In the direct realization traditions, View teachings are said to be the most important teachings a student receives. Why is this so? A podcast from Satsang with Shambhavi
Podcast First Words
So the question is, “Why are View teachings important?” As my teachers have taught me, and as I’ve discovered by myself, View teachings are really the most important teachings that you get. You could only have one mantra, or one kind of meditation to do, but you need a lot of View teachings.
So View teachings, first of all, orient you to the tradition that you’re practicing in. They let you know what that tradition has to say about the nature of the self, the nature of reality, how things come to be, and how they come to go away.
They also, very importantly, orient you to how to do practice. And what bhava, what orientation of feeling and thought you should be in when you sit to do practice.
So, for instance, most people are familiar with puja, which is the making of offerings. There are many, many different Views of puja. In other words, there are many different explanations that different traditions from India have to tell us about why we’re doing puja. What’s actually happening during puja. What orientation we should have to it.
We could do the exact same mantras. We could face the same deities, symbols, or gurus while we’re doing puja. We could make exactly the same offerings. But if we do it with one View verses another View, we’re going to have a very different experience.