Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00076)

Kym Wrote:
>Why do we let so-called "enlightened ones" get away with such drivel.
>Deepak can be admired for being able to coin a witty sound-bite - but his
>advice leaves me, well, ticked off.  I bet some people walked away, after
>paying mega-bucks, thinking they had just recieved a profound truth.

Deepak receives a lot of bad press, not least of all on this group. But to
people who may be just begining the path his works are a great introduction
to eastern philosophy. Of course he doesn't have the depth of HPB or many
of the TS works, but that isn't his purpose. He sees himself as a stepping
stone on the path. He expects you to move on. If you have read his book The
Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and met him you would see he lives his life
by these principals. He welcomes abundance in his life as part of the cycle
- that is he gives unselfishly and just happens to be successful because of
it.

Three years ago I was training to be an Air Traffic Controller and had
planned my trip to India to coincide with the end of the course break. I
made the bookings and paid for everything (over $12,000 for Helen, my wife
and I) three months before and confirmed it with my work. Two weeks before
the end of the course I was told that I would have to commence field
training the same week I was to be India. They would not backdown and I was
forced to quit. In India our travel arrangements were ruined (as many that
have traveled in India can testify) and we had to make our own way from
Madras (Chennai) to Goa, east to west coast.
We spent 30 hours non-stop in a taxi with no air conditioning and to make
matters worse my wife was pregnant with Maya. (As an aside to the main
point - we were ambushed by bandits twice and honestly experienced
telepathy). We arrived late, got food poisoning, fell asleep during every
group meditation etc It was looking really bad and to make matters worse I
did feel like I was getting ripped off due to the fact that the first two
days teachings were mainly covered in Deepaks weekend seminars which I had
already attended.
At breakfast on the third day I sat with Deepaks right hand man, Dr David
Simon whom i managed to regale with my tale of hardship. He told me to get
it off my chest by writing a letter to Deepak. I took his advice and later
the next day was called aside to speak with Deepak privately. We had a long
talk which concluded with him offering me a complete refund - which I
received later back in Australia. The rest of the week turned out fantastic
and funnily enough I met many ex-theosophists who found the SD
'incomprehensible'.
Deepak taught many theosophical principles including the septenary
division, inherent unity, levels of consciousness etc but with an obvious
Hindu rather than Buddhist leaning.
Glib statements like Gee, you are you, are only bandied around during
general discussion times.

>Without the "Gee" - URU would qualify, in philosophical terms, as a
>tautology.  And as that guy with the real, long last name which starts with
>a "W" (Wittgenstein, or something like that) said: "tautologies say nothing"
>and "they give no news."  Ok, "you are you" - and "red is red" - and "gas is
>gas."
>
>Whoopie-doo.

he obviously means that the true master is within.

>I think we allow "enlightened ones" to get away with polishing their nails
>while on the job.  And with insulting us.
>
>Although Eldon (in his post) sees "an unusual mental image" in the
>spelling-out of GURU, I am afraid that I pretty much see zip.  Eldon went on
>to say it is much more than that - I agree.

I agree as well.

>Good luck to you, Darren.  Deepak to HPB, eh? - if you manage to leave this
>world without a drool problem, my hat will be off to you.

We all need to start the path somewhere. The indicator of our spiritual
progress is when we realise it is time to move on. My path began at Uni
with my rejection of established scientific and religious views and also as
a side effect of my search for a cure to my migraines. Many of my friends
began by reading The Celestine Prophecy. The point is it doesn't matter how
people get on the path because once on it, it is a continuning journey. I
see the TS as a stepping stone as well, one that I will stay at for a long
time, but a stepping stone nevertheless.

Drooling? Kym, this sarcasm doesn't become you.

>From the Shadow,


Darren
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