Ordinary is best

I give below a short excerpt from Aurthur Osborne on Bhagavan’s view of psychic powers. Aruthur Osborne was a great Bhagavan Ramana devotee who spent time with the Sage of Arunachala and felt his grace. From Aurthur Osborne:

Bhagavan Ramana sought to free us from psychic as well as physical desires, and he therefore disapproved of all freakishness and eccentricity and of all interest in visions and desire for powers of any type. Bhagavan liked his devotees to behave in a normal and sane way, for he was guiding us towards the ultimate Reality where perceptions and powers which men call “higher” or “miraculous” are as illusory as those they call “physical”. A visitor once related to us in Bhagavan’s presence how his Guru died and was buried and then, three years later, returned in tangible bodily form to give instructions. Bhagavan sat there completely indifferent and evidently unimpressed. It was as though he had not even heard. The bell rang for lunch and Bhagavan rose to leave the hall. Only at the doorway Bhagavan turned and quoted: “Though a man can enter ever so many bodies, does it mean that he has found his true Home?”

https://luthar.com/2010/01/31/ramana-on-pyschic-powers/

On December 10, 1981, Luang Pu participated in the annual celebration at Wat Dhammamongkon on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok. A large number of temporarily ordained women from a nearby teachers’ college came to discuss the results of their vipassanā practice, telling him that when their minds settled down they would see a Buddha image in their hearts. Some of them said that they saw the heavenly mansions awaiting them in heaven. Some saw the Culamaṇi Stūpa [a memorial to a relic of the Buddha kept in heaven]. They all seemed very proud of their success in their practice of vipassanā.

Luang Pu said,

“All the things that appeared for you to see are still external. You can’t take them as a substantial refuge at all.”

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Gi...ction0012.html

[Unseeking Seeker]

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Thanks for sharing online resources

Why take all documented wisdom as universally applicable? For instance, while one sage Ramana discourages association with form, another (Krishna) showed Arjuna his Vishwaroopa to dispel his delusion. Apparently one size does not fit all!

Anyway, the topic being ‘ordinary’ which I don’t know as actually meaning simplicity, meekness, humility, receptivity etc. inspired the following thought, reproduced from another section on SF:

“The extraordinariness of what is perfunctorily termed as ordinariness is so only for consciousness in the know that each vibrational manifestation in the time continuum is as of oneness awareness choiceless selection, in-form consciousness attention unclinging, flowing & allowing the stuporously ordinary to become amorously extraordinary by joyously & zestfully embracing, imbibing, assimilating & releasing seamlessly & continuously the offered vibrational flow in centred stillness slow.”

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[Joe Mc]

Questioner : What is the essence of your teaching ?

Krishnamurti : I have one secret in life, I don't mind what happens.

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

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Thanks for sharing online resources

Why take all documented wisdom as universally applicable? For instance, while one sage Ramana discourages association with form, another (Krishna) showed Arjuna his Vishwaroopa to dispel his delusion. Apparently one size does not fit all!

I totally agree with you.

It all has to do with conceptual limitation, but the way it is approached, brings about a different understanding to those who experience it.

For example, somebody may see visions of Buddha during meditation and many teachers will negate, admonish, tell the student it wasn't real etc to stop them from being egotistical or puffed up with pride.

Me, I will say "Is that ALL? What ELSE did you see?" and I will keep on saying that over and over while they describe their visions...As if to validate them as being important, but at the same time ensuring they don't get stuck there and to view their experiences as things that will just pass if no attention is placed there...If they can let it go with love.

Eventually, there will come a time when the Vishvarupa is not only seen, but experienced and yet, the one who experiences it, is included in the Divine Form, then when one asks "what ELSE did you see?" they will simply say "there is nothing else TO see because everything is Krishna".

[Unseeking Seeker]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

It all has to do with conceptual limitation, but the way it is approached, brings about a different understanding to those who experience it.

For example, somebody may see visions of Buddha during meditation and many teachers will negate, admonish, tell the student it wasn't real etc to stop them from being egotistical or puffed up with pride.

Me, I will say "Is that ALL? What ELSE did you see?" and I will keep on saying that over and over while they describe their visions...As if to validate them as being important, but at the same time ensuring they don't get stuck there and to view their experiences as things that will just pass if no attention is placed there...If they can let it go with love.

Eventually, there will come a time when the Vishvarupa is not only seen, but experienced and yet, the one who experiences it, is included in the Divine Form, then when one asks "what ELSE did you see?" they will simply say "there is nothing else TO see because everything is Krishna".

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It is so, when glimpses of the splendrous show are beheld, yet remnants of contaminants within immature consciousness are yet to be felled ... by the non-doer, invoking love absolute of the That One mover.

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[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

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It is so, when glimpses of the splendrous show are beheld, yet remnants of contaminants within immature consciousness are yet to be felled ... by the non-doer, invoking love absolute of the That One mover.

***

If there is only one thing that I took away from the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, it was this...

When the power supply to a fan is turned off, the blades will keep on spinning around for some time...

When this happens in a human being, it is the result of individual samskaras and karma that still remains to fizzle out.

Also, as sad as it is, one can experience that exhalted state of unity in Godhead and instead of remaining there indefinitely, say "okay, been there, experienced that...no huge deal" and then they TRY to go back to how things were previous to the experience with the same OLD awareness, yet they suffer inexorably because they are totally and willfully "ignoring God" at this stage with a "leave me alone and let me remain ignorant" but it is much too late for that..The horse has already bolted and whether they choose to close the stable door or not is totally moot.

Welcome to my world.

[Joe Mc]

Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha. --- Ajahn Chah

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

“The extraordinariness of what is perfunctorily termed as ordinariness is so only for consciousness in the know that each vibrational manifestation in the time continuum is as of oneness awareness choiceless selection, in-form consciousness attention unclinging, flowing & allowing the stuporously ordinary to become amorously extraordinary by joyously & zestfully embracing, imbibing, assimilating & releasing seamlessly & continuously the offered vibrational flow in centred stillness slow.”

***

These words bring me to a river of endless change in current and twists and turns. Excepting the fate of the river joyfully and aware of it's ever-present liveliness.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Joe Mc

Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha. --- Ajahn Chah

We don’t meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering.

Don’t be attached to visions or lights in meditation, don’t rise or fall with them. What’s so great about brightness? My flashlight has it. It can’t help us rid ourselves of our suffering.

- Ajahn Chah