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Reality...

There is a Reality which is Indivisible, One, Alone, the Source and Being of all; not a thing, nor even a mind, but pure Spirit or clear Consciousness; and we are That and nothing but That, for That is our true Nature; and the only way to find It is to look steadily within, where are to be found utmost peace, unfading joy, and eternal life itself.

- Douglas Harding

Freedom from fear...

Learn to look without imagination, to listen
without distortion: that is all. Stop attributing
names and shapes to the essentially nameless
and formless, realize that every mode of perception
is subjective, that what is seen or heard, touched
or smelt, felt or thought, expected or imagined, is
in the mind and not in reality, and you will
experience peace and freedom from fear.

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973

True Nature...

Awareness, or your true nature, is not a thing or an object to be grasped by the senses or the mind. For this reason, the mind is utterly unable to understand what is being pointed out. Yet if I ask you "Are you aware?" you immediately recognize the presence of awareness, or the fact of your own being.

True insight does not rely on the mind at all.
...........John Wheeler

Past, Present, and Future...

These are the times of our lives.. we exist mentally within the past and future.. both bring pain.. very few exist mentally within the Present.. This pinpoint of time which is not time at all, It is Eternity.. this is the mental state of happiness.. in this second, pain does not exist.. you do not exist.. Only You does exist.. Consciousness being Consciousness.. the place that you leap from to explore pain from the past and fear of the future.. Begin to exist within 'Now".. without desires, pains, and fears.. just observe the moment without deciding if it is good or bad.. stop having opinions.. just Be!.. This is Consciousness being Consciousness.......... namaste, thomas

Suffering...

Although it may sound surprising, I do not intend to help anyone get rid of their suffering. Suffering is not the problem. Rather than trying to get rid of suffering, it is more important to inquire into the suffering itself, to investigate the reality of the sufferer. Inquiry is the front door.




The inquiring mind is an open mind, willing to explore most deeply. In that openness, it can allow the presence of suffering with-out rejecting it or trying to escape it. This can be just as powerful, just as terrifying, and just as profound as facing your own death. When you inquire into suffering, you meet suffering, and when you meet suffering, it is possible to discover that suffering is not what you thought it was. In a direct meeting between subject and object, sufferer and suffering, both disappear. Both are discovered, in reality, to be nonexistent.



I will make an even more precise and outrageous statement. I recommend that you consciously suffer. What is wrong with suffering? What thought or voice in your head says suffering is wrong? Painful, yes, but not wrong.

Willingness to suffer fully, even for an instant, without trying to escape or be saved, means that suffering is no longer an obstacle to full surrender into the mystery of existence. Relief from suffering stops being the goal.




According to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said, "When you know how to suffer, you do not suffer." The "how to" of suffering is to suffer all the way. It is to suffer with full consciousness. To consciously suffer is to consciously recognize the impulse to escape and instead face directly whatever is appearing, be it grief, horror, extreme loss, or sadness.



Gangaji
The Diamond in Your Pocket
Sounds True, Inc
2005
Boulder, CO

Questions...

Who would you be and how would you think if you did not have parents and books?.. What would you believe?.. This is the pure state of seeking.. Imagine if you were the first human to achieve Union with God.. What would you say to speak of this event?.. What words would you use?..Who would you tell?.. Could you trust others to accept your experience?..This is the quandry of the first Mystic and often the modern Mystic.. All Mystics exist within all religions.. They often keep their Knowledge hidden as the Sufis', for their own protection.. Jesus did not and as many Sufi Masters, was killed for his Knowledge and Experience.. We are fortunate because we live in a country and time when we can speak out as Mystics...........namaste, thomas

Basic Teachings by Adyashanti...

Ego is another word for you might call it "lower self." "Lower self" is really ego. Its where we're dealing with more of the base instincts of self. These are what we think of as egoic instincts; for control, for power, for dominance, for...all the traits that ego's tend to involve themselves in. The wanting for attention, the tendency to get stuck in a blaming energy, a condemning energy, the identification with being victim. I think of you really look at the nature of ego within yourself, you could come up with your own ideas, your own experience, and more important, of the way ego moves within you. Generally ego is that which is grasping and pushing away. So the underlying structure of ego is, is really a type of will, underlying ego is a type of will. I want and I don't want. So attachment and aversion, these are easy words to use, but what is attachment and aversion really like inside and inside its a movement of will. Its a movement towards or away. This constructs or is the foundation of ego in the context that I am using it in.



Spirituality is as I have said, all of the various teachings, are different means, are different approaches of surrendering self. There's a tremendous amount of confusion about what 'surrendering self' means. And this is something that is important to have some clarity about what does it mean to surrender self cause alot of people will engage in a sort of false surrender. A false surrender is a kind of surrender we do in order to not have to take responsibility for ourselves, for how we feel, for what we think, for our lives in general and its a false surrender. It's sort of like this way of copping out. Its a way of trying to let ourselves off the hook. But that's not a real surrender. That's a way of dealing with the problem of ego by denying it. A real surrender is really seeing each way that we hold on, that we grasp, that we try to control, that we try to dominate, in very overt ways and very, very subtle ways. And its the intention to let that go, to let go, to surrender. Now very few people can actually surrender, mostly we surrender when we are in a deep enough state of suffering. So the teachings are ways or tools to help engender surrender. The surrender of self. The surrender of self. That is what spirituality is all about. That's the whole orientation. And the reason I'm talking about this orientation sort of after I have presented some of the teachings is because its so important that I wanted to put it at the end rather than the beginning as in the beginning by the time you listen to the various aspects of the teaching you forget the orientation, you forget the atmosphere in which the whole teaching exists. My hope is that talking about this after I have presented the basics, the fundamentals of the teaching is that it won't be forgotten, is that what all the teachings are about are ways to surrender self.




Adyashanti

Basic Teachings 3

Healing...

There is a spiritual body which cannot deteriorate. This spiritual body is already within you. As much of it appears as is recognized. Spiritual perfection always responds to man's consciousness, but it can respond only in such a degree as he becomes aware. It is because this inward perfection is so insistent that you maintain a physical body; but because you are an individual with volition, you can, as it were, hang a curtain between your physical life and its spiritual cause.



Spiritual realization helps to withdraw this curtain. Every statement you make about your body, or the belief you hold about it with the deep feeling that is centered in God's Life, will heal it.



~ Ernest Holmes.

' I Believe'...

These miracles are much easier that you believe.. They are the manipulation of vibrations called atoms.. the secret of this manipulation of matter is 'Complete Belief' in it happening.. This is the difficult part because we do not completely believe.. therefore, we believe that it is not possible.. this fuller belief is then manifested into this reality.. therefore, making miracles impossible except for the very few.. I have been cured of life dissolving illnesses at least four times because 'I Believe'..This is why Jesus said;" If you believe and say mountain be moved, It shall be".......... namaste, thomas

the ordinary man...

The ordinary man is aware of his surroundings, first, by naming and labelling them; second, by linking them with past memory of them; and third, by relating them to his own personal self. The illumined egoless man is simply aware of them, without any of these other added activities.

...... Paul Brunton

What are You?.. What am I?...

Ask those who know,
what's this soul within the flesh?
Reality's own power.
What blood fills these veins?

Thought is an errand boy,
fear a mine of worries.
These sighs are love's clothing.
Who is the Khan on the throne?

Give thanks for His unity.
He created when nothing existed.
And since we are actually nothing,
what are all of Solomon's riches?

Ask Yunus and Taptuk
what the world means to them..
The world won't last.
What are You? What am I?

Yunus Emre, translated by Kabir Helminski and Refik Algan - 'The Drop That Became Sea'

Are Angels Real?...

Angels are"thought forms" just as we.. In Reality, All is Consciousness and only
Consciousness.. all individualizations are illusions created to write a
"story".......... namaste, thomas

Desire...

Desire gives you suffering. Whenever any
desire arises, you want to go near it, you
want to achieve it and you do, then you are
happy. You may think that the object
made you happy, but really it is the absence
of desire, that moment of emptiness, that
makes you happy.

- Papaji

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995

Unhappiness...

you suffer because you believe that happiness is something that someone can give
you and take from you.. when you Realise that happiness is the state of mind in
which you have no desires and you live within the present moment, then you will
find happiness...Alan Watts once said that it is impossible to be unhappy in the
present moment......... namaste, thomas

Unconditional Love...

Unconditional Love is easier than you think.. It just means that you continue
to feel Love and show Love without any mental demand that Love be returned.. to
demand love be returned is a state of selfishness.. This is why, we are told to
"Love our enemies".. Unselfish Love is the only Real Love and is the essence of
God.......... namaste, thomas

Identity...

At the moment of realization the person ceases. Identity remains, but identity is not a person, it is inherent in the reality itself.

- Nisardagatta Maharaj

Suicide...

This feeling of hopelessness that prompts
suicide is misplaced Reality.. Suicide is required of the ego and is
misinterpreted by the ego as suicide of the body because the ego does not want
to die... This is why Knowledge is so important.. To Know that You are Divine
Consciousness and not the body or mind is necessary for happiness within this
life.. This feeling of Divine Consciousness is called Unconditional Love and is
Our Being.......... namaste, thomas

" I Am"...

The only truth which is not a concept
is the sense of presence,
here and now.
'I am,' not 'I am Joe or Jane.'
This impersonal sense of presence
in the present moment
is the only truth....

Ramesh S. Balsekar

Grief...

It
will sound harsh to state that grief is actually an action of selfishness.. we
grieve for ourselves because we will not be receiving the love and joy of that
which we grieve for.. If you grieve for another soul, remember that no soul
really dies.. also remember that in Reality, there is no separation of souls..
We are One Spirit pretending to be many.. Knowledge and Understanding of Reality
will end grief........... namaste, thomas

Poets...

We read the words of these mystical poets and our minds travel further than they are meant to.. We reach Consciousness.. We become Ourselves.. which words open the door that Jesus said "Knock upon"?.. the answers are already within You but you still believe that you are the body and name.. when is the time?.. or place.. when will we have enough courage to commit suicide of our desire for separate self?.. so many questions and only One answer......... namaste, thomas

Dream...

It is all like a gigantic dream, with every human inserting his own private dream inside the public one. A double spell has to be broken before reality can be glimpsed--the spell which the world lays upon us and that which self lays upon us. The man who has completely awakened from this spell is the man who has gained complete insight. This faculty is nothing other than such full wakefulness. It is immensely difficult to attain, which is why so few of the dreamers ever wake up at all and why so many will not even listen to the revelations of the awakened ones. However, Nature teaches us here as elsewhere not to let patience break down. There is plenty of time in her bag. Life is an evolutionary process. Men will begin to stir in their sleep erratically but increasingly.

... Paul Brunton

Jaluddin Rumi...

The best selling poet of America in 2006 was not Whitman, Dickinson, Frost or Emerson but a Sufi mystic; Jaluddin Rumi, who was born in Afghanistan, on the borders of the Persian Empire (Iran). Rumi is one of the best known Sufi poets but digging deep into the realms of Persian literature we find a wealth of Sufi poetry which even today retains a universal and timeless appeal.

Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam. It has its roots in the Qu’ran and the Islamic tradition, but at the same times encompasses the universal mysticism that we see in other spiritual traditions. The essence of Sufism is the simple path of loving God. The Sufi Masters sing of the all pervading love which inundates their being when they become one with their “beloved”. If there is just one goal of Sufism; it is to overcome the attachment to the binding ego and attain liberation through realising one’s identity with God. And thus the Sufi poets speak of dying to be born again, a concept similar to other mystical traditions.

Often the great Sufi poets lived during times of religious fundamentalism. The authorities censored them, because they openly taught that man could have a direct contact with God. As a result poets such as Hafiz developed an increasing array of metaphors and synonyms to describe God. Frequently we come across references such as Friend, Beloved, Father, Mother, the Wine seller, the Problem giver, and the Problem solver. This ambiguity in describing God served a dual purpose. Firstly it made it difficult for his poetry to be censored for its unorthodox mystical ideas. It also illustrates the inherent difficulty a poet has in describing the nature of God. The infinite is beyond all name and form, how can the poet describe that which is beyond words?



In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?
- Rabia al Basri


However, despite the difficulties of describing their experiences, the words of the Sufi Seers still tease, cajole and inspire us to look beyond the page and into our own hearts. For those who love words, it is necessary to have poetry, which can take us beyond the domain of the intellect. Hafiz beautifully describes the purpose of a poet.

“A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, then raise it to nourish your beautiful parched, holy heart.”

...... from poetseers.org

Remember...

I keep weeping for you, my soul,
good sir, gently trying to let you
see the nature of what you love.

Not even the shadow
of an iron anchor
will last from here.

Remember the truth
that you are.

- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992

The wisdom of Edgar Allan Poe...

A strong argument for the religion of Christ is this - that offences against Charity are about the only ones which men on their death-beds can be made - not to understand - but to feel - as crime.

All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.

Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.


Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity.


I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.

I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.


I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.


I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect - in terror.


I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.

Happiness...

People are so absorbed in chasing what
they consider to be happiness that they do
not have either the time or the inclination
to stop and wonder if the kind of happiness
they imagine is even worth having.

- Ramesh S. Balsekar

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996

Awakening...

Awakening is really what this is all about.. we spend our lives learning wisdom and shrinking the illusion of separate ego, only to return to that which We have never left.. That is the universal joke of creation.. We believe that We travel through time and space, only to Wake up from this dream experience.. Creation is a Dream. A very clever experience of Thought.. A three dimensional dream in which the characters and stages are moved and replaced.. this, We call death... In Reality, there is no death as Thought Energy is a circle.. When We finally Awake from this dream, We find ourselves completely united as the Energies of Light and Love.. At this point, We Realise that the journey is not done.. only the dream is done.. The journey continues into Complete Surrender of identity.. This Nothingness is called Pure Awareness and is the Source......... namaste, thomas

Non-ego...

After this passing-over into the Overself's rule, does he carry a loss of identity? Is he no more aware that he is the named person of the past? Were this so he could not exist in human society or attend to his duties. No!--outwardly he is more or less the same, although his pattern of behaviour betrays recognizable signs of superiority over the past man which he was. Inwardly, there is total revolution.

.......... Paul Brunton

I Am He!...

Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj known as al-Hallaj (the wool-carder), he was put to death in Baghdad for having uttered ana 'l haqq (I am the Truth):


I am He whom I love,
and He whom I love is I:
We are two spirits
dwelling in one body.
If thou seest me,
thou seest Him,
And if thou seest Him,
thou seest us both.

al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson

The Greatest Secret on Earth...

No conflict exists between mysticism and the established religions any more than there is a disagreement among several lecturers who describe the same sunrise. Only their presentations are different. William James, the giant among American psychologists, harmonizes religion and mysticism like this:
…personal religious experience has its roots and centre in mystical states of consciousness…I think I shall at least succeed in convincing you of the reality of the states in question, and of the paramount importance of their function. (The Varieties of Religious Experience)

All religions have produced enlightened men and women. One such mystic of India, Sri Ramakrishma, experimented by living, in turn, with various religions. He was a Christian, then a Hindu, then a Buddhist. He discovered the same Truth in all.

Mysticism is not this or that particular cup on the table; it is the water poured into all of them.

It is enough to conclude that any man or woman who sincerely treads the Mystic Path in his own way will sooner or later meet that something else which is beyond definition.

What, then, is the miraculous message of mysticism?

Happiness is yours in the here and now. The painful states of anxiety and loneliness are abolished permanently. Financial affairs are not financial problems. You are at ease with yourself. You are not at the mercy of unfulfilled cravings. Confusion is replaced with clarity. There is a relieving answer to every tormenting question. You possess a True Self. Something can be done about every unhappy condition. While living in the world you can be inwardly detached from its sorrows to live with personal peace and sanity.

And this is what unknowing people call impractical mysticism!

This is the greatest secret on earth. Unfortunately, it is a secret hidden from the eyes of most men. But it is available to all. Anyone, who really wants it, can have it.

Never forget, you are following all this for your own sake. Your purpose along the Mystic Path is a very personal one. The objective of every seeker is to become an enlightened, happy, and pleasant human being.

..... Vernon Howard

Everything is Consciousness...

From: Douglas Mitchell .....Subject: Everything is Consciousness

As the Yoga Vashistha says, "Everything is Consciousness. No-thing exists
outside of Consciousness." How could it? Have you ever experienced anything
apart from experiencing? Sounds like a ridiculous question. But it gets to the
heart of the matter. You are always present in every experience as the
Consciousness/Awareness of the experience. Consciousness is the
empty background and every form in the experience including the sense of
knowing. It is always there as the all embracing presence which knows no
preference or judgment about the content of experience. Consciousness is not
like a supposed deity which judges, intervenes, creates, sustains, and
destroys. No such deity ever
existed. Only Consciousness contains and pervades everything. Consciousness is
all that is. Nisargadatta would add to the above statement that nothing exists
outside of Consciousness, "You are that no-thing upon which Consciousness
appears and disappears." Just as in sleep there is dream consciousness which
has a dream body with senses and perceptions of a world that appear as real as
the waking body and world. Then Consciousness disappears in deep sleep, only to
reappear as waking Consciousness. There is no difference between dream
Consciousness and waking Consciousness. Everything contained within is a
projection of Consciousness with a sense of knowing or presence. Similarly as
in deep sleep when there is no
Consciousness, so too is your absolute nature prior to and beyond
Consciousness. But this no-thing-ness, called the Absolute for namesake, is
prior to and beyond all experiencing. It is known only by Consciousness as the
absence of Consciousness. But even the knowing of absence is a knowing within
Consciousness. So the Absolute cannot be experienced as some-'thing'. So we
are back to "no-thing exists outside of Consciousness". One cannot prove the
Absolute. One can only be the Absolute as pure being with no subject-I and no
objective form, not even emptiness for that too is form. Remember the Buddhist
Heart Sutra? "Form is none other than emptiness. Emptiness is none other than
form." This is a very subtle understanding. It equates form and emptiness.
Emptiness is not the same as no-thing-ness. Emptiness is the background within
Consciousness. No-thing-ness is the 'nature' of the Absolute as well as
Consciousness which appears upon 'it'. Have you ever seen Consciousness apart
from its forms, including emptiness? Consciousness cannot be grasped, measured,
or observed apart from aware Consciousness. So what is Consciousness? It is the
awakeness of the Absolute. To use other words, the Absolute is undifferentiated
Consciousness and awakeness is
differentiated Consciousness with a bifurcation into subject and object within
a single awareness. So this brings us back to the Yoga Vashistha's statement
that Consciousness is all there is, whether as undifferentiated (no
subject/object) or differentiated (knowing subject and object-ive form). Know
yourself to be this Consciousness! This Consciousness is one. The same
Consciousness is peering through your eyes and mine and through the sensing of
all sentient beings. It pervades the apparent universe. I say apparent because
it is of the nature of an illusion, a dream. The universe does not exist
outside of your experiencing of it in Consciousness. And Consciousness is
no-thing-ness. And you are THAT!

self-will...

Those who try to grasp Tao, lose it, declared Lao Tzu. Why? Because they are using willpower, personal willpower, instead of becoming passive and letting the Tao use them, their minds and bodies, as if they were its instruments. This elimination of the self-will is what Jesus meant when he counselled his followers to lose their life in order to find life.
............ Paul Brunton

Realization of Reality...

The true joy of every soul is in the realization of the divine Spirit, and the
absence of realization keeps the soul in despair.

Bowl of Saki, October 20, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The true joy of every soul is the realization of the divine Spirit. Absence of
realization keeps the soul in despair. In the life of every poet, thinker,
artist or scientist there come moments when ideas or words are given to him;
they are given at that moment and at no other. This is the moment when
unconsciously the soul has an opportunity to breathe. Man does not usually allow
his soul to breathe; the portal is closed up in the life of the earth. Man
closes it by ignorance, he is absorbed in things of much less importance. So
when the door opens and the soul is able to breathe even one breath, it becomes
alive in that one single moment, and what comes out is beauty and joy making man
express himself in song or dance. So heavenly beauty comes on earth.

The things that catch man's mind are always living things. The poems of Rumi
which are called Masnavi, have lived for eight hundred years, they are living,
they bring joy and ecstasy whenever they are sung or recited. They are
everliving life, expressing an everlasting beauty. It is the power of God, and
for man ever to presume it possible to produce that by study is a mistake. It is
impossible. It is the power of God above which brings out the perfection of
beauty. Man can never make the soul dance, but he can make himself a fit
instrument for the expression of his soul.

Seek the Water!...

Know that the outward form passes away,
but the world of reality remains forever.
How long will you play at loving the shape of the jug?
Leave the jug; go, seek the water!

- Rumi

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `


Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994

Reincarnation...

The Long Path idea of reincarnation is illusory. The Short Path idea of it is that it is an undulatory wave, a ripple, a movement upward onward and downward. Since there is no ego in reality, there can be no rebirth of it. But we do have the appearance of a rebirth. Note that this applies to both the mind and body part of ego: they are like a bubble floating on a stream and then vanishing or like a knot which is untied and then vanishes too. We have to accept the presence of this pseudo-entity, the ego--this mental thing born of many many earth-lives--so long as we have to dwell in that other mental thing, the body. But we do not have to accept its dominance; we do not have to perpetuate its rule, for all is in the Mind. Where then are the reincarnatory experiences? Appearances which were like cinema shows. They happened in a time and space which were in the mind. The individual who emerged, lost the individuality and merged in the timelessness of eternity. This is the unchanging indestructible Consciousness, the Overself.



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Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 2: Rebirth and Reincarnation > # 220...... Paul Brunton

Consciousness...

When Consciousness becomes self-conscious
of itself, it appears to show up in the world as a
personal ego.

But why does the ego go out looking for a
Consciousness that it already is? After all,
Consciousness isn't "lost" that it needs to be,
somehow, "found."

Although the ego is compelled to go out looking,
ironically, its only real hope of ever surviving is
in not finding.

- Chuck Hillig

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003

Are Thoughts The Source of Ego?

Fear...

"Don't try to be unafraid. That is impossible. Rather, go ahead while being afraid. That is the entire secret for abolishing fear. The Supermind teaches us to have no self-concern at all. Whatever happens to you, act as though it happened to someone else.”

~ Vernon Howard

Already God...

You are already God.. There has never been a time when You were not God.. There is Nothing that is not God... all else is an illusion.. a creation by Divine Consciousness that we call God.. You are this Divine Consciousness but You have been trapped within the material worlds because You started to Believe that You were that which You inhabited.. This is the power of duality and the child of which.. called "ego" or separation.. Enlightenment means that You have Realised that You are not the illusion of separation and materiality, but, are actually That which has created this dream called life............namaste, thomas

Who am I?...

If this me is not I, then
who am I?
If I am not the one who speaks, then
who does?
If this me is only a robe then
who is
the one I am covering?

- Rumi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rumi: Hidden Music
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

Separation...

How can that which is forever separate become united?..
It is impossible..
Then why do you worship that which is separate?..
Worship is Love..
Love is Unification..
Love given and received is a treasure we seek..
Love given and not received is Real Love..
Divinity is the giver..
Ignorance is the grasper..
The world of Duality constantly tempts our mind..
Enter the Reality of One.........
namaste, thomas

yourself...

Here is one of the quatrains of Awhadoddin Kermani:

O, friend! Nobody veils you, but yourself.
In your path there is no thorn or weed, but yourself.
You said: Shall I reach the Beloved or not?
Between you and the Beloved there is nobody, but yourself.

" Love after Love"...

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you


all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,


the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life

~ Derek Walcott (Saint Lucian Poet)

The Greatest Secret...

The Greatest
Secret of All is that "You Are Him" and yet we keep seeking "Him".. Jesus knew
this, when He said;" I and the Father are One".. Humility is the Key.. to be
humble is to be without ego.. to be without ego is to "Be Him"...........
namaste, thomas

Open the gate...

After the four walls are torn down,
the four walls of intellect-mind-body-senses,
there is still the old gate remaining.
The old habit of "I" in the form "I am Free."
This gate is not needed
and will leave at the time of death if not before.
Both are the same.

- Papaji

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995

Freedom...

And this myth that I can rest in some assuredness. That I will never again feel
insecure or feel fear, or feel doubt, or feel those emotions we don’t want to
feel. If I'm truly enlightened I will never feel those emotions. Forget it. That’s
not it. That's the pipe dream. That is the opium that is sold to the masses.
And they eat it up and they never get there and they end up disillusioned.


Freedom is never freedom "from." If it's freedom "from" anything, it's not
freedom at all. It's freedom "to." Are you free enough to be afraid? Are you
free enough to feel insecure? Are you free enough not to know? Are you free
enough to know that you can't know? Are you free enough to be totally
comfortable, to know that you can't know what's around the next corner?
How you will feel about it? How you will respond to it? That you literally can't
know? Are you free enough to be totally at ease and comfort with the way
things actually are? That's freedom.

~Adyashanti

Source of knowledge...

From: Douglas Mitchell ...Subject: Source of my knowledge


I have recieved emails from several of you wondering what is the inspiration for
my thoughts. I must share the secret. It is Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. His
spiritual classic "I Am That" is a must read along with his last two books,
"Prior to Consciousness", and "Consciousness and the Absolute. Nisargadatta,
a great Advaita Master of the late 20th century, advised one to take dispassion
( a lack of passion for this mirage called life) and convert it into passion for
inquiring about one's true nature. The first step is tracing the self back to
its primary belief or concept. Go back the way you came,as Ramana
Maharshi said. After peeling away all the labels you have acquired, male,
female, parent, child, student, seeker, worker,etc., you are left with the basic
knowledge of your existence. Nisragadatta called this the nonverbal I am Not of being something, just pure being. This is the primary
belief or concept of Consciousness. The next step is to realize that this "I
am" is one with universal Consciousness known as Brahman. Brahman is the mind of
"God" to use a term I don't prefer because of the anthropomorphic baggage. The
creative energy and manifestation of Brahman is Shakti. Together these comprise
the Self Aware Universe. The Universe is conscious all the way down to its
constituent parts. Each piece is a unit of consciousness, self aware and able to
function in its determined role. So for instance an atom is a unit of
consciousness. It has a very limited quality of self awareness, and it
instinctually knows its function. The human brain is the most complex unit of
consciousness on Earth. It is composed of smaller units of consciousness, that
together form a highly evolved unit of consciousness. It is highly self aware
and extremely capable of understanding complex, abstract concepts about itself
and
its environment. The brain/mind can realize its oneness with the universal
mind/consciousness known as Brahman. It is also one with the universal energy
known as Shakti. Brahman/Shakti are an apparent duality as is everything
in the universe of manifestation. In reality all is One. Oneness is the meaning
of Advaita. You are That. Once you are established in the nature of
Brahman/Shakti which is satchitananda (beingness/consciousness/bliss) you
continue to inquire as to the source of Brahman/Shakti which is Parabrahman, a
metaphor for That which transcends all apparent duality and categories of
human thought, including being and non-being. Parabrahman is without a subject-I
and an objective form. It transcends even awareness. It is "unawareness." It
only becomes aware of itself through the manifestation of the universe with its
Brahman/Shakti. Ultimately you are Parabrahman. Tatvamasi. You are That, which
is imperceivable and
inconceivable; empty, yet full of infinite potential. Bhakti
(devotion/praise/worship) and meditation on the knowledge/wisdom imparted by
Nisargadatta is the easiest way to realize your true nature as no-thing-ness, or
Nirvana (which means extinction of the subject-I and hence all awareness). I
sing to/chant to/praise That which I am, daily. This brings great joy. I
meditate by stilling the mind and "staying put in my no-thing-ness as a portal
to the Absolute" called Parabrahman. This is the teaching of Nisargadatta and my
own experience. Know that everything is Consciousness. No-thing exists outside
of Consciousness. You are That No-thing. As Nisargadatta also said, My
emptiness is full. My silence sings. And Love says, ˜I am everything.. Wisdom says,˜I am no-thing.. I hope this inspires you in your search!

Douglas Mitchell

Opposites...

"If you call one thing good, you must call its opposite bad. If you think it wonderful to make a big profit in your business, you will also think it terrible if you incur a large loss. The idea is to live above the opposites.”

~ Vernon Howard from The Power of Your Supermind

Law of causation...

Like everything mental, the so-called law of causation contradicts itself. No thing
in existence has a particular cause; the entire universe contributes to the
existence of even the smallest thing; nothing could be as it is without the
universe being what it is. When the source and the ground of everything is the
only cause of everything, to speak of causality as a universal law is wrong. The
universe is not bound by its content, because its potentialities are infinite;
besides it is a manifestation, or expression of a principle fundamentally and
totally free.

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
from "I Am That"

Unicity...

Love, not as an expression of separateness
based on emotion, but as compassion, is
that which holds the world together in
Unicity. In Unicity we do not love others,
we ARE them.

- Ramesh S. Balsekar

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996

Samadhi...

Much of the writing of Plotinus is descriptive of the state Hindus
call Nirvikalpa Samadhi. It is the total dispersal of the world from
the field of awareness, a complete flight from sensations, thoughts,
mental images, the physical body, and, above all, from any and every
kind of activity. To an outside observer, it may seem to be a trance
state, but he would not be correct in his observation, nor altogether
wrong. It is as deep as contemplation can possibly go. It is
Consciousness freed from any kind of personal admixture, staying only
with itself. All these other things being removed, what is left is
then true self-knowledge, even if it is unconscious to the ego.

— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 8: The
Void As Contemplative Experience > # 75...... Paul Brunton

Somewhere...

Somewhere
in you
you know (the Truth)
and when you
stubbornly
insist that
you don't know
then you
go up
and down.

- Swami Amar Jyoti

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983

Truth is our only Salvation...

Truth is our only salvation, the final truth that in essence as Mind nobody is really disconnected from God, that the delusion of being alone and separate from the infinite life creates all our weaknesses, which in turn lead to most of our troubles, and that we are here to learn by experience what sort of stuff we are made really of.

Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 5: The Philosopher > # 204

...... Paul Brunton

The wine of Love...

Intoxicated by the Wine of Love.
From each a mystic silence Love demands.
What do all seek so earnestly? 'Tis Love.
What do they whisper to each other? Love.
Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts.
In Love no longer 'thou' and 'I' exist,
For Self has passed away in the Beloved.
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love,
And in the temple of mine inmost soul,
Behold the Friend; Incomparable Love.
He who would know the secret of both worlds,
Will find the secret of them both, is Love.


Farid ud Din Attar - translation Margaret Smith -The Jawhar Al-Dhat

"Love, and do as You will"..... st. augustine

"Love" is Divine Consciousness and the state of non-ego...
"You" is Divine Consciousness and the state of non-ego while within the state of
Unconditional Love...Therefore, sin cannot be created while within the Reality
of Unconditional Love...Unconditional Love is the Energy called
God........namaste, thomas

What is sin?...

Sin is actually an ancient hebrew archery term that means that you
have missed the "bulls eye" of the target.. but, you always have more arrows
to try again to hit the mark called "Love".. Love and ego are opposites..
just as God and Satan are opposites.. this is the world of duality and
opposites.. When We Realise that We are not separate from God or what is
called Reality.. then We are free from duality and sin.. and this state of
existence is called Unconditional Love..............namaste, thomas

I do not know myself...

I do not know myself,
nor you, my Lord.

I mistook the body
for my identity.

I didn't know
that you are
me, and I you,

yet still I keep wondering
who you and I are.

- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992

Swept away...

"At first, the way of your love
seemed easy.

I thought I'd reach
your union
with speed.

After taking a few steps,
I found
the way
is an ocean.

When I stepped in,
a wave swept me away."

Hamid al-Din Kirmani (? - 1238)
from _Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition_
Translated by David & Sabrineh Fideler

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/K/KirmaniHamid/SweptAway.htm

The Quest...

The Quest follows a double line of development: mind-stilling plus mind-stimulating, each in its proper place. And the ultimate goal is to discover that there is but one reality, of which all are but a part, that the separateness of the personal ego is but superficial, and that Truth is evidenced by the consciousness of unity. The first fruit of such discovery is necessarily the dedication of life to the service of all creatures, to incessant service for universal welfare. Hence, in this light, the yogi who has withdrawn into cave or forest is on a lower plane--good for him as a phase of his personal development but useless to those who must live truth, the truth of unity.

Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 92

...........Paul Brunton

Meet the new as the new...

When you finish an experience, complete it, there is no memory of that
experience in the sense of a psychological residue. There is a residue
only when an experience is not fully understood, and there is no
understanding of experience because we look at each experience through
past memories, and therefore we never meet the new as the new, but
always through the screen of the old. Therefore, it is clear that our
response to experience is conditioned, always limited.

Krishnamurti

Drunk with Truth...

The colors of tulips and roses are not the same,
Yet in each we assent to the single Spring.

We turn our hands to the sketchbook only for Love:
Needing some pretext for meeting.

What sorry man drinks for pleasure?
Night and day, I raise oblivion's glass.

In the hour of forgetfulness, the head lies by the wine-jar;
In the hour of prayer, the face turns to the Call.

Let me be clear: however the world's goblet turns,
Those who know are always drunk on the wine of the Self.

- Ghalib

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Enlightened Heart"
An Anthology of Sacred Poetry
Edited by Stephen Mitchell
Harper & Row, New York , 1989

"Love, and do as you will"...

(Dilige, et quod vis fac) I've often heard this quotation from St. Augustine, “Love and do what you like.” Some even know it in Latin: Dilige, et quod vis fac. However, I have met few who quote it in
context. This Seventh Homily on the Letter of John by Augustine contains the famous
quotation.

Here is the quote “in context” : “The deeds of men are only discerned by the root of charity. For many things may be done
that have a good appearance, and yet proceed not from the root of charity. For thorns also
have flowers: some actions truly seem rough, seem savage; howbeit they are done for
discipline at the bidding of charity. Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love,

and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou
spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing
spring but what is good.” (Homily VII, paragraph 8)

...... from scribd.com

self-pity...

Sometimes we find satisfaction in self-pity.
The reason is that it is our nature to find
satisfaction in love; and when we are confined
to ourselves we begin to love ourselves, and
then self-pity arises because we feel our
limitation. But the love of self always brings
dissatisfaction, for the self is not made to be
loved; the self is made to love. The first
condition to love is to forget oneself.

-Hazrat Inayat Khan

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978

Anger...

“To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine.”
Alan Watts

Prayer...

“Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.”.........
St. Teresa of Avila

YOU ARE THE HOLY SPIRIT * SATSANG WITH MOOJI

Death of Self - Awakening ~Adyashanti

Training the ego...

Some believe that you can train the ego but are you really training the ego or are you dropping the ego, but believing that it is being trained.. Why would you train an illusion to represent yourself?.. Why not just "Be" yourself?.. you don't need an ego to survive.. You survive as "You", Divine Consciousness..called Christhood.. The small amount of ego left within the mind is called identity.. You carry this within life and after the death of the body..But, the Truth remains that You are not ego, You are Consciousness pretending to be ego.. The step beyond identity is mostly found within Divine Consciousness and is the surrender of identity and the Freedom of non-existence called "Pure Awareness"........... namaste, thomas

Desire and fear...

Whatever may be the desire or fear, don't
dwell upon it. Try and see for yourself.
Here and there you may forget, it does not
matter. Go back to your attempts till the
brushing away of every desire and fear, of
every reaction becomes automatic.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973

The sublime Truth...

The most sublime truth of all
has never been stated or written or sung.
Not because it is far away and can not be reached,
but because it is so intimately close,
closer than anything that can be spoken.
It is alive as the stillness in the core of your being
too close to be described, too close to be objectified,
too close to be known in the usual way of knowledge.
The truth of who you are is yours already.
It is already present...



gangaji

Source: www.gangaji.org

The Knowledge of One...

Each soul's attainment is according to its evolution.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Opinion is an outcome of mind. It is an outburst of its reasoning and
judging faculty. And so, according to the evolution of a particular
mind, its opinion is. Opinions clash when two people of different
stages of evolution express themselves. Therefore the wise are more
reluctant to express their opinion, whereas for the unwise it is
easy. A simpleton is only too glad to express his opinion uninvited.

Everyone, consciously or unconsciously, is striving after spiritual
attainment. Sometimes he does not take the same way as we do,
sometimes his point of view and his method differ, and sometimes one
person attains to spiritual realization much sooner than another. It
may be reached in a day, and another person may have striven for it
all his life and yet not have attained to it. What determines it? It
is the evolution of a particular soul.

Every step one takes in evolution changes one's ideal. In your stage,
if you love a jasmine today, it is possible that in your next step in
evolution you may have grown above it and you love a rose. And it is
not necessary that you should keep to the jasmine when your evolution
brings you to the love for the rose -- thus one is kept from
progressing.

To the question, "Are you a Christian?", "Are you a Muslim?", "Are
you a Jew?", the Sufi's answer would be 'yes' rather than 'no', for
the Sufi opposes no religion but sympathizes with all. In fact Sufism
cannot be called a religion, for it does not impose either belief or
principle upon anyone, considering that each individual soul has its
own principles best suited for it, and a belief which changes with
each grade of evolution. ... A Sufi does not dispute on spiritual
subjects with everyone, for this reason: the spiritual evolution of
each one differs from that of the other, the knowledge of one cannot
be the knowledge of the other, nor is the understanding of one the
understanding of the other. ... at every step in spiritual evolution
a person's belief changes until one arrives at a final belief which
words cannot explain.

The seeker...

There is something that draws your attention to higher knowledge and a search
for Truth.. What is True?.. you or You.. who are you?.. will Truth lead you to
Know Yourself?.. or is Knowing Yourself already Truth........... namaste, thomas

The Ultimate...

When you open up to the ultimate, immediately it pours into you. You are no longer an ordinary human being - you have transcended. Your insight has become the insight of the whole existence. Now you are no longer separate - you have found your roots. Otherwise, ordinarily, everybody is moving without roots, not knowing from where their heart goes on receiving energy, not knowing who goes on breathing in them, not knowing the life juice that is running inside them. It is not the body, it is not the mind - it is something transcendental to all duality, that is called bhagavat - the bhagavat in the ten directions .... Your inner being, when it opens, first experiences two directions: the height, the depth. And then slowly, slowly, as this becomes your established situation, you start looking around, spreading into all other eight directions. And once you have attained to the point where your height and your depth meet, then you can look around to the very circumference of the universe. Then your consciousness starts unfolding in all ten directions, but the road has been one....

Osho

Mind...

Where there is mind there is two-ness and past.
Where there is no mind there is Freedom.
Mind is strong in other-ness because
mind is mind only when it touches an object.
Mind is the worst pollution because
it is the concept of time which steals you from Love.
Mind is samsara, the cycle of hitchhiking through wombs.
Mind is description so see what cannot be described by thought.

- Papaji

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `


This quotation is from:
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995

Abu-Said Abil-Kheir / Beg For Love...

"Beg for Love.
Consider this burning, and those who
burn, as gifts from the Friend.
Nothing to learn.
Too much has already been said.
When you read a single page from
the silent book of your heart,
you will laugh at all this chattering,
all this pretentious learning."

Abu-Said Abil-Kheir (967 - 1049)
from _Nobody, Son of Nobody: Poems of Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir_
Translated by Vraje Abramian
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/A/AbilKheirAbu/BegforLove.htm

Behave like that...

How would you feel if you had no fear? Feel like that. How would you behave toward other people if you realized their powerlessness to hurt you? Behave like that. How would you react to so-called misfortune if you saw its inability to bother you? React like that. How would you think toward yourself if you knew you were really all right? Think like that.”

~ Vernon Howard from The Power of Your Supermind