I have been watching with great interest the supposed reincarnation of the Buddha in 18-year-old Ram Bahadur Bomjan. Supposedly, he has been meditating with little or no food or water for 6 years; once spending 6 months under a tree in southern Nepal.
Most people probably haven’t heard of this at all. Our minds have been focused on shinier objects, more horrific stories, and, of course, the rabid consumerism of our age. In fact, I only heard bits and pieces of the story until recently. But the very fact that someone could attain enlightenment in this world, if in fact he has attained enlightenment or is the reincarnation of Buddha, was profoundly fascinating to me.
How is it possible anymore? We’re becoming more and more isolated from one another through the conveniences of technology, and it seems we’re losing a grip on what keeps us civilized at the same time. And yet out of this turbulent world, someone is able to inspire the world with the simple, timeless message of so many of the world’s messengers of light:
- You can be shown the way, but you must seek it on your own if you’re to benefit from it.
- Walk a righteous path and seek to save your fellow man
- Avoid attachment to earthly things
- Detach yourself from anger and temptation
- Spread spiritual knowledge throughout the world
For the full speech, check out the official site of Ram Bahadur Bomjan.
I’m not promoting this guy or his ministry. But as a gnostic, I feel a certain kinship with Buddhism, so I can’t help but be interested. Whether he turns out to be a fake or the real thing, it seems to me that he isn’t teaching anything new. The path to gnosis/enlightenment is the same as it has been since the time of Gautama Buddha, Jesus, and Mani. It doesn’t require that a person be a spiritual elite, and it doesn’t require a library full of spiritual laws. It just requires discipline and compassion, two things that are sorely lacking throughout the world.
In the end, people have to ask themselves what they’re seeking in life. It’s probably safe to say that physical objects won’t fill the emptiness inside of us. And yet we turn into animals at the first sign of a Black Friday sale.
It’s a lesson civilizations have had to learn over and over. I guess as long as civilizations encourage greed and attachment to the physical world, messengers will need to enter the Matrix and teach us again and again: “This isn’t real. You’re being duped. This is not who you are.”
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