Roger Castillo (non-duality)

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Roger Castillo's name keeps popping up in my conversations, so I thought I'd share more broadly. His pointers seemed to help my mind sort out thought patterns that were suffering and let them go. 

This is a 'bottoms-up' approach that blends well with traditional 'top-down' awareness teachings. 

This is just one example of his videos:

 

[allislove]

Really liked this guy, thanks for sharing.

[Beginner Mind]

I've been a fan of Roger for a long time.  The idea of non-doership was such a huge epiphany for me.  Also, the concept of "genes + up-to-date conditioning".  To realize that everyone is simply acting out their genes and conditioning in each moment, and is therefore not really responsible for their actions, is a game-changer.

However, I do question some of what he and Ramesh Balsekar have said.  According to Roger and his teacher, Ramesh, after enlightenment occurs the human being continues to live his or her life as a separate individual.  This contradicts many masters like Nisargadatta Maharaj who told us that enlightenment entails the total annihilation of the sense of being a separate individual.

That said, I've certainly found Roger and Ramesh to be very helpful on my journey.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Beginner Mind

[peanutspathtotruth]

1 hour ago, Beginner Mind said:

However, I do question some of what he and Ramesh Balsekar have said.  According to Roger and his teacher, Ramesh, after enlightenment occurs the human being continues to live his or her life as a separate individual.  This contradicts many masters like Nisargadatta Maharaj who told us that enlightenment entails the total annihilation of the sense of being a separate individual.

I had the same thought when I watched the first video of Roger two days ago. I just took a look in the book "1000" by Ramaji. Ramesh has been Ramaji's guru/teacher. And Ramaji assesses him somewhere in the 700's. In other words: He's not gone all the way. Of course this is just a number. But the takeaway should be: Look closely at how deep the teacher in front of you has really gone. For pointers that get you to "no-self", they can still be helpful. But beyond that, they might not. 

Edited October 2, 2019 by peanutspathtotruth

[Beginner Mind]

3 minutes ago, peanutspathtotruth said:

I had the same thought when I watched the first video of Roger two days ago. I just took a look in the book "1000" by Ramaji. Ramesh has been Ramaji's guru/teacher. And Ramaji assesses him somewhere in the 700's. In other words: He's not gone all the way. Of course this is just a number. But the takeaway should be: Look closely at how deep the teacher in front of you has really gone. For pointers that get you to "no-self", they can still be helpful. But beyond that, they might not. 

In the book "Perfect Brilliant Stillness" by David Carse (amazing book on non-duality), Carse talks about how there may have been some "slippage" in the organism known as Ramesh, due to age.  Carse is very fond of Ramesh's early teachings, but criticizes Ramesh's later teachings concerning the supposed continuation of the separate self after enlightenment.  A very interesting read.