Conrad Goehausen (“Broken Yogi”): stand bare to the non-dual sky

The amazing conversation—and debate—continues in the comments thread at http://nonduality.org at this posted article:

http://nonduality.org/2008/11/28/adi-da-is-dead/

(There are 372 posted comments there!)  Currently, Conradg’s post is the “last word”.  I feel his last paragraph reinforces a point I’m starting to make in my reports on my own history:

Now I agree that we don’t need to talk much about the past, I just have no taboos about it. Getting the real non-dual lesson is hard, especially if we already think we know what that lesson is going to be. Which is why we have to throw away not just our past, but all these conceptual dharmas. I was always inspired by Da’s way of talking back in the 70’s, when he talked about throwing away all dharmas, and simply standing bare to the universe, with no supports. Well, I still believe in that attitude. I just didn’t see Adi Da staying true to that. Instead, he built up monumental edifices to the mind, huge dharmic castles which his devotees seemed to want to worship rather than tear down. But as with Marpa and Milarepa, the real wisdom comes not from building temples, but from tearing them apart. And that is what I felt at last I had to do with Da, tear down that temple, and stand bare to the non-dual sky.

The 1970s and its spiritual influences, part one

Exposure to the works of Alan Watts, sometime in 1969, initiated a process of purging myself of rigid mental pictures born from reading popular metaphysical literature of the time. And, likely set the stage for the development of new forms of conditioning with a new set of mental images adopted to represent what was reality. This despite the reinforcing and deconditioning “message” also expressed by J. Krishnamurti. I would say that after a good healthy entry into the stream of awakening, via exposure to a wide range of spiritual traditions and practices, that for a good decade plus the adoption of a frame of reference (and “story”)  offered by Franklin Jones (Adi Da Samraj)  was not really serving “awakening” and “realization”.  For all that time, I chose to live in his dream environment and looked at all other spiritual vehicles and influences as limited compared to his teachings.

During my high school years (the last years of the ’60s), I gobbled up books on metaphysics and the occult.  Flying saucer books were fun also!  So, by my senior year in high school, I had basicly dumped my old atheistic outlook and now carried around this picture in my mind of a universe of mysterious astral planes and forces that operated beyond this “material world”.  I was addicted to books about Edgar Cayce.  Reading Ruth Montgomery was a lot of fun also, thrilling my imagination with all sorts of things not at all viewed as possible in my previously dreary mental world of dismissive reductionism.

By the very beginning of the 1970s, I was practicing two types of meditation.  First, a basic zazen form of sitting.  Alan Watts was sharing his thoughts on a monthly basis now, through mailings of his Alan Watts Journal, and reading his handwritten essay “The Art of Meditation” was a great introduction for that form of practice.  (For me, anyway.)  “Sitting quietly, doing nothing”, or as Watts emphasized, without expectation or a search for experiences, was something I enjoyed doing on  a regular basis.

Then, there was experimentation with a practice that clearly was goal oriented or a search for experiences.  But, what the hell, I wanted to travel to exotic lands!  So, I was exposed to “surat shabda yoga” in my late teens (in Eureka, California, of all places!) and even though I never joined the Ruhani Satsang, got Initiated by Kirpal Singh, or took those classes Bruce Avenell was offering, I had obtained the details of the practice and started in with that.

This practice really amped up the electricity!  Focusing internally on the “light and sound current”, somewhat on a regular basis (like the zazen), seemed to have some amazing side effects in late 1972: a series of clear out of the body experiences over a two or three month period.  All these events took place upon awakening from a night of sleep and started off with sleep paralysis and overwhelming (and loud) currents of energy and a sense of bodily expansion.  When there was a feeling of intense pressure in the center of my brain (as this current overwhelmed my body), I felt tangible seperation from the body.  (One time I could feel my arms, comfortably resting under the covers, actually raising up and amazingly I saw their new energetic form.)

Alan Watts died in November 1973, but he had apparently written something that would sure catch my eye not long after!!  I noticed a Foreward he had written to a book called “The Knee of Listening”.  The book was written by a young guy named Franklin Jones, who was seen on the cover sitting bright eyed and talking to disciples.  Now, immediately I felt an inner tension, probably cognitive dissonance.  For I was definitely in alignment with Krishnamurti’s thoughts regarding Gurus and here was some young guy, from America, becoming a Guru and receiving words of praise from Alan Watts.  Curiousity won out after several examinations of the book on the shelves at the Humboldt State University bookstore, so I bought the damn book!  (And, also Jones’ “The Method of the Siddhas”, a compilation of his early talks before disciples.)

Now, I was not uninformed about eastern traditions.  I had already taken endless courses in Buddhism and Hinduism at HSU.  (Dr. Bazemore’s classes.)  So, I knew something about the role of Gurus in other traditions, and despite the cries of warnings offered by Krishnamurit, I decided to open myself up to this scene and see what I could find out. 

To be continued……

The NonDuality Salon Dialogue, Following the Death of Adi Da

At the time of this posting, a days long conversation between Daists, former Daists, and others has been occuring in the comments thread of this blog article (published at nonduality.org):

http://nonduality.org/2008/11/28/adi-da-is-dead

This conversation, with current and active Daists talking with former Daists, critics and others is something that hasn’t really happened before on the internet or via any other medium that I’m aware of.  There was a small scale and limited involvement by Daists at the old Ken Wilber Forum, but that was reportedly discouraged by Adidam (members posting there).

A lot of good information is being shared.  And, there’s a wide ranging consideration of such things as the guru function, various traditions, forms of sadhana, Adi Da’s behavior, and more.

And, it appears that some old friends and acquaintenances have “found” each other yet again, via this thread.  There are some real old times (in and out of the group) posting there.

Someone using the handle “blisscake” is posting from Naitauba and describing some of what’s happening there, with many people now arriving on the island.  His last post (as of this writing) describes some anger and pain he was feeling due to some of the critical postings at nonduality, then describes surrendering all of that.  Blisscake also is directing everyone’s attention to a ning group, where it seems there are already some forums underway. 

http://realityrevelation.ning.com

This ning group, near as I can tell from the dates on all the posted notes, was started in early October.  Ning can be a fairly useful and active tool of communicating information and setting up forums for discussion.  (Members can also post pictures.) 

Recap:  the teacher Adi Da died just over a week ago at his “Hermitage” sanctuary on the island of Naitauba in Fiji.  Adi Da was first written about at this blog in a post describing some very early influences in my life, which included some involvement with him and his group in the mid 70s (and including peripheral contacts through the eighties).  Here is that article (posted here on July 28):

http://atiasrama.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/those-were-the-days-my-friends/

I wonder what is going to be the “rest of the story” now?  Anybody have a sense of what might unfold now?