Eva first met Charles Berner at an Intensive he ran in the UK in December 1972. He had just returned from spending time with his guru, Kripalu, and, according to Eva, was radiating. I first met him at the 1982 six week held at his Ashram in California, but didn’t have a conversation with him until 1986 when we visited his Australian Ashram (see Chapter 11). Neither Eva nor I ever regarded ourselves as his students, but we both thought he was a remarkable teacher and valued the Enlightenment Intensive format enormously.
As recounted in Chapter 14 of Who I am, he came to stay with us when he was kicked out of the Australian Ashram in 1994. Although he gave us both valuable information about Sahaj Yoga (Natural Meditation), we were deeply unimpressed by how he was whilst staying with us. Frankly he appeared to be deluded and in denial – which was a shame for someone who had achieved so much and had such profound knowledge of the Divine and how to access it. I was particularly struck by his refusal to recognise any feedback about himself and his behaviour (see Feedback).
Much later, when I understood more about adult development, I was able to understand that despite Charles’s undoubted spiritual gifts and abilities, he had not succeeded in developing along relational and moral lines of development. This coupled with the intense sexual energy associated with kundalini releases, led him astray. He came to believe a version of yogic scripture that condoned sexual relations between a teacher and his students and resulted in a serious mess in his ashrams in both California and Australia.
So he was a flawed teacher. This does not in any way detract from what he taught spiritually. I regarded his talks on the Enlightenment Intensive (transposed in the original Masters Training Manuals) and his talks on Sahaj Yog (Natural Meditation) as inspired gifts to the world. He has literally opened the way for thousands of people to access the Divine that many would not have done following any other practice. It is truly remarkable that, using the process he designed, people can have genuine experience of the Divine within just three days. In the past Zen Masters scoffed at this possibility, now some Zen Masters have recognised its veracity and incorporate a version of the Intensive in their own teachings and group work.
In 2006 Charles wrote a new version of the EI Master’s Training Manual. This was more than 25 years after he ran his last Intensive. He was in conflict and dispute with most of his previous students – especially Satya and Skanda who were responsible for training EI Masters around the world. Charles claims that the new manual is an improvement based on the insights he has gained from his own sadhana. I have a different understanding.
I think the new manual was an attempt to reassert control of the EI scene and was an attempt to undermine the authority of Masters and Trainers who regarded him as a failed guru. What is more he negates what for me, and many other EI Masters, is the underlying ethos of the Intensive, namely the focus on finding out for yourself. A participant does not have to sign up to any dogma, ideology or set of beliefs in order for the process to work – this is an enormous strength. As Charles explained to me at great length, in Sahaj Yog it is critical that the teacher does not say what to expect or what may occur – because if it does then occur, the aspirant will not know whether it arose naturally or arose as a result of the suggestion. Exactly the same applies to the Intensive. The worst thing a Master can do is tell people what a direct experience is like or what to expect – yet this is exactly what he advocates in the new manual.
He also advocates only working on Who and What you are i.e. dropping “What is Life?” and “What is Another?”. Yet his own Lila theory is entirely based upon what another actually is, and as he correctly observed in the original Master’s Manuals, many older people want to start their inquiries by working on Life because that is what most interests them. Anyone who has had a profound experience on either or both these questions understands the value of these questions. Charles himself has said that it was an experience of What Another is that enabled him to understand the nature of God and the Divine. So this major change is in direct contradiction to much of his other teaching.
There is another aspect to this that may be relevant here. Charles was of the opinion that time spent in Sahaj Yog was far more effective than time spent on long intensives – indeed I think this was the root of his objection to long intensives. However he missed the point that people at the discovery stage of personal growth are not going to take up Sahaj Yog – that is a later stage activity requiring a commitment of many hours a day of meditation. So it’s not a question of using ones time most effectively, but having a process appropriate to an individual’s phase of personal growth. It is possible that in his later years Charles realised that the only question that made sense for him was “What am I?”. But it is simply a gross error to assume that this would also apply to someone at any earlier phase of personal growth.
The first twelve pages of the 2006 manual are a succinct summary of Charles Berner’s understanding of enlightenment and consciousness. I am not in any position to evaluate the veracity of what he writes, indeed it may be a significant contribution to the metaphysical understanding of consciousness and enlightenment. For me this has no place in an Intensive. For me it is the same realm as Buddhist philosophy or Christian theology. For me, and many secular people, the lack of dogma, theology and metaphysics is a major benefit of the Intensive. I think it would be a major error to include any of this material in what a Master communicates to participants.
I want to finish this critique with an acknowledgement of Charles Berner’s contribution to my own life. Not only did the EI process transform my life, he also provided guidance to me at certain important stages that I have only appreciated later in my life. I wish I had taken more notice of his teaching about kundalini, it would have enabled me to avoid my biggest error as a Master. I once saw Charles light up and radiate, it was when he was talking about his guru. I saw that he was a lovely being, and I cherish this memory.
A Master's Path 