Spiritual awakening and personal experience
The so-called "path of realization" is a pastime that the mind requires. We already are what we would like to be, so how can we "become" It? But it is true that staying tuned inside helps, as well as helps to read spiritual texts. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens that intellectual understanding can deceive us, making us to believe that we have "understood". So what can I recommend to friends who ask me for advice on the method of realization? Perhaps the best thing - as Nisargadatta Maharaj suggested - the key factor - is surrender and following one's intuition that infallibly guides us towards awakening. "When the flowers bloom the bees come without being invited" said the saint Neem Karoli Baba
Some sages - like Ramana Maharshi - advise some rules of behavior, especially regarding food, to keep the peace of mind. Of course, the mind is influenced by the food we put into our body, but the intake of a "satvic" diet (which means balanced, non-violent) is a consequence of our level of consciousness. I myself did not voluntarily decide to favor a "vegetarian" diet, it happened spontaneously, and I call myself "vegetarian" because there is not another suitable term for qualifying those who choose a "natural" diet, both from the genetic point of view and ecological but also psychic and spiritual.
My personal story (destiny) wanted the "awakening" to happen through contact with my teacher Baba Muktananda, met without any apparent will on my part in 1973 and from which I received the spontaneous "shaktipat" initiation. From then on I continued to maintain a conscious "discipline" of life, with more or less intense phases in accordance with the events.
At the same time, with the passing of time, following my elective tendencies, and in the form of an intellectual pastime, I devoted myself to the study of Vedanta, Zen, Taoism, etc. Moreover, over the years, I met several sages from which I received examples or subtle teachings, never formal.
I therefore believe that the "lay" approach, that is to say non-confessional or fideistic, is the most indicated. I affirm it following my experience and for this reason I "transmit" what I myself have experienced, being however aware that other experiences, in different forms, can lead to similar results. This is why I tend, as far as possible, to maintain a rather syncretic approach, even if fundamentally remaining in a secular and nondualistic vein.
Paolo D'Arpini
Some sages - like Ramana Maharshi - advise some rules of behavior, especially regarding food, to keep the peace of mind. Of course, the mind is influenced by the food we put into our body, but the intake of a "satvic" diet (which means balanced, non-violent) is a consequence of our level of consciousness. I myself did not voluntarily decide to favor a "vegetarian" diet, it happened spontaneously, and I call myself "vegetarian" because there is not another suitable term for qualifying those who choose a "natural" diet, both from the genetic point of view and ecological but also psychic and spiritual.
My personal story (destiny) wanted the "awakening" to happen through contact with my teacher Baba Muktananda, met without any apparent will on my part in 1973 and from which I received the spontaneous "shaktipat" initiation. From then on I continued to maintain a conscious "discipline" of life, with more or less intense phases in accordance with the events.
At the same time, with the passing of time, following my elective tendencies, and in the form of an intellectual pastime, I devoted myself to the study of Vedanta, Zen, Taoism, etc. Moreover, over the years, I met several sages from which I received examples or subtle teachings, never formal.
I therefore believe that the "lay" approach, that is to say non-confessional or fideistic, is the most indicated. I affirm it following my experience and for this reason I "transmit" what I myself have experienced, being however aware that other experiences, in different forms, can lead to similar results. This is why I tend, as far as possible, to maintain a rather syncretic approach, even if fundamentally remaining in a secular and nondualistic vein.
Paolo D'Arpini