Happiness lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful.
Bowl of Saki, December 31, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
What is really good? The answer is, there is no such thing as good or evil.
There is beauty. That which is beautiful, we call good. That which is ugly
compared with the beautiful, we call evil: whether it is custom, idea, thought
or action. This shows that this whole phenomenon of the universe is the
phenomenon of beauty. Every soul has an inclination to admire beauty, to seek
for beauty, to love beauty, and to develop beauty. Even God loves beauty.
In all ages the various religions have given different standards of good and
evil, calling them virtue and sin. The virtue of one nation has been the sin of
another. The virtue of the latter is the sin of the former. Travel as we may
through the world, or read the histories and traditions of nations as we may, we
shall still find that what one calls evil, another calls good. That is why no
one can succeed in making a universal standard for good and evil. The
discrimination between good and evil is in man's soul. Every man can judge that
for himself, because in every man is the sense of admiration of beauty. But he
is not satisfied with what he does himself, he feels a discomfort, a disgust
with his own efforts. There are many people who continue some weakness or some
mistake, or who are intoxicated by some action which the world calls evil or
which they themselves call evil, yet go on doing it. But a day comes when they
also are disgusted. Then they wish for suicide. There is no more happiness for
them. Happiness only lies in thinking or doing that which one considers
beautiful. Such an act becomes a virtue or goodness. That goodness is beauty.
Man is always seeking for beauty, and yet he is unaware of the treasure of
beauty that is hidden in his own heart. He strives after it throughout his whole
life. It is as if he was in pursuit of the horizon: the further he proceeds, the
further the horizon seems to have moved away. For there are two aims: the one is
real, and the other false. That which is false is momentary, transitory, and
unreliable - wealth, power, fame, and position are all snatched from one hand by
the other. ... Man wants something in life upon which he can rely; and this
shows, whether he believes in a deity or not, that he is constantly seeking for
God. He seeks for Him not knowing that he is seeking for God. Nevertheless,
every soul is pursuing some reality, something to hold on to; trying to grasp
something which will prove dependable, a beauty that cannot change and that one
can always look upon as one's own, a beauty that one feels will last forever.
And where can one find it? Within one's own heart. And it is the art of finding
that beauty, of developing, improving, and spreading that beauty through life,
allowing it to manifest before the inner and outer view, which one calls the art
of the mystic.
Observation...
If you make a serious effort to observe yourself, you will realise that
ordinarily, whatever you do, whatever you think, whatever you feel, you do not
remember yourself. You do
not realise that you are present, that you are here.
P. D. Ouspensky
ordinarily, whatever you do, whatever you think, whatever you feel, you do not
remember yourself. You do
not realise that you are present, that you are here.
P. D. Ouspensky
Waking up...
You've got to go at the rate you can go.
You wake up at the rate you wake up.
You're finished with your desires at the rate you finish with your desires.
The disequalibrium comes into harmony at the rate it comes into harmony.
You can't rip the skin off the snake. The snake must molt the skin.
That¹s the rate it happens.
- Ram Dass
Be Here Now
You wake up at the rate you wake up.
You're finished with your desires at the rate you finish with your desires.
The disequalibrium comes into harmony at the rate it comes into harmony.
You can't rip the skin off the snake. The snake must molt the skin.
That¹s the rate it happens.
- Ram Dass
Be Here Now
What makes ego Disappear...
The method is actually simple.. You as higher Self watches the thoughts of Your
mind.. This is called being Awake.. As thoughts of ego arise, merely look at the
ego and the ego will disappear, as, it is not Real.. and All unreality will
disappear as the True Self becomes Predominant..........namaste, thomas
mind.. This is called being Awake.. As thoughts of ego arise, merely look at the
ego and the ego will disappear, as, it is not Real.. and All unreality will
disappear as the True Self becomes Predominant..........namaste, thomas
Illusion and Reality...
A thing becomes an illusion only when its reality becomes inferior to a higher reality that has already been found. Until then, it is still a reality. Only the sage has the strict right to call this world an illusion. If anyone else does so, such talk is mere babble.
รข€” Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 2: The Cosmos of Change > #43....Paul Brunton
รข€” Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 2: The Cosmos of Change > #43....Paul Brunton
Fear of egolessness...
Most souls fear the Nothingness that egolessness presents.. They have
lived with the self called ego throughout their entire life and fear losing this
life that they believe is them.. But to Really Know what the ego is, is to go
beyond science and religion.. they can only point the way to Knowledge.. You are
the only One that can crash through the wall of illusion.. This beginning of
Reality will show You all about the ego, by showing You that You exist without
ego.. Jesus walked the earth without ego and therefore became the Christ.. You
must also become a Christ and walk this earth in Peace and Love, only then will
You Know what egoless Self Is...............namaste, thomas
lived with the self called ego throughout their entire life and fear losing this
life that they believe is them.. But to Really Know what the ego is, is to go
beyond science and religion.. they can only point the way to Knowledge.. You are
the only One that can crash through the wall of illusion.. This beginning of
Reality will show You all about the ego, by showing You that You exist without
ego.. Jesus walked the earth without ego and therefore became the Christ.. You
must also become a Christ and walk this earth in Peace and Love, only then will
You Know what egoless Self Is...............namaste, thomas
Stop seeking Truth, instead recognize the Ego...
My wise meditation teacher loves to hear about problems a meditator faced rather than what the meditator wanted to share to impressed him. To him, it is by understanding defilements can wisdom arise. Wisdom is hidden away due to defilements. That brought me succinctly to question why when a master finally arrive at his/her own enlightenment, he shares the Truth with the world. Why the word “Truth”? Why not something else like Nature, Universe or what not? It came to my realization that the Truth is the opposite of False. There is a high possibility that what they thought they knew before came as a realization that they are all false, lies and fabrications and thus their need to share what is truly understood by them as Truth. Quantum physics call it optical illusion.
When we start to question the purpose of life at some point in time, we tend to incline ourselves to a specific faith or religion, to seek the Truth. Here lies the irony. When we seek the Truth by imitating what we should and should not do, we moved ourselves further away from understanding the nature of existence, from Truth, so to speak. We imitate what great masters have shared instead of learning to understand what they are trying to convey. So instead of moving closer to Truth, we are in fact moving further from Truth.
It is not the cause of the religionist, neither is it the fault of the seeker. What is more true is the nature of ego is to blind. Remember the quote mentioned by Yeshua? I stood in the world and found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. They came into the world empty, and they seek to leave the world empty. But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, they will open their eyes.
And there are those, while still seeking, goes spiritual shopping. Chogyam Truangpa labels it as spiritual materialism. You can never win the ego! except to recognize them when it arise. That reminds me of what Yeshua has to said:
A wise fisherman cast his net into the sea. When he drew it up it was full of little fish. Among them, he discovered a large, fine fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and he chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears should listen.
If you don’t fully comprehend the verse, let me share with you a parable by the wise Rumi, adapted by Osho, another wise soul:
One day Jalaluddin Rumi took all his students, disciples and devotees to a field. That was his way to teach them things of the beyond, through the examples of the world. He was not a theoretician, he was a very practical man. The disciples were thinking, “What could be the message, going to that faraway field… and why can’t he say it here?”
But when they reached the field, they understood that they were wrong and he was right. The farmer seemed to be almost an insane man. He was digging a well in the field – and he had already dug eight incomplete wells.
He would go a few feet and then he would find that there was no water. Then he would start digging another well… and the same story was continued. He had destroyed the whole field and he had not yet found water.
The master, Jalaluddin Rumi, told his disciples, “Can you understand something? If this man had been total and had put his whole energy into only one well, he would have reached to the deepest sources of water long ago.
But the way he is going he will destroy the whole field and he will never be able to make a single well. With so much effort he is simply destroying his own land, and getting more and more frustrated, disappointed: what kind of a desert has he purchased? It is not a desert, but one has to go deep to find the sources of water.”
He turned to his disciples and asked them, “Are you going to follow this insane farmer? Sometimes on one path, sometimes on another path, sometimes listening to one, sometimes listening to another… you will collect much knowledge, but all that knowledge is simply junk, because it is not going to give you the enlightenment you were looking for. It is not going to lead you to the waters of eternal life.”
from illusionorreality.com
When we start to question the purpose of life at some point in time, we tend to incline ourselves to a specific faith or religion, to seek the Truth. Here lies the irony. When we seek the Truth by imitating what we should and should not do, we moved ourselves further away from understanding the nature of existence, from Truth, so to speak. We imitate what great masters have shared instead of learning to understand what they are trying to convey. So instead of moving closer to Truth, we are in fact moving further from Truth.
It is not the cause of the religionist, neither is it the fault of the seeker. What is more true is the nature of ego is to blind. Remember the quote mentioned by Yeshua? I stood in the world and found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. They came into the world empty, and they seek to leave the world empty. But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, they will open their eyes.
And there are those, while still seeking, goes spiritual shopping. Chogyam Truangpa labels it as spiritual materialism. You can never win the ego! except to recognize them when it arise. That reminds me of what Yeshua has to said:
A wise fisherman cast his net into the sea. When he drew it up it was full of little fish. Among them, he discovered a large, fine fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and he chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears should listen.
If you don’t fully comprehend the verse, let me share with you a parable by the wise Rumi, adapted by Osho, another wise soul:
One day Jalaluddin Rumi took all his students, disciples and devotees to a field. That was his way to teach them things of the beyond, through the examples of the world. He was not a theoretician, he was a very practical man. The disciples were thinking, “What could be the message, going to that faraway field… and why can’t he say it here?”
But when they reached the field, they understood that they were wrong and he was right. The farmer seemed to be almost an insane man. He was digging a well in the field – and he had already dug eight incomplete wells.
He would go a few feet and then he would find that there was no water. Then he would start digging another well… and the same story was continued. He had destroyed the whole field and he had not yet found water.
The master, Jalaluddin Rumi, told his disciples, “Can you understand something? If this man had been total and had put his whole energy into only one well, he would have reached to the deepest sources of water long ago.
But the way he is going he will destroy the whole field and he will never be able to make a single well. With so much effort he is simply destroying his own land, and getting more and more frustrated, disappointed: what kind of a desert has he purchased? It is not a desert, but one has to go deep to find the sources of water.”
He turned to his disciples and asked them, “Are you going to follow this insane farmer? Sometimes on one path, sometimes on another path, sometimes listening to one, sometimes listening to another… you will collect much knowledge, but all that knowledge is simply junk, because it is not going to give you the enlightenment you were looking for. It is not going to lead you to the waters of eternal life.”
from illusionorreality.com
Long and Short Paths...
The ego is the Belief that You are the body and mind.. the body is just
another animal that has the mental ability to Realize Consciousness.. this is
why the human body was chosen as a vehicle within this world.. there are higher
frequencies where there are not physical bodies but the ego still exists as a
belief within these invisible forms of Consciousness.. The sub-conscious mind is the Soul and is directly linked to Consciousness.. this
part of our intellect must be trained into Unselfish Love.. this is called the
"Long Path".. the "Short Path" is surrendering the illusion of the ego and
Realizing that You and God have never been separated.. this separation is
created only by our Belief in separation..and this separation is called ego...........namaste, thomas
another animal that has the mental ability to Realize Consciousness.. this is
why the human body was chosen as a vehicle within this world.. there are higher
frequencies where there are not physical bodies but the ego still exists as a
belief within these invisible forms of Consciousness.. The sub-conscious mind is the Soul and is directly linked to Consciousness.. this
part of our intellect must be trained into Unselfish Love.. this is called the
"Long Path".. the "Short Path" is surrendering the illusion of the ego and
Realizing that You and God have never been separated.. this separation is
created only by our Belief in separation..and this separation is called ego...........namaste, thomas
Where is God?...
"God is in all people, but all people are not in God,
and that is the reason why they suffer."
Sri Ramakrishna
_The Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna_, 416
Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1934, p. 157
and that is the reason why they suffer."
Sri Ramakrishna
_The Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna_, 416
Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1934, p. 157
What is ego?...
The ego is not Real.. It is the culmination of your memories,thoughts and the
teaching of others.. this is called the "false self"... Your "Real Self" is
Divine Consciousness and is Recognised by the outpouring of Unconditional Love,
that is Its' Essence.. This is why selflessness and Love are the requirements of
the Mystic Path and is the core of the Teaching of Jesus the
Christ..........namaste, thomas
teaching of others.. this is called the "false self"... Your "Real Self" is
Divine Consciousness and is Recognised by the outpouring of Unconditional Love,
that is Its' Essence.. This is why selflessness and Love are the requirements of
the Mystic Path and is the core of the Teaching of Jesus the
Christ..........namaste, thomas
ego annihilation...
Dear heart, where do you find
the courage to seek the Beloved
when you know He has annihilated
so many like you before?
I do not care, said my heart,
my only wish is to become
one with the Beloved.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Rumi - Whispers of the Beloved"
Selected and translated by
Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Thorsons, London 1999
the courage to seek the Beloved
when you know He has annihilated
so many like you before?
I do not care, said my heart,
my only wish is to become
one with the Beloved.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Rumi - Whispers of the Beloved"
Selected and translated by
Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Thorsons, London 1999
Responsibility...
In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for "finding himself." If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence.
Father Thomas Merton
Father Thomas Merton
Before and Beyond...
The virgin birth of Jesus symbolizes that there's something born within you that doesn't come about through the union of opposites - something that isn't of the dualistic world.
When we've returned our consciousness to its source, what wakes up is that which is not the body, not the mind, not the personality.
Your true nature is before and beyond all pairs of opposites.
~ Adyashanti www.adyashanti.org
When we've returned our consciousness to its source, what wakes up is that which is not the body, not the mind, not the personality.
Your true nature is before and beyond all pairs of opposites.
~ Adyashanti www.adyashanti.org
The Goal...
The goal is the same for the one who meditates
[on an object] and the one who practises self-
enquiry. One attains stillness through
meditation, the other through knowledge. One
strives to attain something; the other seeks the
one who strives to attain. The former takes a
longer time, but in the end attains the Self.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from "Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
[on an object] and the one who practises self-
enquiry. One attains stillness through
meditation, the other through knowledge. One
strives to attain something; the other seeks the
one who strives to attain. The former takes a
longer time, but in the end attains the Self.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from "Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
We Are Sensors...
We are the sensors of God.. We as Consciousness have been sent within the many frequencies to search for Knowledge.. Consciousness has the desire for Knowledge about Itself.. Where did Consciousness originate?.. Why is there Consciousness?..These are the Questions that even Consciousness needs.. As we entered matter, we began to believe that we were, that which is visible..But, we as Consciousness still desire Knowledge, although with the disadvantage of the Belief of Separation...Consciousness is evolution... In evolution, there is the birth of new Knowledge.. This is satisfying to Consciousness.... Will Knowledge solve the riddle of Consciousness?.........namaste, thomas
The Self...
"Distracted as we are by various thoughts,
if we would continually contemplate the Self
which is itself God, this single thought would
in due course eliminate all distraction and
would itself ultimately vanish.
The pure consciousness which alone finally
remains is God. This is liberation."
--Ramana Maharshi--
if we would continually contemplate the Self
which is itself God, this single thought would
in due course eliminate all distraction and
would itself ultimately vanish.
The pure consciousness which alone finally
remains is God. This is liberation."
--Ramana Maharshi--
As One...
Lord of the All,
Grant me the vision to see myself and my enemy as one,
Myself in my enemy, my enemy in myself,
One in being, knowledge, and life,
For the One is in us all, the very monad of our being,
The flowering flame that kindles us, the life and knowing and being,
And makes us turn our faces ever back to that sun that shines in us the light of the Good,
Sets our path back ever back ever sourceward,
Enemy now self and self now enemy,
Not twain ever asunder, but one in all,
For we have but to remember
We are all One.
Walt Whitman
Grant me the vision to see myself and my enemy as one,
Myself in my enemy, my enemy in myself,
One in being, knowledge, and life,
For the One is in us all, the very monad of our being,
The flowering flame that kindles us, the life and knowing and being,
And makes us turn our faces ever back to that sun that shines in us the light of the Good,
Sets our path back ever back ever sourceward,
Enemy now self and self now enemy,
Not twain ever asunder, but one in all,
For we have but to remember
We are all One.
Walt Whitman
Love Purifies...
Love is as water of the Ganges; it is in itself a purification.
Bowl of Saki, December 25, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
When God's divine love rises as a wave, it washes away the sins of the whole
life in a moment, for law has no power to stand before love: the stream of love
sweeps it away.
Think of the life of the great Master Jesus Christ who was the soul of religion
-- one sees that from beginning to end there was nothing but love and
forgiveness. The best expression of love is that love which is expressed in
forgiveness. Those who came with their wrongs, errors, imperfections, before the
love, that was all forgiven; there was always a stream of love which always
purified.
All the beauty that there is in life is after all what we call love. From it all
the virtues spring. The whole beauty of life is in it, and it is as the English
song says, 'The light of a whole life dies, when love is done'. Life's light is
love; and when the heart is empty of love, a man is living and yet not living;
from a spiritual point of view he is dead. When the heart is asleep, he is as
though dead in this life, for one can only love through the heart. But love does
not mean give and take. That is only a trade; it's selfishness. To give sixpence
and receive a shilling is not love. Love is when one loves for the sake of love,
when one cannot help but love, cannot do anything but love. Then one is not
forced to love; there is no virtue in that. One does not love because another
does. It is simply there. It cannot be helped. It is the only thing that makes a
person alive. If a person loves one and hates another, what can he know of love?
Can you love one person fully if at the same time you cannot bestow a kind
glance on some other person? Can you say you love one person fully when you
cannot bear him to be loved by someone else as well? Can you hate a person when
love is sprinkled like water in your heart? Love is like the water of the
Ganges. It is itself a purification. As the Bible says, 'God is love'. When love
is awakened in the heart, God is awakened there. When a man has journeyed, he
reaches the goal as soon as his heart has reached love.
The Sufi says, 'The Kaba, the divine place, paradise, is the heart of the human
being'. That is why he has respect for every heart. Every heart is his Kaba, his
shrine. The human heart is the place toward which he bows, for in this heart is
God.
Bowl of Saki, December 25, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
When God's divine love rises as a wave, it washes away the sins of the whole
life in a moment, for law has no power to stand before love: the stream of love
sweeps it away.
Think of the life of the great Master Jesus Christ who was the soul of religion
-- one sees that from beginning to end there was nothing but love and
forgiveness. The best expression of love is that love which is expressed in
forgiveness. Those who came with their wrongs, errors, imperfections, before the
love, that was all forgiven; there was always a stream of love which always
purified.
All the beauty that there is in life is after all what we call love. From it all
the virtues spring. The whole beauty of life is in it, and it is as the English
song says, 'The light of a whole life dies, when love is done'. Life's light is
love; and when the heart is empty of love, a man is living and yet not living;
from a spiritual point of view he is dead. When the heart is asleep, he is as
though dead in this life, for one can only love through the heart. But love does
not mean give and take. That is only a trade; it's selfishness. To give sixpence
and receive a shilling is not love. Love is when one loves for the sake of love,
when one cannot help but love, cannot do anything but love. Then one is not
forced to love; there is no virtue in that. One does not love because another
does. It is simply there. It cannot be helped. It is the only thing that makes a
person alive. If a person loves one and hates another, what can he know of love?
Can you love one person fully if at the same time you cannot bestow a kind
glance on some other person? Can you say you love one person fully when you
cannot bear him to be loved by someone else as well? Can you hate a person when
love is sprinkled like water in your heart? Love is like the water of the
Ganges. It is itself a purification. As the Bible says, 'God is love'. When love
is awakened in the heart, God is awakened there. When a man has journeyed, he
reaches the goal as soon as his heart has reached love.
The Sufi says, 'The Kaba, the divine place, paradise, is the heart of the human
being'. That is why he has respect for every heart. Every heart is his Kaba, his
shrine. The human heart is the place toward which he bows, for in this heart is
God.
He Is Hidden...
God created pain and sorrow that
happiness might show itself by contrast.
For hidden things are made manifest
by means of their opposites:
since God has no opposite, He is hidden.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
happiness might show itself by contrast.
For hidden things are made manifest
by means of their opposites:
since God has no opposite, He is hidden.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
The Birth of Christ...
In reading the title, our minds envision the birth of Jesus (Yeshua ben Yosef) but, the Real Birth of Christ happens when we offer our selves as a sacrifice to God.. This is the True Christmas Gift.. The most valuable gift that we have ever given.. This gift cannot be found in stores or on the internet.. this gift is the gift that is also given back to Us.. We give our self and in return we receive Our Self.. This is Truly, the Miracle of Christmas.............namaste, thomas
Seeking...
"Says Farid,
Why do you roam the jungles with thorns pricking your feet?
Your Lord dwells in your heart.
And you wander about in search of Him."
Baba Sheikh Farid (1173 - 1266)
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/F/FaridBabaShe/Whydoyouroam.htm
Why do you roam the jungles with thorns pricking your feet?
Your Lord dwells in your heart.
And you wander about in search of Him."
Baba Sheikh Farid (1173 - 1266)
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/F/FaridBabaShe/Whydoyouroam.htm
What is True...
The only way that You will completely understand what the Truth is, is to
practice Meditation and while doing so, release the Belief that You are the
ego.. This will be the most difficult activity of your life.. As Jesus said,"you
must die to be born".. You must commit mental suicide of your ego and life..
This is the only way to Awaken into Reality.. Until you are able to accomplish
this task, you will remain in ignorance and pain..........namaste, thomas
practice Meditation and while doing so, release the Belief that You are the
ego.. This will be the most difficult activity of your life.. As Jesus said,"you
must die to be born".. You must commit mental suicide of your ego and life..
This is the only way to Awaken into Reality.. Until you are able to accomplish
this task, you will remain in ignorance and pain..........namaste, thomas
Separation is Painful...
When you have understood that all existence,
in separation and limitation, is painful, and
when you are willing and able to live integrally,
in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have
gone beyond all need of help. You can help another
by precept and example and, above all, by your
being. You cannot give what you do not have and
you don't have what you are not. You can only give
what you are - and of that you can give limitlessly.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
in separation and limitation, is painful, and
when you are willing and able to live integrally,
in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have
gone beyond all need of help. You can help another
by precept and example and, above all, by your
being. You cannot give what you do not have and
you don't have what you are not. You can only give
what you are - and of that you can give limitlessly.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Enter Now...
"The moment you enter the Now with your attention,
you realize that life is sacred.
There is a sacredness to everything you perceive
when you are present.
The more you live in the Now,
the more you sense the simple yet profound joy
of Being and the sacredness of all life.
Most people confuse the Now
with what happens in the Now,
but that's not what it is.
The Now is deeper than what happens in it.
It is the space in which it happens."
--Eckhart Tolle--
[from] Stillness Speaks, Chapter 4
you realize that life is sacred.
There is a sacredness to everything you perceive
when you are present.
The more you live in the Now,
the more you sense the simple yet profound joy
of Being and the sacredness of all life.
Most people confuse the Now
with what happens in the Now,
but that's not what it is.
The Now is deeper than what happens in it.
It is the space in which it happens."
--Eckhart Tolle--
[from] Stillness Speaks, Chapter 4
Winter...
Winter marks the opening of that period from just before Christmas and culminating with Easter when the inner forces of Nature make it possible for man to make quicker progress than during the rest of the year. It is a suitable period to intensify aspiration, increase study, and meditate more.
Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 6: Nature Appreciation > # 61... Paul Brunton
Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 6: Nature Appreciation > # 61... Paul Brunton
The Bhakti Path...
"The bhakti path [path of love] winds in a delicate way.
On this path there is no asking and not asking.
The ego simply disappears the moment you touch him.
The joy of looking for him is so immense that you just dive in,
and coast around like a fish in the water.
If anyone needs a head, the lover leaps up to offer his.
Kabir's poems touch on the secrets of this bhakti."
Kabir (15th Century)
from The Kabir Book: Forty-Four fo the Ecstatic Poems of Kabir,
Translated by Robert Bly
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/K/Kabir/bhaktipathwi.htm
On this path there is no asking and not asking.
The ego simply disappears the moment you touch him.
The joy of looking for him is so immense that you just dive in,
and coast around like a fish in the water.
If anyone needs a head, the lover leaps up to offer his.
Kabir's poems touch on the secrets of this bhakti."
Kabir (15th Century)
from The Kabir Book: Forty-Four fo the Ecstatic Poems of Kabir,
Translated by Robert Bly
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/K/Kabir/bhaktipathwi.htm
The Knower...
Forget the known, but remember that you are
the knower. Don't be all the time immersed in
your experiences. Remember that you are beyond
the experiencer, ever unborn and deathless. In
remembering it, the quality of pure knowledge
will emerge, the light of unconditional awareness.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
the knower. Don't be all the time immersed in
your experiences. Remember that you are beyond
the experiencer, ever unborn and deathless. In
remembering it, the quality of pure knowledge
will emerge, the light of unconditional awareness.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Non-Duality...
Non-Duality is the Realization and the Practice on Being One
with God.. Since God is Everything and there is Nothing that is not
God.. The Realization of this Fact brings into focus that we are not
separate from God and have never been separate from God.. But, our
belief in the separate self(ego) is the curtain that hides this Truth
from us.. Therefore, the elimination of the illusion of the ego is
the path to the Realization that We and God are One.. This is why
Jesus said;" I and the Father are One'.. This is the True Path of
Jesus and this Path is called "The Path of Unconditional Love".. As
Unconditional Love is the opposite of ego and is the Essence of
God.............namaste, thomas
with God.. Since God is Everything and there is Nothing that is not
God.. The Realization of this Fact brings into focus that we are not
separate from God and have never been separate from God.. But, our
belief in the separate self(ego) is the curtain that hides this Truth
from us.. Therefore, the elimination of the illusion of the ego is
the path to the Realization that We and God are One.. This is why
Jesus said;" I and the Father are One'.. This is the True Path of
Jesus and this Path is called "The Path of Unconditional Love".. As
Unconditional Love is the opposite of ego and is the Essence of
God.............namaste, thomas
Jesus and Non-Duality...
Probably, the most profoundly direct instruction Christ gave concerning the teaching of non-dualism is from
"The light of the body is the eye: Therefore, when thine eye is single, your whole body will be filled with light...." (Luke 11: 34)
This non-dual teaching is easily paraphrased as follows: The part of you that sees (the seer, one's Self) is your true light. Therefore, if you hold to (i.e., abide as) the seer (subject-"I") singlely or exclusively (i.e., relinquishing attention to thoughts) you will have illumination - or what some call the "enlightenment of the whole body". This is the exact instruction given in the non-dual Vedanta tradition, with the same described outcome, as related above.
See the the Non-Dual Christ Consciousness described in the Vedic Verse
and Avadhut Gita verse below, very similar to the above records:
Vedic Verse -- Atharva Veda, Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.9:
In the highest golden sheath is the Godhead, unsullied, indivisible; pure is it, the Light of lights. He who knows the Self knows it. Neither sun nor moon nor stars shine there. Neither lightning nor fire finds there a place. With the radiance of that Light alone all things shine. That radiance illumines all this world.
Song of the Ever free -- Avadhuta Gita (Chapter 7 Verse 4):
In this state of realization, how can the Avadhuta
consider whether he has a body or not,
or whether he has attachment or not?
He himself is the immaculate, immovable, innate Reality
-infinite as space.
Pieter Schoonheim Samara is author of The Self, Maya, and the Heart: The Fundamentals of Non-Dualism
"The light of the body is the eye: Therefore, when thine eye is single, your whole body will be filled with light...." (Luke 11: 34)
This non-dual teaching is easily paraphrased as follows: The part of you that sees (the seer, one's Self) is your true light. Therefore, if you hold to (i.e., abide as) the seer (subject-"I") singlely or exclusively (i.e., relinquishing attention to thoughts) you will have illumination - or what some call the "enlightenment of the whole body". This is the exact instruction given in the non-dual Vedanta tradition, with the same described outcome, as related above.
See the the Non-Dual Christ Consciousness described in the Vedic Verse
and Avadhut Gita verse below, very similar to the above records:
Vedic Verse -- Atharva Veda, Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.9:
In the highest golden sheath is the Godhead, unsullied, indivisible; pure is it, the Light of lights. He who knows the Self knows it. Neither sun nor moon nor stars shine there. Neither lightning nor fire finds there a place. With the radiance of that Light alone all things shine. That radiance illumines all this world.
Song of the Ever free -- Avadhuta Gita (Chapter 7 Verse 4):
In this state of realization, how can the Avadhuta
consider whether he has a body or not,
or whether he has attachment or not?
He himself is the immaculate, immovable, innate Reality
-infinite as space.
Pieter Schoonheim Samara is author of The Self, Maya, and the Heart: The Fundamentals of Non-Dualism
The Soldier... from the Bhagavad Gita...
"'Whoever believes this the killer
and whoever thinks this the killed,
they both do not understand;
this does not kill and is not killed.
Neither is it born nor does it die at any time,
nor having been, will this again not be.
Unborn, eternal, perpetual this ancient being
is not killed with the killing of the body.
"'Whoever knows this, the indestructible,
the eternal, the unborn, the imperishable,
how does this person, Partha, cause the killing of anyone?
Whom does one kill?
As a person abandoning worn-out clothes takes new ones,
so abandoning worn-out bodies the soul enters new ones.
Weapons do not cut this nor does fire burn this,
and waters cannot wet this nor can wind dry it.
Not pierced this, not burned this, not wetted nor dried,
eternal, all-pervading, stable,
immovable is this everlasting.
Unmanifest this, it is said.
"'Therefore knowing this you should not mourn.
And if you think this is eternally born or eternally dying,
even then, you mighty armed, you should not mourn this.
Death is certain for the born,
and birth is certain for the dead.
Therefore you should not mourn over the inevitable.
"'Beings have unmanifest beginnings,
manifest middles, Bharata, unmanifest ends again.
What complaint is there?
Marvelously someone sees this,
and marvelously another thus tells,
and marvelously another hears this,
but even having heard no one knows this.
This embodied soul is eternally inviolable
in the body of all, Bharata.
Therefore you should not mourn for any being.
"'So looking at your duty you should not waver,
for there is no greater duty than battle for the kshatriya.
And by good fortune gaining the open door of heaven,
happy kshatriyas, Partha, encounter such a battle.
Now if you will not undertake this combat duty,
then having avoided your duty and glory, you will incur evil.
And also people will relate your perpetual dishonor,
and for the esteemed, dishonor is worse than dying.
The great warriors will think
you withdraw from battle out of fear,
and having been thought much of
among those you will be held lightly.
And enemies will say of you many words not to be spoken,
deriding your strength.
What is more painful than that?
"'Either killed you will attain heaven,
or conquering you will enjoy the earth.
Therefore stand up, Kaunteya, resolved to the battle.
Making pleasure and pain the same,
gain and loss, victory and defeat,
then engage in battle.
Thus you will not incur evil.
and whoever thinks this the killed,
they both do not understand;
this does not kill and is not killed.
Neither is it born nor does it die at any time,
nor having been, will this again not be.
Unborn, eternal, perpetual this ancient being
is not killed with the killing of the body.
"'Whoever knows this, the indestructible,
the eternal, the unborn, the imperishable,
how does this person, Partha, cause the killing of anyone?
Whom does one kill?
As a person abandoning worn-out clothes takes new ones,
so abandoning worn-out bodies the soul enters new ones.
Weapons do not cut this nor does fire burn this,
and waters cannot wet this nor can wind dry it.
Not pierced this, not burned this, not wetted nor dried,
eternal, all-pervading, stable,
immovable is this everlasting.
Unmanifest this, it is said.
"'Therefore knowing this you should not mourn.
And if you think this is eternally born or eternally dying,
even then, you mighty armed, you should not mourn this.
Death is certain for the born,
and birth is certain for the dead.
Therefore you should not mourn over the inevitable.
"'Beings have unmanifest beginnings,
manifest middles, Bharata, unmanifest ends again.
What complaint is there?
Marvelously someone sees this,
and marvelously another thus tells,
and marvelously another hears this,
but even having heard no one knows this.
This embodied soul is eternally inviolable
in the body of all, Bharata.
Therefore you should not mourn for any being.
"'So looking at your duty you should not waver,
for there is no greater duty than battle for the kshatriya.
And by good fortune gaining the open door of heaven,
happy kshatriyas, Partha, encounter such a battle.
Now if you will not undertake this combat duty,
then having avoided your duty and glory, you will incur evil.
And also people will relate your perpetual dishonor,
and for the esteemed, dishonor is worse than dying.
The great warriors will think
you withdraw from battle out of fear,
and having been thought much of
among those you will be held lightly.
And enemies will say of you many words not to be spoken,
deriding your strength.
What is more painful than that?
"'Either killed you will attain heaven,
or conquering you will enjoy the earth.
Therefore stand up, Kaunteya, resolved to the battle.
Making pleasure and pain the same,
gain and loss, victory and defeat,
then engage in battle.
Thus you will not incur evil.
Maya...
The world does exist, we are surrounded by it, and usually we apply the term to something that does not exist. It will be more correct to translate the term Maya not by "unreal" but by "not what we think it to be." We must not deny the existence of the world--that would be lunacy--but we must try to get a correct understanding of its hidden nature.
There is no need to insult intelligence by denying existence--whether the world's or the body's--but we can try to understand that there are different forms of existence and only one formless essence of it.
Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 2: The Cosmos of Change > #26 & #30.......Paul Brunton
There is no need to insult intelligence by denying existence--whether the world's or the body's--but we can try to understand that there are different forms of existence and only one formless essence of it.
Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 2: The Cosmos of Change > #26 & #30.......Paul Brunton
Mind is Buddha...
"Mind itself is buddha" -- difficult to practice, but easy to explain; "No mind, no buddha" -- difficult to explain, but easy to practice." Dogen Zenji (1200 -
The Master and the Pupil...
A pupil asked his master: "Why was Adam obliged to leave paradise?" The Master
replied; "When Adam, the noblest of creatures, entered paraidse he heard a
resounding voice from the invisible world: 'O you who are attqched to the
earthly paradise by a hundred bonds, know that whoever in the two worlds is
identified with that which comes between him and me, I deprive of all that
exists visibly, so that he may become attached only to me, his true friend.' To
a lover, a hundred thousand lives are nothing without the beloved. He who has
lived for something other than Him, were it Adam himself, has been driven out.
The dwellers in Paradise know that the first thing they must give up is their
heart."
Fariduddin Attar
from The Conference of the Birds
C. S. Nott version
replied; "When Adam, the noblest of creatures, entered paraidse he heard a
resounding voice from the invisible world: 'O you who are attqched to the
earthly paradise by a hundred bonds, know that whoever in the two worlds is
identified with that which comes between him and me, I deprive of all that
exists visibly, so that he may become attached only to me, his true friend.' To
a lover, a hundred thousand lives are nothing without the beloved. He who has
lived for something other than Him, were it Adam himself, has been driven out.
The dwellers in Paradise know that the first thing they must give up is their
heart."
Fariduddin Attar
from The Conference of the Birds
C. S. Nott version
Something Beyond...
To be a living being is not the ultimate state;
there is something beyond, much more wonderful,
which is neither being nor non-being, neither
living nor not-living. It is a state of pure aware-
ness, beyond the limitations of space and time.
Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is
abandoned, death loses its terror, it becomes a
part of living.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from:
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
there is something beyond, much more wonderful,
which is neither being nor non-being, neither
living nor not-living. It is a state of pure aware-
ness, beyond the limitations of space and time.
Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is
abandoned, death loses its terror, it becomes a
part of living.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from:
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Self...
Meditation is stilling the body and mind, so that Reality can be experienced..
and if You are courageous enough and can surrender your self (ego) to
non-existence, You will find Your Self within All Existence..........namaste,
thomas
and if You are courageous enough and can surrender your self (ego) to
non-existence, You will find Your Self within All Existence..........namaste,
thomas
Meditation...
Jesus and Meditation
Jesus often left his apostles and the crowds to distance himself in the wilderness areas of Palestine to engage in long periods of dynamic-mind, spiritual meditation wherein he communicated with God. The 40 days following his baptism were spent in such a manner.
Samadhi
In the Samadhi or Shamatha, or concentrative, techniques of meditation, the mind is kept closely focused on a particular word, image, sound, person, or idea. This form of meditation is often found in Buddhist and Hindu traditions including Yoga, as well as in Medieval Christianity, Jewish Kabbalah, and in some modern metaphysical schools. Eknath Easwaran developed another, related, method. He called it "passage meditation" -- silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world's great religions. Easwaran believe that, "The slow, sustained concentration on these passages drives them deep into our minds; and whatever we drive deep into consciousness, that we become."
Mindful Awareness Traditions
Vipassana and anapanasati are parts of broader notion of mindful awareness, which is part of the Noble Eightfold Path, the ultimate goal in Buddhism that leads to Enlightenment, and expounded upon the in the Satipatthana sutta. While in anapanasati meditation attention is focused on the breath, in vipassana, however, the mind is trained to be acutely aware of not only breathing, but all things that one comes to experience.
The concept of vipassana works in believing that the meditator's mind will eventually take note of every physical and mental experience "real-time" or as it happens, the goal being that it will gradually reveal to the practitioner how one's mind unknowingly attaches itself to things that are impermanent in nature. Thus, when such things cease to exist, one experiences the suffering from its loss. This very wisdom, achievable solely through vipassana meditation, in turn gradually frees one's mind from the attachment that is the root of suffering.
For one practicing this form of meditation, it is also very important to note that the wisdom presents itself into the mind of meditator only when he/she is NOT thinking but yet possessing an acute awareness of what goes on in their mind, body and surrounding. The nature of vipassana is sophisticated; one may desire a veteran instructor to provide initial guidance.
In other words, in Vipassana (insight, or seeing things as they are) meditation, the mind is trained to notice each perception or thought that passes without "stopping" on any one. This is a characteristic form of meditation in Buddhism, especially in some Theravada traditions, and is also a component of Zazen, the term for meditation practice in Zen.
However, in at least some forms of vipassana, one does not attend to whatever perceptions arise, but purposely moves one's attention over their body part by part, checking for perceptions, being aware and equanimous with them, and moving on. This form of meditation has some resemblance with "choiceless awareness" — the kind of meditation that J. Krishnamurti addressed........ www.thenazareneway.com
Jesus often left his apostles and the crowds to distance himself in the wilderness areas of Palestine to engage in long periods of dynamic-mind, spiritual meditation wherein he communicated with God. The 40 days following his baptism were spent in such a manner.
Samadhi
In the Samadhi or Shamatha, or concentrative, techniques of meditation, the mind is kept closely focused on a particular word, image, sound, person, or idea. This form of meditation is often found in Buddhist and Hindu traditions including Yoga, as well as in Medieval Christianity, Jewish Kabbalah, and in some modern metaphysical schools. Eknath Easwaran developed another, related, method. He called it "passage meditation" -- silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world's great religions. Easwaran believe that, "The slow, sustained concentration on these passages drives them deep into our minds; and whatever we drive deep into consciousness, that we become."
Mindful Awareness Traditions
Vipassana and anapanasati are parts of broader notion of mindful awareness, which is part of the Noble Eightfold Path, the ultimate goal in Buddhism that leads to Enlightenment, and expounded upon the in the Satipatthana sutta. While in anapanasati meditation attention is focused on the breath, in vipassana, however, the mind is trained to be acutely aware of not only breathing, but all things that one comes to experience.
The concept of vipassana works in believing that the meditator's mind will eventually take note of every physical and mental experience "real-time" or as it happens, the goal being that it will gradually reveal to the practitioner how one's mind unknowingly attaches itself to things that are impermanent in nature. Thus, when such things cease to exist, one experiences the suffering from its loss. This very wisdom, achievable solely through vipassana meditation, in turn gradually frees one's mind from the attachment that is the root of suffering.
For one practicing this form of meditation, it is also very important to note that the wisdom presents itself into the mind of meditator only when he/she is NOT thinking but yet possessing an acute awareness of what goes on in their mind, body and surrounding. The nature of vipassana is sophisticated; one may desire a veteran instructor to provide initial guidance.
In other words, in Vipassana (insight, or seeing things as they are) meditation, the mind is trained to notice each perception or thought that passes without "stopping" on any one. This is a characteristic form of meditation in Buddhism, especially in some Theravada traditions, and is also a component of Zazen, the term for meditation practice in Zen.
However, in at least some forms of vipassana, one does not attend to whatever perceptions arise, but purposely moves one's attention over their body part by part, checking for perceptions, being aware and equanimous with them, and moving on. This form of meditation has some resemblance with "choiceless awareness" — the kind of meditation that J. Krishnamurti addressed........ www.thenazareneway.com
Truth is Simple...
The plain truth is too simple for the seeker after complexity, who is looking
for things he cannot understand.
Bowl of Saki, December 19, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Man likes complexity. He does not want to take only one step; it is more
interesting to look forward to millions of steps. The man who is seeking the
truth gets into a maze, and that maze interests him. He wants to go through it a
thousand times more. It is just like children. Their whole interest is in
running about; they do not want to see the door and go in until they are very
tired. So it is with grown-up people. They all say that they are seeking truth,
but they like the maze. That is why the mystics made the greatest truths a
mystery, to be given only to the few who were ready for them, letting the others
play because it was the time for them to play.
What holds man back? It is his love of complexity. Life makes for man a puzzle,
and like a child he enjoys the puzzle. Truth is too simple for him; he attaches
importance to what he cannot understand. If he is told that there is a sacred
mountain a thousand miles away he will walk to it. In the ancient days the
people were told that if they walked in a circle round the temple a hundred
times they would gain much, and they went and felt they had made a pilgrimage.
Such is human nature. Man longs for truth, he searches for truth, and yet he
wants to escape from truth. Man wants mystery. He wants something that can be
put into words. So long as the seeker has that desire he will remain in a
puzzle, but for the one who wishes to come out, the door is open. The heart of
man is the abode of God. Christ said, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and
all these things shall be added unto you'.... Man has accustomed himself to
think of things that are far from truth. Even in religion as well as in everyday
life he is continually denying truth, and so he wanders far away because he
becomes accustomed to everything but truth.
Man is seeking for phenomena, he wants wonderworking, communication with ghosts
or spirits, he is looking for something complex, and yet the simplest thing and
the most valuable thing in life is to find one's true self.
for things he cannot understand.
Bowl of Saki, December 19, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Man likes complexity. He does not want to take only one step; it is more
interesting to look forward to millions of steps. The man who is seeking the
truth gets into a maze, and that maze interests him. He wants to go through it a
thousand times more. It is just like children. Their whole interest is in
running about; they do not want to see the door and go in until they are very
tired. So it is with grown-up people. They all say that they are seeking truth,
but they like the maze. That is why the mystics made the greatest truths a
mystery, to be given only to the few who were ready for them, letting the others
play because it was the time for them to play.
What holds man back? It is his love of complexity. Life makes for man a puzzle,
and like a child he enjoys the puzzle. Truth is too simple for him; he attaches
importance to what he cannot understand. If he is told that there is a sacred
mountain a thousand miles away he will walk to it. In the ancient days the
people were told that if they walked in a circle round the temple a hundred
times they would gain much, and they went and felt they had made a pilgrimage.
Such is human nature. Man longs for truth, he searches for truth, and yet he
wants to escape from truth. Man wants mystery. He wants something that can be
put into words. So long as the seeker has that desire he will remain in a
puzzle, but for the one who wishes to come out, the door is open. The heart of
man is the abode of God. Christ said, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and
all these things shall be added unto you'.... Man has accustomed himself to
think of things that are far from truth. Even in religion as well as in everyday
life he is continually denying truth, and so he wanders far away because he
becomes accustomed to everything but truth.
Man is seeking for phenomena, he wants wonderworking, communication with ghosts
or spirits, he is looking for something complex, and yet the simplest thing and
the most valuable thing in life is to find one's true self.
Ram Tzu Speaks...
Ram Tzu knows this
The fear never leaves you.
It is part of you
As tied to your center as your breath.
Touch it,
Stroke it
Get to know it well.
As long as you are
It will be with you.
You scream
You shout
You rage
You want quit of it.
You push it away with all your strength.
But hear this
It thrives on all this exercise
You give it.
It gets stronger when
You give it something to push against.
Left alone it will wither and die.
But you know you can not leave it alone.
You must always fight the fear.
It is your nature to always fight.
Yet sometimes there is Grace You disappear into it
And there is no longer a battle.
The warrior is gone.
- Ram Tzu
The fear never leaves you.
It is part of you
As tied to your center as your breath.
Touch it,
Stroke it
Get to know it well.
As long as you are
It will be with you.
You scream
You shout
You rage
You want quit of it.
You push it away with all your strength.
But hear this
It thrives on all this exercise
You give it.
It gets stronger when
You give it something to push against.
Left alone it will wither and die.
But you know you can not leave it alone.
You must always fight the fear.
It is your nature to always fight.
Yet sometimes there is Grace You disappear into it
And there is no longer a battle.
The warrior is gone.
- Ram Tzu
Desire...
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
Father Thomas Merton
Father Thomas Merton
A Question...
When Jesus said "You will know my followers in that they keep my
commandments.", what commandments was he referring to?
I have more, but this one is begging to be asked while the others remain
forgotten for now...
Chet
................................................................................ The Commandments all concern practicing the mental state of Unconditional Love.... such as Love your enemy.. give to the poor.. treat others as you would be treated.. etc.. His teachings and Commandments were all concerning the elimination of the illusion of ego by becoming the opposite of ego, which is Unconditional Love or what we call God..........namaste, thomas
commandments.", what commandments was he referring to?
I have more, but this one is begging to be asked while the others remain
forgotten for now...
Chet
................................................................................ The Commandments all concern practicing the mental state of Unconditional Love.... such as Love your enemy.. give to the poor.. treat others as you would be treated.. etc.. His teachings and Commandments were all concerning the elimination of the illusion of ego by becoming the opposite of ego, which is Unconditional Love or what we call God..........namaste, thomas
Humans always want More...
The trees of the forest silently await God's blessing.
Bowl of Saki, December 18, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The law of gravitation is working from two sides: from the side of the earth
which draws all that belongs to the earth, and from the side of the spirit which
attracts the soul towards it. Even those who are unconscious of this law of
gravitation are also striving for perfection, for the soul is being continually
drawn towards the spirit. They are striving for perfection just the same. In the
small things of everyday life a man is never satisfied with what he has. He
always wants more and more, be it a higher rank, wealth, or fame. He is always
striving for this.
This shows that the heart is like a magic bowl. However much you pour into it,
it only becomes deeper. It is always found to be empty. The reason why man is
never satisfied is that he is unconsciously striving for perfection. Those
however who strive consciously after perfection have a different way.
Nevertheless, each atom of the universe is meant to struggle and strive in order
to become perfect one day. In other words, if a seer happens to be in the
mountains he will hear the mountains cry continually, 'We are waiting for that
day when something in us will awaken. There will come a day of awakening, of
unfoldment. We are silently awaiting it.' If he went into the forest and saw the
trees standing there they would tell him that they too were waiting patiently.
One can feel it. The more one sits there the more one feels that the trees are
waiting for the time when there will be an unfoldment. So it is with all beings.
But man is so absorbed in his everyday actions and his greed that he seems to be
unaware of that innate desire for unfoldment. It is his everyday tasks, his
avariciousness, his cruelty to other beings, that keep him continually occupied,
and that is why he cannot hear the continual cry of his own soul to awaken, to
unfold, to reach upward, to expand, and to go towards perfection.
Bowl of Saki, December 18, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The law of gravitation is working from two sides: from the side of the earth
which draws all that belongs to the earth, and from the side of the spirit which
attracts the soul towards it. Even those who are unconscious of this law of
gravitation are also striving for perfection, for the soul is being continually
drawn towards the spirit. They are striving for perfection just the same. In the
small things of everyday life a man is never satisfied with what he has. He
always wants more and more, be it a higher rank, wealth, or fame. He is always
striving for this.
This shows that the heart is like a magic bowl. However much you pour into it,
it only becomes deeper. It is always found to be empty. The reason why man is
never satisfied is that he is unconsciously striving for perfection. Those
however who strive consciously after perfection have a different way.
Nevertheless, each atom of the universe is meant to struggle and strive in order
to become perfect one day. In other words, if a seer happens to be in the
mountains he will hear the mountains cry continually, 'We are waiting for that
day when something in us will awaken. There will come a day of awakening, of
unfoldment. We are silently awaiting it.' If he went into the forest and saw the
trees standing there they would tell him that they too were waiting patiently.
One can feel it. The more one sits there the more one feels that the trees are
waiting for the time when there will be an unfoldment. So it is with all beings.
But man is so absorbed in his everyday actions and his greed that he seems to be
unaware of that innate desire for unfoldment. It is his everyday tasks, his
avariciousness, his cruelty to other beings, that keep him continually occupied,
and that is why he cannot hear the continual cry of his own soul to awaken, to
unfold, to reach upward, to expand, and to go towards perfection.
The Prison of Desires...
Many souls have grown closest to God while they were in prison.. Your Real Joy
is found within.. your desires are keeping you in a prison of your own making..
The wealthy humans that you see with envy are not happy and never will be happy
until they no longer desire wealth and power.. remember Jesus saying," It is
easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter Heaven".. Instead of envy and anger towards those of power and wealth,
feel Compassion for their misery and unhappiness of their
desires........namaste, thomas
is found within.. your desires are keeping you in a prison of your own making..
The wealthy humans that you see with envy are not happy and never will be happy
until they no longer desire wealth and power.. remember Jesus saying," It is
easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter Heaven".. Instead of envy and anger towards those of power and wealth,
feel Compassion for their misery and unhappiness of their
desires........namaste, thomas
Life and Death...
The Buddhist Sutra of Mindfulness speaks about the meditation on the corpse: meditate on the decomposition of the body, how the body bloats and turns violet, how it is eaten by worms until only bits of blood and flesh still cling to the bones, meditate up to the point where only white bones remain, which in turn are slowly worn away and turn into dust. Meditate like that, knowing that your own body will undergo the same process. Meditate on the corpse until you are calm and at peace, until your mind and heart are light and tranquil and a smile appears on your face. Thus, by overcoming revulsion and fear, life will be seen as infinitely precious, every second of it worth living. .........
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Shape of Love...
What we see is not the most important.
Could dust rise without the invisible
hand of the wind?
Could a fan turn without any current?
Could lungs breathe without breath?
Tell me
What is the shape of Love?
How much does Joy weigh
when held in the palm of your hand?
Can you catch the Spirit of Life in a jar?
All things seen depend
upon the Unseen.
All sounds depend upon Silence.
All things felt depend
upon what is not felt.
Adyashanti
Could dust rise without the invisible
hand of the wind?
Could a fan turn without any current?
Could lungs breathe without breath?
Tell me
What is the shape of Love?
How much does Joy weigh
when held in the palm of your hand?
Can you catch the Spirit of Life in a jar?
All things seen depend
upon the Unseen.
All sounds depend upon Silence.
All things felt depend
upon what is not felt.
Adyashanti
Interaction with God...
Interaction with God is only found when in the state of Love.. The
next step to understand is that You have the power to be separate from this Love
and therefore separate from God.. This choice is called belief in the separate
ego.. You are in fact inseparable from God, as God is Everything.. So, Your Real
State of Existence is Unselfish Love, but Your decision to believe that You are
not, creates the pain within life called ego(self)..The ego is the source of all
pain and must be dissolved by Humility to achieve Realization of Freedom and
Love..........namaste, thomas
next step to understand is that You have the power to be separate from this Love
and therefore separate from God.. This choice is called belief in the separate
ego.. You are in fact inseparable from God, as God is Everything.. So, Your Real
State of Existence is Unselfish Love, but Your decision to believe that You are
not, creates the pain within life called ego(self)..The ego is the source of all
pain and must be dissolved by Humility to achieve Realization of Freedom and
Love..........namaste, thomas
The Garden of Love...
"If you can't smell the fragrance
don't come into the graden of love.
If you are unwilling to undress
don't enter into the stream of Truth.
Stay where you are, don't come our way."
Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
_Rumi: Hidden Music_
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 185
don't come into the graden of love.
If you are unwilling to undress
don't enter into the stream of Truth.
Stay where you are, don't come our way."
Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
_Rumi: Hidden Music_
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 185
The Unseen Energy...
The unseen energy from which atomic physics derives the universe is beyond investigation by scientific apparatus. But the first effect is not so exempt. The split atom reveals itself in the cyclotron as nuclear particles which have definite form. From them the universe is built and thus matter appears. Energy form--matter--this is the sequence but where is mind in all this? Consciousness and intelligence exist in man. He is only a part of the universe. The whole is greater than the part (that is, mind). Therefore mind exists in the universe (that is, Nature). Careful analysis combined with its opposite, profound meditation, shows using the knowledge derived from atomic physics, this universal mind to be none other than the unseen power--God.
If the world is unreal, as Advaita asserts, it nevertheless does appear. As Brahman it does not appear; this is the function of Maya. Brahman, however, is the reality underlying the unreal appearance of Maya.
รข€” Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1: The Cosmos of Change > #18 & #19......Paul Brunton
If the world is unreal, as Advaita asserts, it nevertheless does appear. As Brahman it does not appear; this is the function of Maya. Brahman, however, is the reality underlying the unreal appearance of Maya.
รข€” Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1: The Cosmos of Change > #18 & #19......Paul Brunton
God in Buddhism...
There is no individual God in Buddhism because that would be a separation between us and God.. this belief in separation is called ego.. therefore, it would be egoistic to worship yourself.. God is Divine Consciousness and is Everything that does exist.. There is Nothing that is not Divine Consciousness.. God does not desire worship, God requires the elimination of the false belief in ego separation.. There is only One Ego and that is Consciousness.. The mental surrender of this belief in separate ego is called Enlightenment.. This is our goal in life and the only Reality.. The Truth is that non-ego is called Unconditional Love and this is why God is called Love...........namaste, thomas
The World...
The upward spiral course of the line of Eternal recurrence reveals the relativity of this phenomenal world, not only in time but also in space, and in a kind of substance--from which it is formed.
If there is one thing that is forever what it is, itself unchanging and unaffected, it cannot be found in this world of time and space.
The world is seen and man must live in it. But he can do so deceived by the feeling of its reality, or awake to the reality itself, which hides behind the appearance.
Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1: The Cosmos of Change > #15, #16, & #17.......Paul Brunton
If there is one thing that is forever what it is, itself unchanging and unaffected, it cannot be found in this world of time and space.
The world is seen and man must live in it. But he can do so deceived by the feeling of its reality, or awake to the reality itself, which hides behind the appearance.
Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1: The Cosmos of Change > #15, #16, & #17.......Paul Brunton
Who am "I" ?...
When you think of "I", remember that "I" is the Breath of God and only Good will
proceed from Your Breath.. A Saint is any human that is selfless.. to be without
self is to Be Within Self.........namaste, thomas
proceed from Your Breath.. A Saint is any human that is selfless.. to be without
self is to Be Within Self.........namaste, thomas
Flattery...
The world's flattery and hypocrisy is a sweet morsel:
eat less of it, for it is full of fire.
Its fire is hidden while its taste is manifest,
but its smoke becomes visible in the end.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
eat less of it, for it is full of fire.
Its fire is hidden while its taste is manifest,
but its smoke becomes visible in the end.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
What is Freedom?...
selflessness is the path
to Freedom.. Freedom is the state of ego non-existence.. This state of mind is
called Divine Consciousness.. Within this Holy State, We Exist.. the Real
Existence, not the film that we are participating in, called life.. With each
step in life, while we remain in the thought of Self Divinity, we walk in the
state of Grace and Unconditional Love.. This is Your Real Self.. This is what we
call God............namaste, thomas
to Freedom.. Freedom is the state of ego non-existence.. This state of mind is
called Divine Consciousness.. Within this Holy State, We Exist.. the Real
Existence, not the film that we are participating in, called life.. With each
step in life, while we remain in the thought of Self Divinity, we walk in the
state of Grace and Unconditional Love.. This is Your Real Self.. This is what we
call God............namaste, thomas
Tao Te Ching...
People usually fail when they are on the verge
of success. So give as much care to the end
as to the beginning; then there will be no failure.
- Lao-tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
of success. So give as much care to the end
as to the beginning; then there will be no failure.
- Lao-tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
Ram Tzu Speaks...
Ram Tzu knows this
You will never have enough.
There is not enough to be had.
Your satisfaction,
However sweet,
Is always temporary.
And when it goes
It leaves behind a void
That screams to be filled.
So you go again in search
Of completeness,
Of fullness
Of peace,
Of happiness.
But you know only to look
For satisfaction.
A blind man in search of the sky.
You clever ones will see
It to be a problem with
A simple solution.
Austerity.
You strip yourself of worldly goods
Run about naked
Living off the labor of the crass souls
Still bound to the yoke of desire.
Pity it doesn't work.
It looks so good on paper.
But always in the deep,
Dark recesses of your soul
Lurks a tickle of noble want
To be one with God.
It might just as well be a Rolls Royce.
Fools, don't despair.
For you there is always hope.
- Ram Tzu
You will never have enough.
There is not enough to be had.
Your satisfaction,
However sweet,
Is always temporary.
And when it goes
It leaves behind a void
That screams to be filled.
So you go again in search
Of completeness,
Of fullness
Of peace,
Of happiness.
But you know only to look
For satisfaction.
A blind man in search of the sky.
You clever ones will see
It to be a problem with
A simple solution.
Austerity.
You strip yourself of worldly goods
Run about naked
Living off the labor of the crass souls
Still bound to the yoke of desire.
Pity it doesn't work.
It looks so good on paper.
But always in the deep,
Dark recesses of your soul
Lurks a tickle of noble want
To be one with God.
It might just as well be a Rolls Royce.
Fools, don't despair.
For you there is always hope.
- Ram Tzu
God Pours Light...
God
pours light
into every cup,
quenching darkness.
The proudly pious
stuff their cups with parchment
and critique the taste of ink
while God pours light
and the trees lift their limbs
without worry of redemption,
every blossom a chalice.
Hafiz, seduce those withered souls
with words that wet their parched lips
as light
pours like rain
into every empty cup
set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.
~ Hafiz ~
pours light
into every cup,
quenching darkness.
The proudly pious
stuff their cups with parchment
and critique the taste of ink
while God pours light
and the trees lift their limbs
without worry of redemption,
every blossom a chalice.
Hafiz, seduce those withered souls
with words that wet their parched lips
as light
pours like rain
into every empty cup
set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.
~ Hafiz ~
No One Drinks...
I exhausted myself, looking.
No one ever finds this by trying.
I melted in it and came home,
where every jar is full,
but no one drinks.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
No one ever finds this by trying.
I melted in it and came home,
where every jar is full,
but no one drinks.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
Reality...
We live in a cosmos wherein infinite being is forever expressing its own inexpressible self. But as the limitations of it are done in time space motion and form, we are in a never-ending never-successful process.
Because the world-thought issues ultimately from the World-Mind, it cannot be wholly excluded from Reality. It may even be called Reality because it is the ground of everything else, yet is itself derived from Nothing.
All things are either changing or will be affected by change: physical things like peas and mountains, mental things like impressions and imaginations. Is there no unchanging element at all in this ever-changing world?
Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1: The Cosmos of Change > # 5, #7 & #9.....Paul Brunton
Because the world-thought issues ultimately from the World-Mind, it cannot be wholly excluded from Reality. It may even be called Reality because it is the ground of everything else, yet is itself derived from Nothing.
All things are either changing or will be affected by change: physical things like peas and mountains, mental things like impressions and imaginations. Is there no unchanging element at all in this ever-changing world?
Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1: The Cosmos of Change > # 5, #7 & #9.....Paul Brunton
The Sage...
The sage helps the world merely by being
the real Self. The best way for one to
serve the world is to win the egoless state.
If you are anxious to help the world, but
think that you cannot do so by attaining the
egoless state, then surrender to God all the
world's problems, along with your own.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
the real Self. The best way for one to
serve the world is to win the egoless state.
If you are anxious to help the world, but
think that you cannot do so by attaining the
egoless state, then surrender to God all the
world's problems, along with your own.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
Dying Daily...
Questioner: Would you please explain what you mean by dying daily?
Jiddu Krishnamurti: Why is it that we are so frightened of death? Because death is the unknown. We don't know what is going to happen tomorrow; actually, we don't know what is going to happen. Though we build for tomorrow, actually, realistically, we don't know; and so there is always the fear of tomorrow. So, fear is the guiding factor, which is the incapacity to meet the unknown, and therefore we continue taking today over into tomorrow. That is what we are doing, is it not? We give continuity to our idiosyncrasies, to our jealousies, to our stupidities, to our memories; wherever we are, we carry them over from day to day.
Don't we do that? And so there is no dying, there is only an assurance of continuity. That is a fact. Our names, our actions, the things that we do, our property, the desire to be - all these give a continuity. Now, that which continues obviously cannot renew. There can be renewal only when there is an ending. If you are the same tomorrow as you are today, how can there be renewal? That is, if you are attached to an idea, to an experience which you have had yesterday and which you desire to continue tomorrow, there is no renewal; there is a continuity of the memory of the sensation of that experience, but the experience itself is dead. There is only the memory of the sensation of that experience, and it is that sensation you want to continue. And where there is continuity, obviously there is no renewal. And yet it is what most of us want - we want to continue.
We want to continue with our worries, with our pleasures, with our memories; and so most Of us are actually uncreative. There is no possibility of a rebirth, a renewal. Whereas, if each day we died, finished at the end of the day all our worries, all our jealousies, all our idiocies and vanities, our cruel gossip - you know, the whole business - if each day we came to an end and did not carry all that over into tomorrow, then there would be a possibility of renewal, would there not?
So, why do we accumulate? And what is it that we accumulate, apart from furniture and a few other things? What is it that we accumulate? Ideas, words, and memories, do we not? And with these we live - we are those things. With those things we want to live, we want to continue. But if we did not continue, there would be a possibility of a new understanding, a new opening. This is not metaphysical, this is not something fantastic. Experiment with it yourself and you will see that an extraordinary thing takes place. How the mind worries over a problem, over and over and over again, day after day!
Such a mind is incapable, obviously, of seeing something new, is it not? We are caught in our beliefs - religious, sociological, or any other form of belief - and those beliefs are oneself. Beliefs are words, and the word becomes important, and so we live in a sensation which we want to continue, and therefore there is no renewal. But if one does not continue, if one does not give continuity to a worry, but thinks it out, goes into it fully and dissolves it, then one's mind is fresh to meet something else anew.
But the difficulty is that most of us want to live in the past, in past memories, or in the future, future hopes, future longings - which indicates that the present is not significant, and therefore we live yesterday and tomorrow, and give continuity to both. If one actually experiments with this thing, really dying each day, each minute, to everything that one has accumulated, then there is a possibility of immortality. Immortality is not continuity, which is merely time; there is continuity only to memory, to ideas, to words. But, when there is freedom from continuity, then there is a state of timelessness, which cannot be understood if you are merely the result of continuity.
Therefore, it is important to die every minute and to be reborn again - not as you were yesterday. This is really very important, if you would go into it seriously. Because, in this there is a possibility of creation, of transformation. And most of our lives are so unhappy because we don't know how to renew; we are worn out, we are destroyed by yesterday, by yesterday's memories, misfortunes, unhappiness, incidents, failures.
Yesterday burdens our minds and hearts, and with that burden we want to understand something which cannot be understood within the limits of time. And that is why it is essential, if one would be creative in the deep sense of that word, that there be death to all the accumulations of every minute. This is not fantastic, this is not some mystical experience. One can experience this directly, simply, when one understands the whole significance of how time as continuity prevents creativeness.
Source - Jiddu Krishnamurti talk at Ojai, August 27, 1949
Jiddu Krishnamurti: Why is it that we are so frightened of death? Because death is the unknown. We don't know what is going to happen tomorrow; actually, we don't know what is going to happen. Though we build for tomorrow, actually, realistically, we don't know; and so there is always the fear of tomorrow. So, fear is the guiding factor, which is the incapacity to meet the unknown, and therefore we continue taking today over into tomorrow. That is what we are doing, is it not? We give continuity to our idiosyncrasies, to our jealousies, to our stupidities, to our memories; wherever we are, we carry them over from day to day.
Don't we do that? And so there is no dying, there is only an assurance of continuity. That is a fact. Our names, our actions, the things that we do, our property, the desire to be - all these give a continuity. Now, that which continues obviously cannot renew. There can be renewal only when there is an ending. If you are the same tomorrow as you are today, how can there be renewal? That is, if you are attached to an idea, to an experience which you have had yesterday and which you desire to continue tomorrow, there is no renewal; there is a continuity of the memory of the sensation of that experience, but the experience itself is dead. There is only the memory of the sensation of that experience, and it is that sensation you want to continue. And where there is continuity, obviously there is no renewal. And yet it is what most of us want - we want to continue.
We want to continue with our worries, with our pleasures, with our memories; and so most Of us are actually uncreative. There is no possibility of a rebirth, a renewal. Whereas, if each day we died, finished at the end of the day all our worries, all our jealousies, all our idiocies and vanities, our cruel gossip - you know, the whole business - if each day we came to an end and did not carry all that over into tomorrow, then there would be a possibility of renewal, would there not?
So, why do we accumulate? And what is it that we accumulate, apart from furniture and a few other things? What is it that we accumulate? Ideas, words, and memories, do we not? And with these we live - we are those things. With those things we want to live, we want to continue. But if we did not continue, there would be a possibility of a new understanding, a new opening. This is not metaphysical, this is not something fantastic. Experiment with it yourself and you will see that an extraordinary thing takes place. How the mind worries over a problem, over and over and over again, day after day!
Such a mind is incapable, obviously, of seeing something new, is it not? We are caught in our beliefs - religious, sociological, or any other form of belief - and those beliefs are oneself. Beliefs are words, and the word becomes important, and so we live in a sensation which we want to continue, and therefore there is no renewal. But if one does not continue, if one does not give continuity to a worry, but thinks it out, goes into it fully and dissolves it, then one's mind is fresh to meet something else anew.
But the difficulty is that most of us want to live in the past, in past memories, or in the future, future hopes, future longings - which indicates that the present is not significant, and therefore we live yesterday and tomorrow, and give continuity to both. If one actually experiments with this thing, really dying each day, each minute, to everything that one has accumulated, then there is a possibility of immortality. Immortality is not continuity, which is merely time; there is continuity only to memory, to ideas, to words. But, when there is freedom from continuity, then there is a state of timelessness, which cannot be understood if you are merely the result of continuity.
Therefore, it is important to die every minute and to be reborn again - not as you were yesterday. This is really very important, if you would go into it seriously. Because, in this there is a possibility of creation, of transformation. And most of our lives are so unhappy because we don't know how to renew; we are worn out, we are destroyed by yesterday, by yesterday's memories, misfortunes, unhappiness, incidents, failures.
Yesterday burdens our minds and hearts, and with that burden we want to understand something which cannot be understood within the limits of time. And that is why it is essential, if one would be creative in the deep sense of that word, that there be death to all the accumulations of every minute. This is not fantastic, this is not some mystical experience. One can experience this directly, simply, when one understands the whole significance of how time as continuity prevents creativeness.
Source - Jiddu Krishnamurti talk at Ojai, August 27, 1949
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
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
O My Mind...
O my mind,
Worship the lotus feet of the Indestructible One!
Whatever thou seest twixt earth and sky
Will perish.
Why undertake fasts and pilgrimages?
Why engage in philosophical discussions?
Why commit suicide in Banaras?
Take no pride in the body,
It will soon be mingling with the dust.
This life is like the sporting of sparrows,
It will end with the onset of night.
Why don the ochre robe
And leave home as a sannyasi?
Those who adopt the external garb of a Jogi,
But do not penetrate to the secret,
Are caught again in the net of rebirth.
Mira’s Lord is the courtly Giridhara.
Deign to sever, O Master.
All the knots in her heart.
.......Mirabai
Worship the lotus feet of the Indestructible One!
Whatever thou seest twixt earth and sky
Will perish.
Why undertake fasts and pilgrimages?
Why engage in philosophical discussions?
Why commit suicide in Banaras?
Take no pride in the body,
It will soon be mingling with the dust.
This life is like the sporting of sparrows,
It will end with the onset of night.
Why don the ochre robe
And leave home as a sannyasi?
Those who adopt the external garb of a Jogi,
But do not penetrate to the secret,
Are caught again in the net of rebirth.
Mira’s Lord is the courtly Giridhara.
Deign to sever, O Master.
All the knots in her heart.
.......Mirabai
Free Will...
While we think it is we ourselves who are
making the decisions, events are actually
happening on a vastly magnificent scale
in which we are merely pawns on a chess-
board. Free will has, in fact, no bearing at
all.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
making the decisions, events are actually
happening on a vastly magnificent scale
in which we are merely pawns on a chess-
board. Free will has, in fact, no bearing at
all.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
The Authentic Thing...
If you believe that you have had the ultimate experience, it is more likely that you had an emotional, or mental, or mystic one. The authentic thing does not enter consciousness. You do not know that it has transpired. You discover it is already here only by looking back at what you were and contrasting it with what you now are; or when others recognize it in you and draw attention to it; or when a situation arises which throws up your real status. It is a permanent fact, not a brief mystic "glimpse."(P)
— Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 2: Our Relation To the Absolute > # 139.....Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 2: Our Relation To the Absolute > # 139.....Paul Brunton
True Happiness...
True happiness cannot arise until the identification
with the body-mind apparatus is demolished.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
with the body-mind apparatus is demolished.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
The Name of God...
Who is Wise enough to give God a name?.. but, every religion does.. I think that a name should envision the main attribute of that which is named.. The main attribute of God is Unconditional Love.. so, perhaps, we should at least call God, Love..............namaste, thomas
Liberation...
The way toward liberation is to train yourself to live in the present
without any wanting to become anything.
Give up becoming this or that, live without cravings, and experience
this present moment with full attention.
- Sutta Nipata
without any wanting to become anything.
Give up becoming this or that, live without cravings, and experience
this present moment with full attention.
- Sutta Nipata
Dharma...
Dharma means not holding onto any concept,
so the Supreme dharma is to reject all dharmas.
If you reject everything what will happen?
All the burdens of all the religions and concepts
will fall from your mind bringing you to the perfect
Peace and Love, and this is your dharma.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from:
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
so the Supreme dharma is to reject all dharmas.
If you reject everything what will happen?
All the burdens of all the religions and concepts
will fall from your mind bringing you to the perfect
Peace and Love, and this is your dharma.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from:
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Near...
You are my face: no wonder I don't see You:
such closeness is a mystifying veil.
You are my reason: it's no wonder I don't see You,
because of all this perplexity of thought.
You are nearer to me than my jugular vein.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
such closeness is a mystifying veil.
You are my reason: it's no wonder I don't see You,
because of all this perplexity of thought.
You are nearer to me than my jugular vein.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
"No man shall see me and live"...
The seeming death of the body is the real birth of the soul.
Bowl of Saki, December 9, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There are two deaths, the inner and the external. The first is going into the
center, the second going into the vastness.
There is a [Hadith] which says: Mutu kubla anta mutu, which means, 'Die before
death.' A poet says, 'Only he attains to the peace of the Lord who loses
himself.' God said to Moses, 'No man shall see me and live.' To see God we must
be non-existent. What does all this mean? It means that when we see our being
with open eyes, we see that there are two aspects to our being: the false and
the true. The false life is that of the body and mind, which only exists as long
as the life is within. In the absence of that life the body cannot go on. We
mistake the true life for the false, and the false for the true.
Dying is this: when there is a fruit or something sweet and good to taste, the
child comes to its mother and says, 'Will you give it to me?' Although it would
have given pleasure to the mother to eat it, she gives it to the child. The
eating of it by the child is enjoyed by the mother. That is death. She enjoys
her life in the joy of another. Those who rejoice in the joy of another, though
at their own expense, have taken the first step towards true life. ... If we
enjoy a beautiful thing so much that we would like to have it, and then give
that joy to another, enjoying it through his experience, we are dead. That is
our death. Yet, we live more than he. Our life is much vaster, deeper, greater.
Seemingly it is a renunciation, an annihilation, but in truth it is a mastery.
The real meaning of crucifixion is to crucify this false self, and so resurrect
the true self. As long as the false self is not crucified, the true self is
still not realized. By Sufis it is called Fana, annihilation. All the attempts
made by true sages and seekers after real truth are for the one aim of attaining
to everlasting life.
We love our body and identify ourselves with it to such an extent that we are
very unhappy to think that this body, which is so dear to us, will some day be
in the grave. No one likes to think that it will die and be destroyed. But the
soul is our true self. It existed before our birth and will exist after our
death.
The soul is our real being, through which we realize and are conscious of our
life. When the body, owing to loss of strength and magnetism, has lost its grip
upon the mind, the seeming death comes; that which everybody calls death. Then
the soul's experience of life remains only with one vehicle, that is the mind,
which contains within itself a world of its own, photographed from one's
experience on earth on the physical plane. This is heaven if it is full of joy,
and it is hell if it is filled with sorrow. ... But the soul is alive. It is the
spirit of the eternal Being, and it has no death. It is everlasting.
Bowl of Saki, December 9, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There are two deaths, the inner and the external. The first is going into the
center, the second going into the vastness.
There is a [Hadith] which says: Mutu kubla anta mutu, which means, 'Die before
death.' A poet says, 'Only he attains to the peace of the Lord who loses
himself.' God said to Moses, 'No man shall see me and live.' To see God we must
be non-existent. What does all this mean? It means that when we see our being
with open eyes, we see that there are two aspects to our being: the false and
the true. The false life is that of the body and mind, which only exists as long
as the life is within. In the absence of that life the body cannot go on. We
mistake the true life for the false, and the false for the true.
Dying is this: when there is a fruit or something sweet and good to taste, the
child comes to its mother and says, 'Will you give it to me?' Although it would
have given pleasure to the mother to eat it, she gives it to the child. The
eating of it by the child is enjoyed by the mother. That is death. She enjoys
her life in the joy of another. Those who rejoice in the joy of another, though
at their own expense, have taken the first step towards true life. ... If we
enjoy a beautiful thing so much that we would like to have it, and then give
that joy to another, enjoying it through his experience, we are dead. That is
our death. Yet, we live more than he. Our life is much vaster, deeper, greater.
Seemingly it is a renunciation, an annihilation, but in truth it is a mastery.
The real meaning of crucifixion is to crucify this false self, and so resurrect
the true self. As long as the false self is not crucified, the true self is
still not realized. By Sufis it is called Fana, annihilation. All the attempts
made by true sages and seekers after real truth are for the one aim of attaining
to everlasting life.
We love our body and identify ourselves with it to such an extent that we are
very unhappy to think that this body, which is so dear to us, will some day be
in the grave. No one likes to think that it will die and be destroyed. But the
soul is our true self. It existed before our birth and will exist after our
death.
The soul is our real being, through which we realize and are conscious of our
life. When the body, owing to loss of strength and magnetism, has lost its grip
upon the mind, the seeming death comes; that which everybody calls death. Then
the soul's experience of life remains only with one vehicle, that is the mind,
which contains within itself a world of its own, photographed from one's
experience on earth on the physical plane. This is heaven if it is full of joy,
and it is hell if it is filled with sorrow. ... But the soul is alive. It is the
spirit of the eternal Being, and it has no death. It is everlasting.
Back...
"My God, do not give me back to myself
do not let me settle for anything but You.
In You I hide escaping from my ruin
please do not give me back to myself."
Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
_Rumi: Hidden Music_
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 78
do not let me settle for anything but You.
In You I hide escaping from my ruin
please do not give me back to myself."
Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
_Rumi: Hidden Music_
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 78
The ego...
The ego totally ceases to exist and is fully absorbed into the Overself only in special, temporary, and trance-like states. At all other times, and certainly at all ordinary active and everyday times, it continues to exist. The failure to learn and understand this important point always causes much confusion in mystical circles. The state arrived at in deep meditation is one thing; the state returned to after such meditation is another. The ego vanishes in one but reappears in the other. But there are certain after-effects of this experience upon it which bring about by degrees a shift in its relation to the Overself. It submits, obeys, expresses, and reflects the Overself.
— Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 213......Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 213......Paul Brunton
Despair...
When I despair, I remember that all through history, the ways of truth and love have always won.
~ Mahatma Gandhi.
~ Mahatma Gandhi.
Idols...
The idol of your self is the mother of all idols.
The material idol is only a snake;
while this inner idol is a dragon.
It is easy to break an idol,
but to regard the self as easy to subdue is a mistake.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
.
The material idol is only a snake;
while this inner idol is a dragon.
It is easy to break an idol,
but to regard the self as easy to subdue is a mistake.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
.
What is Love...
We often think and speak of Love, but, many souls do not completely understand what Love is.. they feel this Energy with their family and friends and still do not fully understand It.. whenever I see the word spelled or hear the word Love, I immediately think of the state of being without thoughts of personal self or ego.. this makes understanding more apparent.. So that when we speak of Loving God, we can understand what this really means , to be without ego and being in the mental state of the Unity that only Nothingness can enter.. We can feel the pleasure that Unselfish Love gives us and only want more.. This is why most humans seek Love through the material world but still do not understand the deeper pleasure of Unselfish Love that is called God.. Unconditional or Unselfish Love is our Real State of Existence and is only veiled by the false belief in separate ego.. and yet, we still cling to the false pleasure that the ego affords us, in the mistaken belief that it is more powerful and completeing than Reality.. This is why Awakening is necessary.. to separate Truth from fiction..............namaste, thomas
A Servant...
The end and the sum total of all mysticism,
philosophy, and meditation, of everything one
learns and develops, is to be a better servant
to humanity. Everything from the beginning to
the end in the spiritual path is a training to be
able to serve mankind better, and if one does
not do it with that intention, one will find in the
end that one has accomplished nothing.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
philosophy, and meditation, of everything one
learns and develops, is to be a better servant
to humanity. Everything from the beginning to
the end in the spiritual path is a training to be
able to serve mankind better, and if one does
not do it with that intention, one will find in the
end that one has accomplished nothing.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
Defending our selves...
Defense is the natural instinct of the ego.. What, after all are we defending?.. the false self of illusion.. why waste time defending an illusion that only causes pain?.. Divine Knowledge needs no defense.. Happiness needs no defense.. Unselfish Love needs no defense.. Become Defenseless.. Become Humble.. Become Nothing.. Become Everything...........namaste, thomas
Divine Consciousness...
When the Overself is present in a man's consciousness, it is present in all his thoughts and actions. They are then under Its rule, they proceed from It. The man does not have to seek for any particular virtues, for all can and will then come of themselves as needed. Only then is any virtue solidly established. But until this presence is permanently secured, it would be foolish to cease working upon oneself, correcting oneself, improving oneself. A merely intellectual and theoretical acquaintance with this doctrine is inadequate. It is necessary until then to practise a coexistence of Short and Long Paths.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 5: Balancing the Paths > # 155
Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 5: Balancing the Paths > # 155
Paul Brunton
Compassion...
I spent my days idly as a vine
growing slowly in some holy place.
Then compassion came,
and I saw the Absolute.
All the names are true,
but I kept repeating that
of my teacher, and OM.
And sometimes I sang Om
Namah Shivaya, the greeting
that gives peace to the world
as well as to the spirit.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
growing slowly in some holy place.
Then compassion came,
and I saw the Absolute.
All the names are true,
but I kept repeating that
of my teacher, and OM.
And sometimes I sang Om
Namah Shivaya, the greeting
that gives peace to the world
as well as to the spirit.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
Belief...
Belief, any belief, is based on the sense of
insecurity. Only when all belief is given
up are you free to know yourself. In self-
discovery what you find is the Truth - that
Truth which is total, self-evident and
which needs no outside support or justi-
fication.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
insecurity. Only when all belief is given
up are you free to know yourself. In self-
discovery what you find is the Truth - that
Truth which is total, self-evident and
which needs no outside support or justi-
fication.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
The Ultimate...
In reality only the Ultimate is. The rest
is a matter of name and form. And as long
as you cling to the idea that only what has
name and shape exists, the Supreme will
appear to you non-existing. When you
understand that names and shapes are
hollow shells without any content whatsoever,
and what is real is nameless and formless,
pure energy of life and light of consciousness,
you will be at peace - immersed in the deep
silence of reality.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
is a matter of name and form. And as long
as you cling to the idea that only what has
name and shape exists, the Supreme will
appear to you non-existing. When you
understand that names and shapes are
hollow shells without any content whatsoever,
and what is real is nameless and formless,
pure energy of life and light of consciousness,
you will be at peace - immersed in the deep
silence of reality.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
One in Many...
"He is the One in many,
countless are His shapes and forms.
He pervades all that exists;
wherever I look, He is there.
But very few perceive this reality,
for Maya ever enchants us
with her multiple reflections
of color and alluring beauty.
Everything is Gobind [Krishna],
Gobind is everything.
Nothing that exists
is without Gobind:
the one thread strings
innumerable beads --
Prabhu [the Lord] Himself is the thread,
the threader, the threaded.
River and waves,
foam and bubbles
have all their being
within water itself.
This play of things
is the sport of Parbhama [Reality].
The One cannot be thought
different from the other.
Hope is a lie
and desire a mere dream --
yet both are construed
as actual reality.
But when my guru
gave me his holy wisdom,
I awoke from my dream
and my heart yielded.
Namdeva says,
Behold Hari's [God's] creation;
ponder upon it
with all your heart,
and you will see
that in every pore,
in every living thing,
there is only the one Murari [Krishna]."
Namdev (1270 - 1350)
from _Songs and Saints from the Adi Granth_
Translated by Nirmal Dass
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/N/Namdev/HeisOneinman.htm
countless are His shapes and forms.
He pervades all that exists;
wherever I look, He is there.
But very few perceive this reality,
for Maya ever enchants us
with her multiple reflections
of color and alluring beauty.
Everything is Gobind [Krishna],
Gobind is everything.
Nothing that exists
is without Gobind:
the one thread strings
innumerable beads --
Prabhu [the Lord] Himself is the thread,
the threader, the threaded.
River and waves,
foam and bubbles
have all their being
within water itself.
This play of things
is the sport of Parbhama [Reality].
The One cannot be thought
different from the other.
Hope is a lie
and desire a mere dream --
yet both are construed
as actual reality.
But when my guru
gave me his holy wisdom,
I awoke from my dream
and my heart yielded.
Namdeva says,
Behold Hari's [God's] creation;
ponder upon it
with all your heart,
and you will see
that in every pore,
in every living thing,
there is only the one Murari [Krishna]."
Namdev (1270 - 1350)
from _Songs and Saints from the Adi Granth_
Translated by Nirmal Dass
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/N/Namdev/HeisOneinman.htm
Confusion...
One man believes in existence, another says
"There is nothing!" Rare is the man who believes
in neither. He is free from confusion.
- Ashtavakra Gita
Chapter 18, verse 42
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
The Heart of Awareness: A Translation
of the Ashtavakra Gita
By Thomas Byrom
Shambala, 1990
"There is nothing!" Rare is the man who believes
in neither. He is free from confusion.
- Ashtavakra Gita
Chapter 18, verse 42
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
The Heart of Awareness: A Translation
of the Ashtavakra Gita
By Thomas Byrom
Shambala, 1990
Still Present Now...
It doesn't matter how profound a vision is or how wonderful the kriyas, or the kundalini, or the bliss. No matter how beautiful the spiritual experience is, it is only an experience, and experiences come and go.
Freedom is found only in that which does not come and go. If it doesn't come and go, that means that it's present now.
When you have a beautiful spiritual experience and then seem to lose it, ask yourself: What was present then that is still present now? Then, you know where to put all of your attention, all of your dedication, and all of your heart. Don't put it anywhere else.
You are that permanence which contains all becoming and all be-going.
~ Adyashanti www.adyashanti.org
Freedom is found only in that which does not come and go. If it doesn't come and go, that means that it's present now.
When you have a beautiful spiritual experience and then seem to lose it, ask yourself: What was present then that is still present now? Then, you know where to put all of your attention, all of your dedication, and all of your heart. Don't put it anywhere else.
You are that permanence which contains all becoming and all be-going.
~ Adyashanti www.adyashanti.org
Christian Symbolism...
The 12 Days of Christmas
--Author Unknown
There is one Christmas Carol
that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French
hens, swimming swans, and a partridge in pear tree have to do with Christmas?
This week, I found out.
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics
in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone
during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young
Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning, plus a
hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in
the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children
could remember.
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the
Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans
a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy,
Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy,
Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self
Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the
Apostles' Creed.
So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me,
and I found it interesting and enlightening. And now I know how that
strange song became a Christmas Carol. So pass it on if you wish.
Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone
--Author Unknown
There is one Christmas Carol
that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French
hens, swimming swans, and a partridge in pear tree have to do with Christmas?
This week, I found out.
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics
in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone
during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young
Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning, plus a
hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in
the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children
could remember.
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the
Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans
a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy,
Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy,
Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self
Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the
Apostles' Creed.
So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me,
and I found it interesting and enlightening. And now I know how that
strange song became a Christmas Carol. So pass it on if you wish.
Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone
Worried?...
Are you worried? Do you have many "what if" thoughts?
You are identified with your mind, which is projecting
itself into an imaginary future situation and creating fear.
There is no way that you can cope with such a situation,
because it doesn't exist. It's a mental phantom.
- Eckhart Tolle
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Power of Now"
Eckhart Tolle
New World Library, 1999
You are identified with your mind, which is projecting
itself into an imaginary future situation and creating fear.
There is no way that you can cope with such a situation,
because it doesn't exist. It's a mental phantom.
- Eckhart Tolle
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Power of Now"
Eckhart Tolle
New World Library, 1999
Seek...
Seek the wisdom that will untie your knot.
Seek the path that demands your whole being.
Leave that which is not, but appears to be.
Seek that which is, but is not apparent.
Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
_Rumi: Hidden Music_
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 68
Seek the path that demands your whole being.
Leave that which is not, but appears to be.
Seek that which is, but is not apparent.
Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
_Rumi: Hidden Music_
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 68
Can love and ego co-exist ...
by O.Grimstad
The term "ego" is used and abused in various contexts, from philosophy and psychology to gossip and curses. First of all we need to clarify what we're talking about. A representative definition from a dictionary is: "the "I" or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought." In other words the ego is the experienced self as distinguished from its objectified world.
Buddhists tend to see the ego as an illusory cause of suffering. By identifying with our egos we easily feel bad when its external world is not pleasant it or good when it is. Such feelings reinforce the identification with the ego in a cycle of craving. We're like addicts always in search for another fix. Even what feels good to the ego one moment will sooner or later lead to suffering in a world of constant change. The Buddhist advice and solution is to wake up from the illusory bondage of the ego. The awakened Buddha experiences himself as nothing and everything. In other words, he does not experience himself as a thing or ego distinguished from its objectified world. When looking for a self internally he finds nothing, which is everything externally. The parallel for the Hindus is seeing the infinite Brahman as the inner and truest self as opposed to the ego created by Maya's illusions.
The Buddhist identification with nothingness and Hindu identification with Brahman are seen as identical with unconditional love as well as any term of the unmanifest, unborn, absolute, infinite, transcendent principle immanent in all form. The battle between identification with the worldly ego and the transcendent self is the underlying theme of most religious dramas. The heroic masters inherit and realize the qualities of the transcendent principle or deity, with a message of hope and salvation to the world.
Is the ego good for anything? I remember a Buddhist telling about fellow Buddhists who were in such an egoless state that they did not know where to put the spoon when trying to eat. Obviously we need the ego for feeding and taking care of our bodies. The problem is that it hypnotizes us into experiencing reality from a very narrow and exclusive point of view. The ego sees itself separate from everything else. Even though revealing this illusion is mainly an introspective task we also know from modern science that it's only an appearance hiding underlying connections . We experience signals in our brainsrepresenting an objective world, including the brain itself. The photons of a hypothetical external world can't be called matter before they are observed. Even then 'matter' is only a philosophical term that mainly made sense in the earlier Newtonian paradigm, and is actually derived from the sanskrit word Maya. There is no real end of me writing this article and start of you reading it, even though it seems so to the ego.
So can love and ego co-exist? The ego may feel good about giving to charity or helping a lady over the street. Even more if somebody else notices it or a journalist makes you the "hero of the day" in the newspaper. Such "love" makes us feel good members of society, husbands, wives or humans; but can we honestly call it true love unless we connect with somebody else to the extent that we wish them well even if it doesn't gain us or if it hurts us? According to my experience of reality and world view we really do have an infinite and truly loving self. Whether we call it Christ, Brahman, nothingness or any other name is irrelevant. Our loving saviour exists below our conscious surface regardless of our awareness of it.
We do need the ego for our human experience. But it is possible to see the ego for what it is, even as human, without letting it control all thoughts, feelings and beliefs; remaining able to experience the fundamental state of loving unity, in which I truly love you, always have and always will.
The term "ego" is used and abused in various contexts, from philosophy and psychology to gossip and curses. First of all we need to clarify what we're talking about. A representative definition from a dictionary is: "the "I" or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought." In other words the ego is the experienced self as distinguished from its objectified world.
Buddhists tend to see the ego as an illusory cause of suffering. By identifying with our egos we easily feel bad when its external world is not pleasant it or good when it is. Such feelings reinforce the identification with the ego in a cycle of craving. We're like addicts always in search for another fix. Even what feels good to the ego one moment will sooner or later lead to suffering in a world of constant change. The Buddhist advice and solution is to wake up from the illusory bondage of the ego. The awakened Buddha experiences himself as nothing and everything. In other words, he does not experience himself as a thing or ego distinguished from its objectified world. When looking for a self internally he finds nothing, which is everything externally. The parallel for the Hindus is seeing the infinite Brahman as the inner and truest self as opposed to the ego created by Maya's illusions.
The Buddhist identification with nothingness and Hindu identification with Brahman are seen as identical with unconditional love as well as any term of the unmanifest, unborn, absolute, infinite, transcendent principle immanent in all form. The battle between identification with the worldly ego and the transcendent self is the underlying theme of most religious dramas. The heroic masters inherit and realize the qualities of the transcendent principle or deity, with a message of hope and salvation to the world.
Is the ego good for anything? I remember a Buddhist telling about fellow Buddhists who were in such an egoless state that they did not know where to put the spoon when trying to eat. Obviously we need the ego for feeding and taking care of our bodies. The problem is that it hypnotizes us into experiencing reality from a very narrow and exclusive point of view. The ego sees itself separate from everything else. Even though revealing this illusion is mainly an introspective task we also know from modern science that it's only an appearance hiding underlying connections . We experience signals in our brainsrepresenting an objective world, including the brain itself. The photons of a hypothetical external world can't be called matter before they are observed. Even then 'matter' is only a philosophical term that mainly made sense in the earlier Newtonian paradigm, and is actually derived from the sanskrit word Maya. There is no real end of me writing this article and start of you reading it, even though it seems so to the ego.
So can love and ego co-exist? The ego may feel good about giving to charity or helping a lady over the street. Even more if somebody else notices it or a journalist makes you the "hero of the day" in the newspaper. Such "love" makes us feel good members of society, husbands, wives or humans; but can we honestly call it true love unless we connect with somebody else to the extent that we wish them well even if it doesn't gain us or if it hurts us? According to my experience of reality and world view we really do have an infinite and truly loving self. Whether we call it Christ, Brahman, nothingness or any other name is irrelevant. Our loving saviour exists below our conscious surface regardless of our awareness of it.
We do need the ego for our human experience. But it is possible to see the ego for what it is, even as human, without letting it control all thoughts, feelings and beliefs; remaining able to experience the fundamental state of loving unity, in which I truly love you, always have and always will.
Final Phase...
The final grade of inner experience, the deepest phase of contemplation, is one where the experiencer himself disappears, the meditator vanishes, the knower no longer has an object--not even the Overself--to know for duality collapses. Because this grade is beyond the supreme "Light" experience where the Overself reveals its presence visually as a dazzling mass, shaft, ball, or ray of unearthly radiance which is seen whether the bodily eyes are open or closed, it has been called the divine darkness...........Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 2: Our Relation To the Absolute > # 147
— Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 2: Our Relation To the Absolute > # 147
Beyond yourself...
Use your mind. Remember. Observe. You are
not different from others. Most of their
experiences are valid for you too. Think clearly,
deeply, go into the entire structure of your desires
and their ramifications. They are a most important
part of your mental and emotional make-up and
powerfully affect your actions. Remember, you
cannot abandon what you do not know. To go
beyond yourself, you must know yourself.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
not different from others. Most of their
experiences are valid for you too. Think clearly,
deeply, go into the entire structure of your desires
and their ramifications. They are a most important
part of your mental and emotional make-up and
powerfully affect your actions. Remember, you
cannot abandon what you do not know. To go
beyond yourself, you must know yourself.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Ego the Deceiver....by basq
Ego is a pseudo–reality born of fear, constructed of fear, nurtured by fear. Ego also creates fear, thus perpetuating itself. But ego does not, in any true sense of the word, exist. Consider this: when we are born, we have no concept of self and other. Hard as it is to fathom now, we cannot at that time conceive of any otherness; we are part of our mothers, everyone else, and the entire world. But the time comes when our mother is not there when we require comfort or reassurance, and our primitive awareness recognizes on some level that Mother must be separate from us, or she would surely always be present. This is healthy enough, the beginning of individuation, but then we go that human step further and layer fear on top of this realization. As our consciousness develops, we begin to fear that she may never return, that we will always be abandoned here, alone. We begin to look further afield and find ample evidence that we are essentially alone and naked in this world. We begin to invent story lines which reinforce the idea that we are an entity of ourselves, separated from all others.
But we are not separate, and never can be. We are intertwined in very literal and inescapable ways. We constantly interchange cells, fluids, nutrients, and our very breath with every other being on the planet and in the universe. Far from being a solid mass, we are an ever–shifting amalgam of all which has come before and all which is yet to come; we are constantly in a state of creation and decay.
If there were not nitrogen–fixing organisms in the soil around the roots of certain plants, we would never have evolved, or at least not in this form, since this is the only way that nitrogen can get into our diets in a usable form. We would also die without honeybees (and they are indeed being decimated by pollution, climate change, competitors, and pesticides). We would die without earthworms. We would be overrun with decaying organic matter if it weren't for ants. We could not breathe without inhaling insects with every breath if spiders ceased to exist. Yet we persist in our insistence of our separateness, even in the face of the knowledge that it is the arrogance of our aloneness that leads to war, environmental degradation, starvation, torture, rampant preventable disease, and the aching loneliness of modernity.
Which is not to say we should void all sense of self, but when ego takes the form of essential separateness, it simply doesn't work. We live our lives within a specific proposition: if all our ego needs are satisfied, we will be forever happy. But ego needs take the form of addictions; they can never be fully satisfied. Living within this proposition we will always be unhappy. We seek happiness and use ego as the tool, but everything that makes us happy dissolves as soon as we touch it. We run, run, run from that which frightens us, makes us uncomfortable, shakes our small world. We view with contempt (and alarm) those states of mind we categorize as negative. But no state of being is worthy of our contempt. The faster we run, the deeper we sink. Because safety cannot be achieved by these means, we perversely insist that it must be achievable by these means. This only perpetuates our suffering; no other outcome is possible. Why settle for temporary satisfaction when it is freedom we crave?
Consider, too, those we most admire. While we live our lives as if material gain could possibly bring us happiness, those we hold closest to our hearts have, rather, held the well–being of others as their highest aspiration: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha. Somewhere deep within us these self-sacrificing beings resonate with our desire to be a part of the great whole, to return to the knowledge of ourselves as part of a writhing mass, rather than discrete and lonely voyagers. Why? Because that way lays salvation, joy, nirvana, peace, grace, freedom.... These are not several attributes, but many names for one state of being.
Here is the truth of it: as infants we were essentially correct, there is no separation between the rest of the world and ourselves. The mistake we made way back there in infancy is to believe that our immediate material needs must be satisfied for this essential integration of all beings to be true. We seek concrete evidence for that which can only be experienced. Thus, it is natural and normal for us to believe in the illusion of ego for a time. But what we must strive for as we grow in understanding is a return to the awareness of our essential interdependence, but to do so informed with wisdom, wisdom which can only be gained through the experience of living in this world with an intact ego. The time comes when we must grow outward, opening to a broader sense of ourselves. We must abandon that which does not and cannot bring us joy, not only for the sake of our own well-being, but for the sweet salvation of our precious world, sinking into irreversible decrepitude (physical, moral, ethical, spiritual), sinking faster, further, every day.
But we are not separate, and never can be. We are intertwined in very literal and inescapable ways. We constantly interchange cells, fluids, nutrients, and our very breath with every other being on the planet and in the universe. Far from being a solid mass, we are an ever–shifting amalgam of all which has come before and all which is yet to come; we are constantly in a state of creation and decay.
If there were not nitrogen–fixing organisms in the soil around the roots of certain plants, we would never have evolved, or at least not in this form, since this is the only way that nitrogen can get into our diets in a usable form. We would also die without honeybees (and they are indeed being decimated by pollution, climate change, competitors, and pesticides). We would die without earthworms. We would be overrun with decaying organic matter if it weren't for ants. We could not breathe without inhaling insects with every breath if spiders ceased to exist. Yet we persist in our insistence of our separateness, even in the face of the knowledge that it is the arrogance of our aloneness that leads to war, environmental degradation, starvation, torture, rampant preventable disease, and the aching loneliness of modernity.
Which is not to say we should void all sense of self, but when ego takes the form of essential separateness, it simply doesn't work. We live our lives within a specific proposition: if all our ego needs are satisfied, we will be forever happy. But ego needs take the form of addictions; they can never be fully satisfied. Living within this proposition we will always be unhappy. We seek happiness and use ego as the tool, but everything that makes us happy dissolves as soon as we touch it. We run, run, run from that which frightens us, makes us uncomfortable, shakes our small world. We view with contempt (and alarm) those states of mind we categorize as negative. But no state of being is worthy of our contempt. The faster we run, the deeper we sink. Because safety cannot be achieved by these means, we perversely insist that it must be achievable by these means. This only perpetuates our suffering; no other outcome is possible. Why settle for temporary satisfaction when it is freedom we crave?
Consider, too, those we most admire. While we live our lives as if material gain could possibly bring us happiness, those we hold closest to our hearts have, rather, held the well–being of others as their highest aspiration: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha. Somewhere deep within us these self-sacrificing beings resonate with our desire to be a part of the great whole, to return to the knowledge of ourselves as part of a writhing mass, rather than discrete and lonely voyagers. Why? Because that way lays salvation, joy, nirvana, peace, grace, freedom.... These are not several attributes, but many names for one state of being.
Here is the truth of it: as infants we were essentially correct, there is no separation between the rest of the world and ourselves. The mistake we made way back there in infancy is to believe that our immediate material needs must be satisfied for this essential integration of all beings to be true. We seek concrete evidence for that which can only be experienced. Thus, it is natural and normal for us to believe in the illusion of ego for a time. But what we must strive for as we grow in understanding is a return to the awareness of our essential interdependence, but to do so informed with wisdom, wisdom which can only be gained through the experience of living in this world with an intact ego. The time comes when we must grow outward, opening to a broader sense of ourselves. We must abandon that which does not and cannot bring us joy, not only for the sake of our own well-being, but for the sweet salvation of our precious world, sinking into irreversible decrepitude (physical, moral, ethical, spiritual), sinking faster, further, every day.
Stillness...
The Self alone is real. All others are unreal.
The mind and intellect do not remain apart from
you.
The Bible says, 'Be still and know that I am
God.' Stillness is the sole requisite for the
realisation of the Self as God.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from "Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
The mind and intellect do not remain apart from
you.
The Bible says, 'Be still and know that I am
God.' Stillness is the sole requisite for the
realisation of the Self as God.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from "Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
Empty Space...
As you know, in particle physics we learn that what we consider to be matter is in fact mostly space. Like to give you an idea, the distance between New York to Los Angeles perhaps a particle of would represent a diameter of 1 millimeter. So it's mostly empty space and it appears to be full. To our ordinary experience it appears to be very compact, very full. It's an analogy, its a metaphor I am using. Regarding the true nature of the manifestation and the true nature of time. As we look in hindsight through memory at past events it seems that our past was eventful, full of events and that there was in fact hardly any empty space, that it was all full of perceptions, thoughts, mentations, bodily sensations, external sense perceptions, feelings, etc. This was due not to the fact that there was no emptiness and no space but to the fact that the only thing we can memorize are the moments when there is something. Due to the fact that the nothing moments, the moments of emptiness don't leave any traces in memory. In hindsight we see an eventful past. This is due to the fact that our attention, our love, our interest is directed towards a phenomenal objective part of our experience. Whereas in fact just as matter is almost onlyempty space, time is almost only timelessness. Once we have been made aware that most of the reality of our experience is made of Presence something happens. It is a shift of attention or a shift of interest away from the phenomenal world to the gap between the perceptions, between the mentations and that which up until then seemed to be nothingness, reveals itself as an emptiness which is not a nothingness, as some kind of vacuum if you analogous to the vacuum of modern physics out of which the Big Bang even not arose but arises. That was just in passing, a second observation in this introductory speech.
Francis Lucille October Retreat 2010
Francis Lucille October Retreat 2010
Ram Tzu Speaks...
Ram Tzu knows this
It¹s not your fault.
How could it be?
A shadow is not responsible
For its movements.
A knife cannot
Be tried for murder.
You have been filled
With your self.
You believe what
You are meant to believe.
You go where
You are supposed to go.
Ram Tzu does not offer advice
Who would he offer it to?
- Ram Tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
It¹s not your fault.
How could it be?
A shadow is not responsible
For its movements.
A knife cannot
Be tried for murder.
You have been filled
With your self.
You believe what
You are meant to believe.
You go where
You are supposed to go.
Ram Tzu does not offer advice
Who would he offer it to?
- Ram Tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
In...
In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
- Tao Te Ching
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
- Tao Te Ching
Sleep...
In your sleep your personality goes completely, and
you become impersonal. There is, however, a seed
of personality potentially present even in sleep, on
account of which you wake up the next morning. For
all practical purposes your personality is wiped off,
and so it is that you are very happy in sleep, indicating
thereby that impersonality is the source of happiness,
that personality is the source of sorrow. The more you
are personal, the more you are grief-stricken. The
more you become impersonal, the more you become
happy.
- Swami Krishnananda
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
you become impersonal. There is, however, a seed
of personality potentially present even in sleep, on
account of which you wake up the next morning. For
all practical purposes your personality is wiped off,
and so it is that you are very happy in sleep, indicating
thereby that impersonality is the source of happiness,
that personality is the source of sorrow. The more you
are personal, the more you are grief-stricken. The
more you become impersonal, the more you become
happy.
- Swami Krishnananda
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
Inner Teachers...
"The gate to the treasure is wide open. It is wide open
right now. So right now walk through it without hesitation,
without embarrassment, without wondering whether you'll be
welcomed or not. And when you get through that gate that
you have voluntarily entered, you will meet new kinds of
inner teachers that you didn't know existed. One of them
being restlessness. Now you start thinking of your inner
restlessness and agitation as being a very special kind
of instructor that you have not been listening to."
from a talk given 6/21/1992
Vernon Howard's Higher World - MP3 CD Volume 35, talk 855
right now. So right now walk through it without hesitation,
without embarrassment, without wondering whether you'll be
welcomed or not. And when you get through that gate that
you have voluntarily entered, you will meet new kinds of
inner teachers that you didn't know existed. One of them
being restlessness. Now you start thinking of your inner
restlessness and agitation as being a very special kind
of instructor that you have not been listening to."
from a talk given 6/21/1992
Vernon Howard's Higher World - MP3 CD Volume 35, talk 855
Abuse...
The student should not go about criticizing or abusing others. He should not
do
so because it is mentally unhealthy and hinders his own progress, because it
will one day bring down criticism or abuse upon his own head, because he has
to
foster a compassionate outlook, and because he ought to understand that
everybody on earth is indeed here owing to his own imperfection so that the
labor of showing up faults would be an endless one. (6-5.307)....Paul Brunton
do
so because it is mentally unhealthy and hinders his own progress, because it
will one day bring down criticism or abuse upon his own head, because he has
to
foster a compassionate outlook, and because he ought to understand that
everybody on earth is indeed here owing to his own imperfection so that the
labor of showing up faults would be an endless one. (6-5.307)....Paul Brunton
Concentration...
"To be constantly centered
on one's all perfect pure Self
is the acme of Yoga, Wisdom, and
all other forms of spiritual practice.
Even though the mind wanders restlessly
involved in external matters
and so is forgetful of its own state,
one should remain alert and remember;
the body is not 'I'.
'Who am I?'
Enquire in this way turning the mind
backward to its primal state.
The enquiry, 'Who am I?' is the only method
of putting an end to all misery
and ushering in Supreme Beatitude."
--Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi--
on one's all perfect pure Self
is the acme of Yoga, Wisdom, and
all other forms of spiritual practice.
Even though the mind wanders restlessly
involved in external matters
and so is forgetful of its own state,
one should remain alert and remember;
the body is not 'I'.
'Who am I?'
Enquire in this way turning the mind
backward to its primal state.
The enquiry, 'Who am I?' is the only method
of putting an end to all misery
and ushering in Supreme Beatitude."
--Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi--
Emanant Ego Collapse...
Article by Ralph Miller
When we experience a big loss of control it makes us feel insecure and vulnerable. There is a letdown and perhaps we experience ourselves as being a little more genuinely human. Our collective ideas about ourselves form an assembly of self-importance or ego. This letdown is the collapse of those ideas. We are humbled. We become willing to learn in another way. We notice others who are also open and vulnerable, and we feel a camaraderie or empathy.
Very traumatic experiences for individuals such as accidents or illnesses can deeply affect those lucky enough to survive. When we experience a trauma, we experience loss of control and our illusion of self importance falls. This collapse of ego becomes a gift that can wake us up. It can propel us from a continuum of ego delusion to profound new meaning in our life.
When loss of control happens on a global scale to entire cultures, we then as a group begin to experience our group ego crashing. We seek answers when we even think about questions like, “What’s going to happen to mankind?” or “How will anything ever change for us?” When large groups of people begin to experience this collapse of ego, they are moving as a group to a place of great change and transformation. In shedding individual and group egos, they are granting themselves an evolution beyond anything they could have conceived of.
The illusion of our personality and ego arose out of growing contradiction in our thoughts as to our sense of “self.” This is the internal dialogue we experience that relates to who we know we are as compared to who we think we are, or who we think we would like to be. The illusion of self along with its auto-mechanism for dealing with these chronic contradictions IS our ego/personality.
From this view then, ego/personality is only illusion. It is a construct to facilitate our survival, especially when we encounter only a world full of “other egos.” Our individual ego along with all the others, form a global consensus-ego that is held as a standard of “what is consciousness” that permeates the species. It is our idea of consensual consciousness because it is the experience we all have. It is the idea of consciousness that we consent to.
The physicist David Bohm describes the illusory process of ego in a fascinating dialogue with his brother-in-law.
“So one has to see the ego process is always engaged in setting up the illusion of “what should be,” dressing it up in alluring colors, and pushing away “what is,” hiding it in a frightening and ugly disguises. But nothing can be done without our understanding what is, in its totality, at least as far as we are experiencing it. As soon as we push aside a certain part of what is in our experiencing, in favor of the illusion of what should be, we are in a state of contradiction, which leads immediately to an internal conflict. We then try to escape the conflict because it is very unpleasant, seeking to cover it up by introducing confused ideas and feelings, and by distracting our attention, drawing it to something else instead. But then our escapes, being confused, lead to even more and more conflicts, which in turn must be escaped. Thus, the whole process tangles up, in a sort of cancerous growth of contradiction, conflict, escape, and confusion, until it fills the whole mind.”
David Bohm, Letters to brother-in-law Yitzhak Woolfson, 1958-1967
When our societies and cultures experience crisis there is a wave of culture shock that washes through us. We are reoriented to a group perspective that is less egocentric. We experience the same thing as individuals. The process of the illusions of ego falling is happening now much more frequently. The process is accelerating.
We are potentially at the very end of an age or epoch where we maybe still will fail to recognize what is just around the corner; what is happening for us next. That is actually a good thing, because anything that we could imagine with our ego based point of reference, could not possibly describe what great change is coming.
It gives us hope to realize that the world will change and evolve. This hope is rooted in the possibility that right now we can grant ourselves an evolution beyond illusion.
When we experience a big loss of control it makes us feel insecure and vulnerable. There is a letdown and perhaps we experience ourselves as being a little more genuinely human. Our collective ideas about ourselves form an assembly of self-importance or ego. This letdown is the collapse of those ideas. We are humbled. We become willing to learn in another way. We notice others who are also open and vulnerable, and we feel a camaraderie or empathy.
Very traumatic experiences for individuals such as accidents or illnesses can deeply affect those lucky enough to survive. When we experience a trauma, we experience loss of control and our illusion of self importance falls. This collapse of ego becomes a gift that can wake us up. It can propel us from a continuum of ego delusion to profound new meaning in our life.
When loss of control happens on a global scale to entire cultures, we then as a group begin to experience our group ego crashing. We seek answers when we even think about questions like, “What’s going to happen to mankind?” or “How will anything ever change for us?” When large groups of people begin to experience this collapse of ego, they are moving as a group to a place of great change and transformation. In shedding individual and group egos, they are granting themselves an evolution beyond anything they could have conceived of.
The illusion of our personality and ego arose out of growing contradiction in our thoughts as to our sense of “self.” This is the internal dialogue we experience that relates to who we know we are as compared to who we think we are, or who we think we would like to be. The illusion of self along with its auto-mechanism for dealing with these chronic contradictions IS our ego/personality.
From this view then, ego/personality is only illusion. It is a construct to facilitate our survival, especially when we encounter only a world full of “other egos.” Our individual ego along with all the others, form a global consensus-ego that is held as a standard of “what is consciousness” that permeates the species. It is our idea of consensual consciousness because it is the experience we all have. It is the idea of consciousness that we consent to.
The physicist David Bohm describes the illusory process of ego in a fascinating dialogue with his brother-in-law.
“So one has to see the ego process is always engaged in setting up the illusion of “what should be,” dressing it up in alluring colors, and pushing away “what is,” hiding it in a frightening and ugly disguises. But nothing can be done without our understanding what is, in its totality, at least as far as we are experiencing it. As soon as we push aside a certain part of what is in our experiencing, in favor of the illusion of what should be, we are in a state of contradiction, which leads immediately to an internal conflict. We then try to escape the conflict because it is very unpleasant, seeking to cover it up by introducing confused ideas and feelings, and by distracting our attention, drawing it to something else instead. But then our escapes, being confused, lead to even more and more conflicts, which in turn must be escaped. Thus, the whole process tangles up, in a sort of cancerous growth of contradiction, conflict, escape, and confusion, until it fills the whole mind.”
David Bohm, Letters to brother-in-law Yitzhak Woolfson, 1958-1967
When our societies and cultures experience crisis there is a wave of culture shock that washes through us. We are reoriented to a group perspective that is less egocentric. We experience the same thing as individuals. The process of the illusions of ego falling is happening now much more frequently. The process is accelerating.
We are potentially at the very end of an age or epoch where we maybe still will fail to recognize what is just around the corner; what is happening for us next. That is actually a good thing, because anything that we could imagine with our ego based point of reference, could not possibly describe what great change is coming.
It gives us hope to realize that the world will change and evolve. This hope is rooted in the possibility that right now we can grant ourselves an evolution beyond illusion.
The Illusion of the ego...
By Remez Sasson
Who are you? How would you describe yourself? If someone calls your name, would you turn your head to see who called you? Are you the name that was called, or is it just a way to refer to you? What if you changed your name, would you still be the same person?
You change the clothes you wear. You change your hairdo, and may dye your hair sometimes. Does this change who you are?
You change your job, car, house, but yet you still are the same one. These are outside changes. The "inner you" never changes. Most people consider their possessions, dress, name, job etc, as being an inseparable part of themselves. If something of theirs is broken or lost they feel as if they have lost a part of themselves. This is the ego at work.
The ego is the erroneous identification of the limitless spirit with the physical body, the emotions and thoughts. The perfect homogenous spirit expresses itself in the world through these three, and identifies itself with them.
The ego is not an independent entity. It is just the union of the spirit with the other three components, the body, emotions and thoughts. According to the philosophy of nonduality, these components, except the spirit, are not independent and constant, and therefore are not real. They are the products of the mind.
The spirit infuses them with life and expresses itself through them. The identification of the spirit with this trio is so strong that hardly anyone notices this erroneous identification. The spirit is free, perfect and independent. The body, thoughts and feelings are temporary and dependent on the spirit. This mixture is the cause of fear, desire, misunderstanding, anger and conflicts in the world.
When talking about the spirit I don't mean a particular soul, but the True Essence, the One vast and limitless Spirit, which is beyond every manifestation.
Each ego unit considers itself as real, and desires to survive and gain power over the other egos. This leads to clashes between them. Each one is shackled to its belief system, thoughts and ideas, and will do everything to defend them.
People also feel being a part of, and identify with the larger ego of family, workplace, neighborhood, football or basketball team, political party, city, country, religion etc. They identify with a thought, an idea or a common cause, and join together, sometimes against other groups carrying a different set of thoughts.
Look what happens at sport contests. If you support one sport team, and your team loses you get depressed. If it wins you get happy. The same thing happens with political parties or with other kinds of groups.
These units sometimes fight with each other, everyone believing they are right and the other party wrong. Isn't it a bit funny? If we consider that the Spirit is one, but manifests in myriads of forms, why then should we identify with one particular and temporary form? What if we become aware of this Spirit, and shift our awareness into it? Would we stay the same, or will we rise above the ego?
The ego is dependent on the thoughts that the mind thinks. These thoughts evoke feelings and desires, which evoke action. If a desire cannot be fulfilled, anger, unhappiness or hostility arises.
Believing we are this ego, each one of us enacts the role of a specific actor on the stage of life. This ego is the mask hiding the real Spirit that we are. Identification with the role we play makes us forget who we really are, and go on thinking we are this or that.
Forgetting our true essence is due to seeing through the eyes of the ego. This is the reason for suffering, unhappiness, depression, anger, conflicts, lack of satisfaction and every other negative feeling. But these negative feelings and situations are sometime the reason for the awakening of the desire to find who we really are, to come home and to return to what we really are - The Pure Spirit.
Who are you? How would you describe yourself? If someone calls your name, would you turn your head to see who called you? Are you the name that was called, or is it just a way to refer to you? What if you changed your name, would you still be the same person?
You change the clothes you wear. You change your hairdo, and may dye your hair sometimes. Does this change who you are?
You change your job, car, house, but yet you still are the same one. These are outside changes. The "inner you" never changes. Most people consider their possessions, dress, name, job etc, as being an inseparable part of themselves. If something of theirs is broken or lost they feel as if they have lost a part of themselves. This is the ego at work.
The ego is the erroneous identification of the limitless spirit with the physical body, the emotions and thoughts. The perfect homogenous spirit expresses itself in the world through these three, and identifies itself with them.
The ego is not an independent entity. It is just the union of the spirit with the other three components, the body, emotions and thoughts. According to the philosophy of nonduality, these components, except the spirit, are not independent and constant, and therefore are not real. They are the products of the mind.
The spirit infuses them with life and expresses itself through them. The identification of the spirit with this trio is so strong that hardly anyone notices this erroneous identification. The spirit is free, perfect and independent. The body, thoughts and feelings are temporary and dependent on the spirit. This mixture is the cause of fear, desire, misunderstanding, anger and conflicts in the world.
When talking about the spirit I don't mean a particular soul, but the True Essence, the One vast and limitless Spirit, which is beyond every manifestation.
Each ego unit considers itself as real, and desires to survive and gain power over the other egos. This leads to clashes between them. Each one is shackled to its belief system, thoughts and ideas, and will do everything to defend them.
People also feel being a part of, and identify with the larger ego of family, workplace, neighborhood, football or basketball team, political party, city, country, religion etc. They identify with a thought, an idea or a common cause, and join together, sometimes against other groups carrying a different set of thoughts.
Look what happens at sport contests. If you support one sport team, and your team loses you get depressed. If it wins you get happy. The same thing happens with political parties or with other kinds of groups.
These units sometimes fight with each other, everyone believing they are right and the other party wrong. Isn't it a bit funny? If we consider that the Spirit is one, but manifests in myriads of forms, why then should we identify with one particular and temporary form? What if we become aware of this Spirit, and shift our awareness into it? Would we stay the same, or will we rise above the ego?
The ego is dependent on the thoughts that the mind thinks. These thoughts evoke feelings and desires, which evoke action. If a desire cannot be fulfilled, anger, unhappiness or hostility arises.
Believing we are this ego, each one of us enacts the role of a specific actor on the stage of life. This ego is the mask hiding the real Spirit that we are. Identification with the role we play makes us forget who we really are, and go on thinking we are this or that.
Forgetting our true essence is due to seeing through the eyes of the ego. This is the reason for suffering, unhappiness, depression, anger, conflicts, lack of satisfaction and every other negative feeling. But these negative feelings and situations are sometime the reason for the awakening of the desire to find who we really are, to come home and to return to what we really are - The Pure Spirit.
One Source...
The light of the gas illumines various localities with various intensities. But
the life of the light, namely, the gas, comes from one common reservoir. So the
religious teachers of all climes and ages are but as many lamp-posts through
which is emitted the light of the spirit flowing constantly from one source, the
Lord Almighty.
Sri Ramakrishna
in F. Max Muller
_Ramakrishna: His Life And Sayings_, 224
Longmans, Green, And Co., London & New York, 1898, p. 148
the life of the light, namely, the gas, comes from one common reservoir. So the
religious teachers of all climes and ages are but as many lamp-posts through
which is emitted the light of the spirit flowing constantly from one source, the
Lord Almighty.
Sri Ramakrishna
in F. Max Muller
_Ramakrishna: His Life And Sayings_, 224
Longmans, Green, And Co., London & New York, 1898, p. 148
Home...
Everywhere is Consciousness and everywhere is
Home. "Everywhere" is but a small corner of your
heart. You are that vast. There is no travel because
you are always Home. Surrender your ego and you
are Home.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Home. "Everywhere" is but a small corner of your
heart. You are that vast. There is no travel because
you are always Home. Surrender your ego and you
are Home.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Can God be Found?...
God cannot be found, God can only be Realized.. And what is Realization?.. Realization is the Knowing that You and God have never been separated but the feeling of separation is created by the false ego.. As You begin the dissolving of the ego, You will find that God becomes more present within Your life and is seen and felt as the energy of Unselfish Love.. this is why Jesus always taught the Path of Unselfish Love as the manner of Realizing God.. and who and what is God?.. God is everything and everyone.. this is why Jesus said," I and the Father are One".. There is absolutely no difference between You and Jesus.. Only the belief that you are different is keeping You from Realizing that You are Christ.. Until we Realize Christhood, we remain as sons and daughters of God.. Upon Christhood, we Realize that We and The Father are One...............namaste, thomas
I and objects are One...
Shri Atmananda from Spiritual Discourses
I AND OBJECT ARE ONE.
1. Objects are nothing but form, sound, touch, taste or smell. It is evident that any
one of these can never be separated from its respective sense organ, even in
thought. So objects and sense perceptions are one.
Similarly, seeing, hearing etc. can never shine independently of Consciousness.
So, by the same logic, they are Consciousness itself.
Thus objects are only Consciousness; and that is the ‘I’-principle.
2. One directs attention to something. But is it that something that we perceive by the
senses? No. We perceive only the superimpositions of the senses upon that something.
This vague something remains as the substratum of form, sound etc.; and
always remains unknown to the senses or the mind.
But it is that unknown something that we want to know, without any superimposition.
So, no agent like the senses or the generic mind can be utilized, for they can
only superimpose their own objects. The mind always functions conjointly with
the sense organs. In the absence of these agents, neither forms nor thoughts appear.
But using Consciousness to know it, we see it as Consciousness alone, that is to
say as one with the ‘I’-principle.
There is a fundamental difference between the functionings of the agents and of
Consciousness. When the senses and mind function, they have separate objects and
they superimpose these objects upon that something. In the case of Consciousness
strictly viewed, Consciousness has no object of its own. Therefore, when anything
is viewed from the standpoint of Consciousness, superimposition is impossible.
I AND OBJECT ARE ONE.
1. Objects are nothing but form, sound, touch, taste or smell. It is evident that any
one of these can never be separated from its respective sense organ, even in
thought. So objects and sense perceptions are one.
Similarly, seeing, hearing etc. can never shine independently of Consciousness.
So, by the same logic, they are Consciousness itself.
Thus objects are only Consciousness; and that is the ‘I’-principle.
2. One directs attention to something. But is it that something that we perceive by the
senses? No. We perceive only the superimpositions of the senses upon that something.
This vague something remains as the substratum of form, sound etc.; and
always remains unknown to the senses or the mind.
But it is that unknown something that we want to know, without any superimposition.
So, no agent like the senses or the generic mind can be utilized, for they can
only superimpose their own objects. The mind always functions conjointly with
the sense organs. In the absence of these agents, neither forms nor thoughts appear.
But using Consciousness to know it, we see it as Consciousness alone, that is to
say as one with the ‘I’-principle.
There is a fundamental difference between the functionings of the agents and of
Consciousness. When the senses and mind function, they have separate objects and
they superimpose these objects upon that something. In the case of Consciousness
strictly viewed, Consciousness has no object of its own. Therefore, when anything
is viewed from the standpoint of Consciousness, superimposition is impossible.
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