Besides Eckhart Tolle, who else had a spontaneous awakening?

[Mafortu]

I find Eckhart's tale fascinating to read, so I am wondering which other note worthy individual had a spontaneous awakening. As in.. they recieved the whole package out of the blue. No drugs. No meditation retreat in Hawaii. No sensory deprivation tank.

[Petals]

Ramana Maharshi

[Ananta]

Nisargadatta Maharaj 

Read, "I AM that"

[Ananta]

2 hours ago, Mafortu said:

I find Eckhart's tale fascinating to read, so I am wondering which other note worthy individual had a spontaneous awakening. As in.. they recieved the whole package out of the blue. No drugs. No meditation retreat in Hawaii. No sensory deprivation tank.

Don't forget Eckhart assimulated his awakening on a park bench for three years. 

Most gurus have an assimilation period, before they start talking about it. This includes, Eckhart, Ramana and Nisargadatta.

[Leo Gura]

Fools gold. None of it was spontaeneous. You just don't realize the work that went into it. You are only looking as the end result.

[PlayOnWords]

@Leo Gura do you mean work accumulated from previous lives? 

Cos Eckhart was a poor sucker trapped in anxiety and depression until his awakening and didn't have any spiritual knowledge or foundation as far as I'm aware. 

[Tanz]

Eckhart was into spirituality before he awakened. He wasn't snoring crack and banging 20 chicks on crack. He was doing his inner work.

There are no shortcuts 

[PlayOnWords]

@Tanz I remember reading in The Power Of Now that he didn't actually realise what had happened to him, other than a deeply profound transformation. He said something like its only when he started talking with spiritual teachers and reading spiritual texts that he realised he already had what they were pointing to.

But yeah, certainly didn't come across as a previous crack smoker or womb raider. 

Edited January 30, 2020 by PlayOnWords

[Mafortu]

29 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Fools gold. None of it was spontaeneous. You just don't realize the work that went into it. You are only looking as the end result.

You interviewed GP Walsh and he himself had a semi-spontaneous awakening, of course I am aware that a lot of study and contemplation goes into it, and I recall you talking in one of your videos about a woman that had the realization of oneness out of the blue and it took her quite a while to understand what went through her.

Edited January 30, 2020 by Mafortu
typo

[Tanz]

@PlayOnWords he sat in meditation or deep observation at parks alone for a long time.

I would consider that inner work.

People awaken when their inner world becomes bigger than the outer world. If someone can find me someone drunk at the club high on narcotics on the dance floor while never having to do any type of introspection work. Then I would call that spontaneous awakening.

Great loss, trauma or depression can get someone to awaken. But normally it would take sometime for someone to be in that state to awaken finally.

[Mafortu]

20 minutes ago, PlayOnWords said:

@Leo Gura do you mean work accumulated from previous lives? 

Cos Eckhart was a poor sucker trapped in anxiety and depression until his awakening and didn't have any spiritual knowledge or foundation as far as I'm aware. 

I dont think the idea of "previous lives" aligns itself with non-duality. We all share the same soul, my previous life is all lives that exist, existed and will exist.

[PlayOnWords]

@Tanz yeah, after his awakening because he was in a state of pure being and craved for nothing else. Without the mind, sleeping on park benches is no problem.

@Mafortu good point. Just a theory. I find it more plausible that a fragment of the Source goes through many lives, kind of like an individual soul of the Total. Like an extension from the nucleus, not separate. Through those lives, it accumulates wisdom and knowledge until it awakens. Then start the game all over again. Would explain why some people have a proneness towards spirituality.

I don't have any authority to make these claims though. 

[Joel3102]

Suzanne Segal had a spontaneous awakening. It’s  documented in her book Collision with the Infinite 

[Natasha]

@PlayOnWords Eckhart Tolle was a seeker before he had the shift. He was seeking a way out of his suffering.

[Leo Gura]

55 minutes ago, Mafortu said:

You interviewed GP Walsh and he himself had a semi-spontaneous awakening,

I don't even know who GP Walsh is. You have your facts wrong.

Quote

I recall you talking in one of your videos about a woman that had the realization of oneness out of the blue and it took her quite a while to understand what went through her.

28 minutes ago, Joel3102 said:

Suzanne Segal had a spontaneous awakening. It’s  documented in her book Collision with the Infinite 

Again, you guys are only looking at the surface. If you had actually read Suzanne Segal's life story you would know that she spent years doing intense, hardcore TM meditation. She was a high level TM instructor. And THEN her awakening came spontaneously some years after she quit TM.

She mediated for 10 hours a day or more. None of you here have ever done that much spiritual work.

[Ananta]

I was on a Tolle forum for many years. Tolle was completely depressed and didn't do spiritual practice prior to his awakening. He sat on the park bench 3 years, etc AFTER his awakening. Unless my memory completely fails me...which could be true.???

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, PlayOnWords said:

@Leo Gura do you mean work accumulated from previous lives? 

No

1 hour ago, PlayOnWords said:

Cos Eckhart was a poor sucker trapped in anxiety and depression until his awakening and didn't have any spiritual knowledge or foundation as far as I'm aware. 

Suicidal depression was his work.

[Mafortu]

2 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I don't even know who GP Walsh is. You have your facts wrong.

Again, you guys are only looking at the surface. If you had actually read Suzanne Segal's life story you would know that she spent years doing intense, hardcore TM meditation. She was a high level TM instructor. And THEN her awakening came spontaneously some years after she quit TM.

My bad, I had him mixed up with Peter Ralston, they both look alike

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, Mafortu said:

My bad, I had him mixed up with Peter Ralston, they both look alike

Ralston's awakening came from intense self-inquiry retreats where me contemplated "Who am I?" for 3 weeks non-stop.

And Ralston is a freak of nature. None of you here have his contemplation or focus abilities.

If you only knew how much work Ralston has done, your jaw would drop.

He's done over 10,000 hours of retreats.

[Mafortu]

14 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Ralston's awakening came from intense self-inquiry retreats where me contemplated "Who am I?" for 2 weeks non-stop.

And Ralston is a freak of nature. None of you here have his contemplation or focus abilities.

Any who, my original intention was to accumulate self-realizations done without the influence of drugs or done on the brink of starvation, I dont undermine the efforts of meditation or inquiry and I firmly believe they are the only way to achieve truth. I simply find sober stories more fascinating to read about.

This is just for the sake of those who cant buy drugs, tickets to luxurious meditation retreats or sensory deprivation tanks. 

Edited January 30, 2020 by Mafortu