#avadhuta

☀ SHRI NITYANANDA PRABHU ☀

On the most general level, that which tricksters, clowns, mad lamas, Zen masters, holy fools, rascal gurus, and crazy-wise adepts have in common is an active rejection of consensual reality. [...] There are, however, significant differences between these figures; these involve motivations behind their eccentric behavior. Thus, the eccentricity of the holy fools of Christianity and Islam has the declared purpose of inviting scorn and mockery, so that they are encouraged to cultivate humility. Humility is a virtue for them, but more than a virtue it is a form of grace. It is the condition of allowing the ego-personality to subside in the Ground of its existence. Humility, or self-surrender to the larger Reality, can be cultivated but not forced; whenever it is too eagerly sought, it is merely egotism in a particularly nasty guise. Nevertheless, as St. Teresa of Avila knew, self-surrender is the foundation of the entire edifice of spiritual life. Some saints of the past have found verbal and even physical abuse useful in their attempt to reduce the “I”-sense, just as not a few spiritual seekers today enlist with teachers who employ harsh methods of ego-bashing. It is quite possible that this peculiar need to be chastised by an external agency includes an element of masochism. Saints and mystics are not beyond psychopathology, as we will see, and neither are modern seekers. Yet this does not necessarily mean that the self-debasing life, for instance, of a holy fool is no more than of a deep-seated neurosis. On the contrary, without blinding ourselves to possible psychopathological manifstations, we may see an authentic spiritual impulse at work in th self-abandoning life, leading to growth and wholeness. While self-abnegation also plays a central role in th eccentricity of the crazy-wise adepts of Tibet, with them it has a different purpose. The mad lamas behave oddly not because they want to demean themselves in the eyes of the world, but because they want to teach their contemporaries a spiritual lesson. This intent may also be present in he holy fools of Christianity and Islam, but for them it does not have the same weight as the desire to grow in humility, or meekness, through society’s contempt. The motivational distinction between holy fools and crazy-wise adepts can be seen to arise from differences in their respective metaphysics, which, in my opinion, are reflective of their general level of spiritual attainment. Thus, the holy fools typically relate to the ultimate Reality as a personal God “out there,” whose voice can be discerned in the chambers of the heart. The crazy-wise adepts, on the other hand, view the Ultimate as their own essential nature. Their avowed metaphysics is clearly nondualist rather than dualist. Though not absent from nondualist schools of thought like Tibetan Buddhism, humility belongs more properly to the “language” of dualistic metaphysics. Here the Creator-God, the Holy One, is deemed the only worshipful being that exists. His rightful worship involves accute humbleness on the part of his creatures. An aspect of such worship is to identify with, and adopt the life of, fellow creatures who are especially underprivileged and who suffer from the callousness of ordinary society - the hungry, sick, and oppressed. [...] By contrast, the Tibetan adepts and their Hindu counterparts do not conceive of, or experience, Reality as an “other.” The self, or ego, is assumed to be an illusion that inexplicably arises, together with the objective universe, against the backdrop of the singular Being (tattva) or Void (shunya). The ego-personality is thus not taken seriously at all, and the notion of inviting ridicule in order to lessen the ego-sense means very little in a nondualist context. The Tibetan or Hindu adepts, ideally and generally, engage their spiritual discipline (sadhana) with the intuitive certainty that at the deepest level of being they are already fully awake, or enlightened, and that this innate enlightenment will become evident in the course of their practice. [...] The adept’s commitment to self-transcendence tends to express itself in a general disinterest in ordinary life, a penchant for the cultivation of ecstatic states, and, more rarely, in acts of active compassion.

Za. 29 Juni | Satsangweekend met Randolph | Lage Vuursche Tijd 10.30 - 17.30 uur De deur is open om 10.00 uur Locatie: Lage Vuursche