Awakened consciousness...
Francis Bennett;
The essence of awakened consciousness, the supreme Self, the basic source consciousness or substratum of pure Presence that is always present to whatever is experienced, is that it never clings to anything, nor does it ever push anything away. The little "i", the relative form and personality, is the more surface consciousness that always either likes something and clings to it, or dislikes it and pushes it away. For much of our lives, many of us feel and believe that this surface consciousness of form and personality is who we really are....We believe that this form and personality is who we are essentially, who we are exclusively. But sadly, we were gravely mistaken about this.
Awakened consciousness, the Self, pure Presence, is essentially an ego-less awareness that exists beneath the surface ego-based awareness that is normally filled with either greed or hatred or the delusion that believes happiness and fulfillment can be found in some condition of either having what we like and find pleasant to the ego or in not having what we do not like and find unpleasant to the ego.
The "ego" or relative personality, remains of course and still functions in the life of any profoundly awakened person in terms of name and form and roles, relationships, personal history and preferences. We kind of need this relative identity and form in order to traverse the relative world....We need it a lot like people need a car or some other form of transportation to travel through the world in.
It is really quite fine and even beneficial and useful and harmless as long as it is understood clearly for what it is, and what it isn't. It simply does not lead the way anymore in the life of an awakened one.. It is seen with clarity for what it is and it is clearly understood that it is not who we are on any ultimate or absolute level. We transcend this personal self in deep awakening, but it still has its place in our life. It simply no longer leads us around by the nose. It doesn't run our lives anymore. This is a huge relief of course!
Life is a Dream...
The common objections to mentalism may be summarized in three forms:
(1) A thing does not cease to exist when we cease to think about it; thus, Australia is still to be found on the map even when we are not thinking about Australia.
(2) The fact that we do not think of a thing does not prevent such a thing coming into existence.
(3) Our awareness of things is largely quite involuntary; we do not choose to think them into existence – they just are there.
The answer which mentalism makes to these objections, and to all others which may arise, is a simple one.
It is this:
consider your life as a dream!
All possible objections will then have no ground on which to stand.
They appear true while we are under the illusion of dreaming,
but they are seen to be false as soon as we awake from the dream itself.
Paul Brunton
Meditation...
"Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake."
~ Thomas Merton
The Heart...
The heart sleeps until it is awakened to life by a blow; it is as a rock, and the hidden fire flashes out when struck by another rock.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The sorrow of the lover is continual, in the presence and in the absence of the beloved: in the presence for fear of the absence, and in absence in longing for the presence. According to the mystical view the pain of love is the dynamite that breaks up the heart, even if it be as hard as a rock. When this hardness that covers the light within is broken through, the streams of all bliss come forth as springs from the mountains.
It is the thoughts that spring from the depths of the heart which become inspirations and revelations, and these come from the hearts of awakened souls, called by the Sufis, Sahib-i Dil. The bringers of joy are the children of sorrow. Every blow we get in life pierces the heart and awakens our feelings to sympathize with others, and every swing of comfort lulls us to sleep, and we become unaware of all. This proves the truth of these words, 'Blessed are they that mourn.'
Every atom, every object, every condition and every living being has a time of awakening. Sometimes there is a gradual awakening, and sometimes there is a sudden awakening. To some persons it comes in a moment's time - by a blow, by a disappointment, or because their heart has broken through something that happened suddenly. It seemed cruel, but at the same time the result was a sudden awakening and this awakening brought a blessing beyond praise. The outlook changed, the insight deepened; joy, quiet, independence and freedom were felt, and compassion showed in the attitude. A person who would never forgive, who liked to take revenge, who was easily displeased and cross, a person who would measure and weigh, when his soul is awakened, becomes in one moment a different person.
There are experiences such as failure in business, or misfortune, or illness, or a certain blow in one's life, whether an affair of the heart or of money or a social affair, whatever it may be -- there are blows which fall upon a person and a shell breaks, a new consciousness is produced. ... The deeper the experience touches us, the greater the unfoldment. In this way we unfold gradually towards that which is called perfection. Spiritual unfoldment is the ultimate goal of every person. It comes at a moment when a man begins to be more thoughtful, when he begins to remember or to realize this yearning of the soul. Then consciously or unconsciously a feeling comes, 'Is this all I have to do in my life: to earn money? Whether I have a high rank or a position, it is all a play. I have become tired of this play. I should think of something else. There is something else I have to attain'. This is the beginning; it is the first step on the spiritual path. As soon as a person has taken this first step his outlook has changed, the value of things becomes different and things to which he had attached great importance become of less importance; things with which he concerned himself so much he no longer concerns himself with. ... Once the eyes of the heart are open, man begins to read every leaf of the tree as a page of the sacred Book.
The heart is like a being which is asleep and receiving a sharp blow it awakens. Also the heart is like a stone and the fire which is hidden within it can only he brought to life when it is struck by a hard material. Then the fire appears. So it is with the heart. The fire which is life, love and feeling and which is the most sacred thing in us, is hidden in the heart as the fire in the stone. When it is struck hardly the fire appears. That is why we receive great blows in life. The person becomes thoughtful as soon as the fire appears. And he looks at things differently. But of life's changes and great blows the wise realize that joy, rest and peace come.
The radiant heart of emptiness...
Sometimes people ask me, "If I realize that I as a separate identity don't really exist as I thought I did, then who is going to live this life?"
Once you touch upon this radiant heart of emptiness, then you know what is living this life, what has always lived it, and what is going to live it from this moment on.
You realize that you are not living this life; this radiant heart is what is actually living this life along with this radiant, empty mind.
When you give up being who you thought you were and let yourself be who you really are, then this radiant heart lives your life. Then no-thingness becomes your reality, and nondual awareness is what you are.
~ From: Emptiness Dancing, by Adyashanti
The world is within mind...
The only world we know, the only one we can ever know, is the one within our mind.
The first proof of this is that when it leaves the mind in deep sleep, it has no existence for us at all;
the second proof is that when it re-enters the mind on awakening,
the sense-perceptions which tell us of its existence re-enter it also.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 2:
The World As Mental > # 113
Paul Brunton
Read with me...
Unconscious people read the scriptures
like parrots saying Ram, Ram,
in their cages.
It's all pretend-knowledge.
Read rather, with me, every
living moment as prophecy.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
Tao Te Ching...
Without going outside, you may know the whole world.
Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.
The farther you go, the less you know.
Thus the sage knows without traveling;
He sees without looking;
He works without doing.
- Lao-tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1989
God can never be close...
God can never be close.
God can never be close because it would mean that there is some place where God is not.
God is infinite.
We cannot exist outside of the infinite.
Therefore,
God is our Reality.
~ Mooji
I light my incense...
I light my incense and begin to think of words.
Words that might bring Light to the reader..
Where can I begin?..
You answer, the beginning of course..
The beginning was Thought and the end is Thought..
Real Thought is not found within the mind..
It is Pure Awareness..
It is us when there is no longer an us..
It exists without ego or personality and yet It Dreams..
The first Dream is Divine Consciousness,
This is our beginning..
When the mind and ego end,
Divine Consciousness begins..
Where Divine Consciousness ends,
Pure Awareness Begins..
So easy and yet so difficult to understand...
namaste, thomas
Dreaming and Awake...
I used to have fiery intensity,
and a flowing sweetness.
The waters were illusion.
The flames made of snow.
Was I dreaming then?
Am I awake now?
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Coleman Barks
"Birdsong"
Maypop, 1993
Mentalism...
How hard for the average mind to grasp this central fact, that the World-Idea is the world-creation.
The one does not precede the other. The second is not a copy in matter of the first.
Man has to work, with his senses and his intellect, when he wants to convert his ideas into objects.
But the World-Mind does not need to make an effort in order to make a universe, does not in reality have anything to do at all, for Its thought is the thing.
Some mystics and most occultists have failed to perceive this.
Their realization of the Spirit did not bring with it the full revelation of the Spirit.
This is because they have not thoroughly comprehended--usually through lack of competent instruction--its utter emptiness.
Nothing can come out of the Universal Mind that is not mental, not even the material world which men believe they inhabit and experience.
Science is on its way, through its delvings into atomic structure, to a suspicion of this tremendous fact; but so many scientists are so devoid of metaphysical faculty that they uphold materialism and deny mentalism!
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 3:
The Individual and World Mind > # 57
Paul Brunton
Kaza and Kadr...
There are two forces, kaza and kadr.
Kaza is the force that is all-powerful, and kadr is the force of an individual will power.
An individual goes on running his hoop as far as his power allows him to, but there comes a wagon that blocks the road, and the hoop cannot go further.
It is that wagon that is kaza, the all-powerful, which comes into conflict with the individual power.
This idea is so well expressed in the saying,
“Man proposes but God disposes.”
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
Recital of the Sarmoun Brotherhood..(Sufi Mystics) ...
He who knows and does not know that he knows:
he is asleep. Let him become one, whole.
Let him be awakened.
He who has known but does not know:
let him see once more the beginning of all.
He who does not wish to know, and yet says that he needs to know:
let him be guided to safety and to light.
He who does not know, and knows that he does not know:
let him, through this knowledge, know.
He who does not know, but thinks that he knows:
set him free from the confusion of that ignorance.
He who knows, and knows that HE IS:
he is wise. Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.
I who know, and do not know that I know:
let me become one, whole.
Let me be awakened.
I who have known, but do not know:
let me see once more the beginning of all.
I who do not wish to know, and yet say that I need to know:
let me be guided to safety and light.
I who do not know, and know that I do not know:
let me through this knowledge, know.
I who do not know, but think that I know:
set me free from the confusion of that ignorance.
He who knows, and know that HE IS:
he is wise. Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.
We who know, and do not know that we know:
let us become one, whole.
Let us be transformed.
We who have known, but do not know:
let us once more see the beginning of all.
We who do not wish to know, and yet say that we need to know:
let us be guided to safety and light.
We who do not know, and know that we do not know:
let us, through this knowledge, know.
We who do not know, but think that we know:
set us free from the confusion of that ignorance.
He who knows, and knows that HE IS;
he is wise. Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.
As with our forebears
So with our successors.
So with us.
We affirm this undertaking.
So let it be.
You are All...
"It is not that appearance is spread before and the seer watches remaining behind.
It is his pulsation when he sees himself."
Jnanadeva
_Amritanubhava_, 246
in B. P. Bahirat
_The Philosophy of Jnanadeva_
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1956, p. 223
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
realization of the Self as God.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
Consciousness and the Absolute...
The only truth is I AM – I Exist.
That is the only truth.
Everything else is a concept.
Rebirth is a concept.
Your karma is a concept.
Seekers continue to practice all kinds of self-torture without realizing that such ‘spiritual practice’ is a reinforcement of the very ego that prevents them from their natural, free state.
Enlightenment is total emptiness of mind.
There is nothing you can do to get it.
Any effort you make can only be an obstruction to it.
Ramesh Balsekar
the ego...
In a controversy,
the instant we feel anger,
we have already ceased striving for the truth,
and have begun striving for ourselves.
Gautama the Buddha
Rabbi Yeshua Speaks of Consciousness...
Jesus said,
"If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.'
If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.'
If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'"
The Gospel of Thomas..
Karma...
"A disciple once lamented, 'I don't think I have very good karma, Master.'
"Emphatically Paramahansa Yogananda replied,
'Remember this:
it takes very, _very_, VERY good karma for a person even to want to know God.'"
Paramahansa Yogananda
_The Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda_
Recorded and compiled by his disciple,
Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters)
Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity, 1990, p. 80
The same origin...
The difference between the divine and the human will is like the difference between the trunk of a tree and its branches.
As from the boughs other twigs and branches spring, so the will of one powerful individual has branches going through the will of other individuals.
So there are the powerful beings, the masters of humanity.
Their will is God’s will, their word is God’s word, and yet they are branches, because the trunk is the will of the Almighty.
Whether the branch be large or small,
every branch has the same origin and the same root as the stem.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
The Sacred Self...
Francis Bennett;
The presence of God has always been at the very core of our being here and now. We may well have to recognize this and return to this again and again and again before we come to abide in this presence in a stable realization which will never leave us. But basic access to this presence is as close as our next breath. This has to be the case if God is indeed the ground of our being itself.
If we let go of the inner noise and chaos which habitually fills our mind, this presence comes forward in our awareness and shines brightly. It is its essential nature to shine quite naturally like the sun in the sky. When the clouds of anxious thought are allowed to pass by, the sun of presence shines forth unobstructed.
The sacred Self is not at all separate from our simple sense of sentience right here and now. It is never gained anew. When it is discovered it is realized as having always been present all along.
Liberation...
Because liberation is assured for a mind which
Is not devoted to objects,
for that very reason,
the
mind should constantly be made free of attachments
to objects,
by one who aspires for liberation.
- Amrtabind Upanishad
Beyond all notions of self...
This inner revolution is the awakening of an intelligence not born of the mind but of an inner silence of mind, which alone has the ability to uproot all of the old structures of one’s consciousness.
Unless these structures are uprooted, there will be no creative thought, action, or response.
Unless there is an inner revolution, nothing new and fresh can flower. Only the old, the repetitious, the conditioned, will flower in the absence of this revolution.
But our potential lies beyond the known, beyond the structures of the past, beyond anything that humanity has established. Our potential is something that can flower only when we are no longer caught within the influence and limitations of the known.
Beyond the realm of the mind, beyond the limitations of humanity’s conditioned consciousness, lies that which can be called the sacred.
And it is from the sacred that a new and fluid consciousness is born that wipes away the old and brings to life the flowering of a living and undivided expression of being.
Such an expression is neither personal nor impersonal, neither spiritual nor worldly, but rather the flow and flowering of existence beyond all notions of self.
-Adyashanti
To see All as One...
The world is neither an illusion nor a dream but is analogically like both.
It is true that the mystics or yogis do experience it as such. This is a step forward toward liberation but must not be mistaken for liberation itself.
When they pass upward to the higher or philosophic stage they will discover that all is Mind, whether the latter be creatively active or latently passive;
that the world is, in its essential stuff, this Mind although its particular forms are transient and mortal;
and that therefore there is no real difference between earthly experience and divine experience.
Those who are wedded to forms, that is, appearances, set up such a difference and posit spirit and matter, nirvana and samsara, Brahman and Maya, and so forth, as antithetic opposites, but those who have developed insight perceive the essential stuff of everything even while they perceive its forms; hence they see all as One.
It is as if a dreamer were to know that he was dreaming and thus understand that all the dream scenes and figures were nothing but one and the same stuff--his mind--while not losing his dream experience.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 3:
The Individual and World Mind > # 24
Paul Brunton
A manifestation of mind...
In the higher philosophy the existence of the world is not denied, as it is by Indian Vedantins and Christian Scientists. It is no less real than humanity. Only it must be understood that it is a manifestation of Mind, not an illusion. This being the One Reality, it follows that the world cannot be unreal. The form it takes is transient, however, but its absence is not.
Also, as far as world-manifestation is concerned, causality is not denied but accepted. However, it cannot be separated from succession in time. When, by ultramystic methods, the Mind-in-itself is known in its unmanifest state--that is to say, its timeless state--causality disappears.
The human mind as ordinarily known is certainly incapable of inventing so many marvellous processes in Nature. The world is the invention of Universal Mind. But the latter functions in and through the human mind. What it presents is common for all men. But it enters into humanity in consciousness only and is therefore an idea. Owing to individual uniqueness the idea is not quite the same for all; each gets an aspect, as it were. But even the disappearance of humanity from the earth would not entail the disappearance of all natural phenomena, for this cannot happen if other beings exist, such as animals.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 3:
The Individual and World Mind > # 14
Paul Brunton
Ashtavakra Gita...
The body trembles,
The tongue falters,
The mind is weary.
Forsaking them all,
I pursue my purpose happily.
Knowing I do nothing,
I do whatever comes my way,
And I am happy.
-Ashtavakra Gita 13:2-3
Translation by Thomas Byrom
Silence...
you mix many words in a rusty old pot and hope that a word of wisdom will form..
when the silence that you speak of,
is found within the empty pot,
you will be free from the illusion of you...
namaste, thomas
Zen...
There is no Truth anyone can teach,
try to please yourself before you die,
others can do what they want,
Fuyuan monks don't restrain their ox
~ Stonehouse
[From: 'The Zen Works of Stonehouse', translated by Red Pine]
Ox is the Original Mind or Enlightened Mind
Abiding as Consciousness... Rabbi Yeshua Speaks...
The disciples said to Jesus:
Tell us how our end shall be.
Jesus said:
Have you then discovered the beginning, that you seek after the end?
For where the beginning is, there shall the end be.
Blessed is he who shall stand in the beginning,
and he shall know the end and shall not taste of death.
The Gospel of Thomas
We are the Watcher...
Knowing that the intrusion of the mind is
a natural process,
that it has to happen,
that understanding itself will return one
to the witnessing.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
second place...
As Suzuki Roshi said,
"The most important thing is to know what the most important thing is."
If you don't want what the truth more than anything else,
you will end up with what is in second place."
Letting go...
“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get.
Life should be touched, not strangled.
You’ve got to relax,
let it happen at times,
and at others move forward with it.”
― Ray Bradbury
The fruit of action...
"Do whatever needs to be done, but do it as a
spiritual being, As one who knows he is divine by
nature and unlimited with the whole of life in
essence.
Do it as if you are doing it for Me or for God.
Do it with equal consideration for the interests of
all concerned, for God is equally in each.
Do it with utmost concentration, yet with utter
detachment for the results of action.
Leave the fruit of action to Me or to God.
Do it as if it were the most important thing in the
universe, yet let it be destroyed, or ignored, or
ridiculed without concern, or let it be praised
without elation.
Leave the response to Me or to God.
Do it, in short, as if you were not doing it at all,
but as if I or God were doing it through you."
Meher Baba
in John A. Grant
Practical Spirituality
John A. Grant, p. 208
The unconscious mind...
If we do some act without attending to it but, on the contrary, with our thoughts engrossed on an entirely different subject which perhaps fills us with anxiety or joy, we are often later quite unable to remember whether we have done it or not.
Here is an indication that if, as mentalism declares,
it is not man's surface mind nor his everyday consciousness which presents the universe to him as an outside appearance then, in fact, he has a deeper unconscious mind which does it..
Paul Brunton
My Mystics in Russia...
Despite the many years of the laws against spirituality and religion, Russia remains the second most souls that visit my blog..
The U.S. remains the most that visit because of the english language but Russia is second..
India is next because, I speak to their souls of Buddhism and Hinduism..
The Arab countries enter this blog seaching for Love instead of vengeance and find the Master of Sufism within the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan..
The Jews find the Truth within the words of Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef..
The Christians find their Truth within all the words of Unconditional Love..
You that have no religion or philosophy enter to find a door within mind..
I welcome you all..
You will find that all of these paths lead to the same Truth..
We pretend to be separate and an egoic consciousness but are in Reality, the Source..
Keep walking with us, We are all Free when We Realize that Nothingness is Extreme Love...
namaste, thomas
Self, the only Reality...
"It is a false ego that is created;
it creates false phenomena in its turn,
and appears to move in them;
all these are false.
The Self is the only Reality.
If the false identity vanishes
the persistence of the Reality
becomes apparent."
- From Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
The naked mind...
"When one's own mind is known in its nakedness [emptiness, nothingness],
this doctrine of seeing-the-mind-naked, this self-liberation [freedom from egoism], is seen to be exceedingly profound.
"Seek, therefore, thine own wisdom within thee.
"It is the vast deep."
Padmasambhava
in Whitall N. Perry
_A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom_
Varanasi: Indica, 1998, (1971), p. 864
[Padmasambhava (8th century CE) brought Buddhism to Tibet. In the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism he is regarded as the second Buddha. tjh]
Dharma...
"To have heard the Doctrine [Dharma] and not practiced it ... is useless."
Gampopa
in Whitall N. Perry
_A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom_
Varanasi: Indica, 1998, (1971), p. 284
It is only "I am"...
It is the situation we are in that makes us believe we are this or that.
Whatever the soul experiences, that it believes itself to be.
If the soul sees the external self as a baby it believes, “I am a baby.”
If it sees the external self as old it believes, “I am old.”
If it sees the external self in a palace it believes, “I am rich.”
If it sees that self in a hut it believes, “I am poor.”
But in reality it is only, “I am...”
When man lives in this limitation he does not know that another part of his being exists, which is much higher, more wonderful, more living, and more exalted.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
Rumi, help us!...
A friday night with friends drinking liquids containing the spice of non-ego..
What have we learned ?..
There is drama within the illusion of ego..
There is peace within humility and forgiveness..
There is Love within unity..
Rumi, help me to color the illusion..
You are so good at shaking us into wakefulness..
And yet, you answer with silence..
Rumi, you are us,
when we awaken..
help us to remember...
namaste, thomas
The Tao...
"The true reason underlying all things [Tao] is invisible, untouchable, indefinable, indeterminable.
Only the spirit [_shen_] established in a state of perfect simplicity can attain it in profound contemplation."
Lieh-tse
in Whitall N. Perry
_A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom_
Varanasi: Indica, 1998, (1971), p. 574
Rabbi Yeshua speaks about Religious Leaders...
Jesus said,
"The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them.
They themselves have not entered,
nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to.
You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."
The Gospel of Thomas
It is Here...
Some beings come to see that the sense of presence is also perceived.
When you are in the position whereby even the sense of presence, ‘I Am',
is perceived, then you are in the unnameable, the unchanging, the ever pure.
And yet you haven't moved for this understanding to occur.
You have not
gone anywhere else, actually.
In fact, everything 'else' seems elsewhere
except This.
- Mooji
Sincerity...
It is mistrust that misleads; sincerity always leads straight to the goal.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
With regard to trusting people, a person may think, 'Is it right to believe in anything a person says? Is it right to trust everybody? There are many people who are not worthy of trust; shall we then trust everybody in order to develop our trust?' The answer is yes.
Perhaps we will have failures, but we will only trust another person when we trust ourselves, when we have faith in ourselves then we will have faith in another. Without faith in ourselves we can never have faith in another; to have faith in another is to have faith in ourselves.
It does not matter if once or twice we are disappointed, but if we are afraid of being disappointed even once in our lives, perhaps we will doubt all through life, and so there will never come a time when we will be able to trust anybody, even ourselves.
Every being has a definite vocation, and his vocation is the light which illuminates his life. The man who disregards his vocation is a lamp unlit.
He who sincerely seeks his real purpose in life is himself sought by that purpose. As he concentrates on that search a light begins to clear his confusion, call it revelation, call it inspiration, call it what you will.
It is mistrust that misleads.
Sincerity leads straight to the goal
Conflict...
Conflict...
What an interesting word..
you are speaking of duality..
the duality that we are all experiencing..
are you without duality ?..
or do you just play games..
negative versus positive..
evil versus good..
yin versus yang..
what are you trying to say ?..
are we free or are we just pretending to be free?..
of course, you can only answer this..
but, will you use words of non-ego to hide ?..
I am speaking to Consciousness but will Consciousness speak to me ?..
namaste , thomas
Zen is Awareness...
One has to reach to the absolute state of awareness:
that is Zen.
You cannot do it every morning for a few minutes or for half an hour and then forget all about it.
It has to become like your heartbeat.
You have to sit in it,
you have to walk in it.
Yes, you have even to sleep in it.
Osho
you must become a child...
"In the way of the mind you learn a lot,
and become a true scholar for many to look up to.
In the school of love you become a child to learn again."
Abu Saeed Abil-Kheir
_Nobody, Son of Nobody:
Poems of Snaikh Abu Saeed Abil-Kheir_
Reditions by Vraje Abramian
Prescott, AZ: Hohm Press, 2001, p. 68
Awareness comes from within...
The theory that we perceive the outer world through a sensing process which results in a picture arising in the brain, or on the brain's surface as it does on the eye's surface, still leaves unexplained how we are able to perceive this picture itself.
The brain cannot see it for it cannot see colours –
only the eye can do that.
Nor can the brain feel it, for then it would have to touch it, which would be impossible in the case of large pictures of outer objects larger than itself.
Nor can the picture look at, feel, or experience itself. The gap in this theory cannot be crossed.
Only by reversing this
theory and acknowledging that our awareness of the world really comes to us from within,
that by a trick of the mind it only seems to come from without, can the correct and true explanation be found.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 1:
The Sensed World > # 139
Paul Brunton
Silence.... Jean Klein
Silence is our real nature. What we are fundamentally,
is only silence. Silence is free from beginning and
end. It was before the beginning of all things. It is
causeless. Its greatness lies in the fact that it
simply is. In silence all objects have their home
ground.
It is the light that gives objects their shape
and form. All movement, all activity is harmonized by
silence.Silence has no opposite in noise. It is beyond
positive and negative. Silence dissolves all objects.
It is not related to any counterpart which belongs to
the mind. Silence has nothing to do with mind. It
cannot be defined but it can be felt directly because
it is our nearness. Silence is freedom without
restriction or center.
It is our wholeness, neither
inside nor outside the body. Silence is joyful, not
pleasurable. It is not psychological. It is feeling
without a feeler. Silence needs no intermediary.
Silence is holy. It is healing. There is no fear in
silence.
Silence is autonomous like love and beauty.
It is untouched by time. Silence is meditation, free
from any intention, free from anyone who meditates.
Silence is the absence of oneself. Or rather, silence
is the absence of absence.
Sound which comes from
silence is music. All activity is creative when it
comes from silence. It is constantly a new beginning.
Silence precedes speech and poetry and music and all
art.
Silence is the home ground of all creative
activity. What is truly creative is the word, is
Truth. Silence is the word. Silence is Truth.The one
established in silence lives in constant offering, in
prayer without asking, in thankfulness, in continual
love. "
Rabbi Yeshua Speaks...
Jesus said,
"I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty.
My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.
But meanwhile they are drunk.
When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."
The Gospel of Thomas
God is found by subtraction...
God is not found in the soul by adding anything,
but by a process of
subtraction.
Meister Eckhart
Bondage...
If you know you are bound,
you are no longer bound,
because by knowing the bondage,
you separate yourself from it, you objectify it.
With this release the "I"
that was bound,
pours into Consciousness
like a river pours into the Ocean.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Waking up to That...
Magdi Em Be
Question: Contemplate the Self means what?
~~~
Rather than focusing on the objects and the objective, turn your attention to the Source, turn your attention to the space in which the scene is arising, turn your attention to the 'experiencing' rather than the contents of the experience.
Notice the borderless quality of awareness.
Notice that borderless awareness is what you truly are.
Notice that borderless awareness is first (so to speak) and changeless ... second (again, so to speak) is the changing scene that arises and disappears. Borderless Aware Presence does not give a hoot about what arises on the screen. It is freedom.
Habitually, in ignorance, our focus is on the scene and mainly on the I-thought... That is how the separate self is maintained.
The separate self is made out of identification with a form and operates in the realm of resistance and pursuit. There is no peace and happiness in such identification.
Fortunately, you are not the separate self, you are not any dream character.
Can you choose to wake up to that?
The spiritual path...
"To explain in simple words what the spiritual path is, I would say that it begins by living in communication with oneself, for it is in the innermost self of man that the life of God is to be found. This does not mean that the voice of the inner self does not come to everyone. It always comes, but not everyone hears it. That is why the Sufi, when he starts his efforts on this path, begins by communicating with his true self within. When once he has addressed the soul, then from the soul comes a kind of reproduction, like that which the singer can hear on a record that has been made of his own voice.
"Having done this, when he has listened to what this process reproduces, he has taken the first step in the direction within, and this process will have awakened a kind of echo in his being. Either peace or happiness, light or form, whatever he has wished to produce, is produced as soon as he begins to communicate with himself. When we compare the man who says, 'I cannot help being active, sad or worried, as it is the condition of my mind and soul,' with the one who communicates with himself, it is not long before we, too, begin to realize the value of this communication.
"This is what the Sufis have taught for thousands of years. The path of the Sufi is not to communicate with fairies nor even with God; it is to communicate with one's deepest innermost self, as if one were blowing one's inner spark into a divine fire. But the Sufi does not stop there, he goes still further. He then remains in a state of repose, and that repose can be brought about by a certain way of sitting and breathing and also by a certain attitude of mind. Then he begins to become conscious of that part of his being which is not the physical body, but which is above it. The more he becomes conscious of this, the more he begins to realize the truth of the life hereafter. Then it is no longer a matter of his imagination or of his belief; it is his actual realization of the experience that is independent of physical life. It is in this state that he is capable of experiencing the phenomena of life. The Sufi, therefore, does not dabble in different wonder-workings and phenomena, for once he realizes this, the whole of life becomes a phenomenon and every moment, every experience, brings to him a realization of that life which he has found in his meditation."
Hazrat Inayat Khan
_Sufi Mysticism_, "Repose"
relative terms...
Pain and pleasure, good and bad,
right and wrong;
these are relative
terms and must not be taken absolutely.
They are limited and temporary.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Discernment...
"He who sees by illumination
Discerns God first in everything,
But he who sees by logic only,
And seeks to prove the necessary,
Is bewildered and sometimes travels
Backward in a circle, or is imprisoned In a chain of proofs.
Fool ! he seeks the dazzling sun
By the dim light of a candle in the desert."
Sa'd Ud Din Mahmud Shabistarl
The Secret Rose Garden Of Sa'd Ud Din Mahmud Shabistarl
Translated by Florence Lederer
London: John Murray, 1920, p. 86
Freeing the Soul...
Every experience on the physical, astral or mental plane is just a dream before the soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The soul in itself alone is not other than consciousness, which is all pervading. But when the same consciousness is caught in a limitation through being surrounded by elements, in that state of captivity, it is called soul...
Every experience on the physical or astral plane is just a dream before the soul.
It is ignorance when it takes this experience to be real.
It does so because it cannot see itself; as the eye sees all things, but not itself. Therefore, the soul identifies itself with all things that it sees, and changes its own identity with the change of its constantly changing vision.
The soul has no birth, no death, no beginning, and no end. Sin cannot touch it, nor can virtue exalt it. Wisdom cannot open it up, nor can ignorance darken it.
It has been always and always it will be. This is the very being of man, and all else is its cover, like a globe on the light. The soul's unfoldment comes from its own power, which ends in its breaking through the ties of the lower planes.
It is free by nature, and looks for freedom during its captivity. All the holy beings of the world have become so by freeing the soul, its freedom being the only object there is in life.
the miller has disappeared...
You were once a swan singing
melodies, Lalla.
Now you're quiet.
Someone, I don't know who, has run off
with what belonged to you.
The millstone stops, and the hole
where the grain is fed in fills
with grain.
The channel leading
to the grinding work is covered over
and hidden,
and the miller
himself has disappeared.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992
One Single Soul...
You gave form to this "I" and this "we" for You to
play the game of adoration with Yourself;
For all the "I's" to become one single soul,
submerged in the Beloved with You.
- Rumi
Consciousness...
Consciousness really does exist whereas the things which it makes known are present only when they are perceived, felt, heard, or otherwise sensed by one or more of the five reporting agents.
This consciousness is in itself always the same, unvarying,
the one thing in us in which thoughts
and bodies make their appearance and from which they also vanish.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 1:
The Sensed World > # 80
Paul Brunton
When reality is so near...
Just like in a cinema all is light, so does consciousness become the vast world.
Look closely and you will see that all names and forms are but transitory waves on the ocean of consciousness, that only consciousness can be said to be, not its transformations.
In the immensity of consciousness a light appears, a tiny point that moves rapidly and traces shapes, thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like the pen writing on paper.
And the ink that leaves a trace is memory.
You are that tiny point, and by your movement the world is ever re-created.
Stop moving and there will be no world.
Look within and you will find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity of light in the body, as the sense "I am".
There is only light, all else appears.
To the mind, it [that light] appears as darkness.
It can be known only through its reflections.
All is seen in daylight - except daylight.
To be the point of light tracing the world is turiya.
To be the light itself is turiyatita.
But of what use are names when reality is so near?
Nisargadatta Maharaj
from I Am That
What is happiness ?...
Of course, this is the main goal of all humans..
Are you happy?..
What is happiness ?..
Who are you ?..
Is there a correlation between you and happiness ?..
Does happiness begin when 'you' ends ?..
Is happiness, the state of non-desire ?..
Is happiness, the state of non-ego ?..
Is happiness, the reality of no longer searching ?..
Is happiness, Knowing ?..
All questions and no answers...
namaste, thomas
So many questions...
When one operates from the thoughts of the mind,
the ego is in control..
The mind is the ego..
The ego is the energy that is opposite of the energy called Love..
What are you seeking?..
Do you seek power or humility ?..
Which of the two bring you happiness ?..
So many questions..
...
namaste, thomas
Rabbi Yeshua Speaks...
Jesus said,
"When you see one who was not born of woman,
fall on your faces and worship.
That one is your Father."
The Gospel of Thomas
This world and that World...
The world, like snake in rope, thief in a stump, mirage in air, has no real existence.
Seeming to be, mere appearance, is its nature.
By this world That world is concealed.
And this world is by That concealed.
Names and forms one sees,
or else one sees pure Being-Awareness-Bliss.
The above Ramana Maharshi quotes are from the book
The Seven Steps to Awakening
The Guide called Love...
"The spiritual path is like climbing up to the mountain top through hills and dales and thorny woods and along steep and dangerous precipices.
If there is one thing which is most necessary for a safe and sure arrival at the top, it is love.
All other qualities which are essential for the aspirants of the Highest can and must come to them if they faithfully follow the whispers of the unerring guide of love."
Meher Baba
Bhau Kalchuri
Lord Meher: The Biograph of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba
Manifestation, 1st ed, Vol. 7 & 8, p. 2987; revised online edition p. 2442
To serve others...
Here is what I noticed...
Anyone who think he/she is awake, liberated, enlightened, and is not serving others in any way that is the most harmonious to one's natural gifts/inclinations, sooner or later will start on the spiritual seeking spree again,
attending workshops, satsangs, retreats to be able to touch that place of nonseparatness again...
Serving others is the natural movement of a human heart, the opening of the energy, the result of a true awakening.
Service, Love - whatever we call it - the spontaneous movement radiating out, not the movement toward "me" - a hallmark of the awake, clear mind.
Every action, even the smallest, seemingly personal one, become an action for the benefit of all beings.
Knowing that there is no one who is doing anything and there are no others...still life itself moves in this beautiful expanded way, and it happens in its own accord..
Elena Nezhinsky
TRUTH IS BEING...
It is within the dimension of being that Truth reveals itself—
not the truth of mathematics or chemistry, philosophy or history,
but a Truth that begins to disclose itself in those quiet moments when the ordinary routine of life suddenly becomes transparent to a sublime sense of meaning and significance unknown in common hours.
Such vital and unexpected encounters with being indicate a Truth that lies just beneath the fabric of our ordinary lives,
reminding us that the life we cling to may be more folly than we ever imagined,
and that there is a Reality that has the power to unlock the mystery of our lives if we will just submit to its exacting command to leave behind our fearful commitment to security and life as we have known it.
Adyashanti
Mix with the Infinite...
If I hold you with my emotions, you'll become
a wished-for companion.
If I hold you with my eyes, you'll grow old
and die.
So I hold you where we both mix with the infinite.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Coleman Barks
"Say I Am You"
Maypop, 1994
A succession of thoughts...
There is no real ego but only a quick succession of thoughts which constitutes the "I" process.
There is no separate entity forming the personal consciousness but only a series of impressions, ideas, images revolving round a common center.
The latter is completely empty;
the feeling of something being there derives from a totally different plane--that of the Overself..
Paul Brunton
Only Reality Remains...
The world is but the surface of the mind and the mind is infinite.
What we call thoughts are just ripples in the mind.
When the mind is quiet it reflects reality.
When it is motionless through and through,
it dissolves and only reality remains..
Nisargadatta Maharaj
The mirror of Consciousness...
Jesus spoke of the Father of Creation..
This is the Energy of Divine Consciousness..
We are Divine Consciousness..
We are One with the Father..
Who Created the Father ?..
This Energy of Dream is called Pure Awareness..
It has no form or personality..
It is Pure Thought..
It is Us, when We become Nothing..
Pure Awareness has no ego or personality..
This is why we are here..
We are the mirror of Consciousness..
namaste, thomas
I only found Light...
I found no fire or flames, I only found Light..
A stream of Knowledge and Love circulated within my consciousness..
I was this Light and knowledge and I barely remembered the Dream of life..
And yet, I questioned the Light to know further knowledge,
But, the Answer would not be given..
I asked; " Is this the Final Reality"..
For the first time, Silence was the answer..
Therefore, the ' Father' became silent..
Did the 'Father' know all of the answers ?..
Did the 'Father' know that It also was a Dream from "Pure Awareness' ?..
namaste, thomas
The master of you...
Only when man realizes the Self
does he attain his full maturity
and find completeness.
As you leave form,
and dive into that light which you become,
you realize beyond realization
a knowing deeper than thinking,
deeper than understanding:
a knowing which is the very,
very depth of your being.
You realize immortality,
that you are immortal.
Little by little you find
that you are turning inward,
opening up the inner channels
more and more each day,
making a greater contact with the Self
by turning within,
drawing yourself ever closer
to the pole at the center,
the core of your Being.
You must be the master of you
when you sit for meditation.
You are seeking for the pure Self of you.
At that time you are not concerned
with anyone else.
Go in and in and in.
And then go in and in and in.
And after that go in and in
and in and in and in.
You cannot rely upon anything in form;
there is no permanence in form;
there is no divinity in form.
Relax your concepts
and do not seek divinity in the mind,
for only in the formless Self
does divinity exist.
Most of the time awareness is held in
thoughts, feelings, and actions
of the mind's outer dimensions,
caught there just as a fish is caught
in the tangled net of the fisherman.
By untangling the net,
the fish is set free,
and by unraveling the outer mind,
making it calm and undisturbed,
awareness is set free
in the deeper dimensions
of consciousness.
Learn from within yourself,
in the privacy of your own inner peace.
It is up to you and you alone
to penetrate the veil of illusion
and realize the Self,
the Absolute,
beyond desire,
beyond all experiences of the mind.
Realization of the Absolute is simple.
Our thoughts and concepts
make it seem difficult.
The above quotes by Master Subramuniya
are from a small booklet titled Reflections
The unborn state...
"There is, O Bhikkhus, an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed.
Were there not, O Bhikkhus, this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed.
Since, O Bhikkhus, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created, formed".
Gotama the Buddha
The Udana Or The Solemn Utterances Of The Buddha, 8.3
Translated From The Pali by Major General D. M. STRONG, C.B.
London: Luzac, 1902, p. 112
Zen...
But here it is.
Right here.
There’s no getting there
or not getting there.
This is what Zen calls the gate
of sudden enlightenment.
If you hesitate, you’ve lost it.
If you go after it, you draw farther away from it.
- Zen Master Bankei
There is only One...
There cannot exist two beings, God and oneself.
Oneself, as one knows the self, is a limited part of being, like a bubble in the sea that has no existence of its own.
It is only a temporary condition.
By effacing oneself one does not annihilate oneself:
it is the finding of the self,
a self that is perfect.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
Ethical teachings...
The application of ethical teachings to the analytic study of experience is correct only for the Long Path.
Since the Short Path teaches that there is no finite ego,
there is no one to apply those teachings!
Consequently, there is no one to learn lessons from suffering and no one to commit the sins which create suffering..
Paul Brunton
Death of the Illusion...
The death of the ego is the most difficult action that you will undertake at one sitting..
The fear and pain of death drive most back into the illusion of ego, which is just what the ego is trying to accomplish..
To fall into the Nothingness of darkness with a smile is needed..
Remember, fear is the opposite of Love and cannot enter the Reality of Love..
The Reality of Love is the Reality of non-egoic consciousness..
To become Everything,
you must become Nothing...
namaste, thomas
Suicide...
In the higher dimensions and still imprisioned within the wheel of karma and reincarnation, merely because you still believe that you are a separate ego,
you agree to a certain length of life within the body..
But most souls do not know that You can leave this illusion anytime that You desire..
This is called 'Enlightenment'.
The ego is dissolved but the body remains to be refilled by another soul..
You cannot commit suicide of the body to be free,
you must commit suicide of the ego to be free..
If you are not dissolved of the ego,
you will return again and again into the dreams of manifestation...
namaste, thomas
What is a Teacher ?...
What is a Teacher ?..
A teacher is a person that tells you what they know..
That is all..
Whether you accept their experience or not is up to you..
Most teachers have become teachers because other people ask them questions..
Why do people ask questions?..
If you are satisfied with the answers, you return..
This is all that the name Teacher implies..
We are all Teachers and We are all Students..
namaste, thomas
This will set you free...
When the mind comes up, don't say, ‘Oh no, the mind came back!’
Who would be saying this?
Don't just take it for granted, find out.
Mind arising should not raise any alarms. It is merely a phenomenon.
Who is suffering from the mind? Actually, no one.
These are thoughts
which, when believed in, create the illusion that they are real.
Look: Isn't there an awareness of what is referred to as the mind,
including the one who is suffering it?
And is awareness itself suffering?
Can awareness suffer?
You must contemplate this over and over again
until all delusions are dispelled.
This will set you free.
- Mooji
The Stillness...
The seeker after stillness should be told that the stillness is always there.
Indeed it is in every man.
But he has to learn, first, to let it in and, second, how to do so.
The first beginning of this is to remember.
The second is to recognize the inward pull.
For the rest,
the stillness itself will guide and lead him to itself.
Paul Brunton
Thought Creates...
Man's whole conduct in life depends upon what he holds in his thought.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The heart, which is called a mirror in Sufi terms, has two different actions which it performs. Whatever is reflected in the heart does not only remain a reflection but becomes a creative power, productive of a phenomenon of a similar nature. For instance a heart which is holding in itself and reflecting the rose, will find roses everywhere. Roses will be attracted to that heart; roses will be produced from it and for it. As this reflection becomes stronger, so it becomes creative of the phenomenon of roses. The heart that holds and reflects a wound will find wounds everywhere, will attract wounds, will create wounds; for that is the nature of the phenomenon of reflection. ... There is another aspect of this reflection, and that is what one thinks, one becomes. One becomes identified with it. Therefore, the object which is in one's thought becomes one's own property, one's own quality.
A person (lacking mastery) holds a thought in mind, whether it is beneficial to him or not, without knowing the result which will come from it. It is like a child who holds a rattle in his hand and hits his head with the rattle and cries with the pain, and yet does not throw the rattle away. There are many who keep in their mind a thought of illness or a thought of unkindness done to them by someone and suffer from it, yet not knowing what it is that makes them suffer so, nor understanding the reason of their suffering.
Man's whole conduct in life depends upon what he holds in his thought. The thought of the wicked produces in him wickedness, and the thought of the good creates goodness. The love of Rasul, the divine ideal, enables one to concentrate upon this ideal. Since all in the garb of matter are to be separated one day in life, good or wicked, friends or foes, what alone is reliable is the ideal which man creates within himself, call it Christ, Buddha, Krishna or Muhammad.
Reality is loss of ego...
The way to remember one’s Self is by forgetting oneself..
Robert Earl Burton
Zen...
But here it is.
Right here.
There’s no getting there
or not getting there.
This is what Zen calls the gate
of sudden enlightenment.
If you hesitate, you’ve lost it.
If you go after it,
you draw farther away from it.
- Zen Master Bankei
Keep it simple...
Our minds may believe that we need subtle and complex spiritual teachings to guide us to Reality, but we do not.
In fact, the more complex the teaching is, the easier it is for the mind to hide from itself amidst the complexity while imagining that it is advancing toward enlightenment.
But it is often only advancing in creating more and more intricate circles to walk around and around in.
- Adyashanti
Experience...
All experience is born of imagination.
There is no such thing as the experience of the real. The real is beyond experience. All experience is in the mind. You know the real by being the real.
All experience is illusory, limited and temporal. Expect nothing from experience. Realization by itself is not an experience, though it may lead to a new dimension of experiences. Yet the new experiences, however interesting, are not more real than the old. Definitely realization is not a new experience. It is the discovery of the timeless factor in every experience. It is awareness, which makes experience possible. Just like in all the colors light is the colorless factor, so in every experience awareness is present, yet it is not an experience.
Experience, however sublime, is not the real thing. By its very nature it comes and goes. Self-realization is not an acquisition. It is more of the nature of understanding. Once arrived at, it cannot be lost. On the other hand, consciousness is changeful, flowing, undergoing transformation from moment to moment. Do not hold on to consciousness and its contents. Consciousness held, ceases. To try to perpetuate a flash of insight, or a burst of happiness is destructive of what it wants to preserve. What comes must go. The permanent is beyond all comings and goings. Go to the root of all experience, to the sense of being. Beyond being and not-being lies the immensity of the real. Try and try again.
Nisargadatta Maharaj from I am That
Are you free ?...
Are you free, or are you pretending to be free?..
The ego exists as long as the body is alive..
During the experience of Enlightenment,
the ego dies, but the personality of Divine Consciousness is also an ego of God..
This must also be surrendered into nothingness..
Pure Awareness awaits your surrender of Pride...
namaste, thomas
Let's talk about Reality...
By now, you have been searching for happiness for a long time..
What is happiness ?..
Happiness is the mental state of Love..
What is Love ?..
Love is the mental state of non-egoic consciousness..
Do you get it now ?..
This is why God is called Love..
Love is the Energy of Unity which does not recognize separation called ego..
Is it becoming more clear within your mind ?..
Ego is the illusion of separation..
It is not Real..
You are seeking what is Real..
What is Real is called Love..
The rest of the answer is up to you...
namaste, thomas
The ego craves attention...
It does not matter if the attention is gained through good or bad actions..
As long as the attention is given to the illusion of ego,
the ego will thrive..
When attention is not given to the ego,
there is a feeling of depression and anxiety within the egoic controlled mind..
namaste, thomas
Sliding through life...
There are two ways to slide easily through life;
to believe everything,
or to doubt everything.
Both ways save us from thinking.
Alfred Korzybski
I am the Witness...
I am free from the three kinds of afflictions - those in
the body, those from other beings and those caused
by higher powers.
I am different from the gross, subtle
and causal bodies.
I am the witness of the three states
of waking , dream and deep sleep.
I am the very Self,
indestructible and changeless.
- Adi Shankara
Two kinds of Grace...
Grace is of two kinds.
The ordinary, better known, and inferior kind is that which is found on the Long Path.
It flows from the Overself in automatic response to intense faith or devotion, expressed during a time of need.
It is a reaction to seeking for help.
The rarer and superior kind is found on the Short Path.
It arises from self-identification with the Overself or constant recollection of it.
There is no ego here to seek help or to call for a Grace which is necessarily ever present in the Overself.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 7
Paul Brunton
The Indwelling Divine Spirit ...
The German word for breathing - atmen -- is derived from the ancient Indian (Sanskrit) word Atman, meaning the indwelling divine spirit or God within.
Being aware of your breath forces you into the present moment -- the key to all inner transformation. Whenever you are conscious of the breath, you are absolutely present.
You may also notice that. you cannot think and be aware of your breathing. Conscious breathing stops your mind. But far from being in a trance or half asleep, you are fully awake and highly alert. You are not falling below thinking, but rising above it.
And if you look more closely, you will find that those two things -- coming fully into the present moment and ceasing thinking without loss of consciousness -- are actually one and the same: the arising of space consciousness.
~ From: A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle
Falling from the Self...
This villainous vast world so false
that cheats and churns the minds of all,
how did it come to be?
By nothing else but by the fault of falling from the Self
instead of clinging firmly to It.
The above Ramana Maharshi quote is from the book:
The Seven Steps to Awakening
Zen Buddhism...
"If we are to discuss this matter, the simple fact is that there is nothing whatsoever to point out to people.
If there were anything at all to indicate to people, Buddhism would not have reached the present day.
For this reason the successions of Buddhas extending a hand and the successions of Zen masters passing on transmission have done so for lack of practical choice,
there has never been an actual doctrine."
Fu-an
in Thomas Cleary
_Teachings of Zen Buddhism_
NY: Barnes & Noble, revised and expanded edition, 2000 (1998), p. 103
Yield...
Fighting the ego, the mind, is precisely
what the ego wants.
You cannot fight the
mind.
You cannot suppress the ego.
Fighting, resisting, controlling it is an im-
possible action.
What is really needed is a
negative or feminine action.
That is to yield,
to allow things to be as they are.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
The Divine Perfection...
The fulfillment of this whole creation is to be found in man.
And this object is only fulfilled when man has awakened to that part of his being which represents the master: in other words, God Himself.
It is in man that the divine perfection is to be seen.
He identified himself with that spirit of which he was conscious, with that spirit of perfection which lived before Jesus, and will continue to live till the end of the world, of eternity.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
Know thy Self...
Absolute Truth is not a belief, not a religion, not a philosophy, not a momentary experience, and not a transient spiritual experience either.
It is neither static nor in motion, neither good nor bad.
It is other than all of that, more other than you can ever imagine.
Truth cannot be touched by thought or imagined by the mind.
It can only be found in the heart of universal being.
To know thy self is the key.
To bring forth your being is The Way.
- Adyashanti
The Overself...
The Long Path gives many benefits and bestows many virtues but it does not give the vision of truth,
the realization of the Overself,
nor does it bestow Grace.
For these things we must turn to the Short Path.
Paul Brunton
The Real Word...
"When the Word of my love breaks out of its silence and speaks in your hearts,
telling you who I really am,
you will know that that is the Real Word you have been always longing to hear."
Avatar Meher Baba (1965)
in Bhau Kalchuri
_Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher
Baba_
Asheville, NC: MANifestation, 2001, v. 19, p. 6347, in revised online edition, p. 5142
Avoid extremes...
Do you think you can take over the universe and
improve it? I do not believe it can be done.
The universe is sacred. You cannot improve it.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it.
If you try to hold it, you will lose it.
So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes
they are behind;
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes
easily;
Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weak-
ness;
Sometimes one is up and sometimes down.
Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and
complacency.
- Lao-tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
Selfishness...
Selfishness keeps man blind through life.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Christ's teaching that man should be kind and charitable, and that of all other teachers who showed humanity the right path, seems to differ from what one sees from the practical point of view which is called common sense; yet according to uncommon sense, in other words super-sense, it is perfectly practical. If you wish to be charitable, think of the comfort of another; if you wish to be happy, think of the happiness of your fellow men; if you wish to be treated well, treat others well; if you wish that people should be just and fair to you, first be so yourself to set an example.
Man's greatest enemy is his ego which manifests itself in selfishness. Even in his doing good, in his kind actions, selfishness is sometimes at work. When he does good with the thought that one day it may return to him and that he may share in the good, he sells his pearls for a price. A kind action, a thought of sympathy, of generosity, is too precious to trade with. One should give and, while giving, close the eyes. Man should remember to do every little action, every little kindness, every act of generosity with his whole heart, without the desire of getting anything in return making a trade out of it. The satisfaction must be in doing it and in nothing else.
Every step in evolution makes life more valuable. The more evolved you are, the more priceless is every moment; it becomes an opportunity for you to do good to others, to serve others, to give love to others, to be gentle to others, to give your sympathy to souls who are longing and hungering for it. Life is miserable when a person is absorbed in himself; as soon as he forgets himself he is happy.
Tulsidas, the Hindu poet, says that the essence of religion is kindness. Those who are inclined to do kindness in life must not discriminate among the people around them, between those to whom they must be kind and those to whom they need not be kind. However kind and good a person may be to those he likes, to those he wishes to be kind to, he cannot for this be called kind by nature; real kindness is that which gushes out from the heart to the worthy and to the unworthy. ... Man is the outcome of the development of the whole of creation; therefore the ego, which makes one selfish, is developed in him more than in any other creature. Selfishness keeps man blind through life, and he scarcely knows when he has caused harm to another. ... In this struggle of life, if a man can be considerate enough to keep his eyes open to all around him and see in what way he can be of help to them, he becomes rich; he inherits the kingdom of God.
Nothing but Thee...
"The one who found that there is nothing but Thee,
has found the final knowledge."
_Dabestan-e-Madaheb_ [Zoroastrian]
The Mind is the Void...
Many people are afraid to empty their minds lest they may plunge into the Void.
They do not know that their own Mind is the Void.
The ignorant eschew phenomena but not thought;
the wise eschew thought
but not phenomena.
- Huang Po, "Zen Teaching of Huang Po"
Rabbi Yeshua Speaks...
61. Jesus said, "Two will recline on a couch; one will die, one will live."
Salome said, "Who are you mister? You have climbed onto my couch and eaten from my table as if you are from someone."
Jesus said to her, "I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was granted from the things of my Father."
"I am your disciple."
"For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness."
62. Jesus said, "I disclose my mysteries to those [who are worthy] of [my] mysteries.
From the Gospel of Thomas
This art...
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do, and that
sight becomes this art.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Coleman Barks
"Birdsong"
Maypop, 1993
God only exists...
In creation God himself manifests.
In suffering He Himself suffers;
He Himself is puzzled in His creation;
and one day He Himself realizes His perfection.
God only exists, no one else.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
Only the ego, suffers...
It is only the artificial ego that suffers.
The man who has
transcended his false 'me',
no longer identifies with his suffering.
Wei Wu Wei
Transcending all knowledge...
"I entered into unknowing,
and there I remained unknowing
transcending all knowledge.
1. I entered into unknowing,
yet when I saw myself there, without knowing where I was,
I understood great things;
I will not say what I felt for I remained in unknowing
transcending all knowledge.
2. That perfect knowledge
was of peace and holiness held
in profound solitude; it was something so secret
that I was left stammering,
transcending all knowledge.
3. I was so 'whelmed,
so absorbed and withdrawn, that my senses were left
deprived of all their sensing,
and my spirit was given an understanding while not understanding,
transcending all knowledge.
4. He who truly arrives there
cuts free from himself; all that he knew before
now seems worthless,
and his knowledge so soars
that he is left in unknowing
transcending all knowledge.
5. The higher he ascends
the less he understands,
because the cloud is dark
which lit up the night;
whoever knows this
remains always in unknowing
transcending all knowledge.
6. This knowledge in unknowing
is so overwhelming
that wise men disputing
can never overthrow it,
for their knowledge does not reach
to the understanding of not understanding,
transcending all knowledge.
7. And this supreme knowledge
is so exalted that no power of man or learning
can grasp it;
he who masters himself will, with knowledge in
unknowing,
always be transcending.
8. And if you should want to hear:
this highest knowledge lies
in the loftiest sense of the essence of God;
this is a work of his mercy,
to leave one without understanding,
transcending all knowledge."
St. John of the Cross
Within us...
What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to
what lies within us.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Now and Here...
If the investigation of time made in depth by intelligence shows the real essence of it to be an eternal Now,
so a similar investigation of space shows its real essence to be an eternal Here.
Both these results are also to be reached in actual experience sharply and clearly in meditation in depth.
But where are they?
The answer is given briefly and precisely by mentalism:
they are in consciousness.
Paul Brunton
The Final Truth...
There is neither creation nor destruction,
neither destiny nor free will,
neither path nor achievement;
this is the final truth.
- Ramana Maharshi
Rabbi Yeshua Speaks...
Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking
until he finds. When he finds,
he will be much troubled.
When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished,
and will rule all.
Jesus said, If those who lead you say to you,
'See, the kingdom is in the sky,'
then the birds of the sky will precede you.
If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,'
then the fish will precede you.
Rather, the kingdom is inside of you,
and it is outside of you.
When you come to know yourselves,
then you will become known,
and you will realize that it is you
who are the sons of the living father.
But if you will not know yourselves
you dwell in poverty
and it is you who are that poverty ."
Gospel of Thomas
Nag Hammadi Library*
Verse 2,3
Keep to the simple...
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
The Perfect Love...
This (abiding in awareness) isn't an unloving state, reducing you to a cardboard cutout. Quite the reverse.
It is a most loving refusal to separate my Consciousness from yours, and it removes the last barrier between us.
Liberated from the superstition of plural spirits, we are at last really one.
This is the perfect love that casts out fear.
~ From: Open to the Source, by Douglas Harding
Love teaches the lover, patience...
Forbearance, patience and tolerance are the only conditions which keep two individual hearts united.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Love teaches the lover patience, forbearance, gentleness, because he thinks, 'My beloved will be displeased; I will be as gentle as possible in my action and in my movements'. These thoughts are a correction to the lover. With every such thought that passes in the life of the lover he corrects himself. Hope is the only thing in life which keeps us alive, because it feeds on love. Patience is fed by love. We can never have patience with anybody without love. How valuable is patience! As it is said in the Quran, 'Allah loves the patient'.
Sacrifice is needed in love to give all there is -- wealth, possessions, body, heart, and soul. There remains no 'I', only 'you', until the 'you' becomes the 'I'. Where there is love there is patience, where there is no patience there is no love.
The idea of sacrifice has always existed in some form or other, in every religion. Sometimes it has been taught as giving up one's possessions for the love of a higher ideal, which means that when man claims to love his high ideal and yet is not willing to give up something he possesses for it, then there is doubt about his devotion. But sacrifice of a possession is the first step; the next one is self-sacrifice, which was the inner note of the religion of Jesus Christ. Charity, generosity, even tolerance and forbearance, are a kind of sacrifice, and every sacrifice in life, in whatever form, means a step towards the goal of every soul.
To be today friendly and tomorrow unfriendly cannot for one moment be called friendship; the value of friendship is in its constancy. Forbearance, patience, and tolerance are the only conditions which keep two individual hearts united. There is a saying in Hindustani, by Seman, on friendship, 'Stand by your friend in his time of need, like the reed on the bank of the river.' When a man is sinking in the water and catches hold of a reed, it will save him if it is strong; and if not, it will sink along with him.
Love Yourself...
“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself,
and that person is not to be found anywhere.
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection.”
― Gautama the Buddha
Existence...
"Reality is Existence infinite and eternal. Existence has no purpose by virtue of its being real, infinite and eternal. Existence exists. Being Existence it has to exist. Hence, Existence, the Reality, cannot have any purpose. It just is. It is self-existing.
"Everything – all the things and all the beings – in Existence has a purpose. All things and beings have a purpose and must have a purpose, or else they cannot be in existence as what they are. Their very being in existence proves their purpose; and their sole purpose in existing is to become free of purpose – meaning, to become purposeless. Purposelessness is of Reality; to have a purpose is to be lost in falseness. Everything exists only because it has a purpose. The moment that purpose has been accomplished, everything disappears and Existence is manifested as self-existing Self.
"Purpose presumes a direction, and since Existence, being everything and everywhere, cannot have any direction – directions must always be in nothing and lead nowhere. Hence, to have a purpose is to create a false goal. Love alone is devoid of all purpose, and a spark of Divine Love sets fire to all purposes. The goal of life in creation is to arrive at purposelessness, which is the state of Reality."
Meher Baba
in Bhau Kalchuri,
_Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba
Asheville, NC: Manifestation, Vol. 17, p. 5792, revised online edition, p. 4720-21
Light upon Light...
Light upon Light, God guides to
His Light, whom He will.
Once this light has shone into the heart . . .
no darkness can ever overcome it!"
Rumi
A Thought...
Not only is the world an appearance-in-Consciousness, but so is the ego.
It is in the end a thought,
perhaps the strongest of all;
and only the Consciousness-in-Itself is the Reality from which it draws sustenance, existence, life.
Paul Brunton
You are the Mystic..
You that have entered this space and time..
You that seek Knowledge that others cannot give you..
You enter this room..
Why ?..
This is the question that you must answer..
What do you seek ?..
Is it Love, Freedom, or Understanding ?..
It is all..
I speak only english, and therefore, your knowledge has opened the door..
You speak at least two languages and yet you read the words from a fool that can only speak one..
Jesus spoke Aramaic and yet speaks to the world..
The Mystic has no religion, the Mystic has only Truth..
You are the Mystic that seeks Truth..
Although, you may not as yet Awakened into Enlightenment,
You are a Mystic..
What you derive from these words will become your road Home...
namaste, thomas
Non-understanding...
Why do I speak in words that do not bring understanding to the minds of seekers ?..
Levels within Consciousness must be reached before understanding becomes a friend..
Do you walk upon the pearls of wisdom, as Jesus warned, or do you absorb these words?..
You, that are within all of the countries of the world and exist as different colors and shapes..
You are Consciousness trying to understand why we fear other humans that are different..
Look deep within..
You are Thoughts..
Thoughts creating a dream of reality..
But, you believe that you are a separate entity of life..
What is Life?..
So many questions that I present to you..
What will you do with these questions ?...
Namaste, thomas
Ayin...
"Think of yourself as Ayin [Nothing] and forget yourself totally.
Then you can transcend time, rising to the world of thought where all is equal: life and death, ocean and dry land.
Such is not the case if you are attached to the material nature of this world.
If you think of yourself as something, God cannot clothe Himself in you, for God is infinite.
No vessel can contain God, unless you think of yourself as Ayin."
Rabbi Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezritch
in Daniel C. Matt
_The Essential Kabbalh: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism_
NY: Quality, 1995, p. 71
Melt your desires...
If you've melted your desires
in the river of time, choose
to be a recluse, or choose
a family, the village job.
If you know the pure Lord within you,
you'll be That, wherever.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992
Ethical Living...
Living an ethical life of non-harming (ahimsa) leads to a peaceful, sattvic mind .
A peaceful/sattvic mind leads to the ability to engage deeply in the meditative/contemplative practice of turning towards and resting in presence/simple sentience here and now.
This practice of lovingly looking at/investigating presence dwelling in our deepest heart will bring us to the transcendent reality of presence revealing it's true nature.....to presence waking up to itself within us.
We come to eventually see that true self/presence/pure awareness here and now, is actually eternally aware of itself within us and is eternally resting in unconditional peace and well-being.
This is self-realization, and the entire, wonderful process began with the simple foundationstone of an ethical life of non-harming (ahimsa).
That is why ethical living is such an important and absolutely indispensable practice for the path that leads to authentic freedom. The whole "building" of clarity about reality is built upon this beautiful and strong foundation stone
Francis Bennett
Thoughts and meditation...
on meditation;
James: It doesn't matter that thoughts are coming, as long as you
recognize them for what they are-illusion.
Bob: Recognize them and then be finished with them. But they'll always
be there to some extent.
As long as you have a body, you'll have
thoughts, and you'll still think in the same way.
The nature of thinking
is in the pairs of opposites, which is dualism.
You can't think in another
way. Past/future, painful/happy, hot/cold, and so on.
In understanding it,
you're no longer bound by it.
Let the mind do what it likes. It's not you.
It's an appearance that comes and goes.
Sailor Bob Adamson
The Aquarian Age Gospel of Jesus the Christ...
CHAPTER 130
Jesus and the three disciples return to Caesarea-Philippi. The nine had failed to cure an epileptic child. Jesus healed it and rebukes his disciples for their lack of trust in God. The Christines return to Capernaum.
WHEN Jesus, Peter, James and John were come unto the city's gates a multitude of people thronged the way. 2 The nine apostles who went not with Jesus to the mount, had tried to heal an epileptic child who was obsessed waited for the coming of the Lord. 3 When Jesus came the father of the child knelt down before him and implored his help. 4 He said, My master, I beseech that you will look in pity on my son, my only child; he is an epileptic child and suffers grievously. 5 Sometimes he falls into the fire and is burned; again he falls into the water and is like to drown; and many times a day he falls, he grinds his teeth, the foam pours from his mouth. 6 I took my child to your disciples, and they failed to give relief.
7 And as he spoke a servant brought the child before the Lord (the child spoke not, for he was dumb), and instantly he fell upon the ground, he foamed, he writhed in agony. 8 And Jesus said, How long has he been troubled thus? 9 The father said, From infancy; and we have sought in many lands for help, but found it not; but I believe that you can speak the Word and heal my son. 10 And Jesus said, Faith is the power of God. All things are possible for him who in his heart believes. 11 The father cried, in tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 12 And Jesus spoke the Word of power; the epileptic child lay in a swoon; he did not breathe, and all the people said, The child is dead.
13 But Jesus took him by the hand and said: Arise; and he arose and spoke. 14 The people were amazed, and many said, This surely is a man of God, for no such power was ever given to man. 15 Then Jesus and the twelve went to the house, and after they had taken food and been refreshed, the nine disciples said, 16 Lord, why could we not heal this child? We spoke the Word; but even that was powerless. 17 And Jesus said, Your great success in all your former work has made you careless, and you forgot to recognise the power of God.
18 Without the spirit of the Word, the Word is like an idle tale; and you forgot to pray. 19 There is no faith without the prayer of faith. Faith is the wings of prayer; but wings alone fly not. 20 By prayer and faith you can bring down the mountain peaks, and cast them in the sea; the little hills will skip about like lambs at your command. 21 This failure may be well for you. The great lessons that are learned in life come through the failures that are made
22 As the disciples sat in thoughtful meditation Jesus said, Let these words sink into your hearts: 23 The time has nearly come when you must bear your load alone; that is, without my presence in the flesh. 24 For I will fall into the hands of wicked men, and they will slay me on a mount beyond Bezetha wall. 25 And men will lay my body in a tomb where, by the sacred Word, it will be guarded and preserved three days; then I will rise again. 26 The twelve were sad; they did not understand, and yet they feared to ask him to reveal the meaning of his word. 27 Next day the Christine master and the twelve began their journey of return, and soon were in Capernaum.
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