Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
There are second-hand copies still available at a very high price. A print shop is a good idea, but no links, please!
Kindles can read azw3 files, everything else in the ereader group can read epub files.
Calibre can read anything on pc or Mac (or linux).
Phones: I use the epub file on moonreader, but again, anything will do.
Following the launch of the ITC website, and the further correction of some errors and typos, the download section has been revised with new pdf, azw3(Kindle) and epub files, and links to the (unindexed) pdf files on the ITC website.
The illumined versions have a more modern look, at the expense of some readability. Certainly, some of the graphics are useful, and I may include some of them in the online version of the book on this site.
My original intention was to link this site to the downloads section of the ITC site, however I do think the the downloads section here contains a more user-friendly product, with paragraph reference numbers to aid discussion, rather than page numbers which can be confusing on an e-reader.
I have corrected the BTP error concerning the retention of Female Sexual Energy, and brought the downloads section on this site up to date.
I will be pleased to link this downloads page to yours when your site becomes active: that will be more sensible than maintaining two centres. I look forward to studying the updated versions of the books.
You will still be able to read, reply and comment on this site, even AFTER deleting your email address. An active email address is only needed to receive password reminders.
I shall detail here what changes I might make to this site in the light of the updated content on the ITC site, so there is an opportunity to comment.
Your own wish for privacy is respected. Should you (or any other person) wish to contact me privately there is a contact form here .
Thank you for your blessings.
You have asked the same question, essentially, in two places, so I have combined both topics here.
Ali, I suspect that you are always going to find understanding the nuances of the English used in BTP difficult if you were not brought up with it as your first language. You will have to take great care that you read the words from a Western cultural context should you wish to follow this system. It is one more layer of difficulty that you will have to overcome. Of course, it is part of your karma.
Your question regarding chapter 5 and the stabilising meditations is an example of that misunderstanding. It is completely clear to me that it refers to the meditations within chapter 5, and not chapter 2, for instance, and I cannot imagine how many other little traps there are for someone reading this stuff who has not been completely immersed in Western language and culture from birth.
So, I think you will have to spend even more time re-reading the book than a second generation Westerner. For instance, at present you are centred sometimes, occasionally, but it comes and goes: re-read carefully para 3.5.1 until you understand it.
One thing you say that is definitely correct, it is essential that you meditate every single day for a minimum of 15 minutes. Whether you know it yet or not, it is the foundation of your developing awareness and one of the sources of your developing power.
The reconciliation of your developing awareness with your day-to-day responsibilities is another question you raise, which makes me wonder when you last read the book thoroughly: this is discussed in several places, and is indeed very important, as the responsibilities of a westerner on the path of spiritual development are very different from an easterner.
Read and re-read the book, is the key message here. If you want to be sure you haven’t missed anything, use the search facility on this site. For instance, searching for “responsibility” brings up a load of relevant information. Most seekers following this system have read BTP so often that they know it by heart, but you may still need to re-read it even then to be certain of the exact wording and meaning.
And , as you discover these misunderstandings within yourself, please comment under the relevant paragraphs so that others with a similar background to you will be less likely to fall into the same errors, should they find their way here. This would be a service to them that will, of itself, help you to transform your life too.
Time to tackle the second part of your questions.
“When will it stabilise?” – do you mean when will your awareness stabilise in the transpersonal state?
If so, this process will be a part of the major shift that takes place with the first stage of enlightenment. Yes, there are periods of serenity before that, particularly during meditation, but the detachment from emotional and intellectual limiting conditions that is the characteristic of the first stage of enlightenment means that there is much less stuff that you are attached to enough to get to you. Does that make sense?
And from then on it becomes easier still. The ability to live for the rest of your life in a sea of serenity comes with the second stage of enlightenment, when one has transcended the limitations of the thought process.
How to act? yes, act by using the formula, and where necessary the power discipline. Read and reread BTP. You will notice different things each time you read.
Ali, what is your racial and cultural origin? This system has been designed specifically for the westerner. If you have been brought up as a secular westerner, then it will work for you. What makes a westerner? I suspect that to qualify, your parents at least will have been born and brought up in western Europe or the USA, as westerners. If that is not so, then you will find your intuition and the universe will guide you towards a system more suited to your racial and cultural nature – be open to that happening.
Hi Ali.
The dissolving into uncertainty as described in B 3.4( http://guidestoenlightenment.com/b-3-4-how-does-one-experience-the-uncertainty-of-being-set-face-to-face-with-reality/ ) is a clear sign that you are successfully setting yourself face-to-face with reality. Be satisfied with your progress. The kind of illusory certainty you experienced before will not return. What happens is that soon a deep understanding – faith, if you like – arises that, although the future is hidden, everything that happens to you is structured by Karma with infinite compassion to take you further on the far journey.
Alongside the dissolving of certainty is bound to come a crisis of motivation. This crisis is a further eroding of the personality by the process of reality.
As you set yourself clearly face-to-face with reality you come to realise that the original motivation was personality driven – if I become enlightened I will be universally respected, women will fall at my feet, I will never want for money, ice-cream, etc etc, all great personality preoccupations!
What replaces it? Perhaps the growing realisation that, in the end, nothing else is of lasting importance. But also that the far journey IS the “great adventure of the human spirit” AND “it is your destiny” just as promised in the preface to BTP.
Thanks, anonymous – I have no idea how you posted without registering, but am glad to hear from you, anyway!
I too was delighted to find the books published on Scribd, and to reproduce them here. It is possible for anyone to take the doc file(s) to an online publisher and get a “proper” book made up for a gift. Although tbh I gave many of the books away to people who never really read them, never really gave them the time they deserve (in my view). I think each has to come to this in their own time.
