Are gurus any help?
I am sorry to be negative about Tibetan Buddhsim (the point remains valid that it tends to manufacture ‘boddhissatwas’ who then never develop), as in previous post, so let me generalize my statement: research the worldof ashrams and the huge business in that. None of that is a spiritual path leading to enlightenment. It could be, but…
By and large most gurus have no interest whatsover in your case. You can search fifty years to prove the axiom true that you must have a guru, but the chances are that it will be a waste of time. Don’t waste your time: proceed without a guru. You have no other option if you are poor or unknown.
The subtle conditioning in a cult is of no value. You can say the same about sufism: you can’t even locate a sufi, I would bet. Not in a decade.
As for Mahayana and boddhissatwas you cannot be such until your reach almost to the threshold of enlightenment. It is wrong to inflict that path on beginners. The whole experience of meditation is wasted…
There are some excellent opportunities: a year in retreat for several thousand dollars…But…
To me the point is obvious: I could never afford such things, and it the absence of funds I was never welcome anywhere.
The real ‘darshan’ for me, as depicted here, happened five miles from Rajneeshpuram in the wilds of Oregon. That ashram had a remarkable moment when it was open to homeless people and I recall approaching in that disguise… But the real experience started five miles away, and stopped when I arrived at the ashram…
In general the whole guru game can be seen to be counterproductive. It doesn’t work. Once in a while a celebrity like Milarepa will have a publicity sadhana for the historical record. But in the end it seems that you are on your own. The propaganda otherwise is strong, but the facts have to be faced. If I were a guru I would be able to prove that wrong,…but…
Argue otherwise, and a tour of the guur circuit is useful if you can afford it, but the real ‘guru’ is an intangible presence, and one open to deceptive illusions, to be sure, but that is all you have, finally…
You can contact many spirits, but with no real solidity to the experience. And you cannot understand the nature of that realm: the experiences can be illusions. But they can be real too. And sometimes the non-celebrities as spirits are more helpful.
Always assume such experiences could be false, still, they show the way, one that can be tried. It is not complex: Meditate! is the 99% of it, from whatever source.
You don’t have many chances working alone, but you have more thus than chasing the phantom of the guru…Think your way past this, but don’t consider the fashionable business of the resort ashram/guru as a spiritual duty.
ashrams..
New Man, New Age, New Socialism 