Maitreya calls for Teacher’s Association
Beloved Friends
Love
Please forward this to any satsang teachers you know.
The time has come to start a Satsang Teachers Association. The purpose is to ensure that satsang teachers present a rational and useful teaching that fits with the shared understanding of Unity, and that their conduct is harmless and helpful.
Satsang teachers need to have equal or higher standards of conduct than other professionals. We are working with people at the deepest level and must first ensure that we do no harm. Devotion and surrender are key spiritual methods but they are better directed towards each moment of Life than to the teacher. When teachers allow or encourage followers to fixate on the guru an unhealthy climate develops that can easily lead to abuse or misuse of power. Spirituality has always been plagued with authoritarian abuses or misuses of power, even in enlightened traditions, and this must come to an end.
Unity is a 600 page divine message that outlines the way forward for the new dawn of conscious civilization that is about to unfold. The 2009 edition of the book is online at www.ishwara,com and needs to be read in its entirety to understand all of its implications. But some key principles include:
1. Consciousness is all there is and therefore I am That.
2. Consciousness is both immanent in all that exists and transcendental to existence.
3. The transcendental aspect of consciousness is eternal and uncreated.
4. The transcendental aspect of consciousness is the Source of existence.
5. The universe and all existence has a beginning and an end.
6. The universe and all existence is consciousness manifest. Source is consciousness unmanifest.
7. Source has the power and intelligence to design, create and dissolve the universe and all existence.
8. Fully enlightened ones are the highest manifestation of consciousness on Earth.
9. Fully enlightened ones are not masters in their own right, but instruments for Source to work though.
10. Fully enlightened ones can dissolve in the mystery of transcendental consciousness with no trace of individuality remaining. They merge completely with the One when they transcend the body and mind in the deepest dissolution. This does not give enlightened ones access to the power and knowledge of Source that knows how to create the universe.
11. The ultimate cosmic mysteries are know only to Source.
12. Everything is made of Source and everything and everyone returns to Source.
13. When fully enlightened ones leave the body for the last time in mahaparanirvana, their individual soul dissolves into the mystery of Source forever. Now you are truly the eternal One that you have always been with no trace of any distinction.
14. Spirituality will become much more widespread in the near future. The higher understanding of satsang teachers has to become accessible to many people who are presently involved with conventional religions. For these people, who are the vast majority, the concept of God is essential. There can be no religion for most people without God. Therefore the concepts of God and Source are identical in Unity. Please do not confuse the word God with its past limitations. In Unity God means the eternal transcendental consciousness that is both the Source of existence and is manifest in all that exists. Ultimately you are God.
The essential methods of transformation are awareness and acceptance. All other spiritual qualities including love and compassion flow from awareness and acceptance. There are many variations on how these qualities are developed and most of them are good. Whatever works is the litmus test, and naturally this varies for different people and different stages of development. All most all methods have some utility for someone sometime.
Teachings which insist there is nothing to do and you are already free are a form of pseudo advaita that brings spirituality into disrepute. Some teachings fixate on one technique while others deny the value of any technique. Clearly these are limited and unhelpful approaches. Please see Unity for much more on this topic.
Newer seekers need to develop awareness and acceptance through practice. Meditation is the means to develop awareness. One watches the inner experience until awareness grows sufficiently to rest in Beingness, Eventually awareness becomes strong enough to explore itself and to verify experientially that consciousness is the core reality. Meditation is discouraged by advaita teachers who see it as a form of separation or ego effort. They are mistaken. Meditation is tuning in and connecting consciously to Now. It is the heart of spiritual experience and is essential. The self enquiry method of Who am I is a powerful and ancient meditation technique.
Acceptance is increased by giving up the ongoing fight with reality in which most people are frequently engaged. There are various methods of developing acceptance, including the work of Byron Katie. But essentially acceptance follows your growth in awareness and is enhanced by recognizing that Things are like this now. And watching how resistance to Life increases suffering while acceptance of experience reduces anguish.
These key principles form the basis of the shared understanding of Unity. Please email me at maitreyacentre@ishwara.com if you have any questions or comments.
Love
Maitreya