' Contemplate Source '...
"Contemplate the Name yourself; inspire it to others;
By attending to it, discoursing of it, living by it, obtain liberation.
The true essence, eternal is the Lord's Name:
By spontaneous devotion, says Nanak, chant the Lord's praise."
-Guru Nanak
Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani, M.5, p. 289
' Pure Knowledge and Pure Love '...
"Knowledge and love of God are ultimately one and the same.
There is no difference between pure knowledge and pure love."
Sri Ramakrishna
in F. Max Muller
Ramakrishna: His Life And Sayings, 174
Longmans, Green, And Co., London & New York, 1898, p. 138
' The secret to happiness '...
The secret to happiness:
Find something more important than
you are and dedicate your life to it.
- Daniel Dennett
' The Dzogchen View '...
Longchenpa clarifies the Dzogchen view:
"Because Awareness (Rigpa) has no finite essence, and because suchness and deliberate activity are mutually exclusive, and because Awareness is already timelessly and spontaneously present, nothing need be done concerning levels of realization on which to train, spiritual paths to traverse, mandalas to visualize, empowerments to be bestowed, paths to cultivate in meditation, samaya to uphold, enlightened activities to accomplish, and so forth. This is because there is no need to accomplish anew what is already timelessly and spontaneously accomplished. If there were such need, it would be inappropriate to use the conventional designation "spontaneously present and uncompounded." And it would follow that dharmakaya was subject to destruction, because it would be compounded, and this because it would be created by causes and conditions." (practices etc.) Longchenpa, Choying Dzod, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission, page 120, first paragraph. Padma Publications.
Page 190: first main paragraph:
Longchenpa writes: "Since all phenomena are timelessly free, nothing need be done to free them anew through realization."
Next paragraph: "Even the thought that freedom comes about through direct introduction is deluded. One strives to free this essence from whatever binds it, but nothing need be done to free it, for unobstructed Awareness, which has never existed as anything whatsoever, does not entail any duality of something to be realized and someone to realize it. There is equalness because nothing is improved by realization or worsened by it's absence, so there is no need for any adventitious realization. And because there never has existed anything to realize- for the ultimate nature of phenomena is beyond ordinary consciousness- to speak of realization on even the relative level is nothing but deluded. What can be shown at this point is the transcendence of view and meditation, in which nothing need be done regarding realization, nothing need be directly introduced, and no state of meditation need be cultivated. So there is the expression 'it is irrelevant whether or not one has realization'."
Page 191: middle paragraph
"In this case what makes perfect sense in the Ati approach is the superior realization whereby one directly experiences the unobstructed state in it's nakedness, without relying on anything whatsoever. Since one does not experience separation from the essence of Awareness even for an instant, to say that is realized or perceived is merely to use a conventional expression."
-Jackson Peterson
' Chains of attachment '...
A Sufi teaching tells of the man who visited a great mystic to find out how to let go of his chains of attachment and his prejudices. Instead of answering him directly, the mystic jumped to his feet and bolted to a nearby pillar, flung his arms around it, grasping the marble surface as he screamed, "Save me from this pillar! Save me from this pillar!"
The man who had asked the question could not believe what he saw. He thought the mystic was mad. The shouting soon brought a crowd of people. "Why are you doing that?" the man asked. "I came to you to ask a spiritual question because I thought you were wise, but obviously you're crazy. You are holding the pillar, the pillar is not holding you. You can simply let go."
The mystic let go of the pillar and said to the man, "If you can understand that, you have your answer. Your chains of attachment are not holding you, you are holding them. You can simply let go."
- Dick Sutphen
"The Oracle Within"
' A Liberated One '...
"Do not permit the events of your daily life to bind you,
but never withdraw from them.
Only by acting thus can you attain the title of 'A Liberated One.'"
Huang Po
in Jonathan Star
Two Suns Rising: A Collection of Sacred Writings
NY: Bantam, 1991, p. 70
' The mind will fade '...
People often ask how the mind is controlled.
I say to
them, 'Show me the mind and then you will know what
to do.'
The fact is that the mind is only a bundle of
thoughts.
How can you extinguish it by the thought
of doing so or by a desire?
Your thoughts and desires
are part and parcel of the mind.
The mind is simply
fattened by new thoughts rising up.
Therefore it is
foolish to attempt to kill the mind by means of the
mind.
The only way of doing it is to find its source
and hold on to it. The mind will then fade away of its
own accord.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
' Why is the world an illusion ? '...
External life is the shadow of the inner reality.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The outer manifestations of life are so rigid and dense that the secret of their nature and character is buried underneath.
Why is the world called an illusion by the mystics?
Because the nature of manifestation is such that it envelops its own secret within itself, and appears in such a rigid form that the fineness, beauty and mystery of its character are hidden.
Therefore the seekers after the truth of life, the students of life, are of two opposite kinds.
The one wishes to learn from outward appearance. The other wishes to find out the secret that is hidden behind it.
The one who learns from the external gets the knowledge from the external, which we call science.
The one who finds out from the within, from what is hidden in this manifestation, is the mystic. The knowledge he gains is mysticism. ...
Every activity of the outer world is a kind of reaction; in other words a shadow of the activity which is behind it and which we do not see.
The inner life is not separate from the outer life, but is a fuller and larger life. What is necessary is to put first things first.
The mystic does more than quote scriptures; he not only says, 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,' his whole life is absorbed in the seeking.
' Your name is false '...
Eventually you have to get rid of the name and form of
both your Master and yourself;
you have to reject the
finger in order to see the moon.
Where there is name
and form there is falsehood,
there is an impediment to
freedom because nothing that you see will give you
freedom.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Presence '...
"The false self is both an obstacle and a doorway through which you must pass on your way to awakening to the dimension of being.
As you pass through the void of self, the identification with self dies, either temporarily or permanently, and you are revealed (reborn) to be a presence.
Presence is not a self in any conventional sense.
It has no shape or form, no age or gender.
It is an expression of universal being, the formless substance of existence.
Presence is not subject to birth or death; it is not of the world of 'things.'
It is the light and radiance of consciousness in which entire worlds arise and pass away."
~ Adyashanti
' This Nothingness called Peace '...
From this seeming nothingness deep within he draws a peace of mind,
an emotional freedom,
a sense of God's living presence that the world's harshness cannot dislodge.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 100
Paul Brunton
' Bliss '...
My fellow travelers speak of Bliss..
This word is not spelt, it is only experienced..
Can you imagine, non existence ?..
Love flows within this word of Bliss..
You have spent your life learning of this experience..
This 'Thing' called Love..
This is why, we read..
I speak in a paragraph to hold your memory...
-thomas
' The Three Jewels '...
1. Buddha (awakened one)
2. Dharma (teaching)
3. Sangha (assembly)
“I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the dharma. I take refuge in the sangha.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question: "Why do we take refuge?"
Rinpoche: "Taking refuge is like a foreigner who has arrived at a new port and doesn't know anything.
If you meet a powerful influential person, he can help you; if you meet ordinary people, they can't do anything for you.
Similarly, in Dharma we have absolutely no freedom; we must take refuge in those who have realized the true nature of the mind.
Some people think that there is no need to take refuge in the Three Jewels and that they only need to take refuge in their own minds. But until we reach the highest goal of realization, there is no way to take refuge in your mind."
Kalu Rinpoche
Dharma Teachings
San Francisco: Kagya Droden Kunchab, n.d., p. 72
' Appearance of Separation '...
Thought reduces this radiant, mysterious One Life into fragments. Nothing is truly separate. Separateness is just an appearance created by thought. Thought can only think about one thing at a time. For example, think of “pancakes.” Do you see that thought can only picture pancakes? It can only see and concentrate on one object or idea at a time. Thought is fragmented. Therefore thought will never see Oneness.
Thought makes the separate thing more important than the whole. Thought is a conceptual, dualistic dream. The main fragment that it makes important is the “I” thought.
Everything is seen to center around this idea that “I” am a separate person. Instead of seeing One miraculous life, thought focuses on things like, “I want what I want!” and “Why don’t they like me?”
When this “I” thought is seen to be just another fragment, when it is seen that there is no person separate from the rest of life, the entire world of separateness is seen to be merely an appearance. It is realized that there is only ‘This.’ One Life. When the realization of Oneness has fully surrendered the “me” story, life is lived without a sense of a separate self.
This is not about denying the practical functioning of thought or the realm of the relative. It is about seeing thought’s illusory nature.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' Consciousness '...
This other being is outside the "I" yet, paradoxically, and in another sense, it is inside the "I."
It is not himself yet also it is himself.
If these statements cannot be understood at first reading, do not therefore denounce them.
If you are really in earnest, approach them prayerfully or, if your feelings cannot be made to run on that line, aspiringly at the precise moments when you approach the mysterious moment that transmutes your waking state into the sleep state.
But do not expect to receive satisfaction with the first trial nor even a twentieth--although this is always possible.
If you do not desert the enterprise through impatience, you will find one day that you are at last able to read, clearly and correctly, the meaning of these mystical words.
Other people have done it, have emerged from the mind's obscurity into the intuition's clarity, although at varying pace.
They have succeeded because the constitution of man, being double, makes it possible.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 385
Paul Brunton
' What is Grace ? '...
In the song below, you will hear of Grace..
Grace is the opening of a Door..
The ego can demand nothing within Reality..
Therefore, only the non-egoic consciousness can receive Grace..
This aspect of Consciousness is very important..
It is the ending of desire..
The body and mind are screaming for existence..
But mind knows Father..
The 'Prodigal son' returns to Reality..
But, You already know this...
-thomas
' I Am Not '...
It is necessary to understand that I Am,
In order that I may know that I Am Not,
So that, at last, I may realize that,
I Am Not, therefore I Am.
- Wei Wu Wei
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Fingers Pointing Towards the Moon
Reflections of a Pilgrim on the Way
Wei Wu Wei
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958
' Just be '...
There is nothing to practice.
To know yourself, be yourself.
To be
yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that.
Just be.
Let
your true nature emerge.
Don't disturb your mind with seeking.
-Nisardagatta
' A Mystical Glimpse '...
Those who have followed the Quest in previous lives will generally receive a glimpse at least twice during the present one.
They will receive it in early life during their teens or around the threshold of adult life.
This will inspire them to seek anew.
They will receive it again in late life during the closing years of the reincarnation.
This will be bestowed as a Grace of the Overself.
Those aspirants who bemoan the loss of their early glimpse should remind themselves, in hours of depression, that it will recur before they leave the body.
In addition to those glimpses which attend the opening and closing years of a lifetime, a number of others may be had during the intervening period as a direct consequence and reward of the efforts, disciplines, aspirations, and self-denials practised in that time.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 4: Introduction To Mystical Glimpses > # 48 Paul Brunton
' You look for an answer '...
You keep looking and reading from identities that have no semblance of rememberance..
We feel apart from others and seek the reason that we do not feel Love..
This Love experience is greatly admired and sought..
An yet, we fight with friends and lovers..
When do we wake up ?..
So many religions that say that,
" We are Truth "..
Truth has been spoken by liars..
Love is the desire,
but, ego acclaims victory..
Keep your best friend , Love..
The other desires and illusions will dissolve..
-thomas
' Pick up your rubbish '...
Pain and suffering are only the body and mind screaming
for attention.
To go beyond the body you must be healthy;
to go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect
order.
You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond.
The mess will bog you up.
'Pick up your rubbish' seems to
to the universal law.
And a just law, too.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The revelation of unity '...
Awakening to the truth of unity means to awaken from the dream of a personal self and personal others, to the realization that there is no other.
Many spiritual seekers have had glimpses of the absolute unity of all existence, but few are capable of or willing to live up to the many challenging implications inherent in that revelation.
The revelation of unity, that there is no other, is a realization of the ultimate nonpersonal nature of all that seems so very personal.
Applying this realization to the arena of personal relationships is something that most seekers find extremely challenging.
This is the number one reason why so many seekers never come completely to rest in the freedom of the Self Absolute.
~ Adyashanti ~
The Impact Of Awakening
' A living presence '...
Once the Overself is felt in the heart as a living presence,
it raises the consciousness out of the grip of the egoistic-desire parts of our being,
frees it from the ups and downs of mood and emotion which they involve.
It provides a sense of inner satisfaction that is complete in itself and irrespective of outside circumstances.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 104
Paul Brunton
' Right and Wrong '...
This 'Duality' of right and wrong are quite a journey..
You have to ask yourself, "what gives pain ?"..
The Rightness of Thought gives no pain,
It is called Love..
And yet, We choose to look within a mirror of opposite to learn..
The decision of right and wrong are games within holograms..
" Straight is the way and narrow is the gate",
said a wise mystic..
Of course, within Reality, the thoughts of wrong are not considered..
The feeling of the flow of Love feels good..
But, who feels this Love ?..
It is still the duality within Reality that calls a higher Consciousness, Father..
Until the egoic desires have been surrendered,
right and wrong will appear as teachers..
-thomas
' The messengers of pain '...
Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment,
anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually
very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back.
They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse
and back away.
They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying
clarity, exactly where we’re stuck.
This very moment is the perfect teacher,
and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.
- Pema Chödrön
' The Ego '...
Ego is the bridge between the Subtle Body and
the Self;
the Self can be felt by some part of the ego,
otherwise we wouldn't have any desire for God or
liberation.
Ego cannot be stopped, only reversed.
It can flow
toward the world or it can flow toward God.
- Baba Hari Dass
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Silence Speaks
Sri Rama Foundation
Santa Cruz, California 1977
' The Overself '...
Just as the eye cannot see itself as a second thing apart,
so the Overself (which you are) cannot objectify itself,
cannot become an object to be looked at or thought about.
For in that case you would be dealing with a pretender,
while all your thinking could in the end only deliver another thought,
not the reality itself.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 216 Paul Brunton
' When the heart is asleep '...
He is living whose sympathy is awake, and he is dead whose heart is asleep.
Bowl of Saki,by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
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.
Most people will say, 'The other does not understand me.' But why must there be this lack of understanding? What causes it? It is lack of sympathy. No words can ever make a person understand. It is the heart alone which can convey its full meaning to the other heart, for there are subtle waves of sympathy, there are delicate perceptions of feelings such as gratefulness, admiration, kindness, which cannot be put into words. Words are too inadequate to explain the finer feelings. It is the heart quality which can express itself fully, and again it is the heart quality which can understand fully. Would it therefore be an exaggeration to say that as long as the heart is not awakened a man is as though dead? It is after the awakening of the heart that a man begins to live.
Sympathy is an awakening of the love element, which comes on seeing another in the same situation in which one has been at some time in one's life. A person who has never experienced pain cannot sympathize with those suffering pain... Sympathy is something more than love and affection, for it is the knowledge of a certain suffering which moves the living heart to sympathy.
That person is living whose heart is living, and that heart is living which has wakened to sympathy. The heart void of sympathy is worse than a rock, for the rock is useful, but the heart void of sympathy produces antipathy. ... There are many attributes found in the human heart which are called divine, but among them there is no greater and better attribute than sympathy, by which man shows in human form God manifested.
' You are not the doer of any action '...
Within the story of time called “me,” the past is who you think you are and the future is who you think you are going to become. But have you stopped to really see that past and future are merely thoughts arising now? Those thoughts are creating an illusory story in which you believe you are the doer of action.
Through present awareness, it is realized that you are not pumping blood through your body, beating your heart, digesting food, or breathing air. You are also not ‘doing’ thinking or ‘doing’ emotions. All of this is spontaneously arising in this moment out of nowhere.
In seeing the false self that lives in past and future and mistakenly believes that it is in control, awakening happens. It is realized that life is living itself through the body and mind. There is no separate “you” in control. Only thought creates the story that you are the doer of action. That story references backwards or forwards in time to take credit for actions that spontaneously arose. See that even those referencing-thoughts are spontaneously arising in present awareness.
Notice that you are not doing the laundry, going to work, playing with your children, thinking or feeling. All of that arises spontaneously in this moment out of nowhere. Then notice something amazing. You are not noticing. Noticing is just happening. In this timeless seeing, liberation is available.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The Void Nature of Thoughts ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche '...
What we normally call the mind is the deluded mind, a turbulent vortex of thoughts whipped up by attachment, anger, and ignorance. This mind, unlike enlightened awareness, is always being carried away by one delusion after another. Thoughts of hatred or attachment suddenly arise without warning, triggered by such circumstances as an unexpected meeting with an enemy or a friend, and unless they are immediately overpowered with the proper antidote, they quickly take root and proliferate, reinforcing the habitual predominance of hatred or attachment in the mind and adding more and more karmic patterns. Yet, however....(The good news)
......strong these thoughts may seem, they are just thoughts and will eventually dissolve back into emptiness. Once you recognize the intrinsic nature of the mind, these thoughts that seem to appear and disappear all the time can no longer fool you. Just as clouds form, last for a while, and then dissolve back into the empty sky, so deluded thoughts arise, remain for a while, and then vanish into the voidness of mind; in reality nothing at all has happened.
When sunlight falls on a crystal, lights of all colors of the rainbow appear; yet they have no substance that you can grasp. Likewise, all thoughts in their infinite variety – devotion, compassion, harmfulness, desire – are utterly without substance. There is no thought that is something other than voidness; if you recognize the void nature of thoughts at the very moment they arise, they will dissolve. Attachment and hatred will never be able to disturb the mind. Deluded emotions will collapse by themselves. No negative actions will be accumulated, so no suffering will follow.
' The sense of duality '...
The sense of duality which is a barrier to true love must prevail so long as the apperception of Truth has not occurred.
Once individuality is surrendered, there is only total Love.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The covering of delusion and suffering that has come over our original state of unicity is nothing, other than volition or desire - the wanting of something to be other than it is.
All that is necessary is to realize the falsehood of the ego and, by inference, the falseness of all its demands.
-
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' The Source '...
More on “the Source”
The mind turns the source into a concept e.g., “God.” Thought cannot answer the question, “What is the source of life?” Thought arises from and falls back into that source. Form arises from formlessness. The source is the unknown. Thought is the realm of the known. The spiritual search can continue for years as the seeker keeps trying to know the source (i.e., emptiness, spirit, formlessness, God) through its manifestations (thoughts, questions, religions, beliefs).
In this moment, there is an unchanging, unmoving, formless, timeless awareness in which forms arise, giving the appearance of movement and change. These forms include thoughts, time, sounds, and emotions.
The question, “What is the source,” is ignorance. It arises from looking for the truth through a form that is arising—thought. Words can only point back to the formless source. The source must be directly recognized as the very life that you are.
When the “me” story is seen to be just another manifestation, no different than a cloud or a coke can, the temporary nature of it is realized. Attachment to that story naturally dies when the source (i.e., spirit) from which it comes is realized to be your true nature. That realization is only available now because this moment is all there is. Yesterday and tomorrow are just presently arising thoughts—more manifestations. The spiritual search for future awakening is, therefore, a denial of the spirit that is already awake and alive now.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The nature of Overself '...
Neither deep meditation nor the experience can give more than a temporary glimpse.
The full and permanent enlightenment,
which is to stay with a man and never leave him,
can only come after he has clear insight into the nature of Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 8: Glimpses and Permanent Illumination > # 11 Pau Brunton
' The Atman '...
”So long as you identify yourself as the body, your experience of pain and sorrow will increase day by day.
That is why you must give up this identification, and you should take yourself as the consciousness.
If you take yourself as the body, it means you have forgotten your true self, which is the atman.
And sorrow results for the one who forgets himself.
When the body falls, the principle which always remains is You.
If you identify yourself with the body, you will feel that you are dying, but in reality there is no death because you are not the body.
Let the body be there or not be there, your existence is always there; it is the eternal."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Noble Living '...
7. "Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.
8. "Let him radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.
9. "Standing, walking, sitting or reclining, as long as he is awake, let him develop this mindfulness. This, they say, is 'Noble Living' here."
- Gautama the Buddha
Tipitaka, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya, Khuddakapatha, Karaniya Metta Sutta, 7-9
Translation by Piyadassi Thera and Thanissaro
Wikipitaka
' Taming the mind '...
If this elephant of mind is bound on all sides by the cord of mindfulness,
All fear disappears and complete happiness comes.
All enemies: all the tigers, lions, elephants, bears, serpents (of our
emotions);
And all the keepers of hell; the demons and the horrors,
All of these are bound by the mastery of your mind,
And by the taming of that one mind, all are subdued,
Because from the mind are derived all fears and immeasurable sorrows.
-Shantideva
' Holy Awareness '...
To enter into Heaven is to enter into the fulfilment of our earthly life's unearthly purpose.
And that is, simply, to become aware of the Overself.
This holy awareness brings such joy with it that we then know why the true saints and the real ascetics were able to disdain all other joys.
The contrast is too disproportionate.
Nothing that the worldoffers to tempt us can be put on the same level.
- Paul Brunton
' The Mirror '...
Non-dual awareness is like one mirror. The mirror has no concept. It has no view. The mirror knows no separate people or things. The reflections of the mirror give theappearance of separate people. Yet those separate people only exist as separate, and only know themselves to be separate, in relationship to others.
Dualism is a play of mental opposites. There is no "me" without a "you." No right without wrong. No black without white. No success without failure. No good without bad. No positive without negative. No one can be "spiritual" unless there are others who are "not spiritual." A belief cannot be true unless other beliefs are untrue.
There is only the One appearing as many. Only thought creates the notion that there are separate things, separate people, and separate ideas.
Spiritual realization is a seeing beyond the dream of separateness/dualism. This realization is calling awareness out of its mental attachment to our separate philosophical, religious, cultural, national, political and personal divisions. Suffering and searching exist when thought buys completely into the dream of its own reflection.
The "person" believes she is totally separate and then longs for wholeness, not realizing that she is that wholeness. In seeing the separate person as a reflection, the possibility of recognizing Oneness (the mirror) arises. This is not about denying the reflection (i.e., the separate person). It is about seeing that it is ultimately a dream of thought.
~ From: Reflections of the One Life, by Scott Kiloby www.kiloby.com/
' Free of Time '...
Truth comes to him who is free of time,
who is not using time as a
means of self-extension.
Time means memory of yesterday,
memory of
your family,
of your race,
of your particular character,
of the
accumulation of your experience which makes up the 'me' and the
'mine'.
-Krishnamurti
' What is the reason for life ? '...
One good reason is that Love is the highest adventure..
Love has no separate egoic desire ..
Ask yourself, why most humans seek a mental experience that exists only within thought..
The fear of 'Nothingness' is not understood within the human condition..
"No-thing-ness is perhaps a clearer explanation..
You are no longer a 'Thing'..
You are no longer a 'Personality'..
You return to ' Universal Mind' as 'Thought' without a name..
Read the lecture by Alan Watts about Nothingness..
He was much smarter than I..
-thomas
' What traps you ? '...
It is the movement of thoughts that trap you..
You do not take responsibility for being the Thinker..
If You would stop experimenting with Dreams,
You would remain within Light..
But Consciousness, 'Desires'..
This 'First Reality' is the stage of 'Complete Surrender'..
The 'Final Reality' is the 'Home' that has no name...
-thomas
' The trap called Desire '...
Find the one that desires..
Rip the mask off of this illusion..
The Observer is already within your mind..
Start looking for anyone and you will find only One..
The desire for experience forces you to believe that there is one that desires..
Once you discover Nothingness,
all desires are deleted...
-thomas
' All is Mind '...
Being the Observer is not really that difficult.
Being the observed is often served with pain.
Manifestation is not difficult if You are the Observer..
But, the Realization that all is Mind is the learning required..
Holograms are entertaining and useful in learning..
Becoming stuck within the Holograms is a stage of hell..
Freedom is found when the egoic-desire is lost...
-thomas
' What is Salvation ? '...
First, we should define Christian..
A Christian is someone that is following a path towards Christ..
What is a Christ?..
It is someone that has conquered selfishness and Realised that they are the Energy called Love..
A Mystic is someone that has surrendered the belief in separate egoic consciousness and Realised that they and God are One..
Salvation is the Realisation that You and God have never separated but only the belief that You are separate(ego) keeps You from Salvation...
- namaste, thomas
' Is it so ? '...
As long as you do not see that it is mere habit,
built on memory, prompted by desire,
you will
think yourself to be a person -
living, feeling,
thinking, active, passive, pleased or pained.
Question yourself,
ask yourself.
'Is it so?'
'Who am I'?
'What is behind and beyond all
things?'
And soon you will see your mistake.
And it is in the very nature of a mistake to
cease to be, when seen.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' Inward drawing '...
It is important that the feeling of "inward drawing" which comes to him at times be at once followed up, whenever possible, by a withdrawal from external affairs for a few minutes and a concentration on what the feeling leads to.
This practice is like a thread which, if followed up, will lead to a cord, that to a rope, and so on.
Thus he will benefit by the grace which is being shed upon him, and not turn away unheedingly.
But the mind, at the beginning, leaves this intuitional plane all too quickly, so extreme vigilance is called for to bring it back there.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 1: Intuition the Beginning > # 284
Paul Brunton
' Chasing After States and Experiences '...
Don't make the mistake of chasing after particular states and experiences. You hear about this thing called non-duality or enlightenment and thought reduces it to a state or experience. For example, you hear about great Oneness experiences in which people see that they are not separate from others, from the floor, or from the sky and you believe you must have that experience.
Non-dual realization is not a particular experience. It is emptiness appearing as every experience and every state.
One way of pointing to it is with the word "opening." Do not envision the opening as a state or experience or something to find or arrive at. What you really are is the present opening through which everything arises and falls including thoughts, emotions, beliefs, experiences, and states. The opening never changes. It does not come and go. It is stateless and experience-less.
In realizing that what you really are is this opening, it is seen that every thought, emotion, belief, experience, and state that comes through the opening is not in fact separate from the opening. You are both the opening and that which comes through it. The opening and that which is coming through the opening constitute one present reality happening.
~ From: Reflections of the One Life, by Scott Kiloby www.kiloby.com/
' The one that loves '...
"The Truth do I utter,
let all hear,
Who loveth,
he alone findeth the Lord."
-Guru Gobind Singh
quoted in Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji
_ales of the Mystic East
Punjab: Radha Soami Satsang Beas, 1961, p. 95
' Ram Tzu speaks '...
You promise you’ll change
You swear you’ll do better
And maybe you will.
Ram Tzu knows this -
It won’t be by your own power.
- Ram Tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
' Intuitive guidance '...
Intuitive guidance comes not necessarily when we seek it, but when the occasion calls for it.
It does not usually come until it is actually needed.
The intellect, as part of the ego, will often seek it in advance of the occasion because it may be driven by anxiety, fear, desire, or anticipation.
Such premature seeking is fruitless.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 1: Intuition the Beginning > # 71
-- Perspectives > Chapter 22: Inspiration and the Overself > # 23
Paul Brunton
' Pointers '...
Many ideas are used to point to enlightenment, which is an essentially inexpressible realization. You hear words like, “Oneness,” “awareness,” “consciousness,” and “presence.” You hear statements like, “Do you see that the ‘I’ thought arises in the pure awareness that you truly are?”
Those are all wonderful pointers. But there is no such thing as a statement of the truth to which the word enlightenment points. No matter what you say about ‘This,’ the statement appears from and disappears back into an emptiness that is prior to the statement. The entire planet earth appears and disappears in that same conceptually unknowable emptiness that some call the “source” and others call “God” or “space.”
This space is overlooked because it is not an object the mind can grasp. Yet this space is the portal to the seeing called enlightenment. Instead of trying to grasp enlightenment through a formed idea, recognize this formless essence within you. See that this quiet, empty, loving space permeates the universe and every manifest thing.
Ideas are useful for communication purposes but they are as flimsy as a belief in Santa Claus. They can only point to an essence that is not an idea. They are not the essence itself.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The seer and the seen '...
”...the seer and the seen appear only when there is seeing.
They are attributes of seeing.
When you say "I am seeing this,"
"I am" and "this" come with seeing, not before.
You cannot have an unseen "this" nor an unseeing "I am."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The search '...
In the literature of disappointment,
such as the modern writings of Schopenhauer and the ancient recorded sayings of Buddha,
we may trace one part of the history of man's search after truth.
But there is another part,
a joyous and happier part.
- Paul Brunton
' Old things pass away '...
Whenever a mind is simple, and receives a divine wisdom, old things pass away, — means, teachers, texts, temples fall; it lives now, and absorbs past and future into the present hour.
All things are made sacred by relation to it, — one as much as another.
All things are dissolved to their centre by their cause, and, in the universal miracle, petty and particular miracles disappear..
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
' It cannot be done '...
The idea that Knowledge of Reality can be felt with work is not completely correct..
Falling into Reality is giving up the struggle..
Giving up the body, the mind, the desires of creating..
" I and the Father are One ", said the Mystic..
As Creator, You are the molder of soil..
You take these atoms of Lux and Matter and begin to Dream..
Drama appears on a stage of opposition and ego..
This Duality of Creative Thought is called Life..
As You look within the Mirror of Dreams,
You see Yourself as opposite..
Is this the only method of Knowledge ?..
What can be done is to rest in Surrender..
You mystics, are aware of this...
-thomas
' Self-surrender '...
”Self-surrender is the surrender of all self-concern.
It cannot be done, it happens when you realize your true nature.
Verbal self-surrender,
even accompanied by feeling,
is of little value and breaks down under stress."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' True seekers '...
Those who do not dive into the Heart
and there confront the Self in the five sheaths hid,
are only students answering out of books
clever questions raised by books,
and not true seekers of the Self.
-Sri Ramana Maharshi
' The phenomenal world '...
The phenomenal world is like a shadow which cannot exist without an
object to cast it.
It is dependent on something else for its
existence.
In this sense the phenomenal world is unreal,
as it is a
reflection of the noumenon.
-Ramesh S Balsekar
' Overself as living presence '...
The aspirant may have already discovered for himself some of the inner benefits of the Quest.
Once the Overself has been experienced as a felt, living presence in the heart, it loosens the grip of egoistic desires--together with their emotional changes of mood--on one's consciousness and lifts it to a higher level, where he will soon become aware of a wonderful inner satisfaction which remains calm and unruffled despite outward circumstances to the contrary.
Ultimately, the aspirant has to rise into that pure atmosphere whence he can survey his personal life as a thing apart. Still more difficult is it for one to live on that level while expressing the wisdom and goodness known to him.
It is, however, almost beyond human strength to achieve the second part of such a program. Therefore, he has first to establish the connection with the Overself so that its strength and understanding will then rule him effortlessly. The moment this connection is established, the aspirant will become aware of results from the descent of Divine Grace upon his personality. Such a moment is unpredictable, but, for the individual who sticks to the Quest, its arrival is sure.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 419
Paul Brunton
' Divine Grace is essential for realization '...
"Divine grace is essential for realization.
It leads one to God realization.
But such grace is vouchsafed only to him who is a true devotee or a yogi.
It is given only to those who have striven hard and ceaselessly on the path towards freedom."
-Sri Ramana Maharshi
Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi
Edited by David Godman
NY: Penguin Arkana, 1985, p. 61
' Freedom from desires '...
Only contentment can make you happy - desires fulfilled
breed more desires.
Keeping away from all desires and
contentment in what comes by itself is a very fruitful state
- a precondition to the state of fullness.
Don't distrust its
apparent sterility and emptiness.
Believe me, it is the
satisfaction of desires that breeds misery.
Freedom from
desires is bliss.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The unexpected '...
”The unexpected is bound to happen,
while the anticipated may never come."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The lover of nature '...
The lover of nature is the true worshipper of God.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
A true worshipper of God sees His presence in all forms, and thus in respecting others he respects God. It may even develop to such an extent that the true worshipper of God, the Omnipresent, walks gently on the earth, bowing in his heart even to every tree and plant, and it is then that the worshipper forms a communion with the Divine Beloved at all times, when he is awake and when he is asleep.
Anyone who has some knowledge of mysticism and of the lives of the mystics knows that what always attracts the mystic most is nature. Nature is his bread and wine. Nature is his soul's nourishment. Nature inspires him, uplifts him and gives him the solitude for which his soul continually longs. Every soul born with a mystical tendency is constantly drawn towards nature; in nature that soul finds its life's demand, as it is said in the Vadan, 'Art is dear to my heart, but nature is near to my soul'. ... Nature does not teach the glory of God; it need not teach this as nature itself is the glory of God. People wish to study astrology and other subjects in order to understand better, but if we study astrology then we are sure to arrive at an interpretation which is given by a man, whereas what we should read from nature is what nature gives us and not what any book teaches us.
There comes a time with the maturity of the soul when every thing and every being begins to reveal its nature to us. We do not need to read their lives. We do not need to read their theories. We know then that this wide nature in its four aspects is ever-revealing and that one can always communicate with it, but that in spite of this it is not the privilege of every soul to read it. Many souls remain blind with open eyes. They are in heaven, but not allowed to look at heaven; they are in paradise, but not allowed to enjoy the beauties of paradise. It is just like a person sleeping on a pile of gems and jewels. From the moment man's eyes open and he begins to read the book of nature he begins to live; and he continues to live forever.
'There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, the only scripture which can enlighten the reader.' Most people consider as sacred scriptures only certain books or scrolls written by the hand of man, and carefully preserved as holy, to be handed down to posterity as divine revelation. Men have fought and disputed over the authenticity of these books, have refused to accept any other book of similar character, and, clinging thus to the book and losing the sense of it have formed diverse sects. The Sufi has in all ages respected all such books, and has traced in the Vedanta, Zend-Avesta, Kabbala, Bible, Quran, and all other sacred scriptures, the same truth which he reads in the incorruptible manuscript of nature, the only Holy Book, the perfect and living model that teaches the inner law of life: all scriptures before nature's manuscript are as little pools of water before the ocean.
To the eye of the seer every leaf of the tree is a page of the holy book that contains divine revelation, and he is inspired every moment of his life by constantly reading and understanding the holy script of nature.
' Suffering '...
”Suffering is due entirely to clinging or resisting;
it is a sign of unwillingness to move on,
to flow with life."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Romantic love '...
Romantic love is often based in egoic separation.
In the beginning of a romantic relationship, roles are often played. You play the role of the perfect mate in order to get the other person to play the same role. Before too long, the real egoic wanting behind the role playing starts to reveal itself. Arguments start to happen. The arguments appear on the surface to be about mundane, everyday things. But on a deeper level the unconscious beliefs that are operating during these arguments are, “You are not living up to the image I have of you,” “You are not filling my inner lack,” and “You are not providing the personal gratification I desire in this relationship.”
Egoic love is conditional. It is conditioned on whether the other person acts a certain way or says or does certain things that please you or that meet your mental image of the person. The ego is a set of conditions. See the mental conditions you are imposing on your partner and realize that unconditional love is who you truly are under all these conditions.
Unconditional love knows no lack and seeks nothing from the other. It simply loves. Unconditional love realizes itself automatically through presence, when there is a seeing through of the false roles that are being played, the conditions being imposed, and the desire for personal gratification in the relationship.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' One must be '...
Knowledge of law, language, or history can be collected and becomes a possession,
but knowledge of the Overself is not at all the same.
It is something one must be:
it owns us,
we do not have it.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 212
Paul Brunton
' Your Beauty '...
"Each who has seen Your beauty fine
Utters honestly, ‘I have seen the Divine.’
Everywhere Your lovers wait for grace,
Remove Your veil, reveal Your face!
I am in the ocean and an ocean is in me;
This is the experience of one who can see.
He that leaps into the river of Unity,
He speaks of union with his Beloved’s beauty."
-Jami
Your Beauty
' The layers of delusion '...
Our mind is like an onion,
and each day and month of practice,
progressively peels away the layers of delusion.
-Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey
' These aggressive intruders '...
The other part of the answer is that the Overself is always here as man's innermost truest self. It is beginningless and endless in time. Its consciousness does not have to be developed as something new. But the person's awareness of it begins in time and has to be developed as a new attainment.
The ever-presence of Overself means that anyone may attain it here and now. There is no inner necessity to travel anywhere or to anyone in space or to wait years in time for this to happen.
Anyone, for instance, who attends carefully and earnestly to the present exposition may perhaps suddenly and easily get the first stage of insight, the lightning-flash which affords a glimpse of reality, at any moment.
By that glimpse he will have been uplifted to a new dimension of being. The difficulty will consist in retaining the new perception.
For ancient habits of erroneous thinking will quickly reassert themselves and overwhelm him enough to push it into the background. This is why repeated introspection, reflective study, and mystical meditation are needed to weaken those habits and generate the inner strength which can firmly hold the higher outlook against these aggressive intruders from his own past.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 4
Paul Brunton
' You live, you feel, you think '...
You live, you feel, you think.
By giving attention to your living, feeling and thinking, you free yourself from them and go beyond them.
Your personality dissolves and only the witness remains.
Then you go beyond the witness.
Do not ask how it happens.
Just search within yourself.
- Nisargadatta Majaraj
' We can only call it Grace '...
The true understanding comes from outside.
It is not of
the space-time dimension.
Therefore, we can only call it
Grace.
Keeping your being open and receptive to that
other dimension is a matter of Grace.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Message from a dying friend '...
I don't want your answers, your good advice. I don't want your theories about 'why' or 'how'. I don't need your pity. Your attempts to make me feel better only make me feel worse. I am human, just like you, and crave realness.
Just be present with me. Listen. Give me space. Hold my trembling hand, sometimes. Your attention is so precious to me. Your being speaks volumes.
If you feel uncomfortable, don't be ashamed. If you don't know what to say to me, that's okay; I feel that way too, sometimes. If you feel disgusted, angry, uncertain, fearful, that's okay, I love you for it. You are human, too.
Put your textbook learning to one side now. Don't try to have 'unconditional positive regard'; it feels so false to me. Forget 'empathy' - I want you to come closer than that.
See, I am you, in disguise. These are your broken bones, your shallow breaths, your twisted limbs. I am your mirror; you are seeing yourself.
Don't try to be strong for me. I am not a victim. Fall apart, if you must. Weep, if you need to weep. Mourn those shattered dreams, those lost futures. Let the past slip away too. Meet me here, now, in the fire of presence, with the fullness of your being.
I speak in an ancient language now.
I want you to be a witness.
- Jeff Foster
' The Sacred Presence '...
The appearance of the sacred presence automatically extinguishes the lower desires.
The holding on to that presence wherever he goes and whatever he does as if it were his real identity,
will help to establish that release as a lasting fact.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 101
Paul Brunton
' My dear mind '...
"Oh, my dear mind!
It was you who first awakened faith in us;
it was you who suggested
our seeking Enlightenment.
Why do you give way so easily to greed,
love of comfort
and pleasant excitement
again?"
- Gautama the Buddha
' Mental fog '...
"Strangely,
man loves his mental fog
more than he loves the effort
which could dissolve it."
-
Vernon Howard
' The greatest mystery '...
“There is no greater mystery than this:
Being Reality ourselves, we seek to gain Reality.
We think that there is something hiding Reality and that it must be destroyed before the truth is gained.
This is clearly ridiculous.
A day will dawn when you will laugh at your past efforts.
What you realize on the day you laugh is also here and now.”
--Ramana Maharshi
' Total Namelessness '...
Creation is a television show for the Mind that Dreams..
Choosing to enter the Dream as individual consciousness, to feel the pain of separation and the allure of Love..
Surrendering is the wiping of data from the individual dreamer..
All of the names and numbers within the illusion, disappear..
You awaken as Light and still desire to learn..
Therefore, This Light acknowledging Divinity is merely a stop along the way to surrender..
Total Surrender is found within Total Namelessness...
namaste, thomas
' The intuitive listener '...
For one who has become desireless, can there be anything to think or say or do? In his case everything happens spontaneously, effortlessly and inevitably.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Intellectual communication is useless because it is a temporal phenomenon with a triad of speaker, listener and what is said. It invariably concerns interpretation by the mind, which varies from moment to moment and from person to person.
Intuitive communication, however, is immediate and without interpretation because it is Truth itself. The intuitive listener, the seeker with an open and receptive mind will on some occasion feel an intuitive tug at the heart that may make him leap with the sheer joy that is ETERNITY.
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' Face everything with love '...
On the way to God the difficulties
feel like being ground by a millstone,
like night coming at noon, like
lightning through the clouds.
But don't worry!
What must come, comes.
Face everything with love,
as your mind dissolves in God.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Absorbed in the Seeking '...
External life is the shadow of the inner reality.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The outer manifestations of life are so rigid and dense that the secret of their nature and character is buried underneath.
Why is the world called an illusion by the mystics?
Because the nature of manifestation is such that it envelops its own secret within itself, and appears in such a rigid form that the fineness, beauty and mystery of its character are hidden.
Therefore the seekers after the truth of life, the students of life, are of two opposite kinds.
The one wishes to learn from outward appearance.
The other wishes to find out the secret that is hidden behind it.
The one who learns from the external gets the knowledge from the external, which we call science.
The one who finds out from the within, from what is hidden in this manifestation, is the mystic.
The knowledge he gains is mysticism. ...
Every activity of the outer world is a kind of reaction; in other words a shadow of the activity which is behind it and which we do not see.
The inner life is not separate from the outer life, but is a fuller and larger life.
What is necessary is to put first things first.
The mystic does more than quote scriptures; he not only says, 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,' his whole life is absorbed in the seeking.
' Changeless consciousness '...
”There can be no such thing as changeless consciousness.
Changelessness wipes out consciousness immediately.
A man deprived of outer and inner sensations blanks out,
or goes beyond consciousness and unconsciousness into the birthless and deathless state."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Pure of heart '...
“To be pure of heart means to love God above all things and at the same time to see him everywhere in
all things ".
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Hymn of the Universe
NY: Harper & Row Perennial Library, 1965 (1961), p. 127
' Transparent to the Overself '...
Mostly as a result of meditation, but sometimes during an unexpected glimpse, a mystical experience of an unusual kind may develop.
He feels transparent to the Overself; its light passes into and through him.
He then finds that his ordinary condition was as if a thick wall surrounded him, devoid of windows and topped by a thick roof, a condition of imprisonment in limitation and ordinariness.
But now the walls turn to glass, their density is miraculously gone, he is not only open to the light streaming in but lets it pass on, irradiating the world around.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 6: Experiencing a Glimpse > # 166
Paul Brunton
' TRUTH COMES AT A COST '...
If I was to translate the enlightened state down into human terms, I’d have to describe it as contentment. Being nobody, going nowhere, needing no reason to exist. To the ego, that probably sounds a little boring, and of course to an ego it is. But then again, there’s really nothingfor the ego in enlightenment. In enlightenment, the egoic false self is rendered an irrelevant illusion, a mask, a character that nothingness wears while pretending to be human.
Not only is there nothing in enlightenment for the ego, the ego is really nothing but a defense against enlightenment. I’m not saying that ego is bad or evil because it’s not. I’m saying that ego is a social and personal construct and therefore an illusion. But there’s nothing wrong with an illusion. A painting is an illusion; a movie is an illusion; a good novel is an illusion. The problem isn’t with illusion; the problem is with the emotional attachments and addictions of ego.
To most people "attachment" is a very abstract word that they think they understand. People in spiritual circles think of attachments in terms of things that they are attached to. They identify the things attached to and endeavor to let go of them, but this misses the whole point of what attachment really is. Attachment isn’t about things attached to; it’s about emotion in the form of a magnetic energy of attraction. That energy is how you know who you are as an ego. That energy is who you are as an ego. Ego defines itself by what it does and does not like. There is no ego outside of this emotional energy of attraction and repulsion—better known as love and hate, like and dislike, good and bad, right and wrong, us and them, me and you. Without emotional investment in the ego’s points of view, what’s left of ego but a hollow shell with a little personality mixed in?
… You breathe life into your ego in the form of emotional addictions. Emotion is the very life-force of ego. So the point of detachment isn’t to detach from things, but to detach from your emotional bonds with things. And you don’t simply let go of emotional bonds; you burn through them with investigative awareness. You see them for what they are: prisons, false structures holding you in spiritual infancy. You may think that I am being a bit harsh—which I am, but awakening to truth is a harsh business.
The bottom line is "What do you want more: to feel better or to realize the truth?" Sure, truth realization feels really good, but no one gets there whose driving motivation is simply to feel good. Feeling really good is a byproduct of the awakened state; it is not the state itself. The state itself is reality, and it’s won at the hands of unreality.
Simply put, ultimate truth comes at a cost, and the cost is everything in you and about you that is unreal. The end result is freedom, happiness, peace, and no longer viewing life through the veils of illusion.
' The Sage '...
The sage lives in a sense of equanimity so constant that he is impervious to pleasure or pain, gain or loss, praise or criticism. He is so vacant of volition that for him there is nothing to be done or not to be done.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
True understanding comes about only after ignorance in the form of all conceptual knowledge is given up.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' Returning to Source '...
The technique to return to your source is
very simple.
The outside attachments do
not allow sitting still and meditating.
So
avoid, for some time, all outside attachments
like you do when you sleep and have a very
peaceful night. Practice this in the daytime.
The instant in which you forget all your
outside attachments will be the taste of
tremendous Love and Happiness.
Then slowly
you will stop looking outside until the outside
and the inside are the same causing both to
cease to exist.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Defining nonduality '...
Q: How do you define nonduality?
A: Cessation of conceptualization. Perceiving before the mind. Perceiving without mind.
Enlightened action leaves no trace.
Enlightened action comes directly from emptiness, not from the mind.
It is spontaneous.
If it comes in the form of words, the words come from emptiness.
If it comes in the form of actions, the actions come from emptiness—from before the personality and the mind.
~ Adyashanti ~
' Dear God '...
Dear God,
This is my record of eternal gratitude to You.
You gave me birth in a most respected Hindu family,
but not high enough in social status to make me proud.
You gave me a physical form well-admired for its perfection,
but it was small enough to keep me humble.
You gave me education high enough to be most useful in life,
but not high enough to make me proud.
You gave me success in sports high enough to be satisfied,
but not proud.
You gave me a career in which You took me high enough to be
admired, but not high enough to make me arrogant.
You gave me a wife and family for which I have always been
eternally grateful, but You did not spare me some grief to remind
me not to forget what life is all about, and to be always grateful
for what I do have.
You did not forget to place an adequate number of temptations in
my way so that I may not be too critical of others who have to face
their own temptations.
I am now 84, and perhaps the only wish that remains is that the
long life You have given me will not carry a burden at the end.
But in that case, I know You will also give me the necessary
courage to go with it.
You gave me a lot to show me how little is needed to be content
and how much could be given away.
And, undoubtedly, the most important of all - as if the bounty
You have showered on me were not enough - You crowned Your
achievement by using this psychosomatic apparatus to convey to
the world the most important message of Advaita. Truly I am
blessed. Or, indeed, my Beloved, have You not blessed Yourself?!
Finally, it occurs to me, if You were to design for Yourself a life in
phenomenality, could it have been much different from this one?
And, for this thought, no tears are enough to wash Your
Noumenal feet.
- Ramesh Balsekar
' The Long Path '...
Man, fascinated by his own ego, is always gazing at it, just as Narcissus was fascinated by the image of his own body reflected in the water.
Even when he takes to the spiritual quest, the fascination persists:
it is only the things and desires that preoccupy the ego which change their names; from being objects of the physical senses they are transferred to emotional, intellectual, and/or psychical fields.
These may be praiseworthy and noble in themselves, but they are still within the circle of the ego, although on its finest and highest levels.
This is why the Long Path cannot yield enlightenment.
-- Notebooks Category 2: Overview of Practices Involved >
Chapter 1: Ant's Long Path > # 201
Paul Brunton
' The Impact Of Awakening '...
Q: How do you define nonduality?
A: Cessation of conceptualization. Perceiving before the mind. Perceiving without mind.
Enlightened action leaves no trace. Enlightened action comes directly from emptiness, not from the mind. It is spontaneous. If it comes in the form of words, the words come from emptiness. If it comes in the form of actions, the actions come from emptiness—from before the personality and the mind.
~ Adyashanti ~
' Full attention within the heart '...
When we learn to listen with full attention in the heart, teachings
will become few and books will be very small.
While we remain
in the ego state, mind will grow in thoughts and inner noise will
increase leading to an inability to grasp truth in its simplicity.
We
need little knowledge and practice to awaken to the truth for Truth
is ever present, wordless and perfect.
All that is required is the earnest desire for freedom, openness
and a willingness to be inwardly quiet so that the Real enters
the space of your heart and set you free.
- Mooji
' Your real identity '...
If you are thinking and someone says, “Look at that tree,” thought has to stop so that awareness can take the sight in directly. Thought does not see. Only awareness sees. In that moment of suspending thought long enough to see what is here in the present moment, you are getting a glimpse of your true nature as awareness. You are that which sees, not the object that is seen.
If you are thinking and someone says, “Listen to that sound,” thought has to stop so that awareness can take the sound in directly. Thought does not hear. Only awareness hears. In that moment of suspending thought long enough to hear what is arising in the present moment, you are getting a glimpse of your true nature as awareness. You are that which hears, not the sound that is heard.
Can you see how your true nature gets apparently obscured? You are living life through the filter of the time-bound, thought-based separate self, instead of recognizing that your real identity is the timeless awareness in which everything—every thought, sound, object, state, experience, and situation—appears and disappears.
Paradoxically, as awareness is realized to be your real identity, you see that the objects that appear in awareness are not separate from awareness. Without awareness, none of the objects would appear.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' Sentience Itself '...
You have considered yourself to be a separate "self" only because of having regarded a solid object with a name that is the body, as yourself.
But in fact the body itself is nothing but an insignificant, vastly intricate complex of electrical wave-patterns, a series of rhythmic functions, a throbbing field of energy and emptiness.
What you actually are, then, is what everybody else is:
Sentience Itself.
Therefore, instead of being a puny self by way of an object, you are indeed everything.
- Ramesh Balsekar, A Net of Jewels
' Waiting '...
Listen to John in the video below..
The world is Consciousness envolved within manifestation..
The politicians show smiles of love but distaste is felt within their lips..
The humans of power and fame rule you with a fist of fear and gifts..
But, You have Awakened..
You see through the fog of ego..
Imagine, the feeling of complete Freedom without egoic influence..
You are so close to God,
You can smell roses..
-See You, as Light.
-thomas
' The Universal Mind '...
There is some point in each individual being where the human and the divine must join, where man's little consciousness bends low before, or blends subtly with, the Universal Mind which is his ultimate source.
It is impossible to describe that intersection in any terms which shall adequately fit it, but it can be named.
In philosophy it is the Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 314
Paul Brunton
' Childlike wonder '...
Childlike wonder happens in the experiential realization that every thought and emotion and every other aspect of life arises spontaneously out of nothing. The heavy burden of “me” is seen to be unreal in this seeing.
From the point of view of the false, separate self, thought measures back into past to claim, “I did that,” and measures forward into future to claim, “I am going to do that.” But look more closely. Even those thoughts arise spontaneously out of nothing. Are you bringing those thoughts about?
In seeing that you are not the doer, there is a realization that you are being done, that life is being done. It is simply happening whether there is consent or resistance to the way it is happening.
What you think you know is what stands in the way of this liberation. What you think you are in control of stands in the way of this liberation. As it is seen that the story you take to be “you” does not know or control anything, liberation is realized. This is childlike wonder. No separate self can achieve childlike wonder. The separate self is too busy dreaming that it has control and that it knows all the answers.
Childlike wonder appears obscured by the mental movements of knowing and controlling. But even the thoughts that say “I know” and “I am in control” are happening spontaneously. Therefore, there is no obscuration.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The end of pain '...
”The end of pain lies not in pleasure.
When you realize that you are beyond both pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the pursuit of happiness ceases and the resultant sorrow too.
For pain aims at pleasure and pleasure ends in pain, relentlessly."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Perceiver '...
The perceiver can never be perceived, and what is perceived cannot be the perceiver.
It is only the ONE,
cosmic awareness that does the perceiving through all body mind organisms.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Understanding can come only at the appropriate time, and no one can say when.
All that can be said is that the understanding cannot come so long as there is expectation,
so long as there is a "me" wanting it.
-
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' What is oneness reduced to ?'...
A monk asked Joshu, "All dharmas are reduced to oneness, but what is oneness reduced to?" Joshu said, "When I was in Seishu I made a hempen shirt. It weighed seven pounds."
More than a thousand years have passed since Joshu gave that response, originating one of the many classic koans that recount his provocative teachings. To this day seekers are still struggling to find a way out of the shirt. What does it mean? What is he getting at? I don't understand!
We don't just struggle with a shirt in a Zen koan. We struggle with the shirts in our hampers. With the pants, the blouses, the sheets, and the underwear. Laundry presents a mountainous practice opportunity because it provokes a never-ending pile of egocentric resistance.
It's not important to me. It's tedious. I don't like to do it!
The monk in this story is like the rest of us, seeking wisdom through intellectual inquiry. If we're not careful, this is how we approach mindfulness: as an idea, one we rather like, to elevate our lives with special contemplative consideration, a method for making smarter choices and thereby assuring better outcomes. The problem is that the life before us is the only life we have. The search for meaning robs our life of meaning, sending us back into our discursive minds while right in front of us the laundry piles up.
In his commentary on this koan, the late teacher and translator Katsuki Sekida rinsed Joshu's shirt clear of obfuscation. "Joshu's words remind us of the keen sensibilities of people who lived in the days when things were made by hand. The seven pounds of hemp was woven into cloth and cut and sewn into a shirt. When Joshu put on his hempen shirt, he experienced a sensation that was the direct recognition of the shirt for what it was."
- from an article by Karen Maezen Miller in the March 2010 issue of the Shambhala Sun,
' Anxiety '...
It is a curious fact that one's chances of survival are best when there is no anxiety to survive.
There is a special effectiveness or power of virtuality that is available to those who do not exhaust and dissipate themselves with anxiety.
The subtlety, however, is that anxiety also includes any positive effort to eliminate anxiety--and this is precisely where true understanding comes into its own by accepting wholeheartedly whatever life brings without resistance or recoil.
-
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' Dependence on anything '...
”You imagine that without cause there can be no happiness.
To me dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery.
Pleasure and pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused, independent, unassailable."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Me is only a thought '...
The problem is that most people are paying attention to objects, to what they perceive—rather than to the ultimate perceiver, the background.
Either way, awareness is happening 100% of the time.
The light is on brightly.
It never goes off, but where is it looking?
The human condition is characterized by a complete fascination with objects, starting with this object that we interpret as “me.”
Me is only a thought.
You are before this me thought.
~ Adyashanti ~
' The Overself '...
Even during the longest dark night of the soul,
the Overself is not a whit less close to him than it was when it revealed its presence amid ecstasy and joy.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 3: The Dark Night of The Soul > # 6
Paul Brunton
' Resign to difficulties '...
The first lesson to learn is to resign oneself to the little
difficulties in life, not to hit out at everything one comes
up against.
If one were able to manage this one would
not need to cultivate great power; even one’s presence
would be healing.
Such a person is more precious than
the branch of the rose, for that has many thorns but only
a few flowers.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
' The highest Truth '...
Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way.
Even the greatest revelations must not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance.
The Truth is ever new, existing only in the now.
The highest Truth is beyond knowledge and experience.
It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness.
~ Adyashanti ~
' Western cults '...
It is absolutely necessary for the person who has attained the highly sensitive and highly advanced
state of mysticism to keep away from all Western cults and teachers because only with the completion
of his training through the fuller initiation in the Ultimate Path will he become strong enough to
have any contact with these movements without injuring himself.
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 7:
The Path of Individuality > # 21
Paul Brunton
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)