Tag: Enlightenment

Early life

Sri Nisargadatta was born on April 17, 1897, at break of dawn, the full moon in the month of Chaitra, to Shivrampant Kambli and Parvatibai, in Bombay. The day was also the birthday of Lord Hanuman, hence the boy was named 'Maruti', after Lord Hanuman himself. Maruti Shivrampant Kambli was brought up in Kandalgaon, a small village in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, where he grew up amidst his family of six silblings, two brothers and four sisters, and deeply religious parents. His father, Shivrampant, worked as a domestic servant in Mumbai and later became a petty farmer in Kandalgaon.

In 1915, after his father passed away, he moved to Bombay, to support his family back home, following his elder brother. Initially he worked as a junior clerk at an office, but quickly opened a small goods store, mainly selling bidis – leaf-rolled cigarettes, and soon owned a string of eight retail shops.

In 1924 he married Sumatibai and they had three daughters and a son.

Awakening

In 1933, he was introduced to his guru, Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, the head of the Inchegeri branch of the Navnath Sampradaya by his friend Yashwantrao Baagkar. His guru told him, "You are not what you take yourself to be...". He then gave Nisargdatta simple instructions, which he followed verbatim, as he himself recounted later:

My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am'. It may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!

-- I Am That, Chapter 75, p. 375.

Following his guru's instructions of concentrate on the feeling "I Am", he utilized all his spare time looking at himself in silence, and remained in that state, for the coming years, practicing meditation and singing devotional bhajans.

After an association that lasted hardly two and a half years, Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, his guru, died on November 9, 1936, though by that time he had done his task, Maruti had reached self-awareness. Soon he adopted a new name, 'Nisargadatta' meaning 'the one who dwells in the natural state'.

In 1937, he left Mumbai and travelled across India. Though realizing the shortcomings of a totally unworldly life and the greater spiritual fruitfulness of dispassionate action, he eventually returned to his family in Mumbai in 1938. It was there that he spent the rest of his life, working as a bidi vendor at his nearby shop, and giving teachings at his home.

Later years

Between, 1942-1948, he suferred two personal losses, first the death of his wife, Sumatibai, followed by the death of his daughter. He started taking disciples in 1951, only after a personal revelation from his Guru Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj.

Sri Nisargadatta continued to live the life of an ordinary Indian working-man together with conducting daily meetings with seekers discussing his teaching. The meetings of the early years are documented in his master-work "I Am That" . Devotees traveled from all over the world to hear Nisargadatta's unique message until his death. Maharaj left his body in 1981 after suffering from throat cancer.

Tony Samara was born in England, grew up in Egypt and later Norway where he came into contact with the Zen Buddhist philosophy. This event later led him to the Mount Baldy Zen Center in California, USA where he studied the spiritual teachings of Kyozan Joshu Sasaki. He later went on to live and learn with shamanic communities around the world, the most influential ones having been in the Amazon and the Andes where he lived and studied among a community of Shamans.

After living for several years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, Tony Samara ventured to the jungles of South America - to the Amazon and to the Andes - where he lived and studied among a community of Shamans.

After many years he was initiated in the sacred healing ways of these ancient peoples, and left South America to teach and share this deep wisdom with the world.

Tony Samara is now visited by people from all parts of the world and from all walks of life, seeking spiritual guidance or simply the experience of being in his presence.

He is a mirror of what is possible, a shining reminder of the endless potential of being human.

The completely natural state of joy and wisdom experienced as the heart opens to life is the remarkable path he expounds. The path that is free for everyone to experience.

Verbal dialogue is not the essence of his teachings, but he explains in a direct and simple way that everyone can understand, how each individual can practically integrate greater acceptance, peace and joy into their daily lives.

Tony teaches with humour, humility and with infinite patience, empowering the individual with courage, trust and inner strength to continue on this journey back into wholeness, a path that leads towards real freedom.

Like many spiritual teachers, Tony Samara is concerned with practical inner work and liberation. He teaches by personal example and instruction, guiding the seeker to realise bliss here and now, through growing spiritual awareness rather than mental effort.

Part of Tony's teachings remind us that food and eating are fundamental to our inner well being, as well as to our physical health. He explains in his many programmes that the body is our temple and that the food we eat helps us to create a strong foundation that allows inner work and transformation to take place. He also explains that food is not just a physical substance which nourishes the body but that it also contains spiritual and emotional energy. Hence the importance of being conscious and taking the time to be present when we are eating and to become more sensitive to what will nourish our body, our temple rather than eat only what we feel like eating.

Tony also encourages a balanced vegetarian diet which includes organic products that are full of life force.

A modern-day mystic and yogi, Eric Putkonen focuses on nonduality, as seen within the "Direct Path" traditions: Jnana Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism, etc. After searching for thirteen years and awakening in 2005, he has made himself available to whomever wished to speak with him. He directly points towards our true Self and liberation from suffering...that is "Enlightenment."

He began holding meditations and Satsang ("meetings about the Truth of our Essence") in his home in 2006 and met with individuals privately in order to sit together in silence and point towards who/what we really are.

Eric speaks from direct experience and understanding, but the most influential teachers for him have been the work and lives of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Alan Watts, J. Krishnamurti, Mahatma Gandhi, and Paramahansa Yogananda.

What makes Eric's teachings different than another's teachings?

Well, he has realized six truths that he often sees at least one point contrary to other contemporary teachers:

• Not Two (i.e. Advaita or Nonduality) - Others are a mirage, so is a separate self.
  
• Enlightenment, Awakening, Liberation, Moksha, etc. are equivocal terms for the deep realization of the Self.
  
• Enlightenment is sudden & complete...it does not come in stages, levels, or over time.
  
• Enlightenment is not gained, and with Enlightenment there is not anything gained.
  
• Enlightenment is permanent...it can not be lost or go away in some way.
  
• Enlightenment is not the end, and yet there is nothing to do.
  

The true meaning of these six points are not easily understood and often are misunderstood, but are given as the basic tenets of Eric's teachings. He speaks and teaches from these, so (for example) he will not talk about stages of or towards Enlightenment...and in fact, he flatly says that is a part of the illusion. Either we are Enlightened...Awake...or we are still asleep.