Nauthiz posted this on the comment section of a page :
Thank you for your comments. Friends and family are a tricky one.. They often have the power to bind one to the person that they desperately want/need one to be, and here in kali yuga, this is the lower ego self. God realization for some becomes the most important thing, and as such friends and family who will not abide ones evolution and renunciation of the ego, must be detached from. This is one of the key obstacles in liberation. Its not that you can't be in relation with them, it is that they must accept relation with you in your Realization process and attained state. This is seen in the story of the Buddha whos father upon hearing that his son would either be a great king or a great spiritual leader did everything in his power to make sure the boy would become a king. He cloistered Buddha from the world knowing that if he ever witnessed suffering it would trigger evolution into realization of Buddha nature, and leave him the father w/out a rich and royal son. Namaste
Namaste, Govinda. You make some good and important points, however I would like to comment on your statement "In my experience, friends and family who care about your soul will be very happy to have a relation with someone on the path to Realization." In my experience no family member(and most "friends"), even those who claim to care about my soul, has any idea about what I am going through. So often these family members want to bind one to being their subject in the family structure. Most(almost all) are utterly ignorant when it comes to ego, soul, and then Self realization. They claim to be wanting the spiritual evolution of the loved one, but they are ignorant to what that even means and most often have no intention to do the work themselves or even putting effort into learning what it means. These situations can and do evolve, but it can take time as you point out. The family connection is, for many, the egos strongest bondage. In doing the work the Self becomes more important than family and family for the most part, in their egoic ignorance, strive to keep their member in the subjugated family structure. Tough choices are made by those doing the work. This isn't always the case, and it doesn't have to be an end to the relationships, but often parents and siblings will claw at the individual attempting to pull them into "who they are"(Ego) and they think they are doing good but they are not helping(at least not in an overt way, they are providing a challenge to overcome w/in the person doing the Realization). They think it is out of love, but it is not. They probably don't know Love. So the family interplay becomes a primary field in the battle for Self Realization. This phenomenon is part of why the Bhagavad Gita takes place on a battle field between family members. The specific psychological troubles that continue to bind one to ego illusion are the ones that need resolution, but one does not need to heal all psychological problems to realize God consciousness. I can not speak to your claims of how Shunya operates, as I have not been to the ashram. I can testify however that everything that I have witnessed has had integrity and everyone at the ashram in the videos seems free and well. As far as getting money from family, well why shouldn't they support the evolution of their family member? And should the ashram not be paid? It is rightful for them to have phenomenal support, and in my case they have worked with me and what I can offer in exchange for the teachings. The teachings of Sat Yoga are sound, are backed up by the sages, and apply very well to the modern mind. So far as I can see they are doing great work, and Shunyas teachings are indeed extraordinary though I personally wouldn't claim them to be perfectly flawless, they reach many people at this critical time. That said I take the shared experiences of yours and others into mind, with an open mind as I proceed.
In adtn I'd like to agree that most of the problems that arise for the individual are within the individual themself. And so that healing process will take a course, different for everybody, but in many cases will include that distance you speak of.
~Nauthiz
I should note that nothing I am expressing here re family is anything I've learned through Sat Yoga, but is just based on my experience on my path, evolution, and study. I haven't heard Shunya talk about these issues, except in very brief and general statements online and they didn't point towards encouraging the abandonment of family.