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| Transparência e responsibilidade |
Mestres espirituais têm que obedecer a padrões mais elevados de comportamento e transparência do que seus discípulos; nós não podemos ser eximidos de nosso comportamento abusivo e cruel, com base na ideia de que somos inerentemente imunes à crítica em virtude de nosso avançado estado de realização. Nós somos, afinal de contas, aqueles a quem as pessoas se dirigem em busca de ajuda para resolver os aspectos mais profundos e perturbadores da existência humana; nós somos aqueles a quem elas se dirigem em busca da liberação final do sofrimento universal que parece ser o destino natural de uma vida humana. Assim sendo, queira ou não queira, nós somos vistos como seres fora e acima da norma, diferentes delas, e respondendo a um chamado mais elevado do que a satisfação, felicidade e gratificação pessoais. As pessoas que vêm até nós geralmente estão dispostas a por tudo em risco, na esperança de serem guiados de uma vez por todas ao fim do sofrimento e da confusão e à eliminação do anseio pela felicidade. Elas vêm a nós condicionadas por milhares de anos de tradição tacanha, acreditando que somos inescrutáveis e que os padrões normais de conduta humana não se aplicam a nós. Elas acreditam que o que temos para lhes oferecer é tão misterioso e oculto aos olhos comuns que lhes falta uma base para julgar nossa conduta; por mais abominável que seja, ela pode ser exatamente o que é preciso para "despertá-las". É claro que nós podemos recorrer a ideias falidas sobre não-dualidade e que tais para justificar as nossas falhas mas, na minha opinião, isto não funciona. Isto é simplesmente mais uma história limitada sobre a realidade; uma história sem vida, sem alegria, sem nada real. Nós que desempenhamos este papel peculiar precisamos ser francos acerca de nossos atos e temos que assumir a responsabilidade sobre os nossos erros, por mais "não espiritual" que isso possa parecer. As pessoas confiam em nós, e nós temos que fazer todo o possível para nos manter merecedores desta confiança. Você é o mestre. O guru não existe. Não existe ninguém para dispersar as trevas. Não há ninguém a quem se deve devoção; ninguém a quem devoção é devida como uma condição para a sua realização. Não há nada em você que precise ser consertado. Não há nada que precise ser removido para você poder ver o que você é. Você é tudo que existe. Traduzido do inglês por Carla Sherman. © 2002 John Sherman. Alguns direitos reservados.
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Your single donations and monthly pledges make up 91% of all income to the foundation. We need to raise $56,500 to finance and sustain our work over the next twelve months. |
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As of July 21: |
| Worldwide Online Meeting | Saturday, September 11 at 4 pm PDT (UTC/GMT -7) People all over the world gather together with John for a couple of hours. John is available to listen to your questions, and to help you sort out any difficulties you might experience in your own practice of looking at yourself. This is very much like a call-in radio show. If you simply want to listen to the meetings, all you need to do is to install the software and have speakers attached to your computer. If you wish to speak with John, then you will need a headset with microphone. You can also use earbuds and a microphone. |
| More information. | |
All our events are always free of charge. Spontaneous donations for the support of our work are always welcome and gratefully accepted. All are welcome, with no regard for religious and spiritual beliefs and practices.
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| Download our 2010 Schedule of Events: | |
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| Brief report on what was accomplished in 2009. | |
| If you shop online, shopping through iGive.com can provide us with financial support at no cost to you. Use this customized link to register with iGive and we'll get $5 when you sign up and make a purchase online within 45 days of registration. | |
| Sign up and support our work at no cost to you. | |
| More information. | |
| Look At Yourself and Meeting Ramana Maharshi by John Sherman are available as free ebook downloads. | |
| More information | |
| Featured Letter of the Month | |
| We receive many, many beautiful and useful letters. Every month we try to feature one here that seems especially valuable and instructive for one reason or another. | |
| Podcast | |
A Worldwide Meeting - July 10, 2010 My role in this adventure of trying to bring the simplicity of this work to every human being is not to concoct teachings, ways of looking at things, instructions and practices that are my creation, and then pass them on to you for you to receive gratefully, and try to make sense of. My role here is actually to distill and articulate the product of an ongoing conversation among all of us, over a period of more than ten years now, about the discovery that bringing an end to misery in a human life is actually not only possible but easy and simple, and can be done by anyone. It requires nothing at all to accomplish this except the determination to do one simple, solitary, radical act, and that is to turn the beam of your attention onto the feeling of being you. That's it. In the end, and against all odds and all expectation, this repeated act will bring sanity into your life. It will eliminate the underlying sense that life is treacherous and not to be trusted, and that something desperately needs to be done about it. Complete, live recording of a Worldwide Online Meeting with John Sherman broadcast live from Ojai, California on July 10, 2010. |
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| Podcast | |
| Video Blog | |
Our Work First, last, and always, my advice is only to look at the feeling of being you, without the mediation of understanding, the need to resolve paradox, or the requirement that this looking lead to any conclusion. Simply make every effort just to look, and persist in that effort as often as you can. In this effort, understanding is irrelevant, belief is irrelevant, even duration is irrelevant — the briefest look, repeated over time, does all the work. A Message from John Sherman, videotaped in Ojai, California on May 15, 2009. |
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| Watch and download this video. | |
| RiverGanga Toolbar | |
| The toolbar gives you instant access to our podcast, videos, transcriptions, artices, excerpts, and more. You can also use it to follow us on Twitter. | |
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| Rides Needed & Rides Offered Accommodations Needed & Offered |
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| Use our BULLETIN BOARD to request and/or offer rides and accommodations for events with John Sherman. | |
| Bulletin Board | |
Our work is to bring the practice of looking at oneself to all who are interested. The only problem anywhere to be found is the false belief that you are at the mercy of your life, and the only solution is the truth, which is everywhere and always present and self-evident. Ridding oneself of the false is as easy as repeatedly tasting the truth of being here, unmovingly, unchangingly here. This repeated looking directly at oneself is the infallible method of the vichara. Although our meetings are free of charge, they are certainly not free of cost. The money needed for this work must come entirely from the generosity and compassion of those who, like us, have seen for themselves the immense worth of spreading this good news to all humanity. Please help provide financial support for the work of making this method more widely available in the world by making a donation or a monthly pledge in any amount now. All gifts to the RiverGanga Foundation are fully tax-deductible as charitable donations. |
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| Read a brief report on the work accomplished in 2008. |
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| RiverGanga News is a free email newsletter bringing current information about John Sherman and the RiverGanga Foundation. | |
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| We need volunteer help in many areas. If you have any talent, skill or calling you'd like to give to this work, please contact us. You can call us at (805) 649-1600 or email us: volunteers@riverganga.org | |
| More information | |
RiverGanga Foundation RiverGanga Foundation is a not-for-profit, 509(a)(2) public charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Our Internal Revenue Service Employer ID Number is 77-0561647. All donations are tax deductible for US residents as charitable contributions. Click to view our letter of determination from the IRS. IRS Tips for Year-End Donations
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| More about the RiverGanga Foundation. | |
All text, audio and video content offered free of charge on this website, unless otherwise indicated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Updated daily since July 12, 2009 Click here to see the archived map showing where more than 43,000 visitors came from last year. © 2001-2010 RiverGanga Foundation.All rights reserved. |
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