that could explain Jesus' resurrection I suppose Steven.

while a skeptic, I am open minded and humble enough to ultimately believe anything is possible.

I know its not popular to say.  I know its foolish as hell.  But in my experience (here comes the blasphemy!)  all the great masters will ultimately fail you.  Fail  you, disappoint you, lead you astray perhaps until you stop expecting to fail yourself. After that happens maybe you'll meet great masters...you'll smile at each other, and then you'll go your way and they'll go theirs!  Dennis

As within so without!  If you have to go anywhere, perhaps you haven't been there!  Good luck, Dennis

there is that great parable...that if you meet the Buddha on the road, strike him.

Swami Vivekananda used to joke that in East Bengal, the avatars grow like mushrooms.

Surely, we are inundated with false teachers and charlatans. And, in every field, not just spirituality.

But there are rare gems, truly great spiritual souls who we can look to for guidance.

I agree that overly clinging to them can make us not develop our own spiritual wings properly.  But any attachment needs to be overcome without throwing away the baby with the bathwater.

So, just because we develop an attachment to a teacher as our salvation, does not mean we should give up our daily practice of prayer and meditation.  Hopefully we can continue our practice in a way that transcends attachments, but keeps us aspiring lively towards the goal.

In addition to Swami Vivekananda, who was one of a handful of people that Gandhi considered to be a true saint, Paramahansa Yogananda was another, and, I believe St. Theresa of Avila was one as well.  The first two lived in the modern era, St. Theresa was from the Middle Ages.

General information on Swami Vivekananda:

http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm

He was also one of the first people to bring Eastern religion to the West (the turn of the previous century).

In 1893, he spoke at the Parliament of World Religions (in Chicago?).  Apparently, an audio tape was made of the speech.

I know that, at the time, Edison was going around and recording important and interesting people.  I know that he caught Walt Whitman on tape and a former slave.  Perhaps he or one of his associates made these tapes.

Some are available for download (free) at:


http://www.theuniversalwisdom.org/categ … vekananda/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Books by Yogananda Online
(free)

"Autobiography of Yogi"


http://www.ananda.org/inspiration/books/ay/index.html


"Whispers From Eternity"

http://www.whispersfrometernity.org/contents/index.html


++++++++++++++++


The Life of St. Theresa of Avila

http://www.carmelite.com/saints/teresa02.shtml

+++

Writings of St. Theresa of Avila

http://www.catholicfirst.com/thefaith/c … HAPTER%20I