BEYOND DUALITY Sketches of Enlightened Spiritual Teachers of Modern Times Researched and compiled by: Dr. Norman Williams Col. K. K. Nair And Barry Oborne Production and Copyright text © 2004: Norman Williams, 209 Markham St. Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia. Copyright artwork © 2004 Alive Creative Design, 175A Brown St. Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia, and Barry Oborne, E.mail:
[email protected] The profits of this book, after tax, are donated to various charities in Third World Countries. 1 CONTENTS Authors’ Note 3 Foreword by the Honourable O. Rajagopal 4 Introduction - Perceptions of the World 5 PART - I GREAT MYSTICAL SAINTS. SATGURUS, AVATARS AND ENLIGHTENED SPIRITUAL TEACHERS of the 20th CENTURY Ch. 1 - Sri Ramakrishna and Disciples Ch. 2 - Rama Tirtha Ch. 3 - Bhagawan Nityananda Ch. 4 - Sri Ramana Maharshi Ch. 5 - Jiddu Krishnamurti Ch. 6 - Paramhansa Yogananda Ch. 7 - Sri Anandamayi Ma Ch. 8 - Neem Karoli Baba Ch. 9 - Swami Sivananda Ch. 10 - Swami Chinmayananda and other Swamis Ch. 11 - Bahi Sahib - the Sufi way Ch. 12 - Papaji Ch. 13 - The Dalai Lama Ch. 14 - The Venerable Ajahn Chah Ch. 15 - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Ch. 16 - Robert Adams Ch. 17 - Satya Sai Baba Ch. 18 - Mother Teresa Ch. 19 - Amma 10 10 19 23 28 38 46 51 59 63 66 68 75 80 86 92 98 104 111 115 PART - II ENLIGHTENMENT TEACHERS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM Ch. 20 Ramesh Balsekar Ch. 21 Vijai Shankar Ch. 22 Byron Katie Ch. 23 Eckhart Tolle Ch. 24 Satyam Nadeen 128 129 131 135 138 144 APPENDIX I-A COURSE IN MIRACLES-A Synopsis 149 APPENDIX II- SCIENCE AND RELIGION 153 POSTSCRIPT - A SUMMARY 161 BIBLIOGRAPHY 170 COVER: A depiction of the Mahayantra, the Sricakra, a figure of special power symbolic of the Divine Mother who is the Source of all Consciousness and of all phenomena. 2 AUTHORS’ NOTE Many recent religious commentators draw attention to the shocking events that are taking place in the world today. Religions back factions in war, pedophilic priests abound and women are abused in the name of religion. The environment is in dire straits, corporations plunder peoples’ savings, and even with the wonders of modern technical farming, around one billion people go to sleep hungry every night. Moreover, although a thin veneer of sensitivity has appeared, the results of altercations are no less unpleasant than the brutality of the dark ages. It seems that science, technology and democracy, that were to deliver a world free of hardship, disease and unpleasant things like bugs, is letting us down. So what hope is there for what can be thought of as ‘liberation’ for mankind? It does not seem that civics or religion can provide the solution to mankind’s problems. The religions, for the most part, seem to be much too far removed from their ‘Source’, and in civics (and the religions) there is too much thinking, planning, scheming, judging and self-interest for anything they contrive to be effective in providing whatever-it-is that mankind needs to be happy and live in harmony. From whatever angle it is viewed, the problem seems to lie with mankind’s level of consciousness and in the egoic thought system that he has developed. And in every case it seems that, in the presence of the seers, the founders of religions (and also many who didn’t found religions), a different state of consciousness was engendered; albeit, in most cases, for only very limited periods of time. It was with this in min