Be Here Now: the greatest spiritual text of all time

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Anyone else read this book? I read this book during a time in my life when I was feeling very lost. I was extremely paranoid, anxious, mired in drug addiction. I could barely get out of bed in the morning. Then I came across this book and the unconditional love exuded by Maharaji, Neem Karoli Baba. This book was the only thing that saved my from the jaws of insanity. I was so close to my breaking point, but somehow, by the grace of God, I fell into Maharaji's arms and was saved. I can't say my life has been all rosy ever since, but in general, things have only improved as I've begun my quest to let go and just "be here now" with a love of the universe and the present moment. Another fantastic book is Miracle of Love, a collection of hundreds of stories about Maharaji. I truly believe that Maharaji was the most enlightened person of the last hundred years. Of course I could be completely wrong, but this is a man for whom completely transforming a life towards a path of love and acceptance was an every day occurrence. I mean, the guy left his home to wander the woods and meditate at age 10 and never returned. The man meditated almost constantly for 60 years. This is a man who constantly stripped people down into their most naked, helpless, humble and loving selves by perceiving EXACTLY what was going on in their hearts using nothing but his mind and heart. This is a man who took the equivalent of over 10 hits of decent LSD and showed absolutely no signs of being intoxicated. Perhaps as much as 90% of the stories about his life - the love he had in his heart, the powers he wielded over himself and others - were BS, but what about the 10% that weren't? If only one or two of the more powerful stories found in Miracle of Love are true, then that alone would qualify him as the most spiritually enlightened being I have ever heard about existing in the last hundred years.

I am rambling... the point the book Be Here Now profoundly touched my life, and I encourage anyone to read it, especially if you have an interest in "Eastern thought" or spirituality in general. There is plenty of stuff on the web about Maharaji/Neem Karoli Baba, accessible by a quick Google search.

I look forward to hearing others' thoughts.

Here are my thoughts

http://www.ex-premie.org/pages/pams.htm

That page is talking about a different guy.

Neem Karoli Baba's lifestyle was very, very different from this man's. Neem Karoli Baba simply wandered around from place to place talking to people, joking, and encouraging people to feed one another (admittedly, including himself, but considering his only material possession was a blanket, I feel like he can be forgiven of this habit of living off the food of others).

So did Charles Schulz get his inspiration for Linus from Baba?

Oh OK

Well regardless I tend to be suspicious of these kinds of people

There are a lot of very "sketchy" spiritual leaders/"gurus" out there who tend to prey on the weak-minded for money and power, but all signs point away from Maharaji being one of those people.

Oh ok

So now what?

What now? Just be here now. That's what the book is about

Um

I'm here (?)

Chev, why are you dead inside?

Chever strikes me as a human being of pure logic, trusting his own critical reasoning skills and intelligence. Because of this, I think he is more "alive" inside than most people.

Human beings are more than pure logic.

A cold heart is a dead heart.

We don't have a choice. Our technological development is rapidly outstripping our personal development. Either we become a rigorously logical, civilized species, or we die out. There is a price attached to our survival and that is giving up on the emotional luxuries we used to enjoy before we gained the power to wipe out our entire race. That means: no more nationalistic fervor, no more lotteries, no more astrology, no more wars packaged for viewer consumption, no more living beyond our means, no more holding up flights over outlandish 'liquid bomb' plots, no more greed, no more waste, no more childish BS, of any kind, period.

Like I've said before, nature will be more than willing to take our crown away. If we want to be the rightful owners of the world, we have to start acting like we deserve it.

Otherwise, something like this is going to happen:

You take away man's emotions and you take away his humanity.

Have you seen the movie Equilibrium perchance?

So?



No.

You're not really human.