of millions of dollars just for signing over some relatively worthless property in a depressed county that SYDA no longer even uses. Of course, as anyone who has seen the documentary Gasland on HBO knows, that would pretty much destroy the ground water system of South Fallsburg, Fallsburg, Hurleyville, Kiameha Lake and maybe even beyond. What a lovely parting gift to the people of Sullivan County after decades of depressing their tax rolls, if SYDA left behind the miracle of tap water that could be ignited with a match.SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-84281327332297816342010-08-28T09:00:47.965-04:002010-08-28T09:00:47.965-04:00SeekHer,
As for that "yawning abyss", I...SeekHer,<br /><br />As for that "yawning abyss", I used to wonder why the dialogue had died down so starkly, not just here at ROD, but on EXSY, LifeAfterSY, The Guru Looked Good, etc. Barely any discussion traffic went on, on any of these sites, for a very long time.<br /><br />Now, I can see why. That abyss has now gotten so wide, so much has already been said on both sides, that neither side really has anything to offer the other.<br /><br />Fish and birds cannot speak to each other intelligibly.<br /><br />Apparently, neither can Innies and Exxies.<br /><br />DeepakAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-54068258550076233242010-08-27T04:13:55.084-04:002010-08-27T04:13:55.084-04:00And the majority of us are going it alone. The cen...And the majority of us are going it alone. The centers seem devoid of shakti. And those of us that are not wealthy enough or privileged enough to be part of that ultra exclusive inner circle are left in the cold. The closing of the south fallsburg ashram really marked a turning point for me. I was quite upset by it and subsequent news that buildings were sold or allowed to decay. I mourned and now I am moving on. It's a very slow process but I have come to the realization that hey, God dwells within me as me! My happiness or closeness to God doesn't depend on someone in an orange robe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-41913864254277799222010-08-26T15:44:54.444-04:002010-08-26T15:44:54.444-04:00Deepak
You're absolutely right about the gap ...Deepak<br /><br />You're absolutely right about the gap between them "innies" and us "outties" (pun on navel-gazers duly noted!) Even just a few years ago this gap was not so wide that it could not be bridged, but now it seem a yawning abyss. No need to be on the fence about it, trust your instincts about the futility of further dialogue.<br /><br />Those who remain in Siddha Yoga are happy in their never neverland, like Amit Singh who titled his letter to Salon "I Get It", and who imagines that one day, after many lifetimes, we "outties" will get it too and have a good laugh at our obstinacy. Or, that Sharon Kumundu creature who thinks Baba's big mistake was letting the riff-raff in the door when he should have hoarded his shakti and dispensed it solely to the truly worthy (i.e. her). <br /><br />Thanks for the heads up that J. Whitehouse (which, for some reason, I keep reading as "Whitewash") responded to my Salon letter, anointing me with the title King of Invective. I suppose that's fair, I've certainly been that here on RoD, among other things (my favorite knick-name came from a reader who christened me Mr. Ninth-Grade Creative Writing Winner.) I wrote back to Whitehouse, asking simply for more information about the satsangs he claimed to attend with Gurumayi in the past year. He may reply but I don't expect an answer--if he's telling the truth I would imagine the programs were strictly of the "for your eyes and ears only" sort served up to wealthy donors and full-time sevites, whenever Gurumayi is contractually obligated to show up in saffron and look beatific. I would like nothing more than to be proved wrong, of course. Should Whitehouse provide actual details that confirm Gurumayi's presence at programs in the last year I think it would amaze many, many people in Siddha Yoga who feel they are out there going it alone.<br /><br />Although, of course, that would open up a whole other can of worms.SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-14405729956237343962010-08-26T12:23:42.956-04:002010-08-26T12:23:42.956-04:00Dear SeekHer,
You mention about the next thing wh...Dear SeekHer,<br /><br />You mention about the next thing where the battle lines will be drawn once again.<br /><br />I found it ironic how subtle yet clear invective was hurled at you by someone calling you the "King of Invective".<br /><br />And it made it very obvious to me that although ROD, EXSY, and TGLG all helped tremendously with my exit from SY, when it come to the "battle" betwen "In" and "Ex", typically, discussion is utterly pointless. I have come to the conclusion that as beneficial as sites like this one are to the leaving process, something has to happen to bring a person to that balance point between hook-line-sinker total believer and utter skeptic, in order for sites like the ones I just mentioned to be any good, to do any good.<br /><br />The veil over my own eyes was not rended, the lens in my SY way of looking at everything did not crack, until I allowed myself to acknowledge that things just weren't adding up anymore and maintain the courage to face the fears of what that entailed straight on, without flinching. Letting go of an entire system of beliefs, thought patterns, attitudes, and values absorbed from the sub-culture was a scary thing and for years it was far easier to look away from that and sink back into psuedo-blissful Siddha-think.<br /><br />Until an "Innie" reaches that point of balance, our "Exxie" ears are closed to their thinking, and theirs are equally closed to what we assert. It all devolves rapidly into a lot of ugly rock throwing with a few clear-thinking people who write jewels of prose respectfully and beautifully...but they're buried deeply in the haystack.<br /><br />(Problem all that rock-throwing is, for us Exxies, SY has long since been revealed as a glass house. Hmmm...for some reason an image of the Fallsburg Mandap just leapt to mind!)<br /><br />And so...I'm currently utterly on the fence as to whether to even bother with these "opportunities" for discussion anymore. On the one hand, they're helpful, but on the other hand, given the level of mutual invective that seems to result, they're not.<br /><br />What a conundrum.<br /><br />Thanks for the opportunity to vent.<br />DeepakAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-38862250040507721592010-08-26T11:45:44.675-04:002010-08-26T11:45:44.675-04:00Lucid:
Oh! and more to the point of replying to y...Lucid:<br /><br />Oh! and more to the point of replying to your comment, what made my day is realizing that you had visited here and that RoD had helped, in some way, shape your experience of leaving SY and contribute to the realizations you so eloquently describe in your posts on Salon. I see Marta's influence even more, as her memoir is a great, instructive example of how to write about your own experiences cleanly, clearly and powerfully as you certainly do. <br /><br />Now that the dust (and mud!) have settled over at Salon, please consider continuing writing about your experience. I would be only too happy to publish your posts here and, frankly, could use other contributors to keep this blog fresh while we await the sequel to Eat, Pray, Love, or some such other moment that will draw the battle lines once again. If you decide to do so, it would be helpful if you included contact info in your next comment which, I'll of course keep confidential.<br /><br />And yes, your chain of coincidences would have made a lovely experience share of Wonders-of-the-Guru's-Grace once upon a time==how we were trained to think! But then, synchronicity certainly does not belong to Malti Shetty.SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-9796897849670710312010-08-26T11:23:45.252-04:002010-08-26T11:23:45.252-04:00Lucid:
Your comment made my day, so I'm espec...Lucid:<br /><br />Your comment made my day, so I'm especially happy it was the first thing I saw upon logging in to email this morning. There were several things about your "just living" letter that lept out at me as indicative of my experience leaving Siddha Yoga. First:<br /><br />"The world isn’t a bubble that can be ruptured. The world isn’t a sets of beliefs that can be threatened by an article at a website, or shattered by some secret someone's hiding.The world is too old and too big for all that."<br /><br />Yes! Dear God, yes! It is only in hindsight that I can look back and see how much mental energy was tied up in my maintaining the illusions that Siddha Yoga sold. Life is so much more scary and complex and contradictory and authentic than what we bought into. And so much more worth living.<br /><br />I loved, too, when you wrote that Siddha Yoga became so much more fascinating to you when you reached that balance point between believer and utter skeptic. That is the exact space I was in when I started this blog. When you finally remove the mental blinders that prevented you from really looking at your experience, you realize that your life is so much more than fodder for an experience share. You came to SY as a teen, but I came as an adult and I abdicated my critical thinking little by little by little. I was a very skeptical person when I came to SY, having been burned badly by Catholicism, among other things. I willingly surrendered the capacity to see the bullshit I was being fed for the privilege of being led. Regaining that capacity was, and still is, liberating. <br /><br />Of course, nothing in life is free. What we pay for such clarity is the loss of, well, I'll let you describe what must be lost:<br /><br />"At the peak of my involvement with SY, I lived in some sort of parallel, mystical universe. I felt everything that happened in my life was guided (in an almost-too-big-to-wrap-my-mind-around way) by Gurumayi...This sense that you’ve found the ultimate, all-knowing, all-loving parent who will protect, guide and never abandon you is a feeling without compare. In Gurumayi words to us: “When you think my love is with you, it is with you. When you think my love is not with you, it is still with you. Always remember this, wherever you are in your life, my love is with you always.”<br /><br />This quote of Gurumayi's, taken from "God is Your Constant Companion" has ALWAYS been, for me, the ne plus ultra of her talks. It is the only talk of hers I still have on my iTunes playlist. Just now, for the first time in years, I listened to it again. Of course, now, free from her enchantment, I hear things I never heard the many, many times I listened to it before. Perhaps I'll make these the subject of another post; they're too numerous for a comment. But this promise of a constant guiding presence that will forever remain with you is so, so slyly seductive. Again, I yield to your most apt description:<br /><br />"If only someone could be that for us. It would indeed feel like it’s own kind of liberation – from fear, stress, and anything in our lives we don’t feel capable of facing.<br /><br />What a relief if you truly could place all your anxiety into someone else’s all-knowing, all-loving hands and let it go . . ."SeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-58145484994787171762010-08-26T02:53:22.867-04:002010-08-26T02:53:22.867-04:00(continued from previous) . . .
I came her tonig...(continued from previous) . . . <br /><br />I came her tonight with the intent of telling you I am two years late on saying Thank You. I came here tonight to say what I said above about finding your blog once upon a time and through it finding Marta’s as well. I came here to let you know you acted as a key catalyst in one man's very important growth process. I came here to tell you a lot of what you’re now adding to the conversation here and over at salon makes sense to me. I was struck especially by “Why Eat, Pray, Love means you’ll never see Gurumayi again” as well as, and even more so, the message you posted yesterday at salon.<br /><br />And then, tonight, just as I came here to thank you I see: <br /><br />“Thank you, Lucid, for so eloquently stating what so many of us have gone through, finally putting the path in our rear view mirrors.”<br /><br />Cue twilight zone music.<br /><br />There's more to say but, for now: Thank you. <br /><br />– LucidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-56735406606901897392010-08-26T02:51:35.423-04:002010-08-26T02:51:35.423-04:00(continued from previous) . . .
Boom.
Your site...(continued from previous) . . .<br /><br />Boom. <br /><br />Your site popped up along with words “When what we had hoped for came to nothing . . . ”. Talk about foreshadowing! Then, while reading further down into your entries I happened on the link to Marta’s blog. At the time, The Guru Looked Good and all the comments that came with it were still there, still hot from the oven.<br /><br />The rest, as they say, is history. Or perhaps better shared at some later date over coffee.<br /><br />Flash forward to two weeks ago, the EPL premiere, salon.com article, SY rebuttal and all the dust getting kicked up and mud being flung, yet again. After I hammered my own 2,000 cents into salon I went back and started reading through all the letters – and lord have mercy, I’m only halfway there! Doing so brought me to your letters and back to your blog, middle of last week, for the first time since 2008. <br /><br />So here’s the part you won’t believe, it’s hard for me to believe too (but maybe it will make believers of us both!): <br /><br />(continued) . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-7630326789630071972010-08-26T02:49:15.633-04:002010-08-26T02:49:15.633-04:00Dear SeekHer,
I have a story to tell you and you’...Dear SeekHer,<br /><br />I have a story to tell you and you’re never going to believe it. Please bear with me, I am going somewhere with this:<br /><br />In January of 2008, after back-to-back deaths in my immediate family, a devotee friend called and told me Gurumayi had actually come out of hiding (my words, not hers) and spoken at that year’s New Year’s Day address. At that point it had been, what, three or four years since anyone had heard from her? “It was so wonderful,” my friend said, “to be with her again in that form.” We spoke for awhile about other things and then, at then end of our call, my friend gently mentioned Gurumayi's talk again. “I think it’s still available at the website, if you’re interested.”<br /><br />I hadn’t actually thought all that much one way or another about Gurumayi since the last time I'd seen her via satellite in 2004. Energetically she had all but dropped off my radar. I hadn’t “felt her presence” in my life in a long time, so long in fact I almost hadn't noticed I was no longer feeling it.<br /><br />After hanging up the phone I sat down at my computer and regressed back into a well-it-couldn’t-hurt-and-maybe-this-time-things-will-be-different (meaning maybe I'll actually resonate with something in the talk) kind of feeling. I logged onto the SY site where in all prior years the message had been displayed free for all to see, in synch with its actual delivery. But instead of the New Years Message I received another one “inviting” me to register and pay $100 for the pre-recorded audio talk. Some things in SY, I thought, never change.<br /><br />No biggie. I knew in 2008 some devotee somewhere must have blogged something, left the SY site and started googling around. At some point, after not having much luck, I just started making up random things and plugged in “Where is Gurumayi?” <br /><br />(continued) . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-27904080787266203702010-08-26T02:47:50.892-04:002010-08-26T02:47:50.892-04:00Dear SeekHer,
I have a story to tell you and you’...Dear SeekHer,<br /><br />I have a story to tell you and you’re never going to believe it. Please bear with me, I am going somewhere with this:<br /><br />In January of 2008, after back-to-back deaths in my immediate family, a devotee friend called and told me Gurumayi had actually come out of hiding (my words, not hers) and spoken at that year’s New Year’s Day address. At that point it had been, what, three or four years since anyone had heard from her? “It was so wonderful,” my friend said, “to be with her again in that form.” We spoke for awhile about other things and then, at then end of our call, my friend gently mentioned Gurumayi's talk again. “I think it’s still available at the website, if you’re interested.”<br /><br />I hadn’t actually thought all that much one way or another about Gurumayi since the last time I'd seen her via satellite in 2004. Energetically she had all but dropped off my radar. I hadn’t “felt her presence” in my life in a long time, so long in fact I almost hadn't noticed I was no longer feeling it.<br /><br />After hanging up the phone I sat down at my computer and regressed back into a well-it-couldn’t-hurt-and-maybe-this-time-things-will-be-different (meaning maybe I'll actually resonate with something in the talk) kind of feeling. I logged onto the SY site where in all prior years the message had been displayed free for all to see, in synch with its actual delivery. But instead of the New Years Message I received another one “inviting” me to register and pay $100 for the pre-recorded audio talk. Some things in SY, I thought, never change.<br /><br />No biggie. I knew in 2008 some devotee somewhere must have blogged something, left the SY site and started googling around. At some point, after not having much luck, I just started making up random things and plugged in “Where is Gurumayi?” <br /><br />Boom. <br /><br />Your site popped up along with words “When what we had hoped for came to nothing . . . ”. Talk about foreshadowing! Then, while reading further down into your entries I happened on the link to Marta’s blog. At the time, The Guru Looked Good and all the comments that came with it were still there, still hot from the oven.<br /><br />The rest, as they say, is history. Or perhaps better shared at some later date over coffee.<br /><br />(continued in next post) . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-2852062396628568922010-08-26T02:45:39.570-04:002010-08-26T02:45:39.570-04:00Dear SeekHer,
I have a story to tell you and you’...Dear SeekHer,<br /><br />I have a story to tell you and you’re never going to believe it. Please bear with me, I am going somewhere with this:<br /><br />In January of 2008, after back-to-back deaths in my immediate family, a devotee friend called and told me Gurumayi had actually come out of hiding (my words, not hers) and spoken at that year’s New Year’s Day address. At that point it had been, what, three or four years since anyone had heard from her? “It was so wonderful,” my friend said, “to be with her again in that form.” We spoke for awhile about other things and then, at then end of our call, my friend gently mentioned Gurumayi's talk again. “I think it’s still available at the website, if you’re interested.”<br /><br />I hadn’t actually thought all that much one way or another about Gurumayi since the last time I'd seen her via satellite in 2004. Energetically she had all but dropped off my radar. I hadn’t “felt her presence” in my life in a long time, so long in fact I almost hadn't noticed I was no longer feeling it.<br /><br />After hanging up the phone I sat down at my computer and regressed back into a well-it-couldn’t-hurt-and-maybe-this-time-things-will-be-different (meaning maybe I'll actually resonate with something in the talk) kind of feeling. I logged onto the SY site where in all prior years the message had been displayed free for all to see, in synch with its actual delivery. But instead of the New Years Message I received another one “inviting” me to register and pay $100 for the pre-recorded audio talk. Some things in SY, I thought, never change.<br /><br />No biggie. I knew in 2008 some devotee somewhere must have blogged something, left the SY site and started googling around. At some point, after not having much luck, I just started making up random things and plugged in “Where is Gurumayi?” <br /><br />Boom. <br /><br />Your site popped up along with words “When what we had hoped for came to nothing . . . ”. Talk about foreshadowing! Then, while reading further down into your entries I happened on the link to Marta’s blog. At the time, The Guru Looked Good and all the comments that came with it were still there, still hot from the oven.<br /><br />The rest, as they say, is history . . . Or perhaps better shared at some later date over coffee.<br /><br />Flash forward to two weeks ago, the EPL premiere, salon.com article, SY rebuttal and all the dust getting kicked up and mud being flung, yet again. After I hammered my own 2,000 cents into salon I went back and started reading through all the letters – and lord have mercy, I’m only halfway there! Doing so brought me to your letters and back to your blog, middle of last week, for the first time since 2008. <br /><br />So here’s the part you won’t believe, it’s hard for me to believe too (but maybe it will make believers of us both!): <br /><br />I came her tonight with the intent of telling you I am two years late on saying Thank You. I came here tonight to say what I said above about finding your blog once upon a time and through it finding Marta’s as well. I came here to let you know you acted as a key catalyst in one man's very important growth process. I came here to tell you a lot of what you’re now adding to the conversation here and over at salon makes sense to me. I was struck especially by “Why Eat, Pray, Love means you’ll never see Gurumayi again” as well as, and even more so, the message you posted yesterday at salon.<br /><br />And then, tonight, just as I came here to thank you I see: <br /><br />“Thank you, Lucid, for so eloquently stating what so many of us have gone through, finally putting the path in our rear view mirrors.”<br /><br />Cue twilight zone music.<br /><br />There's more to say but, for now: Thank you. <br /><br />– LucidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-41434627159083269512010-08-24T18:01:21.215-04:002010-08-24T18:01:21.215-04:00Sadhvi
you are not taking up space, pixels are fr...Sadhvi<br /><br />you are not taking up space, pixels are free, and unless and until I think someone has begun to hijack a conversation here I make no effort to moderate posts. Your perspective is welcomeSeekHerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08659121733477310544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794942461067348825.post-22663713128782015162010-08-24T17:56:08.810-04:002010-08-24T17:56:08.810-04:00Anonymous said...
SeekHer,
sorry to take ...Anonymous said...<br /><br /> SeekHer,<br /> sorry to take up so much space but I wanted to be clear that I am not criticizing siddha yoga devotees for their beliefs. I am just asking them what they mean by some terms that they use. And I don't pretend to know the answers to these questions by any means.<br /> There is an absolutely beautiful essay online by Cathy Boucher about Nisargadatta Maharaj and the Navnath Sampradaya. In it, the question of lineage and lineage holders is addressed by Nisarga with a clarity I could never come close to.<br /> There are many people now who claim that their "lineage master" is Ramana Maharshi just as there are many people (some of them quite bizarre) who claim "lineage" from Nityananda and many others who claim "lineage" from Papaji. Alot of it seems to stem from a desire for legitimacy....a way of hitching your wagon to a "Great Soul" and having some of that believability rub off on you as a teacher. It's a good thing to be clear about what, exactly, lineage really means. I know I was not when I was in siddha yoga. If I had asked some of the questions that I am asking others to think about, the whole house of cards would have collapsed.<br /> Prajna comes from a union of Heart and Mind. Without Mind, we can be like naive and silly sheep; without Heart (and I don't mean "feelings and emotions" but Compassion), we can fail to see the human dimension in all of this.<br /> Thank you for opening this forum to the possibility of further discusssion.<br /><br /> sadhviAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com