Shanmugam

It is just a ballpark figure.. I have to ask her exact age... . But I think she should be 70 or less. My grandma's marriage was early marriage. My mom got married when she was 18 and I was born when she was 19.

@Faceless ha ha.. I never talk about these things to people in the family and the relatives.. My grandma who is 65 years old still believes that after her death she will be visiting mount Kailash and will live happily ever after with Lord Shiva's family. . The conditioning is so deep in India.

@Joseph Maynor Just to give some important points 1) In Buddhism, after the death of a lama, Tibetan lamas follow some stars and travel a long distance to find out the reincarnation of that Lama. This is a custom. Once they find that reincarnated child, they usually take him with them as the child becomes a boy and teach him Buddhism. Those lamas could be the three magis from East who visited Jesus during his birth (as explained in Bible) 2) In a Buddhist monastery in India, a manuscript was discovered. It talks about Issa, a saint from Isreal who was taken by lamas and brought to India when he was 14 years old. This explains why there is nothing found in Bible about where Jesus was between the age 12 to 30.. Consider the above fact and also consider those gnostic gospels which talk about Jesus in a different way. Watch the full video, you will get more details..

Did you take that literally too? Don't kill anybody dude, you will end up in jail

If I ever see Jesus, I will ask him and let you know.

It is quite possible... Check this post:

You are welcome friend

@Joseph Maynor Read this: https://dailyinformator.com/bbc-doc-proves-jesus-was-a-buddhist-monk-named-issa-who-spent-16-years-in-india-tibet/ It is one basis for such a hypothesis... I found this documentary. Haven't watched it yet but I think you may be interested..

Please define 'enlightenment' and 'salvation'... I am not sure if you are getting my point. Before we discuss this further, we need to agree on the terminology. Because both us may be talking about two different things using the same word. That always happens.

@Joseph Maynor Not sure about Mohammad but it is quite possible that Jesus was enlightened. It is just a hypothesis, not a fact. Because, there is no way to confirm it. But I will give you some basis for this hypothesis. The gospels in the Bible are not the only sources of Jesus life. There are several other gospels called as gnostic gospels which are full of non-dual teachings.. Also, there are some sources which say that Jesus was in India between the age of 12-30, as a Buddhist monk. I am doing research on it.

If I had a dollar for every time my conclusions were proven wrong, I would be the richest person in the world now. .. There is always a temptation to conclude about things. But once you have come to a conclusion and stick to it, that is the end of progress in the spiritual path.

So what you said is just based on an 'authority' and some concepts you learned from them... I have no idea what you think 'enlightenment' is... You probably have some idea about it after reading or listening to whoever you think as the authority for enlightenment. Before you say 'enlightenment' and 'salvation' are different, I need to know how you actually define them.. Because as I said earlier, you may be mistaking some aspect on the path towards 'enlightenment' as 'enlightenment' itself.. And calling the actual 'enlightenment' as 'salvation' I am not going by an external authority. I am going by my own experience to say what I say.. I just want to suggest two things here: 1) It is better to not to conclude anything.. Because, I have lived a life where I was continuously seeking and my conclusions were proven wrong again and again and again and again. It is a long life of groping in the dark with temptations, doubts, misery, and pain. I no longer have them now. 2) Don't consider anyone as an infallible authority. The true guru is within you..

that's expected.. .. Majority of the population is not interested in spirituality; not because they are not intelligent but they are too much identified with their personal selves.. There is absolutely no distance at all. Whether a person becomes a seeker or not depends on nature and the nurture, their genetics, and the life experiences..

Yes.. You are welcome.. It is not your fault though.. These days many people who have celebrity status or popularity talk about non-duality without realizing what it is in experience.. And people have a tendency to add more weight to the statements of popular people (like popular teachers) ...One common misunderstanding is in understanding the difference between a spiritual experience and spiritual enlightenment. A person can go through thousands of spiritual experiences and still live in duality. Enlightenment is a complete and permanent merger of experiencer vs experiencing.. Many people misunderstand a profound spiritual experience as enlightenment.

Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither, like blind led by the blind. — Katha Upanishad (Vedantic text) Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall into a hole." - Verse 34, Gospel of Thomas Suppose there were a row of blind men, each holding on to the one in front of him: the first one doesn't see, the middle one doesn't see, the last one doesn't see. In the same way, the statement of the Brahmans turns out to be a row of blind men, as it were: the first one doesn't see, the middle one doesn't see, the last one doesn't see. — Canki Sutta (MN 95) (Buddhist Text)

Do you know the meaning of the word 'metaphor'?

@Monkey-man Here is a verse from 'Gospel of Thomas' which is very clear: Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father's) kingdom". They said to him, "Then shall we enter the (Father's) kingdom as babies?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom] Notice the lines "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner"? This is non-duality... ..

@Monkey-man By the way, I don't go with the Bible completely.. Bible is a collection of misinterpreted versions of Jesus's teachings.. But I can recognize the authentic teachings in it very clearly.. Also, there are gnostic gospels such as ones written by Thomas, Judas and Mary Magdalene... You seem to be saying these things based on something you heard from someone.. Who is that 'infallible' authority who says Jesus didn't teach enlightenment?

The following verses from Bible directly talk about how a liberated (enlightened) person lives his life: Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ........................................... Jesus is directly preaching life is here and now. He also speaks about how one can enter the kingdom of God only after becoming like children Matthew 18: He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus says here is true.. The experience of non-duality is pretty similar to how little child experiences reality: the same sense of innocence, devoid of conflict and worry, living here and now You will find the same theme in many Indian scriptures. Here is one from Ashtavakra Gita: 18.49 The sage does whatever appears to be done without thinking of good or bad. His actions are those of a child. Enlightenment is not about the rat race, it is not about attaining something.. There is no competition in the spiritual path. ..................................... Don't try to defend yourself! Think about the possibility that you could be wrong here! Because I am speaking from the experience; enlightenment is not really what you think it is; It is the end of the personal story; It is a death for you as an entity...

Monkeyman, you don't really understand what non-duality is.. Not only you, most of the people in this forum don't understand what it is... They are just speaking out of their current conclusions... First of all, there is really no inherent purpose to life. Life is not a journey from point A to point B, but the dualistic mind just sees the life that way. But still, you will find in the Indian traditions that enlightenment is the ultimate purpose of life; This is just said to the beginners, to make them walk in the spiritual path... Many people in this forum think that there is 'more' to reach after enlightenment.... There is certainly a lifelong deepening in enlightenment, which happens automatically anyway. But you can't understand what this 'deepening' really is unless you are actually enlightened.. What is popularly known as enlightenment is the complete destruction of duality. Once that happens, life is no longer seen as a journey from point A to point B but seen as always here and now.. After that, you stop craving for 'more'... You stop asking 'what is next'... It is like realizing that your body and mind is in perfect synchrony with the orchestra of existence and that you are existence itself.

This is not about enlightenment, but you will certainly laugh your ass off! Reminds me of this video by Osho:

The title of this thread has the answer to your question: New Age vs. Neo-Advaita vs. Authentic Spirituality... So the premise here is that only one of the three is authentic and you said that yourself. Labels like 'new age', 'neo Advaita' really do not mean much because there are no well-defined points on how this categorization is made...But as much as I have seen, many teachers who belong to this new age/neo Advaita group are deluded. When we talk about universally accepted spiritual paths, we are dealing with a mixture of things. Even the statement that God created the world in 7 days is universally accepted across Christians, but that doesn't make it true. But at the same time, there are certainly well-established methods which are universally accepted among authentic teachers. I see a general theme in all such well-established paths such as Advaita Vedanta, Yoga and Buddhism. There are three things which are important in these paths: 1) Discrimination between the pure awareness and the contents of the awareness. (This may sound like dualistic teaching, but it is pretty much essential. Developing this discrimination is the key to a spiritual path. All spiritual practices which involve doing something are intended to develop this discrimination. 2) Doing This involves anything that you do, like Kriya Yoga techniques, Shamatha meditation in Buddhism, Ashtanga Yoga or anything which involves doing something. This is mainly intended to purify the mind, prepare the ground and develop discrimination and non-attachment. 3) Non - Doing This is the very important step. The problem with neo-Advaita is that they talk about this and only this! They completely ignore the practices intended to prepare the ground. You will hear them saying things like 'You cannot do anything to become enlightened', 'You are already enlightened' etc. But these things are not said in traditional paths until a seeker is progressed to a certain level. Non-doing simply put is simply abiding as the pure awareness or witness. There are various approaches to this and this is also explained in various ways and various names like neti-neti, self-inquiry, mindfulness, witnessing etc. The underlying concept is the same. You abide as the witness, allow the thoughts and sensations to arise and pass away; since you might already have a strong discrimination at this point, there will be simple recognition of 'neti neti' without you having to do anything. This non-doing leads to a complete merger of the observer and the observed; the witness and the witnessed. In fact, there is no reason to even teach that the observer and the observed is the same, because it is automatically recognized by direct experience of truth. Read this for more info: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/spiritual-enlightenment-the-groundwork-needed-for-seekers/

A Man of Tao is the Aristocrat of the Inner World A man of Tao is not a man of much activity. His actions are the most essential – those which cannot be avoided. That which can be avoided, he avoids. He is so happy with himself there is no need to move in actions. His activity is like inactivity; he does without there being anybody doing. He is an empty boat, moving on the sea, not going anywhere. YET HE DOES NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO BE KIND AND GENTLE. Allow this point to penetrate deep into your heart. YET HE DOES NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO BE KIND AND GENTLE – because if you know, you have missed the point; if you know that you are a simple man, you are not. This knowledge makes it complex. If you know that you are a man of religion, you are not, because this cunning mind which knows is still there. When you are gentle, and you don’t know, when you are simple, and you are not aware of it, it has become your nature. When something is really natural you are not aware of it, but when something is imposed, you are aware of it. When somebody becomes rich, newly rich, he is aware of his house, of his swimming pool, of his riches, and you can see that he is not an aristocrat, because he is so concerned with show. A newly rich man ordered three swimming pools for his garden. They were made and he was showing them to a friend. The friend was a little puzzled. He said, ”Three swimming pools? For what? One will do.” The newly rich man said, ”No, how can one do? One for hot baths, one for cold baths.” His friend asked, ”And the third?” He answered, ”For those who cannot swim. So the third swimming pool is going to stay empty.” You can see if a man has newly acquired wealth – he will be showing it. A real aristocrat is one who has forgotten that he is rich. A man of Tao is the aristocrat of the inner world. If a person shows his religion he is not yet really religious. The religion is still like a thorn, it is not natural, it hurts, he is eager to show it. If you want to show your simplicity what type of simplicity is this? If you exhibit your gentleness, then it is simply cunning, nothing gentle exists in it. A man of Tao is an aristocrat of the inner world. He is so attuned to it, there is no exhibition – not only to you, he himself is not aware of it. He does not know that he is wise, he does not know that he is innocent – how can you know if you are innocent? Your knowledge will disturb the innocence. - From 'The Empty Boat' , Osho

Empty Your Boat This is going to be your path. Empty your boat. Go on throwing out whatever you find in the boat until everything is thrown out and nothing is left, even YOU are thrown out, nothing is left, your being has become just empty. The last thing and the first thing is to be empty: once you are empty you will be filled. The all will descend on you when you are empty – only emptiness can receive the all, nothing less will do, because to receive all you have to be empty, boundlessly empty. Only then can the all be received. Your minds are so small they cannot receive the divine. Your rooms are so small you cannot invite the divine. Destroy this house completely because only the sky, space, total space, can receive. Emptiness is going to be the path, the goal, everything. From tomorrow morning try to empty yourself of all that you find within: your misery, your anger, your ego, jealousies, sufferings, your pain, your pleasures – whatever you find, just throw it out. Without any distinction, without any choice, empty yourself. And the moment you are totally empty, suddenly you will see that you are the whole, the all. Through voidness, the whole is achieved. Meditation is nothing but emptying, becoming nobody. - From 'The Empty Boat' , Osho