Bee Sadhu, Python Sadhu

More about Bee Sadhu, Python Sadhu

Bee holy men and snake holy men.
The bee holy man moves from flower to flower, collecting nectar as he goes. This means he gathers teachings from many sources. The snake holy man, by contrast, waits in one place until the teacher comes to him.

Guru Shapa is a term found in Indian astrology. It means there is an affliction that will create difficulty in one’s relationship with a teacher. I believe I have this, though I attribute it more to my relationship with the planet Rahu, which has actually benefited me by sharpening my discrimination.

Kamala Ma was an older woman from Chennai. She treated a servant poorly. On one occasion, I was chosen by lot to perform a puja for someone’s guru, and I agreed. While I was in the middle of the ritual, Kamala Ma came up behind me and pushed me aside because she didn’t like how it was being done.

In every tradition I’ve been part of, people eventually ask: who is your guru? My favorite teacher of non-dualism is someone named Paramarthananda. Because of that, I was told I should add “Saraswati” to the end of my name.

Balasubramanian is an academic authority on non-dualism. He represents a bridge between traditional philosophy and the modern world, which largely operates from a dualistic perspective.

Atma and anatma are terms that shift depending on the system. They roughly correspond to the real and the unreal. In Buddhism, anatma—non-self—is central, because the self is seen as a constructed illusion. In Advaita, this is reversed: the Self is real, and the non-self is unreal. These opposing views likely developed through centuries of philosophical debate.