Ep360: Gurus & Awakenings - Dr Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis
Dr Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis is a Sanskritist and scholar-practitioner of Classical Tantra.
Available on Youtube, iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
Christopher shares how he became a spiritual teacher, explains the dangers of guru idealisation, and considers if he may be misleading his students.
Christopher discusses his own series of religious peak experiences, explores their causes, and reflects on their consequences.
Christopher recalls his time studying with American spiritual teacher Adyanshanti, the influence of Marshall Rosenberg, and reveals how his ability to spot fake gurus improved after his awakening.
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Studying under Alexis Sanderson
04:16 - Faithfulness to the traditions
05:38 - The requirements to understand tantric sources
06:24 - Secrecy and the oral tradition
09:07 - Did Sanderson receive Lakshmanjoo’s energetic transmission
12:28 - Academic approaches to religion
13:28 - Public vs private religion
14:23 - Why isn’t Sanderson religious?
16:40 - Is Shaivite Tantra a relic of the past?
17:42 - Does religious affiliation contaminate academic objectivity?
20:43 - Cabezón on the benefits of an insider perspective on religious
21:44 - Piety and devotion as motives
23:02 - Humanists can have devotion too
23:43 - Cynicism about human motives
24:50 - Loss of trust in gurus
26:39 - Famous gurus want to be famous
28:30 - How gurus fall
31:25 - How Christopher became a spiritual teacher
33:33 - Switching from academia to freelance spiritual teaching
25:22 - Is Christopher a guru?
39:30 - Does Christopher mislead his students?
44:21 - Christopher’s experience of flow when teaching
47:20 - Feeling the presence of past masters
49:30 - Self-deception and collusion with students
53:02 - Student-teacher projection
54:29 - Christopher’s experience with naive projection
56:23 - How Christopher deals with idealisation
57:52 - Why your biggest fans can become your greatest haters
59:14 - A story of praise and blame
01:01:55 - Christopher’s spiritual journey
01:05:22 - Studying with Adyashanti
01:08:26 - Christopher’s awakening
01:09:45 - What is vs one’s mental representation
01:14:39 - Sudden or gradual?
01:18:08 - Freedom from mental constructs
01:20:08 - Non-violent communication
01:24:13 - Am I good enough?
01:26:31 - Aftermath of an awakening experience
01:29:58 - Glimpse vs abiding shift
01:33:42 - Spotting fake gurus after awakening
01:35:57 - Changes in doctrinal understanding
01:40:22 - Challenging the true believer
01:42:29 - Denying the Buddhist doctrine of no-self
01:43:26 - 3 stages of awakening
01:47:41 - Christopher’s “Tantra 112” meditation app
Previous episode with Christopher Wallis:
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Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James