Almaas and Sri Aurobindo

alan kazlev Says: July 26th, 2006 at 4:42 pm For me, the techniques of spiritual practice are incredibly simple. One involves simply reading the work of Aurobindo and the Mother and contacting that presence (this absolutely fits in with Marko says, see below). Another involves offering up everything up to the Supreme. I read this in the Mother’s books, but a friend says it is also quite Sufi; obviously, the same techniques occur widely. There are otehr techniques too, but the situation is made more complex by the fact that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother did not teach a specific practice or series of practices, unlike, say, Buddhism, where there are very precise instructions on meditation, watching the breath, etc. But sure, I’ll write up somnething on all this. Thanks again for pointing it out!

Marko, I was very interested to read what you had to say, because there do indeed seem to be some intriguing similarities between Almaas and Sri Aurobindo...This concept of the Pearl is pretty fascinating too (likewise similar ideas like the Magnetic Center of Ouspensky and the Immortal Fetus of Taoism). They all seem to have some connection, even if they differ in details (or is the latter just the distorting effect of the respective thought-form of each teaching?). Can you recommend a book of Almaas’ where he talks about the Pearl?

Marko Rinck Says: July 27th, 2006 at 2:29 pm Hi Alan, Yes, interesting similarities, I think so too. The book Almaas wrote about and dedicated to the Pearl is called “Pearl Beyond Price” which is actually a good example of the integration of spirituality and psychology in his work. In it you can also find references to the pearl in other traditions, like Daoist and Gurdijeff, as you already said. But also Gnostic, Hermetic and Sufi.

I would say it is not extremely difficult to create an integral spirituality by seeing which spiritual lines need to be included, how they relate and develop towards the absolute and to refer to the teachings that are oriented around these lines. At the least that would be:

Identity; Advaita Space or emptiness; Buddhists Pearl/Soul: Sufism, Gnostics, Daoism Love; Sufism, Christianity Compassion; Buddhism Energy: Yoga, Daoism, Kashmir Shaivism Will; Gurdijeff Peace; Christianity, Consciousness: Advaita, Yoga Strength; Shao-lin, Shamanism Awareness: Buddhism, Krishnamurti Dynamism and creativity: Shaivism Knowingness; Gnostics, Ancient Greeks, Jnana Yoga

Together we could probably pick another ten and relate them to a lot more spiritual teachings then I just have done. But I don’t think you can then just take the practices of these teachings and design the practical part of integral spirituality. It would be a dead teaching, designed from the intellectual realm. It has some value of insight and understanding but it won’t take you to the ‘other side’, only a living teaching that is already on the ‘other side’ can do that, for the reasons I explained in my last entry.