Classroom Talk
Fall 2001 Archive
Re: a quick word Posted by Rakesh Sharma on January 06, 2002 at 03:09:14:
In Reply to: a quick word posted by Pauline on January 04, 2002 at 23:41:44:
Hello Pauline and All,
I live in New Delhi, the capital of India. In fact, I was born and
brought up here.
Yes, India is still a colourful country; though the colour now survives
only in the villages -- the big cities such as New Delhi, the financial
capital Mumbai (earlier Bombay) are fast rising towards the sky like a
typical US or British city.
Expectedly, as mind pushes back the spirit, spiritual talks are
becoming more and more rare. And expectedly, it is now more of a
fashion statement among the rich and beautiful people to talk of
personal gurus and how they are doing (better than the Jones' nextdoor
sort of thing) on the spiritual circuit (e.g. "Oh that Guru, We were
the first one to meet him" -- I hope to have conveyed the sense of it).
But religion and rituals continue to have strong hold on the people. In
fact, on the surface religion and rituals appear to be in a revival
mode, possibiliy in view (a)growing economic insecurity and (b) as more
and more people migrate to cities from villages they are looking
towards temples/rituals for solace in the absence of the cosy.
supportive relationships which they had in their homes (mostly joint
families) in the villages.
Currently there are 2 full-time religious satellite channels which run
30-minute discourses by various gurus round the clock. Most of them
talk about some form of mindfulness, say for instance while
interpretting the Gita.
BUT I MUST ADMIT THAT THESE TALKS, EVEN THE GITA, APPEAR MORE
MEANINGFUL, THEY MAKE MORE SENSE THANKS TO THIS SITE. AND IT IS FOR
THIS REASON THAT I PREFER TO REFER TO JOHN AS COACHJI. It is true that
even as a child my dad would take me along to lectures/speeches by J.
Krishnamurthy and Swamis/Spiritual Masters of the Ramakrishna Math and
other less known speakers during the weekend (around the 60s and 70s)
and he would himself discuss spiritual matters (he himself did not
believe in any religion and preferred to say that he practised the
Vedantic way of life, which is supposed to be pre-religion); but all
this appear to have only, so to say, "given me the spiritual eye."
Johanniji has "opened those eyes."
Pauline, I mention all this, because many current Gurus here (a)
slightly mystify mindfulness and (b) what is worse most of them insist
that Nirvana is impossible without having a Guru. ON THESE TWO COUNTS
COACHJI SHINES OUT, he is not the boat which insists that you continue
to ride it over mountains even after crossing over to the other shore,
provided you think you have to cross the shore and you are not here and
now ALREADY. COACHJI, right from his first words tells, me thinks, in a
language much simpler and direct than Eckhart Tolle, that "Friend, Look
this way. You are already Here and you are Here Now and YOU can leave
me anytime you feel like." AND for all this he does not either charge
a penny or expect anything from you.
I had heard a lot about selfless action. Coachji is one of those few
such people I have had the good fortune of interacting with.
I am sure Pauline that you will enjoy being here - discover the joy of
discovering who you and we all really are, beyond our mind, our false
identity, our ego (nicely stripped into 8 categories on this site, if
you wish to see things through the mind's eye).
Hope to have painted a small sketch of India. If you want to know more,
please feel free to ask me. Most Indians love to give unsolicited
advice, anyway and most Indians also pock fun at each other for turly
believing that they know better than your doctor (Hi, Hi).
Best Regards,
Rakesh
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Archived 01/08/2002