Changed URL Cosmic Consciousness

The Maya Gaia website is a chronicle of my efforts to integrate a spontaneous transcendent experience which I had back in 1970. At the time, I was almost completly naive regarding mystical, spiritual, metaphysical or paranormal phenomena of any kind but the experience started my search for explanation that is still ongoing. My journey can best be shared by those with critical thinking temperaments that balance a healthy skepticism with an open mind as my itinerary through the disciplines of religion, metaphysics, and science is an intellectual minefield of controversy, contradiction and fantasy. Starting my journey as an agnostic, I easily ignored religious interpretations but discovered my major challenge was in applying this balanced approach to the reductionist, materialist, scientific viewpoint and that of open-ended, new-age spiritualism. Fortunately a synthesis is evolving from new physics, quantum consciousness and metaphysical concepts derived from classical transcendent inspiration such as I experienced that suggests a metaparadigm for the nature of reality that is both enlightened and rational. My original pages featured an interpretation based on a synthesizing of Neo Vedic and Gaia theory concepts. In 2006 I renewed the scale and scope of my research into quantum science and Eastern mysticism and recognized my experience as a Nirvikalpa Samadhi with classical features recalled in rare detail. Starting with Cosmic Consciousness- Is Science Closing In? I've been adding pages concerning a range of scientific and metaphysical issues-quantum consciousness, Tantra, Samadhi, NDE, non-duality, gurus, revelations, free will, etc.- that I've interpreted from the perspectives of my Samadhi. See Sitemap for all chronicle topics.



I'm starting off comments here about my Maya-Gaia website with some transferred from my original GeoCities blog which Yahoo closed down July 13, 2009. My entire Maya-Gaia website is now at maya-gaia.angelfire.com

2007-02-14 23:01:19 GMT
Author:Anonymous

The amateurish media debate over Intelligent Design (ID) sunk to a new low with Paul Lloyd's article, 70,000 unite over 'intelligent design' (05/11). Instead of correctly noting that Intelligent Design differs from biblical creationism, Mr. Lloyd seriously misrepresents the theory of ID by asserting that it is just a new form of religious fundamentalism. Feigned ignorance or plain mendaciousness? Proponents of ID believe only that the complexity of the natural world could not have occurred by chance. Furthermore, ID is inferred from empirical evidence in nature, not deduced from scripture or religious doctrines. ID theory does not advocate literal creationism. Charles Darwin himself stated: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." In fact, modern biochemistry has revealed many irreducibly complex systems within biological organisms. Indeed, even a simple cell shows ample evidence of design. Darwinists remain unable to provide any clear evidence to demonstrate that even one complex bio-mechanism (e.g. a flagellum, a cilium, or a light-sensitive spot) has ever evolved in nature through gradual modifications. The mere existence of coordinated and interdependent bio-mechanical parts remains an evolutionary enigma. Hence, ID becomes a more logical explanation. However, by simply labelling ID as biblical creationism, Darwinists can avoid the scientific arguments raised by ID proponents. Awkward questions challenging evolutionary dogma are quickly supplanted by ad hominem attacks. Pity that Mr Lloyd felt the need to echo such fallacies.
--Anonymous Perth, Au
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au

2007-03-08 22:10:35 GMT
Author:Anonymous

EF says;
"Although open to spirituality, I am essentially anti-religious and still view the debate between Darwinian evolutionists and Creationists as one between reason and superstition."
And then he says;
"But one evening in 2006, while switching channels, I accidentally caught a presentation of The Privileged Planet documentary on a religious cable channel. Thoroughly impressed, I followed up researching internet blogs and forums about that subject."

I have not read that book, but had a look at the "endorsements" and had a pretty good idea about the book. The characters who endorse the book are suspicious to say the least. Take Joshua Gilder, a former White House speech writer. I would not trust anything said by this clown who spends his life sucking up to the rich and the corrupt. White House is the dirtiest place on the planet.

EF's cunning efforts would not fool me into thinking that ID can be upgraded to SID. The universe may be much different than the real scientists suggest to be, but at tleast they are doing something real. They dedicate their lives selflessly, unlike the clowns EF is promoting.

The comment by Harold also typical of the pop-religious efforts to label atheists as "Priveleged Rich Country Guy Elitist". Harold's comment is a part of the smear campaign by the global corrupt capital. They know their biggest enemy is real science. Pple like Harold are just errand boys sucking upto these rich and corrupt capitalists.

The first comment is also funny. These people have no names because they are the errand boys/girls of the global oil/weapons mafia.
--Akira Bergman

2007-03-10 17:51:57 GMT
Author:Anonymous

I believe in an old ideal of courtesy.

Don’t jeer at other peoples’ ethnicity, physical disabilities, or religious traditions.

Of course I fight back when someone tries to teach one narrow religion as “science” in the public schools, or even misinforms the public with lies about science. And “religious” views that require doing something like hurting people physically are can’t be expressed legally.

Other than that, I vehemently oppose anyone trying to impose their own religious views on a law-abiding person who doesn’t want them. And the sophistry of claiming that atheism isn’t a religious view doesn’t cut the cake.

Some of the atheists here are former fundamentalists, but many are merely hyper-priveleged upper middle class academics or professionals, children of academics or professionals. They were raised to believe that atheism is the “culturally superior” thing to do, and they delight in saying so, however another person may feel. There are words for this type of behavior. Colonialism, imperialism, snobbery, hubris, arrogance, and so on. Atheism is just the cultural tradition you were raised with or adopted. It isn’t “logically superior”. Nor would it matter if it were.

Brian is quite literally a fascist fundamentalist atheist. His argument is very simple. You can’t compromise with the “moderates”, everyone must become an atheist or be dealt with. This is 100% unequivocally exactly the same as the attitude of the religious right and the Taliban. Hopefully, Brian isn’t as violent as they are, but his attitude is the 100% exactly the same. No, it doesn’t matter if you leave me alone, it doesn’t matter if you mind your own business. You must do EXACTLY as I TELL YOU TO. I decide, you obey, and I have a convoluted cockamamie justification for why I can’t “compromise with moderates”.

Panda’s Thumb puts up a topic about evolution or biomedical science, and there are maybe six comments. Put up a comment about religion, and there are hundreds, a substantial number from furious atheists who are every bit as stubborn in their refusal to live and let live as the creationists are. Is it really necessary for a science site to be a fundamentalist atheism proseletysing site?

By the way, my very best friends are mainly atheists. My problem is not with atheism in the slightest, but with the very clear attempt to exclude anyone who doesn’t adhere to Priveleged Rich Country Guy Elitist Atheism from science. Please don’t answer by saying that the fundies try to exclude you, too. That only proves my point. I already agree that they do it too - that’s what makes you like them.
--harold

2007-03-15 17:32:00 GMT
Author:Anonymous
Hi
I'm trying to find copyrite info for the image of embracing the earth.
--LM
programs@starofthenorth.ab.ca

2007-06-28 20:39:41 GMT
Author:maya-gaia
Hi LM,
"Gaia Embracing the Earth" is a derivative digital image I created using a graphic of Earth from the World Wildlife Fund and a reproduction of a figure by one of the 19th century neoclassical revivalist painters like Lawrence Alma-Tadema or William Bouguereau. So I can't really give legal copyright permission as the entire image is derivative but I have no objection to your using it as it promotes a compassionate world view and if appropriate link back to
maya-gaia.angelfire.com
--maya-gaia

2007-06-30 17:27:18 GMT
Author:maya-gaia
Notice: comments posted in this blog that have nothing whatsoever to do with any aspect of the maya-gaia website will be reluctantly removed in due time.
--maya-gaia

2007-08-22 22:14:10 GMT
Author: Ajaya N. Mali
Dear Ed,

Today afternoon I went into the web googling for sites that dealt with how people can return to mundane life after extensive monasticism. I didnt get what I wanted but I found your site. And I read some of the pages of which the one in which you described your 'samadhi' was the first. I then went on to the story of the guy who met his 'soul-mate' at the greenhouse entrance. I then read a couple of more pages.

Although I should be writing the 2nd chapter of the master's thesis that Im finishing (and which Iv to submit to my guide by this weekend), I felt I needed to write to you a few words, at least. Do take my comments positively if you do not like them.

Firstly I would like to tell you you've done a great job making the huge effort to put all your experiences on the net.

The Samadhi Your description of the 'samadhi' you experienced interesed me. In my opinion, it's not an actual, fully-developed samadhi. However, it's still one part of the yogic experience. A full samadhi occurs as a result of a continuous, sustained effort at purification of one's mental sphere in order to be able to glimpse the soul. The mind cannot be purified unless the body is purified through physical yogic exercises and dietary control. A full samadhi occurs only in complete volition on the part of the practitioner. Once it is attained, his/her entire life revolves around
the principle of 'dharma'.

Exceptionally, some people experience a yogic experience without any voluntary action on their part. Yours is an example of that. When a soul has practiced purification in past lives, he may involutarily relive the experience during his stay on earth. Teachers say purity points accrued in former lives are not lost, they add on one lifetime after another until the final samadhi.

When a person experiencing an involuntary experience is destined to improve on his spriritual merit, he undergoes a process of personal pain through which he wades choosing 'dharmic' means for self-purity. Such an experience is filled with difficult
circumstances that may best be described as
'soul-testing'.

What you experienced was one part of the samadhic experience. I felt your inner self wanted you to remember your past spirituality. After you returned from the experience, although you were fundamentally changed, you went back to mundane life. A characteristic of purification (from now i shall just call it 'yoga') is that once a certain stage is reached, one can maintain it and improve on it. No situation occured in your life that 'tested your soul' emotionally. Because you went through such a profound spiritual experience, I would have guessed that this lifetime would force you to again purify
yourself. But none of the later experiences you narrate point to anything of this sort. A person truly destined to become a yogi is always a misfit. He lives his mundane life on the fringes of society, but he always lives in purity. Always. He always introspects to analyse his emotions, drives to understand and conquer them. He surrenders his ego. But such a life is virtually impossible in the US. Firstly, you donot have any spiritual tradition. Secondly, there are no paramparas that you can adhere to. There is so much impurity in the west that the level of clarity needed for a full samadhic experience can never be achieved.

This is an age in which even society in India is materialistic and impure. What chance does the west have? Shiva is the man-god, the yogi-- the one in perpetual samadhi. If he walked down your street today, you wouldn't recognize him. One needs divine eyes for that. If he walked down the street here in Delhi or Calcutta, people won't recognize him. They cannot see within. They search without.

None of the experiences you narrate show anything that deals even remotely what a yogi (an experiencer of samadhi) experiences. You didnot go through the material-spiritual conflict. Your descriptions of sensuality (sex) and pleasure-seeking (grass) in fact shows that you are truly in the material realm. More dangerous is the fact that
you think your psychedelic experience is spiritual. Your inner instinct has never ever pushed you to purify your body and mind.

My final analysis: In the purification process of every yogi comes a time when after going through a long period of spirituality, they lose direction. They forget the original motive that pushed them towards this path. They can't remember why they have to go on. Why was it so important for them to leave material life? At this period, no matter how high they are in the purification ladder, they have to return, to 'remember', and to compare. If they stil think the spiritual journey is
important, they will begin their exercise anew and with vigour. If not, they remain fallen.

In this lifetime, you remembered. But now that you're back in the material plane, you've to again go through the entire material process before you exhaust yourself. Your real spiritual journey will then begin again. You will witness and let go. This may take a couple of lifetimes. All souls who enter earth begins with pleasure. When the balance tilts, s/he has to undergo pain (to counter-balance). It is then that the real spiritual journey begins anew.
Those souls who cannot remember and get mired in materiality will remain here. If your spirituality is strong, you will one day take a good birth.

Remember, spirituality begins with pain. When shiva, the arch-yogi was born, the first thing he did was cry.

Until you begin again, remember, you are a fallen angel. You're in a very dangerous stage. This is because your initial spiritual experience falsely deludes you into thinking that everything you do later is spiritual. You'll only fall deeper and deeper.

ABOUT THE MAN WHO MET THE LADY AT THE HOT HOUSE:

No wonder the man is suffering from demons. He left his wife and children for a woman with whom he thinks he a has spiritual connection. He develops a physical relationship with her. Inevitably, they separate and now he's nowhere. He's destroying himself. Tell him to go back to his wife and children, if she's not married anew. The spiritual journey is about duty, not desire. Once he married a woman, it's his duty to stay faithful to her till death does them part. A truly spiritual persons thinks not "what do i want?" but "what is my duty to those who depend on me?". It is not about personal happiness but sacrifice, endurance, surrender, and so on. A truly spiritual person learns to live 'happily' even in the midst of sorrow and struggle. S/he does not escape his/her duties.

What's happening to you, this individual and countless people in europe, america and other 'developed countries' is that they are totally in delusion and they wrongly think to be spiritual things and experiences that are absolutely not so. And they are not entirely to blame. The society they've grown up in is steeped in materialism. Living in america, there's nowhere you'll ever achieve samadhi. Never. You may want it but do you really have the internal purity to achieve it?

I've seen countless westerners in India and Nepal who come because they 'want spirituality' but i find in all of them that the very fact that they've grown up in the west has instilled in them the germs of impurity: ego,desire, individuality, etc.
etc. These are very subtle elements. I know many foreigners here who, even after many years, are still as much a 'pashu' ('like an animal') as when they first came. To attain samadhi, they have to become 'pashu-pati'. When will that ever happen?

I'll have to end here. Or itll go on and on. Sorry my missive ends abruptly. Hope I didnt anger you too much.

Wishing for the best for you,
--Ajaya N. Mali

2007-12-14 00:11:42 GMT
Author:MayaGaia
Ajaya,
I'd genuinely be interested in hearing about your direct experience that qualifies your certainties about the effects of an authentic Nirvikalpa Samadhi. However if your commentary is merely based on reading scripture, you might have saved yourself a good deal of effort if you had simply sent a link to any one of thousands of websites that provide tutorials on Vedic doctrine. I hope your master's thesis will not simply be cut-and-paste selections from some version of dharma. In any event, thanks for an example of how my chronicle affronts all sectors of fundamentalist science, religion and atheism equally.
--maya-gaia

2008-04-19 15:24:52 GMT
Author:Ajaya N. Mali
28 April, 2008
Dear Ed,

I was googling ramdomly through cyberspace when I chanced upon your site again, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that you'd added my comment to it. Thank you.

To answer the question you posed me, no, I did not quote any scriptures at all. In fact, I do not even know if there are any scriptures that talk of the things I refered to even in bits and pieces, let alone in its entirely. This is because in the spiritual tradition of India, texts were written in verse and in a cryptic language ("sandhya bhasha"). Secondly, I don't understand Sanskrit and my only detailed exposure to the scriptures has been translations of the Bhagawat Gita and Sri Madbhagawat Purana. If you go through them, I don't think you will find the things I talked about. And no, I do not cut and paste ;-)

About my "direct experience that qualifies" what I talked to you about, I have very little to offer except that I practiced yoga for about 6 years, from when I was 19 to 24. At around 18, I was suffering severe social, phychological and physical problems. On a winter's evening, I met a person who told me that if I was to 'cure' myself, I had to 'let go of my ego'. I met him only that one time, and that's all he told me.

When a person goes through a genuine spiritual experience, if it's of great significance, the person is never able to express it in words. The experience is so out-worldly. Many spiritual practitioners stay silent. They know that when they try to explain their experiences, ordinary people will not be able to correctly understand them because the latter have not experienced them. More importantly, true spiritual practice is not like a career. We do not build it. We follow it out of compulsion, on the foundations of failure and suffering that we encounter in our outer social lives. Yes, spirituality is a subjective experience and no one will truly be able to say whether a person has undergone it or not.

'Nirvikalpa samadhi' refers to a part of the ultimate spiritual experience, as explained in the Hindu religious scriptures. (This I've taken from certain texts I can't remember right now) Very rarely, it is said, does a human being achieve it. Not even all great sages and yogis in the Indic past were guaranteed an experience of it. If you've experienced it, you're a truly divine soul. You've seen the ultimate truth.

Hari Om Tat Sat. (The ultimate truth is the only truth)
Ajaya.

2008-04-28 15:05:19 GMT
Author:maya-gaia
Ajaya,

Of course the internet is replete with translations of all the scriptures and descriptions of dharma and one certainly does not have to be fluent in Sanskrit to access the entire body of Hindu or Buddhist scriptures anymore than one needs to know Greek or Hebrew to be aware of Biblical literature. In any event you are to be commended for spontaneously arriving at the number of principles common to various non-dual traditions and to practice yoga without having actually received even bits and pieces of instruction. I can only assume then that all your certainty regarding the prerequisites and qualities of relating to the non-dual experience eminate from your intuition which can indeed result in strong convictions. Trouble is that right-brain intuition without left-brain rationality can result in beliefs that range from profound truth to New Age paradigms credibility_newage that conjure up bizarre psychic, occult and magical paradigms. I address the axiom that you refer to about the ineffability of authentic non-dual experience at credibility_transcendence. Best wishes on your path.
--maya-gaia

2008-04-29 12:55:45 GMT
Author:Sutapas Bhattacharya

To author of "Cosmic Consciousness: Is Science Closing In" - I, Sutapas Bhattacharya, was interested in your comments about EM waves filling space as he has just been reading Milo Wolff's new book Schroedinger's Universe and have written a very lengthy review of it on Amazon.com which you will find very interesting. Furthermore, if you email me (SutapasBhattacharya@tiscali.co.uk) I will forward the overwhelming evidence supporting my identification of the physical correlate of the Inner Light of Pure Consciousness (top US New Agers for all their talk have actually tried to suppress my work as it undermines their myths and their hyped-up pop culture heroes).
--Sutapas Bhattacharya
2008-06-18 10:16:51 GMT

Maya Gaia

The Maya Gaia website is a chronicle of my efforts to integrate a spontaneous transcendent experience which I had back in 1970. At the time, I was almost completly naive regarding mystical, spiritual, metaphysical or paranormal phenomena of any kind but the experience started my search for explanation that is still ongoing. My journey can best be shared by those with critical thinking temperaments that balance a healthy skepticism with an open mind as my itinerary through the disciplines of religion, metaphysics, and science is an intellectual minefield of controversy, contradiction and fantasy. Starting my journey as an agnostic, I easily ignored religious interpretations but discovered my major challenge was in applying this balanced approach to the reductionist, materialist, scientific viewpoint and that of open-ended, new-age spiritualism. Fortunately a synthesis is evolving from new physics, quantum consciousness and metaphysical concepts derived from classical transcendent inspiration such as I experienced that suggests a metaparadigm for the nature of reality that is both enlightened and rational. My original pages featured an interpretation based on a synthesizing of Neo Vedic and Gaia theory concepts. In 2006 I renewed the scale and scope of my research into quantum science and Eastern mysticism and recognized my experience as a Nirvikalpa Samadhi with classical features recalled in rare detail. Starting with Cosmic Consciousness- Is Science Closing In? I've been adding pages concerning a range of scientific and metaphysical issues-quantum consciousness, Tantra, Samadhi, NDE, non-duality, gurus, revelations, free will, etc.- that I've interpreted from the perspectives of my Samadhi. See Sitemap for all chronicle topics.



I'm starting off comments here about my Maya-Gaia website with some transferred from my original GeoCities blog which Yahoo closed down July 13, 2009. My entire Maya-Gaia website is now at maya-gaia.angelfire.com

2007-02-14 23:01:19 GMT
Author:Anonymous

The amateurish media debate over Intelligent Design (ID) sunk to a new low with Paul Lloyd's article, 70,000 unite over 'intelligent design' (05/11). Instead of correctly noting that Intelligent Design differs from biblical creationism, Mr. Lloyd seriously misrepresents the theory of ID by asserting that it is just a new form of religious fundamentalism. Feigned ignorance or plain mendaciousness? Proponents of ID believe only that the complexity of the natural world could not have occurred by chance. Furthermore, ID is inferred from empirical evidence in nature, not deduced from scripture or religious doctrines. ID theory does not advocate literal creationism. Charles Darwin himself stated: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." In fact, modern biochemistry has revealed many irreducibly complex systems within biological organisms. Indeed, even a simple cell shows ample evidence of design. Darwinists remain unable to provide any clear evidence to demonstrate that even one complex bio-mechanism (e.g. a flagellum, a cilium, or a light-sensitive spot) has ever evolved in nature through gradual modifications. The mere existence of coordinated and interdependent bio-mechanical parts remains an evolutionary enigma. Hence, ID becomes a more logical explanation. However, by simply labelling ID as biblical creationism, Darwinists can avoid the scientific arguments raised by ID proponents. Awkward questions challenging evolutionary dogma are quickly supplanted by ad hominem attacks. Pity that Mr Lloyd felt the need to echo such fallacies.
--Anonymous Perth, Au
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au

2007-03-08 22:10:35 GMT
Author:Anonymous

EF says;
"Although open to spirituality, I am essentially anti-religious and still view the debate between Darwinian evolutionists and Creationists as one between reason and superstition."
And then he says;
"But one evening in 2006, while switching channels, I accidentally caught a presentation of The Privileged Planet documentary on a religious cable channel. Thoroughly impressed, I followed up researching internet blogs and forums about that subject."

I have not read that book, but had a look at the "endorsements" and had a pretty good idea about the book. The characters who endorse the book are suspicious to say the least. Take Joshua Gilder, a former White House speech writer. I would not trust anything said by this clown who spends his life sucking up to the rich and the corrupt. White House is the dirtiest place on the planet.

EF's cunning efforts would not fool me into thinking that ID can be upgraded to SID. The universe may be much different than the real scientists suggest to be, but at tleast they are doing something real. They dedicate their lives selflessly, unlike the clowns EF is promoting.

The comment by Harold also typical of the pop-religious efforts to label atheists as "Priveleged Rich Country Guy Elitist". Harold's comment is a part of the smear campaign by the global corrupt capital. They know their biggest enemy is real science. Pple like Harold are just errand boys sucking upto these rich and corrupt capitalists.

The first comment is also funny. These people have no names because they are the errand boys/girls of the global oil/weapons mafia.
--Akira Bergman

2007-03-10 17:51:57 GMT
Author:Anonymous

I believe in an old ideal of courtesy.

Don’t jeer at other peoples’ ethnicity, physical disabilities, or religious traditions.

Of course I fight back when someone tries to teach one narrow religion as “science” in the public schools, or even misinforms the public with lies about science. And “religious” views that require doing something like hurting people physically are can’t be expressed legally.

Other than that, I vehemently oppose anyone trying to impose their own religious views on a law-abiding person who doesn’t want them. And the sophistry of claiming that atheism isn’t a religious view doesn’t cut the cake.

Some of the atheists here are former fundamentalists, but many are merely hyper-priveleged upper middle class academics or professionals, children of academics or professionals. They were raised to believe that atheism is the “culturally superior” thing to do, and they delight in saying so, however another person may feel. There are words for this type of behavior. Colonialism, imperialism, snobbery, hubris, arrogance, and so on. Atheism is just the cultural tradition you were raised with or adopted. It isn’t “logically superior”. Nor would it matter if it were.

Brian is quite literally a fascist fundamentalist atheist. His argument is very simple. You can’t compromise with the “moderates”, everyone must become an atheist or be dealt with. This is 100% unequivocally exactly the same as the attitude of the religious right and the Taliban. Hopefully, Brian isn’t as violent as they are, but his attitude is the 100% exactly the same. No, it doesn’t matter if you leave me alone, it doesn’t matter if you mind your own business. You must do EXACTLY as I TELL YOU TO. I decide, you obey, and I have a convoluted cockamamie justification for why I can’t “compromise with moderates”.

Panda’s Thumb puts up a topic about evolution or biomedical science, and there are maybe six comments. Put up a comment about religion, and there are hundreds, a substantial number from furious atheists who are every bit as stubborn in their refusal to live and let live as the creationists are. Is it really necessary for a science site to be a fundamentalist atheism proseletysing site?

By the way, my very best friends are mainly atheists. My problem is not with atheism in the slightest, but with the very clear attempt to exclude anyone who doesn’t adhere to Priveleged Rich Country Guy Elitist Atheism from science. Please don’t answer by saying that the fundies try to exclude you, too. That only proves my point. I already agree that they do it too - that’s what makes you like them.
--harold

2007-03-15 17:32:00 GMT
Author:Anonymous
Hi
I'm trying to find copyrite info for the image of embracing the earth.
--LM
programs@starofthenorth.ab.ca

2007-06-28 20:39:41 GMT
Author:maya-gaia
Hi LM,
"Gaia Embracing the Earth" is a derivative digital image I created using a graphic of Earth from the World Wildlife Fund and a reproduction of a figure by one of the 19th century neoclassical revivalist painters like Lawrence Alma-Tadema or William Bouguereau. So I can't really give legal copyright permission as the entire image is derivative but I have no objection to your using it as it promotes a compassionate world view and if appropriate link back to
maya-gaia.angelfire.com
--maya-gaia

2007-06-30 17:27:18 GMT
Author:maya-gaia
Notice: comments posted in this blog that have nothing whatsoever to do with any aspect of the maya-gaia website will be reluctantly removed in due time.
--maya-gaia

2007-08-22 22:14:10 GMT
Author: Ajaya N. Mali
Dear Ed,

Today afternoon I went into the web googling for sites that dealt with how people can return to mundane life after extensive monasticism. I didnt get what I wanted but I found your site. And I read some of the pages of which the one in which you described your 'samadhi' was the first. I then went on to the story of the guy who met his 'soul-mate' at the greenhouse entrance. I then read a couple of more pages.

Although I should be writing the 2nd chapter of the master's thesis that Im finishing (and which Iv to submit to my guide by this weekend), I felt I needed to write to you a few words, at least. Do take my comments positively if you do not like them.

Firstly I would like to tell you you've done a great job making the huge effort to put all your experiences on the net.

The Samadhi Your description of the 'samadhi' you experienced interesed me. In my opinion, it's not an actual, fully-developed samadhi. However, it's still one part of the yogic experience. A full samadhi occurs as a result of a continuous, sustained effort at purification of one's mental sphere in order to be able to glimpse the soul. The mind cannot be purified unless the body is purified through physical yogic exercises and dietary control. A full samadhi occurs only in complete volition on the part of the practitioner. Once it is attained, his/her entire life revolves around
the principle of 'dharma'.

Exceptionally, some people experience a yogic experience without any voluntary action on their part. Yours is an example of that. When a soul has practiced purification in past lives, he may involutarily relive the experience during his stay on earth. Teachers say purity points accrued in former lives are not lost, they add on one lifetime after another until the final samadhi.

When a person experiencing an involuntary experience is destined to improve on his spriritual merit, he undergoes a process of personal pain through which he wades choosing 'dharmic' means for self-purity. Such an experience is filled with difficult
circumstances that may best be described as
'soul-testing'.

What you experienced was one part of the samadhic experience. I felt your inner self wanted you to remember your past spirituality. After you returned from the experience, although you were fundamentally changed, you went back to mundane life. A characteristic of purification (from now i shall just call it 'yoga') is that once a certain stage is reached, one can maintain it and improve on it. No situation occured in your life that 'tested your soul' emotionally. Because you went through such a profound spiritual experience, I would have guessed that this lifetime would force you to again purify
yourself. But none of the later experiences you narrate point to anything of this sort. A person truly destined to become a yogi is always a misfit. He lives his mundane life on the fringes of society, but he always lives in purity. Always. He always introspects to analyse his emotions, drives to understand and conquer them. He surrenders his ego. But such a life is virtually impossible in the US. Firstly, you donot have any spiritual tradition. Secondly, there are no paramparas that you can adhere to. There is so much impurity in the west that the level of clarity needed for a full samadhic experience can never be achieved.

This is an age in which even society in India is materialistic and impure. What chance does the west have? Shiva is the man-god, the yogi-- the one in perpetual samadhi. If he walked down your street today, you wouldn't recognize him. One needs divine eyes for that. If he walked down the street here in Delhi or Calcutta, people won't recognize him. They cannot see within. They search without.

None of the experiences you narrate show anything that deals even remotely what a yogi (an experiencer of samadhi) experiences. You didnot go through the material-spiritual conflict. Your descriptions of sensuality (sex) and pleasure-seeking (grass) in fact shows that you are truly in the material realm. More dangerous is the fact that
you think your psychedelic experience is spiritual. Your inner instinct has never ever pushed you to purify your body and mind.

My final analysis: In the purification process of every yogi comes a time when after going through a long period of spirituality, they lose direction. They forget the original motive that pushed them towards this path. They can't remember why they have to go on. Why was it so important for them to leave material life? At this period, no matter how high they are in the purification ladder, they have to return, to 'remember', and to compare. If they stil think the spiritual journey is
important, they will begin their exercise anew and with vigour. If not, they remain fallen.

In this lifetime, you remembered. But now that you're back in the material plane, you've to again go through the entire material process before you exhaust yourself. Your real spiritual journey will then begin again. You will witness and let go. This may take a couple of lifetimes. All souls who enter earth begins with pleasure. When the balance tilts, s/he has to undergo pain (to counter-balance). It is then that the real spiritual journey begins anew.
Those souls who cannot remember and get mired in materiality will remain here. If your spirituality is strong, you will one day take a good birth.

Remember, spirituality begins with pain. When shiva, the arch-yogi was born, the first thing he did was cry.

Until you begin again, remember, you are a fallen angel. You're in a very dangerous stage. This is because your initial spiritual experience falsely deludes you into thinking that everything you do later is spiritual. You'll only fall deeper and deeper.

ABOUT THE MAN WHO MET THE LADY AT THE HOT HOUSE:

No wonder the man is suffering from demons. He left his wife and children for a woman with whom he thinks he a has spiritual connection. He develops a physical relationship with her. Inevitably, they separate and now he's nowhere. He's destroying himself. Tell him to go back to his wife and children, if she's not married anew. The spiritual journey is about duty, not desire. Once he married a woman, it's his duty to stay faithful to her till death does them part. A truly spiritual persons thinks not "what do i want?" but "what is my duty to those who depend on me?". It is not about personal happiness but sacrifice, endurance, surrender, and so on. A truly spiritual person learns to live 'happily' even in the midst of sorrow and struggle. S/he does not escape his/her duties.

What's happening to you, this individual and countless people in europe, america and other 'developed countries' is that they are totally in delusion and they wrongly think to be spiritual things and experiences that are absolutely not so. And they are not entirely to blame. The society they've grown up in is steeped in materialism. Living in america, there's nowhere you'll ever achieve samadhi. Never. You may want it but do you really have the internal purity to achieve it?

I've seen countless westerners in India and Nepal who come because they 'want spirituality' but i find in all of them that the very fact that they've grown up in the west has instilled in them the germs of impurity: ego,desire, individuality, etc.
etc. These are very subtle elements. I know many foreigners here who, even after many years, are still as much a 'pashu' ('like an animal') as when they first came. To attain samadhi, they have to become 'pashu-pati'. When will that ever happen?

I'll have to end here. Or itll go on and on. Sorry my missive ends abruptly. Hope I didnt anger you too much.

Wishing for the best for you,
--Ajaya N. Mali

2007-12-14 00:11:42 GMT
Author:MayaGaia
Ajaya,
I'd genuinely be interested in hearing about your direct experience that qualifies your certainties about the effects of an authentic Nirvikalpa Samadhi. However if your commentary is merely based on reading scripture, you might have saved yourself a good deal of effort if you had simply sent a link to any one of thousands of websites that provide tutorials on Vedic doctrine. I hope your master's thesis will not simply be cut-and-paste selections from some version of dharma. In any event, thanks for an example of how my chronicle affronts all sectors of fundamentalist science, religion and atheism equally.
--maya-gaia

2008-04-19 15:24:52 GMT
Author:Ajaya N. Mali
28 April, 2008
Dear Ed,

I was googling ramdomly through cyberspace when I chanced upon your site again, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that you'd added my comment to it. Thank you.

To answer the question you posed me, no, I did not quote any scriptures at all. In fact, I do not even know if there are any scriptures that talk of the things I refered to even in bits and pieces, let alone in its entirely. This is because in the spiritual tradition of India, texts were written in verse and in a cryptic language ("sandhya bhasha"). Secondly, I don't understand Sanskrit and my only detailed exposure to the scriptures has been translations of the Bhagawat Gita and Sri Madbhagawat Purana. If you go through them, I don't think you will find the things I talked about. And no, I do not cut and paste ;-)

About my "direct experience that qualifies" what I talked to you about, I have very little to offer except that I practiced yoga for about 6 years, from when I was 19 to 24. At around 18, I was suffering severe social, phychological and physical problems. On a winter's evening, I met a person who told me that if I was to 'cure' myself, I had to 'let go of my ego'. I met him only that one time, and that's all he told me.

When a person goes through a genuine spiritual experience, if it's of great significance, the person is never able to express it in words. The experience is so out-worldly. Many spiritual practitioners stay silent. They know that when they try to explain their experiences, ordinary people will not be able to correctly understand them because the latter have not experienced them. More importantly, true spiritual practice is not like a career. We do not build it. We follow it out of compulsion, on the foundations of failure and suffering that we encounter in our outer social lives. Yes, spirituality is a subjective experience and no one will truly be able to say whether a person has undergone it or not.

'Nirvikalpa samadhi' refers to a part of the ultimate spiritual experience, as explained in the Hindu religious scriptures. (This I've taken from certain texts I can't remember right now) Very rarely, it is said, does a human being achieve it. Not even all great sages and yogis in the Indic past were guaranteed an experience of it. If you've experienced it, you're a truly divine soul. You've seen the ultimate truth.

Hari Om Tat Sat. (The ultimate truth is the only truth)
Ajaya.

2008-04-28 15:05:19 GMT
Author:maya-gaia
Ajaya,

Of course the internet is replete with translations of all the scriptures and descriptions of dharma and one certainly does not have to be fluent in Sanskrit to access the entire body of Hindu or Buddhist scriptures anymore than one needs to know Greek or Hebrew to be aware of Biblical literature. In any event you are to be commended for spontaneously arriving at the number of principles common to various non-dual traditions and to practice yoga without having actually received even bits and pieces of instruction. I can only assume then that all your certainty regarding the prerequisites and qualities of relating to the non-dual experience eminate from your intuition which can indeed result in strong convictions. Trouble is that right-brain intuition without left-brain rationality can result in beliefs that range from profound truth to New Age paradigms credibility_newage that conjure up bizarre psychic, occult and magical paradigms. I address the axiom that you refer to about the ineffability of authentic non-dual experience at credibility_transcendence. Best wishes on your path.
--maya-gaia

2008-04-29 12:55:45 GMT
Author:Sutapas Bhattacharya

To author of "Cosmic Consciousness: Is Science Closing In" - I, Sutapas Bhattacharya, was interested in your comments about EM waves filling space as he has just been reading Milo Wolff's new book Schroedinger's Universe and have written a very lengthy review of it on Amazon.com which you will find very interesting. Furthermore, if you email me (SutapasBhattacharya@tiscali.co.uk) I will forward the overwhelming evidence supporting my identification of the physical correlate of the Inner Light of Pure Consciousness (top US New Agers for all their talk have actually tried to suppress my work as it undermines their myths and their hyped-up pop culture heroes).
--Sutapas Bhattacharya
2008-06-18 10:16:51 GMT