Stephen Wolinsky
Submitted by erez on Sat, 02/23/2008 - 00:02.Tags:
Biography
Stephen H. Wolinsky, PhD is one of the few direct living disciples of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj living in the United States.
Wolinsky is a founder of Quantum Psychology, integrating Western Psychology, Advaita-Vedanta’s Non-duality, Quantum Physics, Neuro-Science, and Buddhism. In 2002, he founded Post-deconstruction, a scientific approach beyond Postmodernism. He is the author of fourteen books, audio tapes and a DVD series, I Am That I Am.
Wolinsky presently resides in Aptos, California.
Stephen, has a PhD. in Clinical Psychology and began his psychotherapy practice in 1974. From 1975 to 1985 he met over thirty different Gurus, Teachers, Rinpoches, and Meditation Masters. In January 1977, he journeyed to India to study meditation, and remained there for almost six years. Stephen continued traveling back to India for months at a time, over the next four years. In the mid-1980’s he went to Nepal to study three of the six Yogas of Naropa . Later he realized the identical nature of the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Madhyamika, (Middle Way) Buddhism Founder, Nagarjuna, and his Eight Negations.
His Spiritual Journey
In the mid 1970’s, Avadhut Bhagawan Nityananda appeared to Stephen as he spontaneously entered Samadhi. Upon receiving initiation (shaktipat diksa) Bhagawan Nityananda, became his Initiation Guru. A few months later he met Swami Muktananda, a disciple of Nityananda who told him “come to India”. In January 1979, after living in India for two years and studying I AM THAT, he met his Teacher (Acharya) Guru Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Stephen says it was Bhagawan Avadhut Nityananda that guided him to Nisargadatta Maharaj, and that it was Sri Ramana Maharshi that acted as a portal or doorway to Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Nisargadatta told Stephen to visit Ramana’s Ashram in Tiruvanamalai, which he did in 1983.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Bhagawan Avadhut Nityananda
The connection between Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Bhagawan Avadhut Nityananda goes back to the 1950’s, and was relayed to Stephen twice, first by a brother disciple of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Alexander Smit. In a conversation with Maharaj, Smit asked him, “Did you ever meet Nityananda?.” Maharaj replied, “Yes”. Smit asked, “What did you think of him.” Maharaj replied, “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.”
The second connection between Bhagwan Avadhut Nityananda and Nisargadatta Maharaj revealed itself, when S. K. Mullarpattan, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s primary translator in the years 1976-1981, told Stephen that Bhagawan Avadhut Nityananda, as a young man used to stay with Mullarpattan’s family quite often, and that Mullarpattan used to go and see Baghawan Nityananda frequently in Ganespuri, and that he still does his mantra japa, (repetition). More interestingly, both Nisargadatta Maharaj and Bhagwan Avadhut Nityananda gave the same mantra diksa (initiation), and taught the same unique way of repeating the mantra, (japa).
Teachings
Awakening from the trance of the self, says Wolinsky, begins by extending your awareness to every level of who you are: your biological instincts, your thoughts and feelings, the archetypal dimension, and – ultimately – who you are beyond those thoughts, emotions, memories, associations, and perceptions. But, how do you begin this journey?
"The only way to find out who you are," taught Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, “is to find out first who you are not.” Waking from the Trance offers you an opportunity to begin that life-changing investigation.
Waking from the Trance Highlights:
- Quantum psychology – a multidimensional model of self
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s advaita vedanta approach to self-inquiry
- Expanding awareness to the eight dimensions of being
- The roots of traditional psychology – and its limits
- The false core and the false self
- The biological dimension: dissolving the boundaries around the physical body
- Finding the space between thoughts and before thoughts
- “Delabeling” – working with your emotions as energy states
- The enneagram – its origins and its understanding of the false core types
- Identifying the trances of common spiritual systems
- “Uncooked seeds” – addressing undigested psychological material and early trauma
- Attention-focusing methods from the Vijnana Bhairava
- The dimension of Essence
- Understanding the I AM, "the seed of consciousness"
- How the One Substance condenses into consciousness
- Archetypes and the collective unconscious – a Quantum psychology view
- Modern physics on causality, the observer, and the observed
- Through the Void to the Nameless Absolute
Locations
From 1983-1994, Wolinsky maintained a private psychotherapy practice. In addition, he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe presenting workshops to the general public until late 1999.
In December, 2000, he stopped traveling and offering workshops to the general public and began offering retreats about every 2 years. At the present time, these retreats are open only to those participants with prior training or by invitation.
View Video
Books & Media
You Are Not: Beyond the Three Veils of Consciousness
(Paperback)
I Am That I Am: A Tribute to Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
(Paperback)
This is a powerful companion volume to one of the most important spiritual texts of this generation, I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj. It both illuminates and elaborates upon the major understandings, confrontations, and contributions of this most remarkable sage. Utilizing his direct personal experience, interactions, commentaries, quotations, and the inquiry procesTs, Dr. Wolinsky transports readers right into the room where they find themselves in the presence of this most extraordinary teacher.
Prior to the I Am: The End of Self Consciousness: I Am That I Am Part 3
(DVD)
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj called Prior to the I am, the Primordial Advaita. No one describes this more concisely then Nagarjuna (the founder of Madhyamika Buddhism) with his eight negations, or personifies it quite like Avadhut Nityananda. \nIn Prior to the I am, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, (documented in video footage from 1980) is shown saying the exact words Nagarjuna used in presenting his eight negations. \nDr. Stephen Wolinsky clarifies and defines spirituality as the Primordial That. Moreover, in this DVD, Dr. Wolinsky deconstructs the spiritual and psychological realms as philosophical traps (neti neti), discarding all perceptions, even that of the brain and nervous system, and, going even further by deconstructing deconstruction itself. \nThe DVD is divided into thirteen themes
Nirvana Means Extinction: I Am That I Am Part Two
(DVD)
Following his mentor, Sri Nisargadatta Maharajs\' basic premise, \"All you can teach is understanding, the rest comes on its own\", Dr. Stephen Wolinsky takes us on a three hour excusion traversing the roots of Advaita-Vedanta, neuro-science, philosophy, linguistics and tantric yoga, to provide a long neglected understanding which lies at the core of all of these teachings; \"All spirituality and psychology are dependent on the existence of a separate independent individual self.\" BUT what if this self is an illusion, a product of the nervous system, a miss-perception, then not only does the \"I\" disappear, but so does the foundation and basic premise of all spirituality, spiritual paths and psychology. \n\nContinuing where I Am That I Am Part I leaves off, Part II explores how the revolutionary discoveries of science validate, support and prove the wisdom of the Buddha\'s Heart Sutra, the underlying Science of Yoga, and the foundational discoveries of Quantum Physics and current research in neuroscience.
I Am That I Am: Experience the Teaching of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
(DVD)
Narrated by Dr.Stephen Wolinsky this two and a half hour DVD contains not only The Complete Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj but also \"experiental meditations\" to lead the viewer into the I AM and beyond, into That One substance from which all phenomena appear to arise.
These teaching convey Maharaj\'s basic premise, \"All you can teach is understanding, the rest comes on it\'s own.\"
The DVD is divided into twelve themes which include: The I am, The body, Consciousness, The Nothingness, Realization, Spirituality and Spiritual Paths, The Guru, The Void, Birth and Death, Cause and Effect, That One Substance and The Illusion.
Featuring never seen video footage of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj!!!
This DVD contains NEVER before seen video footage from the late 1970\'s and early 1980\'s, this extraordinary video material includes a 30 minutes subtitled question and answer session with Sri NIsargadatta Maharaj!
Waking from the Trance: A Practical Course on Developing Multidimensional Awareness
(Audio Cassette)
Waking from the Trance
By Stephen Wolinsky
Have you ever felt that your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and memories – everything you’ve known to be \"you\" – might be just the surface of something far more expansive? That somehow, there might be a way to \"wake up\" to an entirely new revelation of the world and of yourself? In 1977, a young psychotherapist named Stephen Wolinsky left his practice to answer these questions. His search would lead him beyond the roots of modern psychology and the contemplative traditions of the world to India’s legendary sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. On Waking from the Trance, you are invited to learn what evolved from Wolinsky’s quest: a revolutionary new understanding of the nature of consciousness that can help us to see beyond the inner structures that limit our awareness.
Here is an opportunity to join the author of Trances People Live in nine hours of compelling instruction and exercises to help you learn how to identify the \"frames\" that organize your most basic experiences ... extend your awareness to every level of who you are ... and, ultimately, to discover who you are beyond your thoughts, emotions, memories, associations, and perceptions.
Pro Opinions
Con Opinions
- Printer friendly version
- Login or register to post Pro/Con opinion
- Login or register to edit/add content to Guru profile
I feel...
I feel that Ramesh Balsekar also failed to grasp N's teaching correctly, although this view is apparently very rare. He seems asleep here, despite popularity of his teaching.
http://www.omkaradatta.info
unfortunately, i agree with
unfortunately, i agree with you 100% percent. attended his satnsangs in mumbay 2 years ago and was dissapointed. a truely nice, sincere and kind person but too analytical... and too much focused into the analysis stemming from "you are not the doer"...
Me too, me too
I've wondered the same about him, and also about his student Wayne Liquorman. I remain open to the possibility of a different focus/mode of teaching. I've often pondered his comment, "If you have a choice between a million dollars and enlightenment, take the million....."
The comment...
"I've often pondered his comment, "If you have a choice between a million dollars and enlightenment, take the million....."
From here it's a silly comment, even given the followup "because you aren't there to enjoy it", blah blah. It doesn't mean something is missing, like a tooth has been removed. Absence of the 'me' is freedom, not limitation. People tend to have the strangest ideas about what freedom from personal identity means...
http://www.omkaradatta.info
~
Yes, his comment seems to feed that delusion of personal freedom rather than dispelling it.
Balsekar and Nisargadatta
I too feel Balsekar misunderstood Maharaj's message, but am unable to properly articulate how. Could you plz elaborate?
The differences
I agree with the conclusion. The main difference is that which is between Maharaj and Ramesh Balsekar also - misusing intellect and logic. Maharaj is touching the beyond but Ramesh and Wolinsky stay in the mind, rely completely on mind's logic, they are secular and rational and skeptic. They epitomize the erroneous path Pseudo Advaita has taken.
The main issues of difference that I saw are:
(1) In a nutshell. It's either you have it or not and it is very hard to fake it. It is like asking why one poem is magical and the other is not. You can analyze it technically but the main difference is in the essence behind the words - Maharaj has something that manifests in his words, Wolinsky does not.
(2) I feel Wolinsky is like a first grade student: he memorized that 1 + 1 = 2 and 6 - 4 = 2 and so can repeat it but he didn't grasp the mathematical essence and so can't answer what 14 + 12 is and so some of his answers regarding Advaita or explanations of Maharaj words are simple errorneous.
(3) Maharaj does use words and logic but in some genius way they remain as tools only, signposts, he is never get drawn into rationalization and intellect. Wolinsky (and also Ramesh Balsekar) did get rational and addicted to words and logic and therefore arrives at ridiculous and paradoxical conclusions.
(2) Maharaj discusses metaphysical aspects, Wolinsky stays in the mind, world, ratio, he is a tacit skeptic who does not believe in anything beyond. Ramesh "solves" this by naming it "the cosmic law" to close enquiry regarding anything metaphysical which ironically is the essence.
Plus, Wolinsky, as opposed to Ramesh, simply has errorneous understanding of major concepts in Maharaj's doctrine: self, "I Am" anf so on. You can easily see it in his books.
Where is Bhakta?
That which is missing in both Ramesh and Wolinsky, as well as most "neo-advaitins" is the element of Bhakta that is "personified" in Nisargadatta Maharaj.
While jnana is the Yoga; the "path", the mind will not take one all the "way". Only when Jnana and Bhakti are wed can the Truth be known. Just as we must "be" seeking, rather than seeker or the sought, we must also become Love, rather than loving or lover.
This is the teaching. It is not the words, or the concepts, but the being.
Ramesh and Wolinsky, like many on this forum, delight in the intellectual. This is natural, as many are followers of jnana, and jnana is of the mind. Some engage in mental gymnastics trying to describe "enlightenment" or "awareness". Some argue, and often get testy, if not angry at others. Even those who would be gurus, delight in "oneupsmanship", feeding their own egos.
Nisargadatta engaged in chanting and other Bhakta exercises every day. He was not afraid to talk both from the relative or the absolute "reality" standpoint.
Nisargadatta engaged in Bhakta strongly in his early life, as evidenced by his "Self Knowledge and Self Realization" written in his early years. Those who would turn "Advaita" into an "instant" path to enlightenment, without the devotional, renunciation characteristics it has traditionally held since Sankara, lose the compassion that is so recognizable in truly "enlightened" beings.
Just as Christ said the shepherd knows his sheep, so too, the Guru; the truly Enlightened, knows how to address the "seeker", and at what "level". He will not give meat to those not weaned off milk. He will challenge only the arrogant.
Peace,
Ahimsananda