Mother Meera is coming to my neighborhood and there is a clear “yes” for attending her darshan. She seems among the most clear and sincere, and shaktipat can be very helpful.
There are also some gentle questions there. What happens in my immediate experience? How can I receive it in the most helpful way? (Even that may be too much.)
……………..
……………..
Mother Meera is coming to my neighborhood so I thought it would be fun to I would take the opportunity to go to her darshan. She seems among the most clear and sincere, and shaktipat can be very helpful.
And it is also just another gentle question. What happens in my immediate experience? How do I experience its effects?
I see that there is a small controversy around her views on homosexuality. Is she homophobic or not? And does it matter? Minds that like to attach to stories as true wish to know.
This is also one of the points of interest when eastern teachers come to the west. They bring with them their cultural attitudes, these clash with the ones of modern western society, and their students wonder if they are really enlightened. If they are enlightened, wouldn’t their views match the current (most progressive) values of my own culture?
Phrasing it that way shows the absurdity of expecting someone from another culture to share values and views of my own, whether they are enlightened or not.
But there is also a value to those questions.
They are a reminder for me to examine my own views around this. Which ones do I act on as true? Do I know if they are true? What happens when I attach to them as true? Who would I be without those beliefs? What are the grain of truths in their turnarounds?
They are a touchstone when I am considering taking someone as a teacher. Does he or she seems to take their own stories as true? Do they take fixed positions on certain areas? Are they receptive to the grain of truth in other views? Do they see all of these stories as practical tools only, sometimes more and sometimes less appropriate, in any given situation? Do they hold stories lightly? Do they engage in inquiry around their own stories?
These questions can help inform a community of students in how to relate to their teacher. Does he or she seem to act in a way that hurts people? How should we deal with it? What is the most clear and kind course of action?
It is good to explore these things, also because it is all a mirror for what is right here. I see myself in these people and their relationships. I can find those qualities and dynamics in my own life. I do it. And it is all happening within my own world of images, my own overlay of stories and interpretations.
……………….
It is good to notice, whether I decide to take someone as a teacher or not. I may recognize that what she is is clearly awake to itself and lived in her life, and be OK with an apprent obscuration in that one area. I may decide she is not for me. If the situation was extreme, I may do whatever seems appropriate to prevent people getting hurt. And in any case, I can remind myself that I really don’t know. I don’t know what is happening over there. I don’t know how how valid my own stories are, even in a limited and practical sense.
(In this case, it may not matter much. What she is can clearly be awake to itself and lived in her life, whether or not that one story is investigated. At most, there is a small obscuration in that area, and I can be aware of it while receiving the rest of her abundant gifts. And her gift is living from an open heart and shaktipat, not verbal teachings.)
And it is good to notice these things, because I am seeing myself. The whole situation – she and her critics and supporters and their dynamics – is a mirror for what is right here. I can find it all here now. I do that. And it is all happening within my own world of stories – my own overlay.