HOW to REACH to the SPIRITUAL WORLD

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

Regarding helping from afar during meditation, I have a book given to me years ago by a Sri Lankan Buddhist friend. It's called "The Buddha and His Teachings" and is the same book that they use at the local Burmese Buddhist monastery except that mine is in English for obvious reasons.

There is a chapter on the Buddha's "daily routine". It says that the Buddha attains the Ecstasy of Great Compassion each morning from 5 to 6 AM.

"At this early hour He surveys the whole world with His Buddha-Eye to see whether He could be of service to any. The virtuous and those that need His help appear vivid before Him though they may live at a remote distance. Out of compassion for them, he goes of His own accord and renders necessary spiritual assistance."

The book does not elaborate on how this is done.

P.S. With this response, I am also addressing Kioma's question.

I guess that my whole point is, why can't other people just mind their own "spiritual business?"

What difference does it REALLY make anyway, if another says "meditating is selfish?" What difference would it make if the whole world disagreed with me?

This is the thing I think about the most...The thing that occupies my mind and thoughts for the greatest period of time...

Who is to say their way is right, or the only way? Yet, this is what people will always say regardless of also preaching the exact opposite with their very next breath.

So, even if I am "selfish" according to definition given by another person, what is wrong or so bad about that?, when I personally can see absolutely nothing wrong with it?...and in my "perceptual universe" you know, the one that I create and nobody ELSE creates it for me...What I think and what I believe are the ONLY things that matter..

So, they will go on to say "it is not spiritual to be selfish" and I say " you always tell me to be myself....What if being selfish, is me just being myself?" There is never any answer for that one...and I figure that certain spiritual people can get away with being and doing things that are "not spiritual" according to "spiritual people" and totally rip up labels and stereotypes if they are fully prepared to live with the consequences and be happy about that.

"Being myself" causes isolation and loneliness, because other's emotional needs are not being met...and I am not talking about love here, but every OTHER need besides that one..and I won't put myself in the position to be willingly duped or preached to...So I don't have any friends...this is the "cost" of being myself...and I pay it gladly and willingly...So now, I have more freedom to do whatever I WANT to do, without somebody saying "if you value our friendship, you wouldn't do that" and holding the relationship over my head as a bribe...because the only thing that gets said AFTER that is " no, I do not value your friendship, so I can do whatever I like now...cya".

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

I guess that my whole point is, why can't other people just mind their own "spiritual business?"

What difference does it REALLY make anyway, if another says "meditating is selfish?" What difference would it make if the whole world disagreed with me?

Just means they are all wrong

This is the thing I think about the most...The thing that occupies my mind and thoughts for the greatest period of time...

Who is to say their way is right, or the only way? Yet, this is what people will always say regardless of also preaching the exact opposite with their very next breath.

So, even if I am "selfish" according to definition given by another person, what is wrong or so bad about that?, when I personally can see absolutely nothing wrong with it?...and in my "perceptual universe" you know, the one that I create and nobody ELSE creates it for me...What I think and what I believe are the ONLY things that matter..

So, they will go on to say "it is not spiritual to be selfish" and I say " you always tell me to be myself....What if being selfish, is me just being myself?" There is never any answer for that one...and I figure that certain spiritual people can get away with being and doing things that are "not spiritual" according to "spiritual people" and totally rip up labels and stereotypes if they are fully prepared to live with the consequences and be happy about that.

Sure, you aren't under any obligation.

"Being myself" causes isolation and loneliness, because other's emotional needs are not being met...and I am not talking about love here, but every OTHER need besides that one..and I won't put myself in the position to be willingly duped or preached to...So I don't have any friends...this is the "cost" of being myself...and I pay it gladly and willingly...So now, I have more freedom to do whatever I WANT to do, without somebody saying "if you value our friendship, you wouldn't do that" and holding the relationship over my head as a bribe...because the only thing that gets said AFTER that is " no, I do not value your friendship, so I can do whatever I like now...cya".

[Shivani Devi]

I'll give you all another example of this...It happened just the other day.

I was in the Hindu forum, discussing verses from the Upanishads...I figured I was pretty "safe" there, doing that.

What happened next, was another member coming into it and discussing comparative verses from The Bible...Jesus said this...Jesus said that...

With that, I made comment referencing the name of the sub forum where the discussion was taking place...I asked if he/she knew anything about the Upanishads to give worthwhile contribution to the discussion at hand...and with that, I was given the label of being "religiously intolerant" so, I'll just add that to the label of being "selfish" and a million other clothes that other people get me to try on but does not fit.

To a lesser willed/weak willed individual, I can see that a constant bombardment of this could cause depression to the point of suicide, if they took it all personally and took it on board...yet, so would protracted isolation and loneliness, but that was a totally conscious choice for me, because I would not be able to live with myself otherwise and this illustrates that I am different to the majority of human beings who live on this Earth.

People do not want love...they want to be noticed, acknowledged, appreciated, respected, obeyed, agreed with, venerated... etc etc

While ever all those things remain a "priority" they will NEVER reach Enlightenment...whilever their backside points to the ground and thankfully, the universe continues to remove all of my distractions (nosy significant others) so that I can do what I came here to do, totally uninterrupted.

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Gem

Sure, you aren't under any obligation.

Yes...this is what my brother keeps saying to me as well...that the reason why I am like this, is because I have absolutely no obligations to anybody or anything...and I have worked very hard to be able to put myself in that position and still exist within it....where the "average person" would have gone totally insane ages ago.

This is what "separates" me from the rest of humanity despite having the same Divine consciousness within.

[Shivani Devi]

One day...One sweet Day, I am going to write a "Literal Dictionary".

I already have ideas for a few entries and I am working on it:

Selfish: "The label given to another when one's own personal and individual needs are not being fully met by them".

Religious Intolerance: "The act of not fully agreeing with and adopting another's religious beliefs because they say so".

Racism: 'The act of speaking out against changes to an established culture, which is being forced upon them by another culture to which they do not belong".

Racist: "The label given to another who believes that skin colour should have NO bearing upon judicial proceedings once the law has been broken".

I could go on...and this will be a fun exercise.

Not being obliged to anybody and not caring what anybody else has to think or say makes me a candidate for the perfect social commentator. =)

[Shivani Devi]

I seem to be on a roll with this...My Higher Self decided to chime in...

"The social order consists of those with an agenda, using "social taboos" to guilt trip others into full compliance by playing upon their most personal and sacred value systems.

This is poisoning the well of humanity, because "moral judgments" are always deemed to be absolute, irrespective of those they are leveled against, so the cognitive bias becomes imprinted from the very start.

The reason why you have no friends, is because you get to see all of this going on , where many others either can't see it, or who can but prefer "not to know" because it makes their existence so much easier if they just deny it."

ADDITIONAL..

My physical existence spans two generations and I can see the changes in social values during that time...

Before, it was "dishonesty" and "criminal activity" and "inconsideration/disrespect" and "laziness".

Now, it is "selfishness" and "discrimination" and "intolerance" ...

That's enough from me on that subject.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

I guess that my whole point is, why can't other people just mind their own "spiritual business?"

What difference does it REALLY make anyway, if another says "meditating is selfish?" What difference would it make if the whole world disagreed with me?

This is the thing I think about the most...The thing that occupies my mind and thoughts for the greatest period of time...

Who is to say their way is right, or the only way? Yet, this is what people will always say regardless of also preaching the exact opposite with their very next breath.

So, even if I am "selfish" according to definition given by another person, what is wrong or so bad about that?, when I personally can see absolutely nothing wrong with it?...and in my "perceptual universe" you know, the one that I create and nobody ELSE creates it for me...What I think and what I believe are the ONLY things that matter..

So, they will go on to say "it is not spiritual to be selfish" and I say " you always tell me to be myself....What if being selfish, is me just being myself?" There is never any answer for that one...and I figure that certain spiritual people can get away with being and doing things that are "not spiritual" according to "spiritual people" and totally rip up labels and stereotypes if they are fully prepared to live with the consequences and be happy about that.

"Being myself" causes isolation and loneliness, because other's emotional needs are not being met...and I am not talking about love here, but every OTHER need besides that one..and I won't put myself in the position to be willingly duped or preached to...So I don't have any friends...this is the "cost" of being myself...and I pay it gladly and willingly...So now, I have more freedom to do whatever I WANT to do, without somebody saying "if you value our friendship, you wouldn't do that" and holding the relationship over my head as a bribe...because the only thing that gets said AFTER that is " no, I do not value your friendship, so I can do whatever I like now...cya".

Well put.

All roads lead to the same goal, so one should not criticize the path another has chosen (unless some one is being harmed in the process).

Well put.

[running]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

Well put.

All roads lead to the same goal, so one should not criticize the path another has chosen (unless some one is being harmed in the process).

Well put.

x2..... agree

[wstein]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

All roads lead to the same goal, so one should not criticize the path another has chosen (unless some one is being harmed in the process).

There is never a reason to criticize another's path.
Depending on your path, there might be cause to try to interfere with their actions.

[hallow]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

I guess that my whole point is, why can't other people just mind their own "spiritual business?"

What difference does it REALLY make anyway, if another says "meditating is selfish?" What difference would it make if the whole world disagreed with me?

This is the thing I think about the most...The thing that occupies my mind and thoughts for the greatest period of time...

Who is to say their way is right, or the only way? Yet, this is what people will always say regardless of also preaching the exact opposite with their very next breath.

So, even if I am "selfish" according to definition given by another person, what is wrong or so bad about that?, when I personally can see absolutely nothing wrong with it?...and in my "perceptual universe" you know, the one that I create and nobody ELSE creates it for me...What I think and what I believe are the ONLY things that matter..

So, they will go on to say "it is not spiritual to be selfish" and I say " you always tell me to be myself....What if being selfish, is me just being myself?" There is never any answer for that one...and I figure that certain spiritual people can get away with being and doing things that are "not spiritual" according to "spiritual people" and totally rip up labels and stereotypes if they are fully prepared to live with the consequences and be happy about that.

"Being myself" causes isolation and loneliness, because other's emotional needs are not being met...and I am not talking about love here, but every OTHER need besides that one..and I won't put myself in the position to be willingly duped or preached to...So I don't have any friends...this is the "cost" of being myself...and I pay it gladly and willingly...So now, I have more freedom to do whatever I WANT to do, without somebody saying "if you value our friendship, you wouldn't do that" and holding the relationship over my head as a bribe...because the only thing that gets said AFTER that is " no, I do not value your friendship, so I can do whatever I like now...cya".

on being yourself, like you I live a more solitary life then most, I work nights by myself, I don't any real friends. I am happily married and she's the only friend I really need. We feel the same about each other. I set my life up this way as well. But it's not out of being cold to world and I like the freedom to not feel the need to shut myself out to anyone or anything. I don't feel obligated to do anything either. I do things because I want to. I don't feel obligated to turn others away just because I can. Life can be tough, people can mean and judgemental. That doesn't mean I am going to be. 1 one of things I feel obligated to do is to learn from others mistakes. Maybe because I want to feel obligated to do that.