Do enlightened people only prefer spiritual carrers?

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Why isn't being a window washer of skyrisers spiritual or being a mechanic?
Money is a wonderful thing...I love it.
Look what Dr. Wayne Dyer and his estate did with it his supporting all
his children and supporting Ram Dass after his stroke in '97.

Quoting Babaji now, eh? Good one!

If you do not have money nor the skills to make money then money is 'evil', etc.

Wow talk about baseless allegations.

Jl

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by janielee

Wow talk about baseless allegations.

Jl

Please provide an explanation why some enlightened people have a tendency to talk 'bad' about money?

While at it, provide an explanation of why some enlightened people believe in the 'distribution of wealth' so they will get their 'fair' share?

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Please provide an explanation why some enlightened people have a tendency to talk 'bad' about money?

I’ve never met any enlightened people who “talk ‘bad’ about money” so can only put this down to your lens and karma

Ymmv

Jl

[wstein]

Originally Posted by kishore

Do all enlightened people ...

Like unenlightened people, they are different with their own personalities and interests. As such they do not follow and strict herd instincts that would make them all behave the same.

Originally Posted by kishore

Do ... enlightened people only prefer spiritual based jobs like teaching meditation etc

Enlightened people know that ALL living is spiritual. They also know that a job is just a doing and has little bearing on Being. Your physical life (incarnation) including your job is just a role you came to experience (perhaps to learn something from). There are no restrictions nor judgements placed on what is appropriate to experience.

You hear a lot about becoming a teacher after enlightenment because that is the temperament and job of those who are most commonly instructing the unenlightened.

Originally Posted by kishore

What is the meaning of money for enlightened person?

Money (along with language, cultural, etc.) is part of the way humans interact. So for those who are incarnate in a form that interacts with humans, it is often part that interaction.

[NoOne]

The only enlightened person I know of within my lifetime, was Gopi Krishna and he's passed away a while ago. He worked in an office job as a low-level government clerk and led a very simple lifestyle, though he did have a wonderful garden in one of the picturesque valleys of Kashmir.

He wrote about this topic and expressed the opinion that an enlightened person must lead a simple life, not one of poverty and want, but one where the basic necessities of life are taken care of, leading to a simple and humble lifestyle. He thought anything more ostentatious than that would be a distraction and tie a person to the material realm.

When he visited Friedrich Von Weizsacher, the famous Quantum Physicist, in his home in Germany, he was impressed by the simplicity of his dwelling and his surroundings. People who concentrate on matters of the spirit, or even that of the intellect, do not crave luxury and ostentatiousness, simplicity and humility appeals to them a lot more.

In this day and age, you cannot support yourself without working, apart perhaps from a few Buddhist and Hindu countries, such as Nepal, Bhutan or Thailand, where people still give alms to monks. But, it was Gopi Krishna's contention that those days are gone and the enlightened person needs to have some sort of source of income to support himself, but he himself refused to take students and act as a Guru, he believed in working for a living and leading a normal life, whilst still devoting plenty of time to meditation and study.

The average person works 8 hours a day, gets weekends off, plus plenty of holidays. Even if you allow for 8 hours of sleep, people have about half of their waking hours available to them, to do with as they please. Most choose to entertain themselves to death, until it is too late to do anything about it, but they could just as easily devote their free time to meditation and study.

So no, you don't need a spiritual "career" to be enlightened, in fact, most of those people who pose as gurus and spiritual teachers are just faking it and see it as an easy way to make money, even if when they started out, their intentions might have been sincere.

[Starman]

Money is a tool, just like any other tool. Anyone can call themselves a guru or say that they are enlightened, but a truly enlightened person most likely would not view money as wealth, rather their spiritual experience and communion with the divine would be viewed as their true wealth. As far as a job is concerned they most likely would be absolutely guided by their heart and not their head, and their heart would be wide open and much bigger than their head. An enlightened person would understand that they draw all things needful, both spiritual and material, from the limitless substance of our eternal source. They would be content and have no need or want other than that source.

For a very long time in India gurus lived off of the charity of others; they never charged money for teaching others, but since the 1970's, when meditation, yoga, and gurus became prominent in the public consciousness of the west, especially in the U.S., gurus sought materialism from the materialistic countries they visited, and many stayed in, like the U.S., and their devotees willingly purchased cars and houses for their guru, and gave them lavish gifts. It was not this way with the original Buddha, or gurus in the past. They saw their hearts' calling as their job and they mostly lived off of the charity of others. Today, meditation teachers in the west, gurus, etc., do not necessarily follow that tradition.

[lomax]

Originally Posted by NoOne

The only enlightened person I know of within my lifetime, was Gopi Krishna and he's passed away a while ago. He worked in an office job as a low-level government clerk and led a very simple lifestyle, though he did have a wonderful garden in one of the picturesque valleys of Kashmir.

He wrote about this topic and expressed the opinion that an enlightened person must lead a simple life, not one of poverty and want, but one where the basic necessities of life are taken care of, leading to a simple and humble lifestyle. He though anything more ostentatious than that would be a distraction and tie a person to the material realm.

When he visited Friedrich Von Weizsacher, the famous Quantum Physicist, in his home in Germany, he was impressed by the simplicity of his dwelling and his surroundings. People who concentrate on matters of the spirit, or even that of the intellect, do not crave luxury and ostentatiousness, simplicity and humility appeals to them a lot more.

In this day and age, you cannot support yourself without working, apart perhaps from a few Buddhist and Hindu countries, such as Nepal, Bhutan or Thailand, where people still give alms to monks. But, it was Gopi Krishna's contention that those days are gone and the enlightened person needs to have some sort of source of income to support himself, but he himself refused to take students and act as a Guru, he believed in working for a living and leading a normal life, whilst still devoting plenty of time to meditation and study.

The average person works 8 hours a day, gets weekends off, plus plenty of holidays. Even if you allow for 8 hours of sleep, people have about half of their waking hours available to them, to do with as they please. Most choose to entertain themselves to death, until it is too late to do anything about it, but they could just as easily devote their free time to meditation and study.

So no, you don't need a spiritual "career" to be enlightened, in fact, most of those people who pose as gurus and spiritual teachers are just faking it and see it as an easy way to see money, even if when they started out, their intentions might have been sincere.

Thumbs up.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by Starman

Money is a tool, just like any other tool. Anyone can call themselves a guru or say that they are enlightened, but a truly enlightened person most likely would not view money as wealth, rather their spiritual experience and communion with the divine would be viewed as their true wealth. As far as a job is concerned they most likely would be absolutely guided by their heart and not their head, and their heart would be wide open and much bigger than their head. An enlightened person would understand that they draw all things needful, both spiritual and material, from the limitless substance of our eternal source. They would be content and have no need or want other than that source.

For a very long time in India gurus lived off of the charity of others; they never charged money for teaching others, but since the 1970's, when meditation, yoga, and gurus became prominent in the public consciousness of the west, especially in the U.S., gurus sought materialism from the materialistic countries they visited, and many stayed in, like the U.S., and their devotees willingly purchased cars and houses for their guru, and gave them lavish gifts. It was not this way with the original Buddha, or gurus in the past. They saw their hearts' calling as their job and they mostly lived off of the charity of others. Today, meditation teachers in the west, gurus, etc., do not necessarily follow that tradition.

Well, that is just not true, Gurus of the past were often immensely rich, especially by the standards of the day. It was not unusual for a king to give out hundreds of cows, land and dozens of villages with peasants to work the fields (in other words, millions of dollars worth of income producing assets), for a single teaching by a famous Guru. Sometimes they would be literally covered in Gold, Rubies and Emeralds.

We can barely imagine the immense wealth that existed in India up to the the 18th century. In fact, a few years ago, they found hidden chambers in a Hindu temple, and uncovered seven large rooms full of treasure, gold, jewellery, precious gemstones, crowns, just like in the movies. I think at market value, the treasure there is estimated to be worth a trillion dollars and this is just one temple.

[Unseeking Seeker]

***

Money, like the mind is but a tool ... a means to navigate

The problem arises only when anyone indulges or stagnates allowing the tail to wag the dog.

If we look at religion ... or call it mythology ... in the Ramayan, Ram gave up his kingdom and voluntarily went into exile for 14 years.

Not to be outdone, his brother Bharat who became king by default, merely acted as a caretaker and cheerfully handed back the throne to Ram on his return.

Points for contemplation ...

***