Even Cooler
Last month I read and enjoyed your article on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I hope it does turn people on to this man who is cool beyond anything than most of us will ever understand. I hope you follow your studies towards Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet because she is a crucial extension of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's work. She is REALLY cool. AND she is ALIVE. Bachelet's work points interested students toward being able to see the harmony and perfection beneath All Circumstance, toward being able to recognize the Supramental Force already active in the world, toward an ever evolving perception of the Whole. To talk of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and not reveal the possibility of their current extension is curious. Patrizia's work is an inseparable extension of the amazing Duo.

Lori Tompkins
Monterey, CA

Making God Real
Somewhere in his writings Aurobindo said words to the effect that God-realization is only a "middle term" in the process of enlightenment because after realization comes transformation. And transformation is not simply of the individual's psychophysical being into a body of light; it is transformation of the entire creation through descent of the Supermind, so that the entire world becomes a body of light. You could say that is a "different kind of enlightenment," but from my point of view, its difference is simply that of a more advanced understanding and deepened commitment to God-realization. It is commitment to realizing God or making God real, visible, tangible throughout the material realm. Everything is changed—all human activities and institutions—such as economics, marriage, social relationships, law, trade and commerce, education, politics, government, communications, etc. That transformation, in turn, provides the platform for still higher stages of personal evolution which, as more and more individuals attain it, feeds back into society for still higher stages of cultural evolution.

John White
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In Search of Babaji

Don't Believe Them
Your article about Babaji is extensive and interesting. As you have discovered, there is much speculation and many irrational claims made by some people. Shortly before Paramahansa Yogananda's mahasamadhi, he told some of his disciples that, after he was gone, many people would claim to be Babaji, and many others would claim to be represent him. He also told us that some mediums (channellers in today's jargon) would claim to be Babaji, and many other gurus in this Kriya Yoga lineage spoke through them. I remember Paramahansaji's words: "Don't believe them. Neither I, nor any of the great masters, will ever speak through mediums."

Roy Eugene Davis
Lakemont, GA

Internet Babaji?
I enjoyed the Babaji article, especially the ending—What did Internet Babaji tell you? Babaji is the union of all opposites. Human evolution started as Spirit Beings according to Shiva Purana and evolved organs and more density. Or as Thomas Troward says, "Evolution can start at any point and proceed in any direction." Very practical concept—so can healing, and success. Thank you for reporting my info on Babaji accurately.

Leonard Orr
Staunton, VA

In Over Our Heads
EDITOR'S NOTE: No written piece in WIE has ever proven as controversial or elicited such strong reaction as the "Did Babaji and Yogananda have a falling out?" section of the article In Search of Babaji, featured in our Spring/Summer 2002 issue. A great many of our readers passionately objected to our reporting the controversy surrounding whether or not Paramahansa Yogananda, revered master of Kriya Yoga and founder of the Self Realization Fellowship, broke his celibacy vows, causing a falling out with Babaji, and furthermore, whether Yogananda is the father of Ben Erskine, son of one of his female devotees. Our initial intention was to print a balanced selection of the many substantive responses we received regarding this article. However, due to the gravity of the allegations, accusations, and counter-accusations contained in these letters, we have decided, under the advice of legal counsel, to refrain from making our letters section a forum for responding to the issues raised by the article. We very much appreciate the many sincere, informative, and heartfelt letters we received, and apologize to our readers that we cannot present them at this time.



The Great Bombay Tea Shop Debacle

The Silent Scam
Have you heard a whisper out of this silent scam to take over the world through the promoted inability to respond to life in a responsible manner? Seems to be spreading like wildfire, this non-choice, no-driver story by the likes of the Reverend Balsekar. Seems to be a nice little white lie! I mean, you don't get a more perfect recipe for world domination than telling everybody they've got no choice about it! Once they believe it then the movie's in the can, the rest of their life's on autopilot. But my question is, who designed that program? Certainly not the Great Spirit, me thinks. Keep up the good work!

Yann Housden
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Too Naïve
As a result of reading Chris Parish's interview with Ramesh Balsekar, I read several of Ramesh's books and, although I had never previously had the slightest inclination to visit India, I subsequently went to Bombay to see him. Ramesh's uncompromising teaching has answered all my questions. In my case, striving for higher evolutionary consciousness is not arising. On the contrary, I have found peace and harmony, while continuing to live as before. I am grateful to Chris Parish for his accurate recording of Ramesh's concepts in the interview, despite any misgivings he may have had. Being new to "Planet What Is Enlightenment?" I was too naïve to realize that the epilogue was a spoof—but who cares?

June Parker
Cumbria, England

I Side with Balsekar
What Is Enlightenment? magazine retracted their apparent endorsement of Ramesh Balsekar's assertion that enlightenment is the affirmation of determinism [The Great Bombay Tea Shop Debacle]. WIE satirically doubted and mocked Balsekar's version of enlightenment, pooh-poohing determinism-as-enlightenment. Readers took their satire seriously, and a storm of controversy arose, with many claiming to have been enlightened. Now, in their retraction, WIE has basically declared that determinism is not true and is not enlightenment. I am against WIE magazine and against most religion; I side with Ramesh Balsekar and endorse enlightenment as determinism. I define enlightenment and determinism in distinctive ways, but I essentially agree with Balsekar, against WIE. Most religion is lower religion which is freewill religion. Mystics define higher religion which is no-free-will religion and is associated with no-separate-self. Freewill religion is separate-self religion. Ego is the freewill assumption; ego is separate self. The separate, ego-self is the agent who supposedly has free will.

Michael Hoffman
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In the World But Not of It

Bumping into Enlightenment
Aggh! Your review of Jack Kornfield's book After The Ecstasy, The Laundry [Issue 18, Fall/Winter 2000] just irritated me so much and made me angry, livid at times. Had to print out parts of your review and pencil in my caustic rebuttals and considered opinions, one of which is that I haven't even read the book yet, but I'm ordering it now from Amazon.com and after I read it you will be in for a more severe red penciling job right here on my desktop. Seriously, I love the way you unapologetically proceed. You woke something in me up. I'm a serious meditator and had just left the whole concept of enlightenment floating, figuring someday I will bump into it . . .
Bump.

Doug
Sunnyvale, CA



www.wie.org

Pure Gold
Your e-magazine is fantastic! Wonderful! Excellent! Please forgive my wild enthusiasm, but it is a genuine surprise, a real treasure, pure gold, to find such quality on the web.

Beatnik
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WIE Subscribers' Extra Winter 2002

An Intimate Foe
Elizabeth Debold's article, True Jihad [available on our website, www.wie.org], speaks what requires our full attention. Truly, the principle battle of life is against the intimate foe. To surrender, to shine with the source of life is the aim, and to do so requires allowing the Beloved to pull aside the veils of delusion. The ego shifts and hides itself in any form. Beware of the father of lies, the delusionary self that makes a hell of paradise. It requires a total honesty that illuminates the darkness to dispel the phantasms of ego's projection. The purest love, the love that unfolds through the hadith, "I was hidden and wanted to be known," which leads to the threshold of the wedding chamber, in the empty mirror of complete surrender: Here and now, the Beloved is present when my intimate foe surrenders. Blessed is Allah who mercifully unveils and consumes me in the purifying flame of love.

anonymous