Comments on: Shantam Iqbal on Spiritual Intelligence

By: Lokesh

Lokesh — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 19:15:15 +0000

There are two types of people in the world. Ninety-nine percent who cannot go alone… Alone, if they try, they will remain fast asleep for ever and ever. Alone, left to themselves, the possibility is nil. They will need somebody to wake them; they will need somebody to shake them out of their sleep, to shock them. They will need somebody to help them. But there is another type also, that is only one percent, which can find its way on its own.

Buddha belongs to the first type, the rare type, the one percent. Siddhartha also belongs to the same type. He understands Buddha, he loves Buddha, he reveres him. He feels the sadness and the pain and the heartache when leaving him, but he knows he has to leave. He has to find his own way. He has to seek the truth on his own. He cannot become a shadow; that is not possible for him, that is not his type. But that does not mean that everybody has to seek on his own.

Osho, ‘Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega’, Vol 7, Q2 (excerpt)

By: satchit

satchit — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 18:48:16 +0000

I did read ‘Siddhartha’ 55 years ago.

Another spiritual novel from Hesse is
‘Narcissus and Goldmund’.

By: Nityaprem

Nityaprem — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 09:01:53 +0000

Today I am reading Herman Hesse’s novel ‘Siddhartha’. It’s very interesting, a story of a young Brahman who lives in the time of the Buddha and meets him. It’s a spiritual journey in a novel.

What happens in the story is that Siddhartha does not find it in himself to become a follower of the Buddha. He accepts from him only one teaching, and that is to be a light unto himself. He then finds a measure of awakening by himself.

Fascinating story…

By: Lokesh

Lokesh — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:14:51 +0000

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

(Arthur Schopenhauer)

By: satchit

satchit — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 05:41:07 +0000

Yes, everyone who writes here wants attention. So everyone is a troll.

By: Nityaprem

Nityaprem — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 19:07:23 +0000

Isn’t everyone on SN a troll?

By: satchit

satchit — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:05:58 +0000

NP, somebody says it is good that Veet left SN, he is a troll.
Somebody says it is bad, he is a devotee of Osho.

You choose!

By: Lokesh

Lokesh — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:16:18 +0000

The distinction between good and evil is a complex and deeply personal issue, and there is no single answer that can apply to everyone. Each individual must consider their own beliefs and values when forming opinions on what is good and what is evil.

By: Nityaprem

Nityaprem — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:06:26 +0000

I was wondering today about the good and the bad. Is it worthwhile to talk about what you see as bad, without also talking about the good? Should one condemn one, and glorify the other?

121
Do not think lightly of evil and say, “It will not come to me.” Even a water pot is filled by the fall of drops. Likewise, the fool fills himself, collecting drop by drop, with evil.
122
Do not think lightly about the good and say, “It will not come to me.” Just as a water pot is filled by falling drops, so the wise man, who collects the drop by drop, fills himself with good.
— ‘The Dhammapada’

By: Lokesh

Lokesh — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:24:54 +0000

The way of the black cloud.