Shukdev's Letters to his mentor 3

Dear Mentor,

My initial reactions to this adventure are subsided and under some control. My schedule is regular and I have been given and name and the assurance that I would be initiated. So, that stuff is out of the way - but I don't think I could report these incidents in such a way as to be very valuable in a scholastic sense. My reading here and my frame of mind have however opened up a good base with which to work in regard to the presentation of the ideas and relative "paths" of those most enlightened fold of the late 19th and 20th centuries. I'll give it to you in a sketchy outline which I want you to keep and we'll work on it when I get back. It is basically in the form of a large work encompassing many volumes from the ancients to the present and hopefully it will constitute the better part of my year's worth of incomplete credit.

I. The Sages (the most influential, widely published and well-known giants of the late 19th and 20th centuries re: the spirit and paths to truth.

	A. Ramakrishna & Vivekananda (works describing their biographies and teachings including influence on modern-day India and the advent of Hindu thought in the west).
	B. Ramana Maharshi (famed sage of "Arunachala" taught the path of self-inquiry and the jnana yoga form of meditation.
	C. Krishnamurti (most prolific author and contemporary thinker in matters of truth pertaining to the current Western psyche. Also: Vimala Thakar).
	D. Aurobindo (famous politician, educator and yogi instrumental in the independence of India and present day city of "Auroville" based on practical application of a community "supramentalization").based on the tenets of spirit and
	E. Gurdjieff & Ouspensky (considered the "fourth way" - a most subtle yet difficult path formulated by these giant thinkers - their work is popular in the west).

II. The "glue" - Buddha's "eight-fold path" beginning with "the 4 noble truths." This ancient path is still practical and very amenable to a cross-reference of the aforementioned thinkers.

A. "4 noble truths" 1. life is suffering 2. suffering is caused by desire 3. desire can be broken 4. travel the eight-fold path.

B. "eight-fold path" of which (A) is #1. 2. right intention 3. right speech 4. right action 5. right means of livelihood 6. right effort 7. right awareness 8. right meditation.

This lends itself beautifully for comparisons of the several thinkers and what contributions they made in these more specific areas. The various teachings broken up according to Buddha's rules of "right living" in order to seek and realize the truth of being, the truth of the SELF.

III. biographies of each

IV. the writings from my journal where applicable

V. the yogas and where they fit etc.

Be healthy - scholarliness is illusion. -j