Ishvara Das / Al: Quarkdom and the Myth of Hell

Al/Ishvara Das wrote to the ex-er mailing list:

Here's the deal on the whole "Quark" premise.

At a chela seminar in Crestline in the year 2029 (er, that would be something like 1981 for those of us who conform to the more commonly accepted calender) we were told that if we deny the master or otherwise fuck up in any way during this all-important incarnation, we would experience a never-ending series of incarnations in which rather than evolving upward, we would devolve downward through lives as lower mammels, reptiles, amphibians, fish, plants, algae, then on to incarnations as mineral life and finally smaller and smaller parts of matter ending finally with a quark, or the smallest sub-atomic particle that had hit the popular media at the time.

All the while maintaining your selfish pride and recollection that you had denied the master and this was your punishment.

I remember that this was so frightening that Niamaron almost fainted. Antron had to hold her up and in his warm way told her everything would be okay.

Weird.

Dorie/Pathena responded:

Wow.

I know where the root of this crazy threat came from, but didn't realize it had actually become a de-evolutionary-with-full- awareness piece of crap. All Donato ever said was that if people left ML, they would gently return to the place they were at before they came in. That was not so for the gopis though, and Sri took this into ongoing nightmare land it sounds like.

There was a time, an initiation, where the gopis were supposedly facing some new level of power. We were all at Crestline (I think - may have been another time) for a weekend, and had taken something - I think it was mescaline, but not sure. After hashing out whatever 'out of oneness' issues we had at that time, we were given this decision to make, that if we continued on from this point forward, if we failed in bringing the plan through to earth, we would spend eternity wandering the astral planes. This edict was issued by Sri, but Donato was there too and didnt contradict it. It was all so important you know - the level of devotion and loyalty to earn the right to the 'power' and all that shit. We each, of course, agreed and took this very sacred vow. I believe that the belief in the reality of that possible punishment is still what keeps many of the ex-gopis (and later chellas) stationary in that place where they have to remain loyal to sri and donato - its their only hope. This was very real at the time, and solidified even more in the following years.

I guess one way to think of it is that at least with Sri's version, you get to have a lot of incarnations in between :). You know, break up the boredom of impending quarkdom a bit.

What ludicrousness - but it was sure real at the time.

"This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. This is how a drug brain can gather a whole bunch of other brains and create a reality together..." We did buy into it - or many did. That part is ours to own.... and heal.

xoxox dorie