Media:Paperback Edition:5th Number Of Items:1 Pages:144 Shipping Weight (lbs):0.4 Dimensions (in):8.8 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN:0979726794 EAN:9780979726798 ASIN:0979726794
Publication Date:July 1, 2007 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability:In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Paradigm shift and then some...March 20, 2008 14 out of 15 found this review helpful
While I have read it through once only and not yet read each chapter 3x as mentioned in the book, this is the result: I have a sizable collection of 'spiritual' books which now appear totally pointless. And I do not say this lightly, because i really thought i had the best books on the subject.
Whereas before I read this book, I hung onto the other books in the hopes that I would reread them someday, and find new meaning in them, now I finally find myself content to use this book and a few others on yoga practice. I plan to eventually give away my entire collection.
Thank you. I feel a lightness and a great deal of relief. I do not know yet what liberation feels like but I intend to do the practices, and what will be will be.
My search is at an endMarch 9, 2008 18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I've been a spiritual seeker most of my life. Over the years I've been heavily into various spiritual traditions, Zen, Sufism, Yoga, Christian mysticism, Hindu mysticism and martial arts. I've also aquired an extensive library of books written by or about every "enlightened" person that ever lived. Honestly, all I really succeeded in doing was creating a much more spiritual ego. I had just about given up on the idea of realizing Truth, when at age 57 I finally came across The Most Direct and Rapid Means to Eternal Bliss. I gotta tell you, I wouldn't care now if all my other books burned! This book is it! The author tells you exactly what the ego is. Exactly how it works, and all it's strategies and tricks. He tells you exactly what you need to do, (practice awareness watching awareness, which was the method recommended by Ramana Maharshi and Nasargadatta) and how to do it. Yes, you will be able to read this book and perform the method correctly! I've read quite a few books where the "enlightened" author tells you over and over to just look out at the world as your True Self. Right... But they offer nothing as to a method for arriving at that level of understanding? Not the case here. Nothing vague in this book. Nothing to guess about. Nothing to interpret. The author even cautions readers to read the book literally. He tells you that yes, he really means exactly what he is saying. If you're tired of dead ends, if you really thirst for Absolute Truth, this could be the last spiritual book you ever buy. My eternal gratitude to the author.
How to Get the Most ouf of this bookFebruary 29, 2008 7 out of 21 found this review helpful
There is only one (fatal) flaw that readers are seeing in this book. You assume it is taking you somewhere...and as long as you believe there is somewhere to go or something to get, you are back in another trap. Used rightly the book will show you what you already are. Not what is potential in you, what you are right now.
When I read a few of the reviews that indicated they "hoped to get there in a few years," or were having a "taste" of enlightenment, as if enlightenment is a forever transcendent state, please consider this. You are aleady "enlightened," there is nothing to get, as one of the reviewer's said. When you "do" one of these "practices" just see that you are awareness, everyday ordinary awareness...that is it. Don't expect anything beyond that.
Be grateful that you have a way to see and know the nature of your reality, and know that the mind has momentum so doubts and confusion about whether you are "there" or not will arise...that is just another thought and that will take care of itself.
When you stop to look you are simply reminding yourself of what you already ARE, not what you hope to become. Actually, there is no one there...that is why there is no such thing as enlightenment. There is no one to be enlightened. As Jeff Foster puts it so well, if you are looking for the extraordinary just remember that the extraordinary is in the ordinary. Your every day ordinary awareness is it!
Transcendent type experiences give you wonderful glimpses of the real nature of things, but any experience that comes and goes is appearance, is content. Do not expect anything transcendental as your permanent state...and you won't be disappointed. There are those whose life just relaxed and became easier, and they couldn't even tell you it was anything spiritual - just nothing seemed to be wrong anymore, and they may have been no otherworld experiences at all! Those grand experiences may produce better poetry, more profound descriptions, but many people come to this in different ways. Keep this very simple, and believe with all your heart that you are already there
There is relief from seeking, knowing that all is well, life flows smoothly. Some people may have "experiences" that repeat themselves, others not at all. So don't get hung up with what your idea of "enlightenment" is supposed to be.
The author is showing you a great thing by showing you what you ARE, so don't fall into the additional trap of thinking there is something that is left for you to see or experience. Otherwise you will be doing these practices forever with the carrot always in front of the donkey. Just think of it as reminding yourself of your true nature and then it can work for you. Don't make it a rigid practice, when it occurs to you to look, then look. Listen to John Sherman and Jeff Foster as well to facilitate this book that you are enjoying so much.
Dualist Neo-Vedantism - YAP: Yet Another PseudoreligionFebruary 27, 2008 17 out of 43 found this review helpful
This book is one of the best and most illustrative examples of Dvaita (dualistic) Neo-Vedantism, YAP (Yet Another Pseudoreligion) "made in USA", in contrast to genuine, traditional Advaita (non-dualistic) Vedanta, the "end" or pinnacle of the Vedic tradition.
The author's frequent exhortation for "slow, repeated" reading of the book leads at worst to self-brainwashing and/or self-hypnosis and at best to boredom. The book exhibits many characteristics of dualist anti-tradition, e.g.:
- anti-intellectuality; the author restricts his understanding of the mind to its lower ratiocinative capacity limited to applying nominal labels to "outside", sensorial phenomena
- unresolved oppositions without their third, ternary term of synthesis, e.g. Ego vs. Self, past spiritual writings tainted by Ego vs. this book, absolute Truth vs. illusion, intense desire for "Liberation" vs. attachment to Ego, words as (mere) "symbols" vs. "take the words (of this book) literally", "Choice A" vs. "Choice B" etc. The author has apparently abandoned the Vedantin adage: "Neti, neti" (not this, not that).
- substitution of words with old Anglo-Saxon roots for those with Latin roots to suggest originality, e.g. "Awareness" (from German "Gewahr", "wahr" = true) instead of "Consciousness"
Since the author's premises are stated in Chapter 1, let us examine them. THOUGHT: restricted by the author to "words of your language". What about e.g. geometry? Non-verbal symbols generally? Works of art?
EGO = "thought I, I thought, thought, thinking" = imposter = evil (dualist, fundamentalist approach, Dvaita Vedanta, the "A" dropped). "All thoughts are opposed to your real nature." What about the verbal thoughts allowing the reader to read the author's book?
SELF = "background of awareness" = "true Self" = good. Does it persist during the deep sleep state? What about "non-awareness"?
14. The author distinguishes the "background of awareness" (the Self) from "awareness" itself. Indeed, this distinction (also known as "Non-Being" and "Being") is significant from a certain perspective. Sri Nisargardatta Maharaj dwelt on it often, especially in his later talks to aspirants. In this book, however, the author never resolves this issue, calling his method "Awareness watching Awareness", a pure absurdity as for any subject-object relationship, a ternary is required, e.g. "Awareness, Meditating, Background of Awareness". For this very reason, traditional Advaita Vedanta uses the three-word term "Sat-Chit-Ananda" to refer to the unconditioned Brahma state the author clumsily approaches.
51.-53 "... you could view thinking and memory as something like a computer program. Within that computer program is a virus. The virus is called the 'I thought'."
So, concludes the author, just get rid of that nasty virus, the Ego. However, one apparently needs the Ego to recognise that it is a virus and decide to get rid of itself. The author frequently asserts that prior spiritual teaching are "tainted by the ego" (his own presumely not!) without offering even one example.
84. "The ego will create the dream of a new body when the old body ends." No "new age", neo-Vedantin is complete without assertion of the dogma of "physical re-incarnation".
107. "Make a decision that for the next two hours you will not allow a single thought to arise." WHO makes that decision? The evil Ego, of course, and strengthens itself greatly in the process. Instead of verbal symbols, it can choose to contemplate non-verbal ones that fulfill neither the author's definition of "ego" (verbal I thought) nor of "Self" but rather of the innumerable worlds in between.
If the premises are flawed, the rest is indubitably as well.
In Chapter 2, 95. the author states: "Almost all thoughts are just the ego's tricks." Presumably, the thoughts required to read and understand the book are amongst the exceptions.
In Chapter 3, the author introduces some additional terms, either assuming that all readers understand already (hence why the book?) or simply failing to say what he means by them. Examples:
4. "the absolute Truth"
14. "liberation"
78. "Direct Experience" (like "Truth", capitalised by the author)
In 19. he introduces the "How Do You Know Method" reminiscent of Socrates statement: "I know that I know nothing and therefore know more than others who claim to know something but really know nothing." Apparently, the author does not know or prefers to ignore the tree of ideas proceeding from the universal to the general to the particular.
Chapter 10, "The Eternal Method" is based on a modern misconception of time as linear. All traditional views and our own observation, however, show us that time is cyclical.
Chapter 11, "The Infinite Space Method" confuses "infinite" with indefinite, forgets the qualities (directions) of physical space and ignores non-Euclidean geometry.
Apparently, "The Loving All Method" in Chapter 12, alas, excludes all of the evil, pesky Egos from the scope of love. Nevertheless, the author recommends in 61. "You should look outward while engaged in daily activities." WHO or WHAT "looks outward"? Might that pesky, evil Ego, when not taking itself to be a Demigod, have some utility after all?
This review exposes the shallow, pseudoreligious, dualistic approach of the author. It by no means negates the value of meditative and contemplative practice.
If one is seriously interested in traditional Advaita Vedanta rather than in Dvaita Neo-Vedantism, an invention of the modern Anglo-Saxon mind-set well represented by this book and its author, she and he are well advised to read works of genuine traditional Advaita Vedantins like Ramana Maharshi, Shankaracharya, Nisargadatta Maharaj and Rene Guenon, whose excellent but not easy work Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta (Guenon, Rene. Works.) has been translated into English.
A Must ReadFebruary 19, 2008 16 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is the most direct and clear spiritual book I have ever read.....no nonsense ...no stories....just clear and precise explanations and instructions. Thank you very much.
