Dear Ram

Second try! I emailed before, just realized that it came back to me. Greetings from a spectacularly grey and cold UK . Holding all the warmth and color and light of India inside and around me. Also just lovely to connect with friends and family. Some great bagpipe and accordion music last night also warmed the heart and soul.

I also feel much enriched by our contact. I wanted to tell you how pleased I am to have met you. I'd really like to stay in touch. Your book has really helped my meditation practice. I'm getting a little more clarity I think - along with The Mountain, Ramana and all the other events of my trip. I've got such a long way to go, but at least something has shifted (long may it continue) in a small way that I have been struggling with for what seems like ages. I thank you and India and LIFE itself .

Hi Jean,

Life thanks you. India thanks you. And I thank you. I'm so happy that your trip to India was a success and that clarity is coming. By all means come again. I paid my rent for next year and I would be pleased to see you again and help you find your way through the spiritual thicket.

Jean: At the moment I think I will work towards coming again maybe same time next year - It a long way away but good to have a vision. Would love to again come to TIruvannamalai. It would be great If you were there. I would also love to take some time and maybe visit one or two of the teachers you mentioned In South India. Maybe visit a temple or two. I would love to sit with a realized teacher, someone that I felt really 'had It.' I would be grateful If, when you have the time, you could write the names of some of the people you talked about, along with where and how I might find them.

Ram: The problem with the people whom I might recommend is that it is not that easy to get access to them, unless you are willing to commit yourself to an in depth investigation of the Self. There are quite number gurus who accept unknown people off the street and there is something to be gained from them to be sure…if it is only some experience of the Self.

Most of the entry level teachers are just that…entry level…and cannot take you very far, except to perhaps whet your appetite for more. There is a danger with this kind of teacher also, which is that many, perhaps the majority, are not Self realized i.e. they are self deluded and you will always find an agenda, sometimes not too subtle an agenda, working. It often involves ‘surrender' of your money, energy, body, etc. This, as I'm sure you will agree is not helpful. So when you set out looking for a guru you need to have a healthy degree of skepticism and be willing to walk away from what superficially seems like an attractive situation.

In a way it is not recommended to seek for spiritual teachers…unless you are quite dispassionate. If you have too much desire you put yourself in jeopardy…as there are so many unscrupulous people out there willing to ‘enlighten' you. The latest scam, which is proving to be quite popular and making the guru filthy rich, is the ‘brain reversal' or ‘brain rewiring' that involves twenty one days of your time and $5500 with the promise of enlightenment and an opportunity to save the world in 2112. The scriptures recommend that you work on yourself according to your own lights with faith and dedication, pray for guidance from within and sit tight until the teacher appears in your life. Usually it happens in a very natural and oftentimes innocuous way. In any case there are some satsang and meditation teachers that are OK and I can steer you to them. And as far as the frauds are concerned I can alert you to them too.

Jean: In my previous email I asked you a question about DesIre . Wondering about Its relationship to motivation and enthusiasm which seem like positive qualities in some way linked with desire. Having asked the question - even though it didn't reach you, has stimulated my thought processes. I have a dread of the dried out quality of the protestant ethic, puritanical and bleak. There is a quality of juiciness and abundance, colour and texture which I am so drawn towards. Maybe this feels like being open to desire. Maybe we have to discriminate between Abundance and Desire/attachment/clinging to outer Illusion.

Ram: This is one of the most important spiritual issues. As you may know Desire is generally considered an intractable foe of anyone pursuing the spiritual path. Buddhism, for example, teaches that desire is the cause of suffering…and this is true. Not only is it the cause of suffering it is suffering. When you say you want something you are actually saying that you are suffering from incompleteness and lack…which is not a happy state of mind.

So while Desire is no doubt juicy and attractive to the ego, which is by definition incomplete…it definitely clouds one's mind, often to such a degree that it quickly takes you off the path and into the karmic thicket from which it may take you quite a while to emerge. Desire tends to destroy clarity.

At the same time Desire is a fact of life. It permeates every mind. So the question then becomes how to deal with it. The Vedic scriptures are clear that the best method is to sublimate it into spiritual work: the desire that was formerly flowing into worldly things…pleasure, relationships, security, power, success, etc…should be channeled into one's spiritual quest. This is not as easy as it sounds and one opens oneself to great self deception because of it.

The so called ‘tantric' paths…which are very attractive to people who are burdened with a lot of desire…tend to ensnare people in the most common spiritual trap…the notion that because the desire prompted activities that one is pursuing are ‘spiritual' that they are somehow liberating. It is true that acting out one's fantasies may temporarily relieve repressed desire… which feels good (no harm there)…but what invariably happens is that the person just reinforces his or her vasanas… all the while believing that he or she is ‘working through' them. The sad plight of the tens of thousands of people who fell for Osho's ‘fuck your way to God' idea testify to the utter bankruptcy of this view. By ‘sad plight' I mean the lonely people in their forties and fifties whose breasts are sagging and whose butts have lost their tension and whose faces are showing the inevitable effects of aging but who are still forlornly wandering around India looking for the party.

Traditional Vedic spiritual science recommends a clear analysis of Desire with the intention of discovering that Desire does not solve the problem that it purports to solve. You desire the things you desire not for the things themselves but for the happiness they bring. But happiness that comes also goes. This sets up a vasana for the desired object again. So you are always caught in a web of desire and activity. At some point you realize that this is not a workable path.

My guru used to suggest that spiritual people ‘sin' intelligently. This is an oxymoron if ever there was one but the idea is good. Indulge yourself occasionally but do it with awareness. Be honest; do a cost-benefit analysis on the whole process and see if you are actually beating the system by wanting what you want and doing what you do. At the same time develop a simple spiritual life, cultivate desires for pure things and gradually convert the energy from grosser to subtler pleasures until your mind is peaceful. The Buddha's Madyamika (middle way) is another formulation of the same idea: indulge and deny yourself in a reasonable way.

I know exactly what you mean about this dried out, bleak, Puritanical approach to spirituality and it is very sad and ugly. There is a certain kind of person who is convinced that the world is a sinful trap and that the only way out is to destroy every bit of interest in it. There are quite a few of this type here…mostly very serious women (I call them ‘dry sticks')…with skinny bodies and severe faces completely unaccustomed to joy. From what I observed when you were here I think that you will not fall prey to that condition.

Jean: I like your statement about doubts - that It is really Important to identify them, wrinkle them out however subtle and ask the question, get clear, then you can move forward. I think I have been afraid to doubt and afraid to ask the questions when at times they seem critical or judgmental. But unless you ask the question it sits there as a subtle block. Now I have someone to harass with my questions!

With love and Gratefulness

Jean

Ram: There is a big bias against criticism and judgment in the spiritual world. It is meant to reveal a lack of compassion. There is some truth to this view but I don't agree with it. I think it has arisen because people are so lacking in self confidence these days that any kind of criticism is cause for an emotional breakdown. But we were given intellects for a reason and I think it is very important not to surrender one's critical faculties behind an idea of false compassion. I believe the real issue is the values motivating one's criticisms and judgments. There is an inbuilt bias in the spiritual world because there is a goal to be reached. So when one understands what the goal is one can evaluate one's thoughts, emotions and behavior in light of that goal. For example a quiet pure mind is essential for enlightenment. So activities and ideas that cause agitation need to be judged and condemned, not justified and rationalized.

The whole ‘celebrate life' idea that is so popular at the entry level of the spiritual world is basically about suspending one's critical and rational faculties and getting on with the big party of life. And while it has the psychological benefit of relieving frustration and tension it should not be considered a ‘spiritual' view. People want to celebrate life because they do not appreciate themselves for what they are. They want to feel something different. But this approach is flawed because it does not usually involve an analysis of why the person feels unfulfilled in the first place. And real spirituality is about the ‘why.' It is my view that you need to have a reason to celebrate. People celebrate when they achieve a particular result, for example. You win a war and you have a big national celebration. But ‘celebrate life?' What's so damn wonderful about life? It's at least as miserable as it is wonderful so if it is worth celebrating it is also worth condemning. Anyway, I'm getting off topic and will shut down the word machine. Great to hear from you and yes…you have permission to torment me with your questions.

Love,

Ram