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Originally Posted by Wagner
It seems that your entire response to me is focused on condescension towards your strawman argument against me that I've never had "direct experiences" and am essentially an armchair poser mystic; an argument which you've peppered (DOUSED), of course, with anecdotes of your own. Is that correct? I wouldn't want to be "REGURGITATING" Sri Yukteswar's words...
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Not at all.
I was once an intellectually-challenged regurgitator myself until .... I encountered a mind-boggling, life-transforming teacher whose opening words to me were:
"Question everything, including what I say, and, if a teacher can't
POINT you to the
DIRECT EXPERIENCES, then go elsewhere."
Practicing under her was very frustrating at times and I walked out several times before realizing that, without the
DIRECT EXPERIENCES, one is just a talking-head repeating second hand-information. One doesn't really
KNOW until one has had the direct experiences.
Even before meeting her, I had a mysterious 9-year connection with a black "homeless" man on the streets of New York City. I felt quite superior to him .... until he revealed himself ... at which point I realized that he was light years ahead of me. When I asked him why he hadn't spoken to me like this before, he simply responded: "You're weren't even at a level where we could discuss basics". Some one like you might consider such a statement to be "condescending" but I immediately realized that it was true. At that point, intellectually-challenged me was ready to enter the realm of direct experiences.
There are indeed teachers out there who can point one to the direct experiences but, like my black "homeless" sage of yesteryear, they generally appear very ordinary outwardly and have either a small following or no following at all.
On the other hand, there are countless teachers out there with very large followings who will cater to the masses and stroke their egos. They too serve a purpose ... in the beginning.
Choose what works best for you.
NOTE: Sri Yukteswar, whose words are reported in the opening post of this thread, had a very very small following.