The Advaita Show #33 – Bob In His Natural Habitat

The Advaita Podcast #32 – Corey Doesn't Have It. Or Does He?
February 6, 2007
The Advaita Show #34 – Can Advaita Get You Laid?
March 5, 2007
Show all

The Advaita Show #33 – Bob In His Natural Habitat

So I was chatting with Bob the other day and I asked him if Eliot was still recording the regular sessions at Bob’s house. When I found out he was, I asked Bob if it would be alright to post one up here every now and again. He’s was fine with it so I emailed Eliot and he dropped a couple of recent sessions onto a DVD and mailed them to me.

This is an experiment I guess. It’s pretty long – 91 minutes. And the fidelity isn’t great. But it’s Bob in his natural habitat. Let me know if you’d like to hear more shows like this.

PRESS PLAY [audio:http://advaita.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_advaita_20070217_033.mp3]

OR DOWNLOAD THE ADVAITA SHOW HERE
NEW! – You can now subscribe to TPN :: The Advaita Show by Email! Click here to subscribe.
The Advaita Show Theme is:
Porno Sonic: Unreleased 70's Porno Music

Download “Dick Dagger’s Theme” (mp3)

from “Porno Sonic: Unreleased 70’s Porno Music”

by Don Argott

Valley Entertainment

49 Comments

  1. Corey Vance says:

    Cam,
    The link to download is broken. I looked at the code and there’s a stray ‘x’ in front of your ‘a href.’ What you have for the link is; “

  2. Mike A. from San Francisco says:

    Thanks for sharing Sailor Bob!

  3. Cameron says:

    Thanks for letting me know Corey. Should be fixed now.

  4. Carol Long says:

    As far as I’m concerned, you can put one of those on every day, or as often as Bob has discussions. In other words, more more more. Thank you!

  5. Mark Carpenter says:

    Look forward to hearing it, thanks.

  6. Helen says:

    Cam, Eliot and of course Bob,

    Thanks for the show – it was fabulous. The guys in the audience who ask questions of Bob mirror some of my own questions and contribute to greater clarity. Anything further that can be put up would be much appreciated.

    In gratitude,

    Helen in LA

  7. Richard says:

    Excelent show. One of the best. Bob was in top form. Keep them coming.

    This is what I will probably be thinking after I actually listen to it, which I am looking forward to doing.

    Thanks, Cameron, for giving us this opportunity.

    Richard

  8. Mark says:

    Looking forward to hearing Bob in his element!

    Hey, this is off subject, but for those interested, Byron Katie has a new book out called “A Thousand Names For Joy: Living in Harmony With The Way Things Are”. It’s her take on the Tao Te Ching and how her “Work” applies to it. She spends lots of time talking about what it’s to live without an identity. Lots of Advaita lingo-bingo. For those who struggle with the whole “no-free will” thing, or who want examples of living without being an “I” who is in control, you might enjoy it.

  9. Tapan Garg says:

    Thank you Cameron! Would love to hear more…

  10. Mandy Willison says:

    felt like fly on the wall when i heard this podcast as i had to leave this meeting early to get my daughter (14yrs old) back to boarding school.
    Turns out she was so glad to have attended Bobs meeting as it was her first day back at the boarding house (we live in Hong Kong) and she was feeling isolated that night at the school until she attended his meeting.
    Turns out she told me she now understands why i keep going back to Bob’s meetings when i am in the country.
    keep up the podcasts of the meetings they are valuable for overseas listeners.

  11. Karl says:

    Cameron Hi

    Bob of course is El Numero Uno and you’re a top man too;)

    But this Puppetji has it all. Even the Nis would laugh at this lot
    This has just got to be your next interview :))

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr-uFzgSFZg

  12. Gary says:

    Cameron: Mixing up “The Advaita Show” format has been a spontaneous flash of genius. Bob provided the clear pointers this week, but all of your presentations have had their own charm. Thanks for putting in the effort… Hope to see ya in California soon.

  13. Wyatt says:

    I think it will be good to get a dose of Bob medicine every once in a while, but definetly need a steady regimine of Camron and Steve’s Witt and humour as well!

  14. sunyata mu says:

    Always absolutely BEAUTIFUL to hear Bob speak.

    This is what the Advaita show is all about.

  15. MichiganMark says:

    Nice stuff. I love the immediacy and roughness of podcasts. I’m thinking Bob lives next to a major intersection. In the background I hear cars pulling up and big bass speakers booming outside before lights change, tending towards strip malls in sunshine a bit further down the road, I’m thinking. Yep, felt like I might have been present.

    This format showcases Bob well.

  16. Mark says:

    Here’s a question:

    I told my new girlfriend about Advaita and the basic philosophy of it; no identity, just spontaneous action, happening, no controller, nothing to gain, just pure awareness, in the now.

    She said, “I don’t buy it. How does that make us different from animals?”

    And that sort of stumped me.

  17. Corey Vance says:

    I’m no expert, but it’s my understanding that animals do not have the witnessing presence. For instance when Nisargadatta says ” you are the changeless witness of your changeful mind” I think that differentiates us from animals. They don’t have the separation between witness and the witnessed.

    I’m sure someone can improve upon what I’m trying to say…please do.

    Every now and then my girl and I discuss this stuff and I usually find myself explaining it to her in ways that I didn’t know I knew before hand.

    corey

  18. Cameron says:

    Mark, tell your girlfriend from me that there is no difference between her and a rock, let alone an animal. They are all mental concepts. Without What-I-Am, none of them could exist.

  19. Steven Witt says:

    Mark, I cannot resist.

    Ask your beloved if she would get eye surgery from a duck? Or let your dog drive her to the doctor? How about those drawings from Picasso, not bad for a “dog, ” after all he would hump most anything.

    Point being: this — all ONE BIG DREAM — doesn’t change, ‘cept it is seen that there is no you, no Picasso, and no body else doing anything. It’s all being…not even “done,” it’s a dream, all appearance only remember.

    It’s all BEING, intelligent or otherwise….end o’ story.

    But what a sweet, exquisite dream it is when this is seen.

    Love.

    P.S. Dump adviata lite and come see me in Carmel; we’ll get you squared away love.

  20. Mark says:

    Cam,
    But if I tell my girlfriend that she’s no different from a rock, the chances that I’ll get to have sex with her again are pretty slim wouldn’t you say? It sounds a little too close to “you’re as dumb as a rock”.

    Tell you the truth, I kind of don’t buy your answer either. Yes, we might be made up of the same raw material as a rock, but when was the last time you saw a rock or an animal build a bridge, record a song, or send a man to the moon?

  21. tazzy says:

    Great Stuff!!!! A big thankyou to every one involved from all the persons like myself who don’t live in Melbourne but would love to get to Bob’s meetings on a regular basis,let’s make it a weekly thing blokes,cheers,Tazzy.

  22. Gary says:

    Mark:

    Do you know what goes through an animal’s mind? Do you know what goes through your mind? Do you know the awareness that your mind is dependent upon? That same spark of awareness is what lights the world. Without awareness, there is no animal and no Mark’s mind, nor the round ball of rock upon which you sit. Your girlfriend must know what her next thought will be and she must know how she forms thought and how she shapes awareness. After all, she is superior to the animals, right? Same, different, better and less than are all conceptual traps of the mind. These concepts prove the primacy of the mind. This primacy can be seen through and when it is, the animal and you are players in the apparent manifestation. In day to day life, we are all individuals. Only you take this concept seriously and the animal may not. After all, animals are clearly superior to humans. Yes, we are the same and different..however you want to construct the play.

  23. Gary Lashmar says:

    are any of you peculiar chaps familiar with a guy called U.G. Krishnamurti?

  24. Gary Lashmar says:

    I’ve decided to call myself enlightened. I’m not sure if i am but i thought “in for a penny in for a pound” and all that old gubbins. No seriously if you’ve any questions about how you can be enlightened too then feel free to ask me. I suppose i’ll need a name. I’m thinking … APPLEMAN. I’m not a fruit or anything. i just think it sounds cool. Ok … Fire away!

  25. DharmaMike says:

    You made a decision, Appleman? Are you sure?

  26. Cameron says:

    Mr Lasher, I have Mr McCartney on line 2.

  27. Gary Lashmar says:

    Actually. I was on my way to work this morning … thinking about all this advaita lark and thinking about something Tony Parsons said about awakening and how he went through this kind of a transitional period before settling into awakening blah blah blah and then suddenly i stepped in a splodge of dog crap and damn if i didn’t stop thinking for a second.

    Who’s McCartney when he’s about? Unless you’re talking Paul. LEGEND! I did the pilgrimage to Merseyside a few years back. Now that’s a spiritual bloody experience if ever i’ve had one. Strawberry Fields. Penny Lane. Matthew Street. Wallop!

    I’m not sure about Appleman. I think it needs work. I might just stick with Gary for the time being.

    Bonzai

    Gary
    Zen Province of Canary Wharf,
    London
    2007

  28. Gary Lashmar says:

    Whilst the 90 mins of bob in his own habitat is a privallege (i haven’t finished it yet and i aim to) i think the Advaita Show is/was quiet unique due to the banter between Cameron and Bob. So i reckon someone needs to get their finger out and do a few more of them. It’s your duty to the people Cameron old son! I kind of got the feeling Cameron and bob felt things were getting a bit repetitious. So what? The most important thing of all is that it was funny. And i think this whole advaita thing was long overdue for a big splodge of that. Sh1t. Got to go. Got a job.

  29. Marcelo says:

    Hey Cam,

    How about convincing someone in Melbourne to bring along a camera to one of his sessions?

    Maybe we could SEE Bob in his natural habitat? That way we’ll know what to aim for while hunting during Bob season. And find out how long there mating period is for? Do they have a mating ritual dance? How many times a year do they shed skin? Do the males go hunting while the female Bobs stay home and nest?

    So many questions…

  30. SRI LASHMAR says:

    Oy … Marcelo did you know that there is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which to some has come to be known … the Bob Zone.

  31. SRI LASHMAR says:

    jesus christ. i’ve written about 5 entrys on here today. It’s you lot. You’re brainwashing me. Shit. i’ve just written another one

  32. Steve says:

    the difference between us and animals, specifically dogs, is that we can’t lick our own balls. if we could we would not be interested in this nonduality stuff.

  33. Cameron says:

    Steve, maybe you just aren’t trying hard enough? Never, never, give up.

  34. Steven Witt says:

    Ah, perfect proof that “the secret” — that hocus mimbo out of, where else, Cameron’s Country — is k-rap.

    Why imagine what we would do to our poor balls if the law of attraction were true? And do unto others, ye gods, the images are endless and …

    Still Steve, as Cameron says….”ask, believe, receive.”

  35. Cameron says:

    actually it’s “ask, SEND MONEY, receive”

  36. Mark says:

    Hey Steve,
    I’m curious: why do you think “The Secret” is crap?

  37. Steven Witt says:

    Mark, that’s worthy of it’s own show, which I sense is coming.

    So many reasons, so little desire to type them.

  38. Steve says:

    Question for Bob: My direct experience is that the earth is flat. Can direct experience really be trusted as an authority?

  39. Helen says:

    Steve – I’m not Bob, but: your direct experience is that world is flat from where you presently stand, a stillpoint, and as you travel a short distance over the earth. From this limited range, you extrapolate that the whole world is flat. Alan Watts has suggested that if you start off at one point on the planet and walk on consistently in the same direction, you return to the exact same point. This demonstrates that the world is cylindrical from north to south, say. Then conduct the same experiment from east to west and both results will bring you to the conclusion that the world is round. He calls this ‘a fool who persists in his folly will become wise’. And it is direct experience, not assumption.

  40. Steve says:

    “He calls this ‘a fool who persists in his folly will become wise”

    Helen, you seem intelligent, can you think of any examples were that might not be true?

  41. Steven Witt says:

    Steve, how about Russian Roulette.

    And really, who cares?

  42. Gary says:

    Steve:

    How about meditation?
    How about self-inquiry?
    How about opening chakras?

    How about seeking something already present?

  43. Steve says:

    All good examples. LOL. Obviously there are situations where direct is right and others were it is wrong. That’s my point. Direct experience is fallible and not an authority. So anybody (Rmana, Nisgardatta, Bob) speaking on the authority of their direct experience is speaking on the authority of something that should not be given any. (because its fallible.)

  44. Marcelo says:

    Hey Gary
    I wrote that piece as a bit of a piss take on Bob fandom inclusive of my own. I see my going to Bob as a sort of an extension of a history of betrayal.

    Were taught to betray ourselves at an early age, so we continue to think we don’t got it.

    The classic “I’m not good enough” routine.

    When the veil became transparent, It was seen that Bob was correct in discouraging the notion of a guru. The obvious one being that there is no one here, therefore no one there. But also in saying that since ‘you are that anyway’, so its there ready for you.

    But could I have overcome betrayal on my own without Bob being my final act of betrayal?

    Well it’s to bloody late to find out now!!

    Seriously though… everything got me here

    The betrayal, Bob, car, earth, wind, air, John Howard, George Bush, evil knievel…

    And on goes the betrayal if Bob is put up on a pedestal.

  45. Marcelo says:

    Even better, why choose Bob out of everything that brought me to this point?

  46. Kerri Melynn says:

    Have not been on your site since new year and got on to listen to “The Last Show”
    Is it possible to get this again….Do enjoy all that comes on your show reguardlees of sound….its All good…Thanks Kerri

  47. Tom Allen says:

    He says:Just as the heart beats of itself and the breath breathes of itself so the thoughts think of (by) themselves.–I am paraphrasing–which reminds me of what some japanese guru has said, namely that thought is a kind of secretion of the brain (or mind). I don’t know. I do know that thoughts come of themselves and of themselves they go.In fact, that is all I really do know.

Leave a Reply to Marcelo Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *