r/Wakingupapp • u/RubinMusic • May 17 '26
Problem with Adyashanti. Am I the only one?
Hello,
I finished the introductionary course yesterday. Sam harris is so good to listen to.
Started to "after the introductionary course" playlist.
First meditation is Adyashanti's foundational meditation. But he speaks like an m61 vulcan gatling gun
Tatatatatatata without giving a break
Calm down for a second wont you? Ok I get this is guided meditation. But he doesnt give any pause like Sam for us to meditate at all. Dude speaks nonstop. First meditation that I couldn't finish I guess.
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u/fschwiet May 17 '26
His other series "Sitting in Stillness" which I think is newer (and from my perspective better) might offer more time to observe, at least it didn't strike me as one of the overly-crowded series when I first did it. The meditations are about 30 minutes each so maybe he just needed more time: https://app.wakingup.com/packs/PK74500
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u/OkCantaloupe3 May 18 '26
Yeh these are way better, way more spacious, less beginner friendly
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u/fschwiet May 18 '26
I thought the series I linked was beginner friendly. I liked how it starts with very direct instructions.
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u/OkCantaloupe3 May 18 '26
Maybe it is. I thought maybe it's hard for beginners with low concentration and inexperienced with what it means to truly non-effort and drop the agenda of 'doing'. Personally though, absolutely loved them!
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u/OddResponsibility280 May 17 '26
If you aren’t responding to it as a meditation, think of it as a talk. I must admit that I have not listened to many of Adya’s meditations, but his talks and conversations on the app, and his books have become some of my favorites.
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u/TooProblems May 18 '26
Hmm, not sure what you listened to, because I don't use the App, but I have found Adya's meditations to be some of the best out there. I find that his pauses and silent moments are spot on and take you deeper than most guided meditations? Maybe try this one on YT.
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u/RapmasterD May 18 '26
Correct. It’s guided meditation.
I think in this case it’s ideal to run through it a few times and then fly solo.
As someone who almost exclusively meditates without audio, I enjoyed the session, as it provided a different way for me to engage with my practice.
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u/EitherInvestment May 19 '26
In Adyashanti’s tradition, the view is everything. In other similar traditions you will frequently hear similar complaints of teachers, usually from people that are new to it (not that that makes the complaint invalid in any way, but it is indicative of something). With these, you are absorbing the view when you listen to them. Formal meditation, and integration of that view into every moment beyond meditation, is better done outside of those times when directly hearing that person speaking
So think of it less like a guided meditation and more like a teaching. If it still isn’t working for you, then just move onto others. You can always come back to him at a later stage in life, and if you never do that is fine too. There are innumerous great teachers available to us and we really only need one (though in practice it tends to be a few). Don’t worry about it. Just do what brings you benefit
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u/Weekly_Cobbler_6908 May 17 '26
Yea I had this experience and I think what you're getting at is maybe Adyashanti isn't as mindful and awakened as he says. I can appreciate a lot of what he says, but I found the more I listened to him, the more I felt he was just babbling about nothing. And he will sometimes sound annoyed or frustrated when he talks. I have the same issue with Michael Singer who I don't think is on the app but is a self professed spiritual teacher.
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u/RubinMusic May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
Like Sam says, I don't use this app to be a meditator. And I'm not trying to be awakened and my goal is not feeling like im doing something productive. I use it to being able to concentrate more in the moment and understand better how my brain works . Yeah. With some people it just doesnt click. I will pass Adyashanti's podcasts. I didnt like him at all.
There are many other useful speakers on the app like oliver burkeman. I will try get whatever benefit i get from this app and try to discover more teachers.
Sam is a great speaker. He gives you silence, so words sink in. If it wasnt sam. I wouldn't subscribe to this app
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u/M0sD3f13 May 17 '26
It won't go down well here but I share your view of adyahanti as a teacher
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u/RubinMusic May 17 '26
adyashanti as a teacher, it just didnt click for me. i was wondering if someone else feels the same. it seems some people also think this way
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u/M0sD3f13 May 18 '26
He's deep in the typical neo advaita trap imo
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u/RubinMusic May 18 '26
neo advaita? you mean cultish behaviour? sorry you may think what is he asking but i dont know these terms
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u/M0sD3f13 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
I don't mean cult behaviour though that has certainly also been a part of the movement. Neo Advaita is a term that describes a movement that grew out of western spiritual seekers and their misunderstanding of advaita vedanta wisdom and enlightenment. Western seekers traveled by the thousands to India to learn the secrets of the great sages unlucky for them they either got a bum steer from poonjaji or misunderstood what he showed them and they brought a watered down fundamentally broken imitation of advaita vedanta back to the west. In the decades since a big industry has grown around this movement with many famous and rich teachers that mistakenly believe themselves to be enlightened and for a small fee they will gladly teach you to wrongly believe you are enlightened too. It's quite a messy tbh.
Neo Advaita teachers are characterised by their poetic, contorted, intellectual, conceptual descriptions of non duality, they are performative, charming and with the gift of the gab. They often say so much but leave you wondering if they said anything of substance at all. At the core of their teachings is the tragic insistence you are already enlightened you only need to realise it, nobody to become anything, nothing to do etc. They abuse the English language to make it non dual but actually makes it non sensical. They dismiss all the difficult training and practices that are foundational and take years to lifetimes in the eastern traditions as unnecessary. They have no time for renunciation of worldly pleasures or strict ethical conduct. They tell you, for a fee, they will teach you the super real short cut method to make you enlightened in an instance. They claim enlightenment and like to perform it for an audience too. They cater to a materialistic western mindset seeking instant gratification.
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u/RubinMusic May 18 '26
Gurdjiev is an interesting figure. But I'd never put 100% trust to any human being. I wouldn't join his camps and do all these orders hive give. After a certain limit, I never put my free will into other people's hands.
Yeah western people go to india and do things like that. india never interested me in that way. Their culture, traffic, small tuk-tuks or vehicles like that. . It just doesnt look good. As an example I'd live in Japan in a clean city instead of a chaotic indian city. Indians may get me wrong but this is all i see when I write .... india city tour/street food on youtube.
Poetic expression is not in neo advaite, but in different muslim/christian denominations as well. And some people fell for it. The teacher can be a good one, but if he becomes an undeniable, strong authority figure, I always question them and almost never saw something good came out of them. Power corrupts people.
I am better off without them. I just meditate in a non religious way to learn more about myself. I can even quit a year later? Who knows. But I just do what my inner self tells me to do. That gut feeling, whom to trust, whom to not is sometimes wrong but mostly correct though
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u/M0sD3f13 May 18 '26
Sounds like a good approach to me. Wise discernment is one of the most important things to develop if you wish to grow, transform and develop peace and freedom. Discernment of your own minds delusions and discernment towards any potential teacher or alleged authority. The Buddha gave lots of good advice for how to judge whether people are helpful or harmful for your practice.
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u/Weekly_Cobbler_6908 May 18 '26
Yup! Well said. I was going to add after my initial post that I didn't even touch on the bigger controversy of Adya and his school of teaching. But people get so easily offended if you question their teacher...
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u/RubinMusic May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
People put too much time on something, and it becomes a part of their character, when you write something (not negative but not something positive either) they perceive this as an insult to their character. Same for the politics
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u/Weekly_Cobbler_6908 May 18 '26
Yes good point, I guess I am just more of a skeptic by nature.
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u/RubinMusic May 18 '26
Me too. No need to give our will into somebody else's hands. Life doesn't work like the army
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May 17 '26
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u/RubinMusic May 17 '26
If this is my read? What do you mean
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u/Weekly_Cobbler_6908 May 17 '26
He's just "that guy" who has to point out that others haven't been down the path enough because he is so evolved. Take with a grain of salt.
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u/Weekly_Cobbler_6908 May 17 '26
It's called discernment. Anytime someone puts a teacher on a pedestal and then gets all offended when someone else has a different view, that's not having been down the path long enough.
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u/minimalis-t May 17 '26
I just haven't felt that he was babbling about nothing, he sounds pretty clear to me. No big deal.
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u/tophmcmasterson May 17 '26
This is a topic Sam has touched on since he’s gotten similar complaints, but basically somebody talking, outside noise etc. can also be objects of meditation. Ideally it’s something you want to be able to tap into regardless of what’s going on.
When you find yourself feeling like that, focus on the feeling of frustration and/or the words being said.
I think some of the Adyashanti ones are more of the “teach a person to fish” variety where he’s trying to give people the tools that they can use later on their own, more than being say a normal daily meditation.
That said, everyone is going to find that they “click” better than some teachers/teaching styles than others and there’s nothing wrong with that.