The Brahmic Vrittis Take Over

Awoke early at the Building Bridges homeless shelter in Ukiah, California. Holding fast to "the constant", understanding that the body and the mind change, but "the knower" never changes, there is no interference with the Dao working through the body-mind complex. Neti pot followed by tongue scraping followed by teeth brushing followed by shaving followed by a hot shower. One action flows into the next, effortlessly, the Brahmic vrittis having taken over. Walked to Plowshares and enjoyed a free pork lunch with apple sauce, pasta, and a slab of German chocolate cake; compliments of those dedicated Catholic Workers. Left there and checked the Powerball ticket, not yet not yet, and purchased another one for the next draw. [The Brahmins at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, South India said that they play the lottery, because if God wants to give them money to do God's will, they have to get it somehow!] Since 1994, have been playing three major lotteries twice weekly. The winnings have paid for the tickets thus far. Continued on to the Ukiah Co-op for a small drip coffee enjoyed in the cafe. Energized, walked to the Ukiah Public Library with a brief stop at the Hospice Retail Store. Presently on public computer #4 at the library. A thought arises and is observed by "the knower", and then the thought dissipates. No action is taken as a result of any particular thought. The body remains still. All action is as a result of the Brahmic vrittis, which will dictate for the remainder of this incarnation, all the way back to Godhead. This is the summum bonum of the Sanatana Dharma, or non dualistic vedantic way of life. All other paths are inherently included, because paths are many and the truth is one. It is full and it is complete. The mahavakya from the vedas is Tat Tvam Asi, which translates from the Sanskrit as That Thou Art. The deep, mysterious, divine, absolute is one's true nature. That thou art. Now you know the mystery!! As this civilization heads into 2023 Anno Domini, (which the yearly prediction issue of The Economist foretells will be an insane hell), I am available to leave the homeless shelter in Ukiah, California and am available for spiritually sourced direct action. I've got $166.81 in the checking account, health is basically good for a 73 year old two-legged, am basically sane, and ready. You are welcome to make contact at your earliest convenience. ~Happy New Year~ ☺ Craig Louis Stehr Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com Telephone Messages: (707) 234-3270 Share 💲Here: Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr Snail Mail: P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470 da blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com 20.XII.'22

The Full Realization of the Inherent Emptiness of All Phenomena

Years ago, following my participation in a month long repentance at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage, California, (which featured reciting Buddhist chants in Chinese along with thirteen thousand bows), I asked Abbot Lau what his goal was. He said: "My goal is to allow the Dao to work through me without interference." Prior to this, in the summer of 1994 at the Shivananda Ashram in Muni-Ki-Reti, India, the long time secretary of the Divine Life Society, Swami Krishnananda told me that: "It is difficult not to identify with the body and the mind, because the body itself is a reflection of the Divine Absolute." He encouraged everyone to chant: "I'm not the body, I'm not the mind, Immortal Self I am!" The swami left his body using his will power, by going into mahasamadhi, which was videotaped and is available at Shivananda online. Swamiji even sent out invitations to be with him, and foretold the day and time of his "going up". Left the Building Bridges homeless shelter in Ukiah, California this morning and walked to the Ukiah Co-op, not identified with the body nor the mind. Gave the mind the panchakshara mantram Om Namah Shivaya to do. Following a caprese sandwich with coffee, ambled over to the Ukiah Public Library. Presently am sitting in front of computer #4 tap tap tapping away. If you haven't read it yet, check out the latest issue of The Economist, which predicts the year 2023. Why don't we just say that it is not "warm and fuzzy". The future on the planet earth is predicted to be one insane hell. My new year's resolution is to "let the Brahmic vrittis take over". ~Happy New Year~ Craig Louis Stehr Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com Telephone Messages: (707) 234-3270 Money!! Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr Snail Mail: P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470 da blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com 17.XII.'22

Between the Worlds

Awoke at the Building Bridges homeless shelter in Ukiah, California December 16th, 2022 Anno Domini, with the mind reciting the Catholic Hail Mary prayer; none the worse for a previous evening stop at The Forest Club, having enjoyed a couple of pints of Sierra Nevada's Hazy plus a shot of 12 yr. old Glenfiddich, Also played an assortment of tunes on the juke box. Left early because we could not get through to the shelter by phone, due to their faulty phone system, and thus did return there by 8PM so as not to get "rolled up", and have to move out of doors. Morning ablutions were followed by a walk to Plowshares dining room for a free pork lunch. Left there at noon and walked to the Ukiah Co-op for more coffee. That propelled me onward to the Ukiah Public Library. Somewhere in all of that, the mind's activity changed to chanting Om Namah Shivaya, which was serene and appropriate with the surrounding hills and the bright sunny day. This chant from the Sanatana Dharma has huge magical properties, and will thoroughly cleanse karma. In the way of Integral Yoga, in which "paths are many and the truth is one", the jiva has a lot to work with. Given the incalculable amount of chaos on the planet earth presently, plus the propensity for the humanity to rival "worms in excretia", one having a full array of spiritual tools in the one's divine tool bag is essential. Although the Anderson Valley Advertiser Publisher this morning encouraged me to live in Mendocino County permanently, I had to respond that 1.money and 2. housing WITHOUT OBLIGATION is a requirement. Anybody interested in my offering to stay on here longer term, please send money to Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr, and let me know when I can leave the homeless shelter for a more socially integrated housing situation, at Building Bridges (707) 234-3270. I am willing to make a commitment, but I have to receive something, other than the world's problems. Is that clear? Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, as the earth spins around the sun! ~Peaceout~ Craig Louis Stehr Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com Telephone Messages: (707) 234-3270 Send Money Here: Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr Snail Mail: P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470 da blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com 16.XII.'22

Merry Christmas

Awoke this morning at the Building Bridges homeless shelter in Ukiah, California, having concluded a commitment to voluntarily bottom line the trash & recycling chore there, since March 1st. Ambled over to the Express Mart to check LOTTO , then headed for the Ukiah Co-op for a caprese sandwich and a cup o’ coffee, enjoyed in the cafe; presently am seated at a computer in the Ukiah Public Library. I AM READY TO MOVE SIGNIFICANTLY ONWARD! It has been unique being in Mendocino county since returning from Honolulu in November of 2020. Was supportive of the trimmer scene in Redwood Valley for 13 months before they kicked me out. Was supportive of Andy Caffrey’s effort to digitalize the Earth First! video archive and place it for perpetuity in the cloud. Got a pacemaker inserted at Adventist Hospital, because all of the stress caused the two heart chambers to misfire. Redwood Community Services gave me a bed at Building Bridges March 1st. Enjoyed many fine free meals at Plowshares. Made friends with a very wide range of displaced individuals at the homeless shelter. As of this moment, I am available on the planet earth for spiritually focused direct action. I already am enlightened, and do not require watching mental activity (thoughts) anymore. They repeat over and over and over, to eventually wanting to beat the crap out of American postmodernism, before the mind returns to silence. ~Merry Christmas~ Craig Louis Stehr Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com Telephone Messages: (707) 234-3270 Send Money Here: Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr Snail Mail: P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470 da blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com December 15th, 2022 Anno Domini

Chant “Om Namah Shivaya” as an alternative to random discursive thinking. Stop identifying with the body and the mind and your problem is solved. Be free!

Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya https://www.sivanandaonline.org/newsupdates/lord-siva-and-his-lilas/ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wallpapers_4k_hd_lord_shiva_Wallpapers&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1 Craig Louis Stehr Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com Telephone Messages: (707) 234-3270 Share the Money Here: Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr Snail Mail: P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470 da blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com 9.XII.'22

Craig Louis Stehr Interview (Anderson Valley Advertiser, Boonville, CA)

NAMASTE, EVERYONE by Marilyn Davin After reading his messages in the AVA for lo these many years, I finally met Craig Louis Stehr in downtown Ukiah. Having no idea of what he looked like (he emailed me an AVA profile from years ago but I never read another writer’s impressions of someone before doing an interview myself, and online images didn’t offer much), I imagined Stehr might look a little like my blonde, blue-eyed Hindu brother: highlighted hair down to his elbows, tie-dyed tights, tennis shoes (no leather, he’s been a strict vegetarian for more than 40 years), and the stunted, worn teeth that his SF dentist told him are common in people who spend a lifetime eating a high-acid strictly vegetarian diet. No such imagining could have been further from the truth in Stehr’s case. When Stehr walked toward me after passing through the gate of the Building Bridges homeless resource center on South State Street, I knew instinctively it was him even though he looked like one of my literature professors at Berkeley — clean-cut, but somehow hip at the same time. And when he took his hat off the curly white tendrils of hair on his forehead gave him the distinct vibe of a bust of Julius Caesar. He carried with him the Winter 2022 edition of Slingshot, a self-described independent anarchist’s newspaper, but with undertones of Mad magazine. One prominent article entitled “The Rise of the Anarchists” features the caricature of a young guy with dollar signs wearing a sideways baseball cap, with the accompanying caption: Most people who say they’re anarchists don’t want to give up unearned forms of hierarchy or make the changes that would entail. True enough. The front page article on the “revival” of Berkeley’s People’s Park took me way back to when I was 18 and cheering on the “people’s” struggle over that infamous square of downtown Berkeley real estate. Stehr had asked ahead of time if I minded driving him to his post office box in Redwood Valley, which of course I did not. Why Redwood Valley? “The Ukiah post office wouldn’t give me a post office box because I’m homeless,” he explained, so he only collects his mail every few weeks or so when he scores a ride up the freeway. He carried his bundle of mail back to my car and we set off back down to Ukiah in search of a quiet place to chat. Stehr chose Black Oak Coffee Roasters on North State Street, where we settled in with café lattés (with complicated milk-foam decorations on top) and pastries. He recommended a pastry with a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle and it was indeed delish. Stehr’s physical presence is engaging and open. He laughs spontaneously and often, and its joyous sound is infectious. He sees the follies of the world for what they are but says he doesn’t sink into their sorrows. “I am in the world but not of the world,” he said, a foundational biblical belief that provides emotional distance from the noisy, divisive issues that so bedevil us. He told me that one of the main differences between himself and others is that his beliefs afford him that emotional distance: a quiet, spiritual space in which to retreat from the nonsensical madness of the world. “It can anchor the mind,” he said, “a place I can go to.” Stehr added that he has concerns and worries just like everyone else but doesn’t respond with the high emotion expressed by others who wish our world could become a kinder, gentler place — which isn’t to say that he has no opinions about worldly goings-on. For example, though Stehr was raised Catholic and chose a different spiritual path, he says he harbors no resentment toward Catholicism. Nor does he see any spiritual conflict with his pro-choice beliefs. “I stand what I stand on and I know who I am,” he said. “Your sense of God dictates your life.” Stehr told me that his relationship with the AVA began many years ago (he couldn’t recall the exact year) when he met Bruce Anderson at the Anarchist’s Book Fair at 9th and Lincoln in San Francisco. He said he also met Anderson with Alex Cockburn at a “Save Our Jobs” protest. “We went there to support the workers,” he said. Stehr has written for dozens if not scores of publications, including Slingshot and the AVA. He comes by his writing honestly; his mother Margaret, a real estate broker in Milwaukee, left her obit, which she wrote herself, next to her body when she died. About his own inevitable death, he said he is “uncomfortable but not afraid,” adding that, “I’ve never left the body before.” Spiritual seekers and devotees often share life experiences that validate and intensify their beliefs, and Stehr is no exception. He described one of particular intensity that happened years ago in San Francisco. “I got to a point when there was nowhere to go, either backward or forward,” he said, and ended up drawing a circle in the sand at Ocean Beach and sitting in the middle of it to meditate. As day turned into night he said he gained clarity in the stillness of his meditating mind. “I just accepted my circumstances,” he said. “When I came back to consciousness after a whole day I just started laughing into the dark.” On a very different occasion Stehr said he received a special request from Swami Prabuddhananda to become the live-in assistant to ailing William “Bill” Edward Corcoran for the last years of his life. “I was there for three years, sleeping on Bill’s kitchen floor,” Stehr said, adding that he was present for Corcoran’s cremation and the scattering of his ashes beneath the Golden Gate Bridge from a rented boat. Stehr said he is always searching for opportunities to support causes that he believes can improve life on Earth, a life-long quest he describes in his regular messages in the AVA. Ideally, he said that he would like to participate on a larger national platform — which brings us to the state lottery, which Stehr plays twice a week. He has plans for his winnings should Powerball or Mega Millions pick the lucky numbers on one of his tickets. “I’d move to Capitol Hill,” he said, which he’s visited 16 times and believes to be ground zero for raising issues on the national stage. But for now he’s bunking at Building Bridges while seeking out that next opportunity. “They call me The Mayor,” he laughed. “It’s warm, it’s comfortable, and they like me, so for the moment I’m parked here.” But talking about the local homeless situation did touch a nerve. “Talmage could have been used,” he said, referring to the former 488-acre, multiple-building site of a large state hospital. Purchased on the cheap by the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the “City of Ten Thousand Buddhas” now generates an estimated $244,862 in annual revenue from its restaurant, day care, classes, and many other activities. We left Black Oak for Safeway, where Stehr often buys his fruit and yogurt for dinner (though he does enjoy the occasional steak dinner at Applebee’s, along with one of his favorite beers and a shot of whiskey). As we said our good-byes back in the Building Bridges parking lot, he offered some advice for spiritual seekers, which he no longer considers himself to be since he found what he was looking for: “Stop identifying with the body and the mind and your problem is solved.”