Hi all
I am not sure if there is an interest/appetite for this straight forward talk…but then ayp is all about the guru being in you
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Hi Maha,
Interesting talk. Of course, AYP has never been about the teacher/author, but about the means for transformation and moving beyond binding attachments, while fully engaged in ordinary daily life. That is freedom.
Spira has been a leading Neo-Advaita teacher, guiding folks into self-inquiry as a stand alone practice. For most it is “non-relational,” not based in stillness, the witness. As you know, in AYP we go for cultivating the witness first via meditation, and self-inquiry comes along naturally as a result, including moving beyond teachers, and eventually even the teachings. By then we have become “the book.”
But let’s keep good teachers around, and a comprehensive body of knowledge on spiritual practices, because few are able to start and accomplish much from where Spira and others have advocated. A few years ago he admitted as much himself, and might have walked away from being “the teacher” for that reason. Certainly trying in this video. What have he and other neo-advaita teachers given their students besides a mental exercise? Better to be meditating first. That is where real self-sufficiency comes from.
The guru is in you.
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Hi Yogani
No doubt there are no shortcuts . Practices are what is needed , they are the building blocks for relational enquiry
Although many of the current advaita teachers offer mental acrobatics for their crowds …those teachers spent years practicing meditation and reading books etc, they had their gurus too…those teachers also took the classical road to silence meaning practicing
Enquiry is to be discovered as we advance along the road, when the student is ripe enough …
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I enjoy Rupert Spiro while recognizing that he is not for beginners.
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Hi all,
This is a video I added to YouTube a while ago on this topic called “Was Jiddu Krishnamurti right?” I did not mention Spira in the video but it looks at some of the dangers of people engaging in pure advaita teaching of this kind and why so many people run into difficulties with it ending up confused and upset, or simply going around in circles for years.
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