' What is the Heart ?'...
You see the drawing of the 'Heart' every day when the subject is Love..
You already know that they are not denoting the physical heart..
Why is the 'Heart' used as the symbol of Love?..
Most humans are unaware that the 'Heart' produces much more voltage than the Brain..
Voltage is used as the Energy source of the body and mind to function the operating of the human body hologram..
Light is the building Source..
So why is the 'Heart' involved in Love ?..
Heart is the Energy source and therefore contains no personality..
'No personality' is the 'Door' to Reality..
'No personality' is 'Pure Awareness', otherwise known as Reality..
'No personality' called non-egoic desire is known as 'Love'..
'Love' is Known as 'God'..
'God' is Known as 'Reality'..
The Heart is Consciousness expanding...
-thomas
' The Great Ecstasy '...
There are moments of oneness with the Beloved, absolutely ecstasy and bliss.
That is nothingness.
And this nothingness loves you, responds to you, fulfills you utterly and yet there is nothing there.
You flow out like a river without diminishing.
This is the great mystical experience, the great ecstasy.
-Irina Tweedie
' Crucifixion of the ego '...
In this deep stillness wherein every trace of the personal self dissolves,
there is the true crucifixion of the ego.
This is the real meaning of the crucifixion,
as it was undergone in the ancient Mystery Temple initiations and as it was undergone by Jesus.
The death implied is mental, not physical.
-- Perspectives > Chapter 24:
The Peace within You > # 59
Paul Brunton
' Path versus no path '...
Non-duality teachings state that there is no path to ‘This.’
To the self, there appears to be a path.
The spiritual seeker “thinks up” and maintains the self each time the “I” thought is believed.
That seeker can even experience the sense of moving closer in time to 'This' as she measures and compares the degree to which there appears to be a self now to the degree to which there appeared to be a self in the past.
The path arises only through that measuring and comparing.
Before the shift in perception called enlightenment, the mind interprets 'This' in terms of a separate self living along a time-based path.
In the shift in perception, the self and the path fall away “together” because the path is the self.
Is there a path or not?
When the mind interprets life from the relative perspective, there is a self, and therefore a path.
When the mind interprets from the absolute perspective, there is no self, and therefore no path.
See what the dualistic mind is doing?
It is looking for a place to land in that dualism of path v. no path.
It believes that if it finds somewhere to land conceptually, it has the truth.
But the truth is not conceptual. It is actual.
It is life itself, appearing in whatever form it appears right now.
The “truth” is in every experience and every perspective.
Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' Fukushima Nuclear Plant '...
Perhaps, the original nightmare of Atomic Destruction is not from a bomb,
but a fire..
How long can this previously unknown cesium 137 destroy the Dream ?..
As you fear, remember that all is a Dream..
You are watching from a space above the seen..
Fear is a Lie for the benefit of ego..
We will all die..
It is as natural as being born..
Which brings me back to an old teacher of mine..
" you must die to be born ",
said this friend...
-thomas
' Only echoes '...
That voice which is the origin of every cry
and sound:
that indeed is the only voice,
and the rest are only echoes.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
' Three kinds of business '...
I can find only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours and God's.
Much of our stress comes from mentally living out of our business.
When I think, "You need to get a job, I want you to be happy, you should be on time, you need to take better care of yourself," I am in your business.
When I'm worried about earthquakes, floods, war, or when I will die, I am in God's business.
If I am mentally in your business or in God's business, the effect is separation.
-Byron Katie
' The truth that you believe '...
The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
- Pema Chodron
' Becoming Real Self '...
The mind's chief distinguishing power is to know--whether the object known is the world around or the ideas within.
When this is turned in still deeper upon itself, subject and object are one, the thought-making activity comes to rest, and the "I" mystery is solved.
Man discovers his real self, or being--his soul.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 5: Preparing for Glimpses >
-- Perspectives > Chapter 22: Inspiration and the Overself > # 9
Paul Brunton
' Omniscience '..
"To lose entirely all interest in knowledge results in omniscience."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' How careful, we would act '...
The realization that every act, every word, every thought of ours not only influences our environment but for some mysterious reason forms an integral and important part of the Universe,
fits into it as if by necessity so to say, in the very moment we do, or say, or think it - is an overwhelming and even shattering experience.
The tremendous responsibility of it is terrifying.
If all of us only knew that the smallest act of ours, or a tiny thought, has such far-reaching effects as to set in motion forces which perhaps could shatter a galaxy…If we know it deeply and absolutely,
if this realization becomes engraved permanently on our hearts, on our minds, how careful we would act and speak and think.
How precious life would become in its integral oneness.
-Irina Tweedie
' A thing apart '...
Clearly, awareness cannot know itself as a "thing apart".
It is not an object to itself, any more than being is an object to itself. You ARE yourself.
That fact cannot be doubted at any time.
That doubtless fact is the basis of all subsequent experiencing.
Awareness is self-shining, self-radiant, self-existent.
Even before "knowing I am", I must be there as that to which that recognition happens.
It is like the eye. It can never see itself.
Yet one does not doubt having eyes. Non-conceptual being-awareness is similar.
It can never be known as an object. On the other hand, it cannot be unknown either, also because it is not object.
Yet no one ever doubts himself or herself in the equation. All the states and appearances, even sleep, the moments between thoughts, etc., happen in what you are.
Even consciousness and unconsciousness are states rotating through the constancy of your undeniable existence.
It is the ever-present space or backdrop for everything.
The "everything" has no substance or independent existence outside of this, so in essence the "everything" is this also.
It is so obvious, simple and self-evident that we keep overlooking it. It is the radiant space in which all of life appears.
-John Wheeler
' Self-enquiry '...
Self-enquiry is the direct path to Self-realization or enlightenment.
The only way to make the mind cease its outward activities is to turn it inward.
By steady and continuous investigation into the nature of the mind, the mind itself gets transformed into That to which it owes its own existence.
When both the rational and intuitive planes of mind are allowed full operation, they get superimposed on each other resulting in a fasting of the mind or NO-MIND state.
This is the most alert state in which the mind can find itself because of the total freedom in which it can operate - a beautiful, natural blending of discipline and spontaneity.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Just know that You are not the ego '...
Don't worry about the ego.
Just know, you are not the ego.
The most important thing is to discover that it is watched,
which means: You cannot be it.
Therefore, don't identify with it.
Then it starves from lack of attention and soon falls away.
Your victory is in recognizing that you are only the sense of
presence, which announces itself through the feeling: I am.
Let the 'I Am' - presence stay by itself consciously until it
becomes effortless.
That is: When you feel or say 'I', it
automatically means the presence or being.
~ Mooji
' Conscious of Consciousness '...
It is a quest to become conscious of Consciousness,
to explore the "I" and penetrate the mystery of its knowing power.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 1: What the Quest Is > # 20
Paul Brunton
' Truth alone can succeed '...
Truth alone can succeed; falsehood is a waste of time and loss of energy.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Falsehood, whatever its apparent success, has its limitations and its end. For at every step the false person will feel falseness; and with every step a person takes towards falsehood, he will feel his feet growing heavier and heavier when he encounters the truth, while those who walk towards the truth will feel their feet becoming lighter with every step they take.
Truth is the divine element in man. Truth is every soul's seeking. Therefore as soon as the clouds of illusion are scattered, that which man now begins to see is nothing but the truth which has been there all the time. He finds that the truth was never absent; it was only covered by clouds of illusion.
By changing his own nature, by making himself more truthful, he disperses the clouds of falsehood within and without, and begins to see life as it really is both inwardly and outwardly. From this time onwards, the meaning of religion becomes clear. One begins to understand what the great teachers have taught. Then one becomes tolerant to the various religions. Nothing seems strange any more. Nothing surprises. For now one begins to know the innermost nature of man; one sees the cause behind every action.
People speak about truth and falsehood, but once the mystic has reached the truth, all is truth to him; then everything is a phenomenon of truth, a picture of truth. For instance, a person looking at a picture may distinguish light and shade, but another instead of speaking of light and shade, will say, 'This is a portrait of so and so, it is a very good picture, exactly like him.' Truth is like this; and so to a mystic the whole of life is a picture of the divine Beloved.
' Surrender your humanity '...
The notion that one must work to attain happiness at some mental point in time through the fulfillment of thought, is the index of misery.
Self-realization which is bliss, is not based on mind/body conditions.
It is the eternal ether that holds the ever changing transient aspects of our humanity in loving but impartial embrace.
Therefore, seek first to transcend identification with the "exclusive me" by the fitness of your devotion to discover the eternal.
Once validated, surrender your humanity to it and let it possess you intimately and thoroughly until it becomes you.
-Atreya Thomas
' Knower and Known; and Dzogchen '...
In Buddhist teachings especially, the notion of non-duality is a major axiom.
That means a subject who is viewing an object, as an act concerning two separate parts as a viewer viewing something viewed, is an illusion produced by the dichotomizing mind.
We know in our most advanced, and to date, most accurate physics, known as quantum field theory, that any notion of substantive forms separate and apart from each other, is impossible. And that holds true on the macro as well as the micro levels of phenomena. All there are, are force fields with no separation amongst the fields. Therefore to see two unconnected parts standing freely apart from one another, could only be a mistaken perception.
That means a separate subject apart from its viewed object is impossible. That means there is no separation between a knower and what's known. They are a single, non-dual phenomena.
Dzogchen can help us out here: In Dzogchen teachings all phenomena of every kind are of three inherent qualities: emptiness, knowing clarity and energetic formation. These qualities exist simultaneously for all phenomena whether as thoughts or as more substantial energetic formations.
So the "knower" would be the first two as empty/knowing-clarity and the known would be the energetic formation as the "known". But knower/known are this single phenomena.
The "knower" manifests itself as the "known". The manifest or (energetic formation) aspect of the knower, is what's known. The dualistic conceptualizing mind tries to isolate the knower from its self-manifest aspect by calling it the "the known".
To prove this non-duality, observe to see how much distance exists between that which knows and that which is being known in the moment of knowing it. Sounds are a good place to start, with the eyes closed. Then try thoughts. Then try the rest of the perceptions, saving sight for last.
Even with sight, the moment of knowing an object of sight can't be separated from the knowing. It's only the fact that our eyes can't see that there is no empty space between the object and our eyes; there is instead an inseparable energy field in which your eyes and the object seen are one field, one fully connected piece. There are no two parts there. Cause and effect also disappear.
Going further, Dzogchen teaches all energetic formations are "extensions" (tsal) of rigpa itself and are not independent free standing objects. If rigpa was the sun, then all phenomena as energetic formations would be sun beams or rays. The sun's rays are never not an extension of the sun.
Likewise, the "known" is an extension of the knower, in the same way. Just like the sun can't see its rays as apart and separate, neither can the knower see the known as apart and separate, except as an illusion of spatial separation. The "known" when known, only occurs within the knower, because it IS the knower manifesting itself as the known.
Therefore according to Longchenpa, when seemingly burdened by some oppressive energetic mental formation, just notice the "knower" of that which is known, and the energetic formation will collapse back into the empty nature of the knower. All manifest energies are the "knower" at root.
The empty nature of the "knower" is the empty nature of the known. The "known" is simply the manifest nature of the empty knower.
In Dzogchen the universe is simply an extension of "you" as the "empty knower" expressing its infinite potentials and wisdoms. Notice the universe and beings "you" are extending around you at all times, like colored brush strokes on a blank, spherical canvas.
The self or self identity that you believe yourself to be is just such an extension of the"knower", an empty energetic formation, but is not the "empty knower". Know the "empty knower" within that sense of identity and self, and they will dissolve.
There is a Single Knower, looking through a Single Eye, extending Itself infinitely outwards from a dimensionless Point (thigle nyagchik) while always residing in Pure Emptiness.
We are all that Single Eye in full manifest extension; appearing as knower and known, but not always knowing "knower and known" are always one and the same...
-Jackson Peterson
' Mind and Awareness '...
"Mind is interested in what happens,
while awareness is interested in the mind itself.
The child is after the toy,
but the mother watches the child, not the toy."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The natural spectator '...
To the extent that an individual wishes to experience
the world as separate from himself, he is a spectacle
without a spectator.
To the extent that he prefers to be
insensitive to the world, he is a spectator without a
spectacle.
But it is only when life is accepted totally,
however it comes, knowing it to be nothing but a dream
yet acting intuitively as if it is real, that one will experience
life fully as the natural spectator of the natural spectacle.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Choose one Path '...
“Do not debate, discuss, interpret nor pronounce your spiritual Path; simply devote yourself heart and soul to it, day and night, with humility.
One who is progressing has no desire to pronounce it.
Choose one Path and take it all the way.
The point is to have a Direct Experience of God.
Of the Unimaginable Beauty Within.
The West thinks that spirituality is becoming ‘big’ and famous.
That is the joke of the ego.
In Reality, this is the opposite of spiritual Unfoldment.
The saints and sages of all true religions have no interest in this.
Utilize this time to transcend identification with your human-hood of personal suffering completely, and the Bliss, the love of True Reality, will come shining forth.
There is a world of beauty, Supernal love, compassion, bliss indescribable.
With which do you identify?”
-Robert Adams
' The Dream Vanishes '...
The world seemed so real..
Upon Awakening from this Dream, Light surrounds Thought..
This Knowledge called Wisdom becomes a Friend..
The Dream lasted much less than the eight hours of soul sleep..
The characters fade into nothingness..
The souls that stick to memory remain within reincarnation..
The only Reality is NOW..
This world of lies and deception become just another cheap movie..
Words from the Masters of Truth become a sweet song of selflessness..
We pay our taxes to exist as separate souls..
Your eight seconds of concentration are over..
-thomas
' The manifest, functional order '...
Human beings, whatever they may think, do not live and exercise volition but are entirely lived.
The importance of an individual life, and even the fact of living itself, has been vastly overestimated and exaggerated.
Nature itself defies the human presumption of the "sacredness of life" with the strongest possible demonstration that life is purely incidental to the totality of the manifest, functional order.
All conundrums, all apparent riddles, paradoxes and contradictions subsist only in the split-mind base on subject-object relationship.
They resolve themselves as soon as they are seen from the viewpoint of Totality.
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Attention '...
"Knowing the world to be a part of myself,
I pay it no more attention than you pay to the food you have eaten."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The intellect vanishes '...
Radhakrishnan rightly says that the human mind, whether in his own country or in the West, has been unable to solve the problem of creation.
But this failure was inevitable.
The human intellect created the problem for itself; it is an illusory one:
it simply does not exist in fact, in Nature.
The problem vanishes when the intellect itself vanishes--as both do in the deepest contemplation.
-- Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea >
Chapter 1: Divine Order of The Universe > # 151
Paul Brunton
' Only the Dreamer is Real '...
Our existence is trapped between desire and fear in the context of time. The core of our problem, then lies in thought, which is the creator of time.
Human beings actually have no more independence or autonomy in living their lives than do the characters in a dream.
Neither do they have anything to do with the creation of the dream or anything in it.
They are simply being lived along with everything else in this living dream of the manifested universe.
The entire dream is unreal.
Only the dreamer is real, and that is Consciousness itself.
- A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' No Self '...
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding regarding the question of selfhood and whether a personal, individual self of any kind actually exists. Some think there is a personal self that underlies the fictional self, which is only a conceptual construction. This is the view of an "atman" or "self-soul" that the Buddha thoroughly refuted. The so called conventional self can't be found to exist within the body-mind nor outside the body-mind. That leaves no other option for its existence except within imagination.
In a dark room, a rope may be mistaken to be a snake, along with all the descriptions about snakes that the mind contains. We feel anxiety, fear and our adrenalin and blood pressures go up, as well as heart beat.
But if we look closely at the rope in brighter light, we won't be able to find a snake within the rope, or upon the rope, nor outside of the rope. That leaves only the imagination as its residence. It's the same regarding our snake-self. Our body-mind is like the rope. The mind infers a self as a personal "me" upon and within the body-mind in the darkness of confused mental functioning. We have real feelings felt about this imaginary "me" that create moods, altered bio-chemistry and sense of a "suffering me". But if we introspectively look within our mental events, we won't find a "me" anywhere; not in the body, not in the mind; we only find thoughts and feelings ABOUT a self, but no self is discovered. Then the lights go on and suddenly the subconscious mind ceases to generate the mistaken "me" belief. The personal self or "me" was no more real than the imaginary snake! There is no "liberation or enlightenment" beyond this direct insight and cessation of this cognitive error, and none without it. Read this below and then the pictured book:
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyatso:
"When we realize the selflessness of the individual, however, this whole process stops. The wrong views that have their root in the belief in self cease, then the mental afflictions cease, then karmic actions cease, and as a result of that, birth in samsara’s cycle of existence ceases."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyamtso
"We can formulate the following logical reasoning: Karmic actions and results are mere appearances devoid of true existence, because no self, no actor, exists to perform them. This is a valid way to put things because if the self of the individual does not exist, there cannot be any action, and therefore there cannot be any result of any action either."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyamtso
"Someone might ask, “Isn’t it nihilistic to think that karmic actions and their results do not exist?” In fact, this is not a nihilistic view because there exists no self to have any nihilistic view. There can be a nihilistic view only if there is someone to hold it, but since there is no one to have any view, then there can be no nihilism. Furthermore, since the thought of nihilism neither arises nor abides nor ceases, there can be no nihilism in genuine reality. Genuine reality transcends the conceptual fabrications of realism and nihilism. It transcends karmic actions and results, and the absence of karmic actions and results as well. If karmic actions and their results do not exist in the abiding nature of reality, then what is the quality of their appearance?
Nagarjuna describes this in the chapter’s thirty-third verse:
Mental afflictions, actions, and bodies, as well as actors and results, are like cities of imaginary beings, like mirages, and like dreams."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyatso
"Some people might argue, “There are yogis and yoginis who realize selflessness, and this proves that the self really does exist after all, or else who would be the ones who possessed this realization?”
Nagarjuna answers this claim in the third verse:
"The ones who do not cling to “me” or “mine” do not exist either. Those who do not cling to “me” or “mine” see accurately, So they do not see a self."
-Khenpo Tsulstrim
' You are your only hope '...
“Nothing comes ahead of its time, and nothing ever happened that didn't need to happen.”
You are your only hope, because we're not changing until you do. Our job is to keep coming at you, as hard as we can, with everything that angers, upsets, or repulses you, until you understand. We love you that much, whether we're aware of it or not. The whole world is about you.
Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to change the world so that they can be happy.
This hasn’t ever worked, because it approaches the problem backward. What The Work gives us is a way to change the projector — mind — rather than the projected.
It’s like when there’s a piece of lint on a projector’s lens. We think there’s a flaw on the screen, and we try to change this person and that person, whomever the flaw appears to be on next. But it’s futile to try to change the projected images. Once we realize where the lint is, we can clear the lens itself.
This is the end of suffering, and the beginning of a little joy in paradise.
- Byron Katie
' They are so dear, so near '...
The Scriptures speak of the three Holy rivers
Within.
These are Existence, Consciousness
and Bliss.
Being beyond thought and effort
they cannot be objectified or subjectified.
They are so dear, so near, behind the retina
and before breath.
You need not see This,
you are it.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Beyond Where All Paths End '...
Let us understand that reality transcends all of our notions about reality.
Reality is neither Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Advaita Vedanta, nor Buddhist.
It is neither dualistic nor nondualistic, neither spiritual nor nonspiritual.
We should come to know that there is more reality and sacredness in a blade of grass than in all of our thoughts and ideas about reality.
When we perceive from an undivided consciousness, we will find the sacred in every expression of life.
We will find it in our teacup, in the breeze, in the brushing of our teeth, in each and every moment of living and dying.
Therefore we must leave the entire collection of conditioned thought behind and let ourselves be led by the inner thread of silence into the unknown, beyond where all paths end, to that place where we go innocently or not at all—not once but continually.
~ Adyashanti ~
' The child and the bug '...
A child looks at a bug with total curiosity. He isn’t thinking about the bug. He has never seen a bug before. He has never learned the word “bug.” He can’t call it an “arachnid” or some other classification either. He hasn’t learned those words. He simply looks deeply at this strange and wonderful creature. No thought comes to the looking. There is only the looking. In that looking, there is no child. The idea “I am a child looking at a bug” doesn’t even arise. It’s a story, totally irrelevant to the looking. The story is a second hand account of something too intimate for words.
In that looking, before thought labels the experience and files it away as ‘something known,’ there is an immediate presence that simply sees. This presence is not at all conceptual. It is the unknown. There is no word for it. Even the word “presence” is a story seen by this looking. It is what allows the bug to be seen. It is what allows the word “child” to be seen. It is what allows everything to be seen and to just be.
In realizing that this essence that is looking is what you really are, all suffering ends. Presence simply looks with innocence and intimacy. Concepts still arise. But you now know exactly what you are. No story will ever suffice again. This presence is your true identity.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The sacrifice of existence '...
In this luciferian control of humanity ,called protection of humans is a scam..
In New York, the Mafia will protect your business from damage by charging you, protection money..
This scam is also practiced within nations..
These armies of humans that have been mind controlled to believe that practicing this scam is heroic..
Men and Women die for this scam and the rich become richer..
War is a scam..
To continue this scam, an enemy must be invented..
Sometimes, the enemy participates within this scam..
It has always been about money..
We remain the victims..
The rich will remain in college and war industries..
Those, that speak of this Truth are often, killed..
The secret is to 'Wake up'..
Consciousness is the Observer..
You have been given 'free will'..
We are the fools that believe lies..
Therefore, We suffer...
-thomas
' He must change his view '...
who expects to change the world will be disappointed, he must change his view. When this is done, then tolerance will come, forgiveness will come, and there will be nothing he cannot bear.
Bowl of Saki,by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The other day I lectured in Paris and after my lecture a very able man came to me and said, 'Have you got a scheme?' I said, 'What scheme?' 'Of bettering conditions.' I replied that I had not made such a scheme, and he said, 'I have a scheme, I will show it to you'. He opened his box and brought out a very large paper with mathematics on it and showed it to me saying, 'This is the economic scheme that will make the condition of the world better: everyone will have the same share'. I said, 'We should practice that economic scheme first on tuning our piano: instead of saying D, E, F, we should tune them all to one note and play that music and see how interesting that would be -- all sounding the same, no individuality, no distinction, nothing.' And I added, 'Economy is not a plan for construction, but it is a plan for destruction. It is economics which have brought us to destruction. It is the heart quality, it is the spiritual outlook which will change the world'.
Very often people coming to hear me say afterwards, 'Yes, all you say is very interesting, very beautiful, and I wish too that the world was changed. But how many think like you? How can you do it? How can it be done?'. They come with that pessimistic remark, and I tell them, 'One person comes into a country with a little cold or influenza and it spreads. If such a bad thing can spread, can not an elevated thought of love, kindness and goodwill towards all men spread? See then that there are finer germs, germs of goodwill, of love, kindness, and feeling, germs of brotherhood, of the desire for spiritual evolution, which can have greater results than the other ones. If we all have that optimistic view, if we all work in our little way, we can accomplish a great deal'.
Many have been cross with God for having sent any misery in their lives -- but we always get such experiences! Becoming cross one says, 'Why, this is not just', or 'This is not right', and 'How could God who is just and good allow unjust things to happen?' But our sight is so limited that our conception of right and wrong and good and evil is only for us -- not according to God's plan. It is true that, as long as we see it as such, it is so for us and for those who look at it from our point of view, but when it comes to God the whole dimension is changed, the whole point of view is changed.
The Sufi therefore, finds the only way out of the distress of life... He rises above it, taking all things as they come, patiently. He does not mind how he is treated. His principle is to do his best, and in that is his satisfaction. Instead of depending on another person to be kind to him, the Sufi thinks if he were kind to another person, that is sufficient. Every wise man in the long run through life will find in this principle the solution of happiness. For we cannot change the world, but we can change ourselves.
' You lose your boundaries '...
The most difficult thing for spiritual seekers to do is to stop struggling, striving, seeking, and searching.
Why?
Because in the absence of struggle you don't know who you are;
you lose your boundaries, you lose your separateness, you lose your specialness, you lose the dream you have lived all your life.
Eventually you lose everything that your mind has created and awaken to who you truly are:
the fullness of freedom, unbound by any identifications, identities, or boundaries
~~ Adyashanti
' It is Being '...
Different terms can be used to label this unique attainment.
It is insight, awakening, enlightenment.
It is Being, Truth, Consciousness.
It is Discrimination between the Seer and the Seen.
It is awareness of That Which Is.
It is the Practice of the Presence of God.
It is the Discovery of Timelessness.
All these words tell us something but they all fall short and do not tell us enough.
In fact they are only hints for farther they cannot go:
it is not on their level at all since it is the Touch of the Untouchable.
But never mind; just play with such ideas if you care too.
Ruminate and move among them.
Put your heart as well as head into the game.
Who knows one day what may happen?
Perhaps if you become still enough you too may know--as the Bible suggests.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 172
Paul Brunton
' Concentrate '...
Concentration and contemplation are great things; but no contemplation is greater than the life we have about us every day.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
As one goes further in the soul's unfoldment one finally arrives at the stage of revelation. Life begins to reveal itself, the whole of life, each soul becomes communicative -- not only living beings but each thing. They say that the twelve apostles knew all languages. It does not mean that they knew English, French and Italian, but that they knew every soul's language, as every soul has its own separate language. They began to perceive vibrations and so every evolved soul will feel the vibrations of every other soul, and every condition, every soul, every object in the world will reveal its nature and character to him. Sa'di, the Persian poet, has said, 'Once a soul has begun to read, every leaf of the tree becomes as a page of the sacred book of life'.
A keen observation of life in time awakens us to the fact that when once the light is thrown upon life, life begins to reveal itself. As Sa'adi has said, 'Even the leaves of the tree become as pages of the sacred book once the eyes of the heart are open.'
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.'...
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 You Are again '...
Ever since I stepped out of imagination
and into the Heart of things
I have become so much less spiritual.
Heaven, hell and earth
hold no meaning for me anymore.
For I am neither coming
nor going
nor staying put.
All I do is notice all the various ways
that Light weaves itself into dreams.
When someone asks me who they are
or what God is
I smile inside and whisper to the Light:
‘There you go again pretending …..’
- Adyashanti
' From Ego to Enlightenment '...
The journey from ego to enlightenment consists of one step taken countless times. You step out of your ego and into the light. But wait, hold on. The emptiness is too much for you to bear. There is no glare, only total darkness. For enlightenment begins there. The ego has it all wrong.
The ego is wrongness now facing itself for the first time. There is no brass band. Just the sheer horror of facing yourself without a mirror. No one to say they love you or will save you if you just play the game for one more day.
Where is God? He is definitely not in this first step toward Him. Do you think He would welcome you home without a test to see if you were worthy?
He is watching to see what you will do next. And He knows you will turn and run back to the supposed comfort of your ego. And so that is what you do.
But He is still with you, still watching you. Your flimsy ego is not too much for Him to take. But He cannot interfere with the process of homecoming.
Now you are hating yourself. Doubting yourself. Trying to pull yourself together to face the rest of the day in total fakery. You do it so well.
In the afternoon of that first day, you take that one step into the light half a dozen times. God is watching you.
You fall asleep on the sidewalk with drool coming out of your mouth. Your specialness has evaporated and night is coming.
Someone walks by and sees you. They take compassion on you and help you up. You are screaming no. You refuse to go back to your ego.
You look at the stranger in fury. "Leave me alone. Leave me alone." And so they do. And you stagger into the arms of God. He couldn't welcome you home until you saw how far you had fallen. How your sins outweighed your so-called good behavior.
This will go on until the day you die. Mea culpa becomes your favorite two words. God has become so intimate with you that He just smiles as you say those two words. He hears them as "I love you." And He, of course, has always loved you back. The journey from ego to enlightenment has always been His little joke on you.
-Vicki Woodyard
' Events in time and space '...
Events in time and space - birth and death,
cause and effect - these may be taken as one;
but the body and the embodied are not of the
same order of reality.
The body exists in time
and space, transient and limited, while the
dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and
all-pervading.
To identify the two is a grievous
mistake and the cause of endless suffering.
You can speak of the mind and body as one, but
the body-mind is not the underlying reality.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The One Way '...
If you wish to move in the One Way,
do not dislike the worlds of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to embrace them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise person attaches to no goals
but the foolish person fetters himself or herself.
There is one Dharma, without differentiation.
Distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the discriminating mind
is the greatest of mistakes.
- Seng-ts'an, Third Zen Patriarch
' Brahman '...
Brahman is the only truth,
the world is illusion,
and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and Self..
- Shankara
' When thine eye is single '...
"“When thine eye is single,” said Jesus mysteriously, “thy whole body also is full of light.”
This single eye is surely identical with the precious Third Eye of Indian mysticism, which enables the seer simultaneously to look in at his Emptiness and out at what’s filling it.
And the same, also, as the priceless gem which (according to Eastern tradition) we search everywhere for but here on our foreheads, where we all wear it."
-Douglas Harding
' The Nought '...
This mysterious experience seems also to have been known to Dionysius the Areopagite.
It is definitely an experience terminating the process of meditation, for the mystic can then go no higher and no deeper.
It is variously called the Nought in the West and Nirvikalpa Samadhi in the East.
Everything in the world vanishes and along with the world goes the personal ego; nothing indeed is left except Consciousness-in-itself.
If anything can burrow under the foundation of the ego and unsettle its present and future stability, it is this awesome event.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 8: The Void As Contemplative Experience > # 88
Paul Brunton
' To exist '...
To exist means to be something, a thing, a feeling,
a thought, an idea.
All existence is particular.
Only being is universal, in the sense that every
being is compatible with every other being.
Existences clash, being - never.
Existence means
becoming, change, birth and death and birth again,
while in being there is silent peace.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' I got it, I lost it '...
You are sitting on your porch and it is seen that all there is, is ‘This.’ There is no one there measuring whether this current experience is good or bad or better than some other past or future experience. In that moment, time stands still. The utter beauty and simplicity of ‘what is’ is realized. The story of self falls away. Then you go about your day and notice at some point that the peace left. The dream of self is back.
The sense of “I got it” is identification with a particular experience. It is the false belief that reality is supposed to look a certain way and that, when that certain way appears, you’ve somehow “got it.” The sense of “I lost it” is when the mind believes it has to get back to that experience once the experience is gone. This is a trap. All experiences are temporary. To continue looking for some past experience is to keep the search alive.
Enlightenment just means the recognition that whatever is appearing now is a perfect expression of awareness. The dream self can never recognize this because its only goal is to keep the time-bound story alive—to keep the search going. See that the trap of “I got it” and “I lost it” is the mind’s way of keeping that search going. That seeing allows the oscillation between “I got it” and “I lost it” to fade.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The Master Secret of the Ages '...
Suppose someone asked you to name the master secret of the ages..
What would you answer?
Atomic energy?
Interplanetary travel?
No, it is not any of these..
Then what is this master secret?..
Where can one find it?
How can it be understood and put into action?..
The answer is extraodinary simple..
This secret is the marvelous, miracle-working power found in your own sub-conscious mind..
This is the last place most people would look for it, which is the reason that so few find it...
-Joseph Murphy
' The Truth '...
The Luciferian devotees seek the energy of death for the benefit of their master..
This imaginary god of egoic-desire..
The Russian People have visited this room today with more than twice that of english speaking peoples of the world as they seek the peace and love of Reality..
The Awakened, realize the propaganda of american media to form 'mind control'..
The Awakened can easily see through the Dream..
Death is an illusion of ego and should not birth fear..
There is no fear within Love..
Love is Reality and cannot be destroyed by lies..
Jesus was murdered for His speaking of Truth..
Perhaps, we all will be,
but, We will live in Light and Love..
The Luciferians will live in fear and darkness..
This is the Truth..
-thomas
' The Unborn Buddha-mind '...
"That which transcends both the self and the other, that's what my
teaching is about.
Let me prove this to you:
While everyone is turned
this way to hear me, out back there may be sparrows chirping, human
voices calling, or the sighing of the wind.
But, without your
consciously trying to hear them, each of those sounds comes to you
clearly recognized and distinguished.
It's not you doing the hearing, so it's not a matter of the self.
But
since no one else does your hearing for you, you couldn't call it the
other!
When you listen this way with the Unborn Buddha-mind - you
transcend whatever there is."
Bankei-Zen Sage
' Realization of Reality '...
"Teach us to consider no other duty to be more important than our sacred duty to realize Thee."
Paramahansa Yogananda
Whispers From Eternity
Self-Realization Fellowship, 1949, p. 33
' Go beyond '...
In the light of consciousness all sorts of things happen and one need
not give special importance to any.
The sight of a flower is as
marvelous as the vision of God.
Let them be.
Why remember them and
then make memory into a problem?
Be bland about them;
do not divide
them into high and low, inner and outer, lasting and transient.
Go
beyond, go back to the source, go to the self that is the same
whatever happens.
Your weakness is due to your conviction that you
were born into the world.
In reality the world is ever recreated in
you and by you.
See everything as emanating from the light which is
the source of your own being.
- Nisargadatta
' The world is not real '...
When we say the world is not real,
we mean that it lacks intrinsic reality for it is an idea only in a mind,
an appearance only to something else.
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism >
Chapter 1: The Sensed World > # 44
Paul Brunton
' The Secret '...
We dance around in a ring and suppose,
but the Secret sits in the middle
and knows.
- Robert Frost
' Awareness '...
Question: From the standpoint of Consciousness, it would seem that enlightenment is a myth and so the search can end - nothing to do and no one to do anything. I get this intellectually but the seeking goes on and despair and frustration are the only outcomes...
Peter: This is a good point, something "each of us" seems to face at one time or another.
It sounds as if there is an identification with thoughts about Awareness, rather than identifying as, or simply being, Pure Awareness Itself. It also sounds as if "you" have done a lot of sincere studying and hard work on this.
Now it's time to "rest" and enjoy. Why?
Who alone is aware right there as You? Awareness or Self Itself is the only One being aware, conscious. It already is "at" Itself; It already is fully being Itself (and there is no other) so the "work" already is "done." Any continued attempt is actually futile. It sounds as if this is clear, too - no becoming and no other to become.
Let's call this already-present Awareness the New You, or Real You - which, again, is the Presence of Awareness Itself - and which NEVER fails to be present, to perfectly be what It is, and does not require any "work" to be present.
The New You is effortless. And this is your new homework assignment, given to You by Your Self: Make no effort at all. That means no more thinking about Awareness, no more thinking about enlightenment - because after all, New You (Pure Awareness) doesn't think. Stop reading. Stop looking on the computer for awhile. Stop trying.
- Peter Dzubian
' Understanding of cosmic truths '...
The luminous understanding of cosmic truths given him by this experience has still to be connected to,
and brought into relation with,
his everyday human character.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 8: Glimpses and Permanent Illumination > # 70
' Happiness '...
Happiness lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
What is really good? The answer is, there is no such thing as good or evil.
There is beauty. That which is beautiful, we call good. That which is ugly
compared with the beautiful, we call evil: whether it is custom, idea, thought
or action. This shows that this whole phenomenon of the universe is the
phenomenon of beauty. Every soul has an inclination to admire beauty, to seek
for beauty, to love beauty, and to develop beauty. Even God loves beauty.
In all ages the various religions have given different standards of good and
evil, calling them virtue and sin. The virtue of one nation has been the sin of
another. The virtue of the latter is the sin of the former. Travel as we may
through the world, or read the histories and traditions of nations as we may, we
shall still find that what one calls evil, another calls good. That is why no
one can succeed in making a universal standard for good and evil.
The
discrimination between good and evil is in man's soul. Every man can judge that
for himself, because in every man is the sense of admiration of beauty. But he
is not satisfied with what he does himself, he feels a discomfort, a disgust
with his own efforts. There are many people who continue some weakness or some
mistake, or who are intoxicated by some action which the world calls evil or
which they themselves call evil, yet go on doing it. But a day comes when they
also are disgusted. Then they wish for suicide. There is no more happiness for
them. Happiness only lies in thinking or doing that which one considers
beautiful. Such an act becomes a virtue or goodness. That goodness is beauty.
Man is always seeking for beauty, and yet he is unaware of the treasure of
beauty that is hidden in his own heart. He strives after it throughout his whole
life. It is as if he was in pursuit of the horizon: the further he proceeds, the
further the horizon seems to have moved away. For there are two aims: the one is
real, and the other false. That which is false is momentary, transitory, and
unreliable - wealth, power, fame, and position are all snatched from one hand by
the other.
... Man wants something in life upon which he can rely; and this
shows, whether he believes in a deity or not, that he is constantly seeking for
God. He seeks for Him not knowing that he is seeking for God. Nevertheless,
every soul is pursuing some reality, something to hold on to; trying to grasp
something which will prove dependable, a beauty that cannot change and that one
can always look upon as one's own, a beauty that one feels will last forever.
And where can one find it? Within one's own heart. And it is the art of finding
that beauty, of developing, improving, and spreading that beauty through life,
allowing it to manifest before the inner and outer view, which one calls the art
of the mystic.
' The moment of death '...
"For me the moment of death will be a moment of jubilation, not of fear.
I cried when I was born and I shall die laughing."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The notion of Grace '...
The notion of grace as given out in popular religion was helpful perhaps to
the masses but needs a large revision for the philosophic seekers.
It is
not granted at the whim of a Personal God nor solely after deserving
labours for it.
It is rather more like a steady permanent emanation from a
man's own Overself, always available, but of which he must partake by
himself.
If at times it seems to intervene specially on his behalf, that is
an appearance due to the immense wisdom in timing the release of a
particular good karma.
Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 5: Grace > # 77 Paul Brunton
' True Nature '...
"From the unknown past,
being conditioned by their own deeds
and deluded by two fundamental misconceptions,
people have wandered about in ignorance.
First,
they believed that the discriminating mind,
which lies at the root of this life of birth and death,
was their real nature;
and, second,
they did not know that,
hidden behind the discriminating mind,
they possessed a pure mind of Enlightenment
which is their true nature."
– THE TEACHING OF BUDDHA
BUKKYO DENDO KYOKAI 1994
' Talks with Ramana '...
D.: There must be stage after stage of progress for gaining the Absolute.
Are there grades of Reality?
M.: There are no grades of Reality. There are grades of experience
for the jiva and not of Reality.
If anything can be gained anew, it
could also be lost, whereas the Absolute is central - here and now.
-Talks with Ramana #139
' Do I really need it ?'...
It is the clinging to the false that makes the true so
difficult to see.
Once you understand that the false
needs time and what needs time is false, you are nearer
the Reality, which is timeless, ever in the now.
Eternity
in time is mere repetitiveness, like the movement of a
clock.
It flows from the past into the future endlessly,
as empty perpetuity.
Reality is what makes the present
so vital, so different from the past and future, which are
merely mental.
If you need time to achieve something,
it must be false.
The real is always with you; you need
not wait to be what you are.
Only you must not allow your
mind to go out of yourself in search.
When you want
something, ask yourself: do I really need it? and if the
answer is no, then just drop it.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' You search for God '...
As an individual consciousness, you search for existence..
Therefore, you search for Mother but find Father..
The gender of Reality is a joke worthy of laughing..
There is no gender within Truth..
You are Consciousness and nothing that the ego can present to you is Truth..
This Duality called Dream is fun within a monkeybar..
But, Duality is pain for the seeker of happiness..
Happiness is your goal, why are you wasting words and time within confusion ?..
You have received the knowledge of the eternal energy of Love, but you choose another road..
The ego becomes strong when it is challenged..
You are Consciousness,
only remember this...
-thomas
' A Complex Hologram '...
As reported by Phys Org, a collaborative study involving researches from Canada, Italy and the UK may have provided the first detectable evidence indicating that our universe may in fact be a ‘vast and complex hologram’. It’s an idea that’s been around since the 1990s — that everything we see around us exists on a flat, 2D surface, but we see everything in 3D because theuniverse acts like one giant hologram.
To explain the concept better, the common analogy used is to imagine the holographic universe as if you were watching a 3D movie in a movie theater. As movie-watchers, we see images on the screen as having height, width, and depth, even if they’re being projected on a 2D screen. In the case of our universe, it’s a bit more complicated because we can’t just see things, we can touch things too, which makes our perceptions ‘real’.
A holographic universe is a concept that appeals to physicists because it can potentially reconcile inconsistencies between quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Because although Einstein’s theory can explain large-scale aspects of the universe, it breaks down at quantum levels. In other words, it can’t explain quantum mechanics. And that just won’t do when describing what the early universe was like.
According to the researchers, proof for their theory can be found in the Big Bang’s ‘afterglow’ or its cosmic wave background. Through telescopes, they were able to detect a huge amount of data hidden in the afterglow following the beginning of the universe. They then compared this data with data from quantum field theory. What they found was that their equations appeared to reconcile irregularities between the Big Bang afterglow and quantum physics. And the only explanation for the universe working the way it does is that it must have been a hologram at that time, meaning, during the early stages when the universe was being formed, everything was being projected in 3D from 2D boundaries.
As University of Southampton Mathematical Sciences Professor Kostas Skenderis said: “The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card. However, this time, the entire universe is encoded.”
What exactly does the concept of a holographic universe mean for us? It might not have a direct impact that we can feel. But if it’s true, it will pave the way for the unification of two conflicting theories — general relativity and quantum mechanics. And that will in turn lead to a better understanding of how the universe began, and how time and space came about.
Findings of the study have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
http://wallstreetpit.com/112837-universe-hologram-just-illusions/
' God without Form '...
This transparent light-world is the source of creation, the cosmic birthplace, the home of dazzling primal energy.
Galaxies, universes, suns, and planets come forth from here.
The revelatory, blissful vision of God's Form may happen only once in a lifetime.
Beyond it all is God without Form--the still void.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 7: Contemplative Stillness > # 315
Paul Brunton
' You will find '...
"Go deep into the sense of `I am' and you will find.
How do you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotten?
You keep it in your mind until you recall it.
The sense of being, of `I am' is the first to emerge.
Ask yourself whence it comes or just watch it quietly.
When the mind stays in the `I am', without moving, you enter a state, which cannot be verbalized, but which can be experienced.
All you need to do is to try and try again.
After all the sense of `I am' is always with you, only you have attached all kinds of things to it- body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, possessions and so on.
All these self-identifications are misleading, because of these you take yourself to be what you are not."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' You are Enlightenment '...
You are Enlightenment.
From within our enlightened state we create our experience, but at no time do we move out of our Enlightenment.
You can't attain enlightenment because you already are enlightenment.
We only "think" otherwise.
We create our experience of suffering in "unenlightenment" through thinking.
When thinking is no longer created or believed, we rediscover that we have been in Enlightenment the whole time.
How amazing!
-Jackson Peterson to Dzogchen Discussion
' Philosophical Mystics '...
There are mystics who experience the Overself in its glow of love and joy of freedom, but without receiving knowledge of the cosmic laws, principles, and secrets.
There are other mystics who are not satisfied with the one alone but seek to unite and complete it with the other.
They are the philosophical mystics for whom the meaning of the self and the meaning of the world have become two sides of the same coin.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? >
Chapter 4: Its Realization Beyond Ecstasy > # 106
Paul Brunton
'The end is near '...
Fukushima nuclear has dissolved within the earth and water,
and yet, you fear global warming..
You have been duped..
Where are all the people of Japan to go ?..
The Oceans are dying and we call each other racist..
The time to be children is over..
Adulthood is the acceptance of fear and yet still proceeding..
This is also called courage.
Upon contemplation, you will remember that courage is the state of non-ego..
The Mystics see this as a television program,
knowing that it is a Dream of misery..
We know that We cannot die,
but the sight of misery needs to be addressed..
-thomas
' Use the polishing cloth '...
"To know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and transient is freedom, peace and joy.
It is all very simple.
Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them as they are.
When you can see everything as it is, you will also see yourself as you are.
It is like cleansing a mirror.
The same mirror that shows you the world as it is will also show you your own face.
The thought 'I am' is the polishing cloth. Use it."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Higher Reason '...
Discrimination, analysis, and contemplation aren't merely theoretical or intellectual; they belong to the overall process that Atmananda calls "higher reason" (which he provides traditional Vedantic terms for: vidya-vritti or viveka-vritti).
Higher reason is "reason" because it proceeds similarly to logic and inference.
It's "higher" because its source is awareness itself.
It transcends the mind.
In higher reason, premises are not learned concepts but the experiences of your own being, which can't seem unreasonable.
The conclusion of higher reasoning is a non-conceptal knowledge of your true nature.
Higher reason allows you to do self-inquiry without getting caught in the logical paradox of a mind trying to realize its own unreality.
That would be like a knife trying to cut itself. Because higher reason emanates from a source beyond the mind, it can examine the mind to discover its true nature.
-Greg Goode After Awareness p.90-1
' It must be a revelation '...
A rare but complete illumination must not only pass from the first to the final degree of intensity,
but must also contain a picture of the cosmic order.
That is to say, it must be a revelation.
It must explain the profounder nature of the universe,
the inner meaning of individual existence,
and the hidden relationship between the two.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 105
-- Perspectives > Chapter 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > # 31
Paul Brunton
' The experience of Silence '...
"All other knowledges are only petty and trivial knowledges;
the experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge.
Know that the many objective differences are not real but are mere superimpositions on Self,
which is the form of true knowledge."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' His point of view '...
Wisdom is not negation of anything.
Everything
is okay from His point of view.
That is why God
does not interfere with anything.
Everything is
okay for Him,
because every point of view is His
point of view.
- Swami Krishnananda
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
' There's nothing to do '...
"There’s nothing to do, no one to be, no responsibility, no meaning, no suffering, no death. You no longer believe yourself into a separate, distant polarity, where you’re identified as a tiny speck making grandiose efforts to prove that something is true.
Realizing that you’ve never left the original oneness means that you were never born and you can never die. What suppleness this realization allows! You’re immune to anything the mind would superimpose onto reality: any disappointment or sorrow.
If I lose all my money, good. If I get cancer, good. If my husband leaves me, good. If my husband stays, that’s good, too. Who wouldn’t always say yes to reality if that’s what you’re in love with? What can happen that I wouldn’t welcome with all my heart?"
-Byron Katie
' The futureless, pastless Now '...
The Short Path makes miracles possible,
because it leads through the gate of the timeless, futureless, pastless Now.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 1: Entering the Short Path > # 164
Paul Brunton
' Birthday '...
I have no use for, so do not keep, my own birthday anniversaries; hence I see no reason for abandoning this view in regard to my friend's anniversaries.
The only birthday I like to remember is not the conventional one which emphasizes awareness of the body nor the false one which identifies the "I" with it, but the true one which celebrates a spiritual illumination.
That is a day not to be forgotten which awakened the mind to its timeless existence in Mind. Birth into the kingdom of heaven is the only anniversary worth troubling about.
-- Notebooks Category 12: Reflections > Chapter 2:
Philosophy and Contemporary Culture > # 133
Paul Brunton
' Action '...
Yesterday’s reflection discussed the great unknown—a realization in which the "one who knows" is seen to be an illusion, leaving only ‘This.”
The thought-based self that reads that last statement may believe that, in allowing the great unknown to be realized, it will be paralyzed into inaction or an inability to use the mind for practical purposes. This is a common misunderstanding.
For example, take the act of fixing a computer. When there is a belief in the thought-based self ‘doing’ the fixing, frustration can arise very quickly. This frustration is then held onto—played out in a story of time.
Pretty soon the mind is complaining within a dream of time. It might say, “My son should have fixed this yesterday” or “I will never get this damn thing fixed!” Do you see the story of separation and suffering in that dream?
When the thought-based self is seen through and life is lived in the unknown, there is no one doing the ‘fixing.’ There is still conceptual knowledge being used to fix the computer. Action is still taken. But there is no one demanding life to happen in a certain way.
If frustration arises, it arises to no one. There is no carrying that frustration over into a story of time about how the computer should have been fixed yesterday or about how it may take days before it’s fixed. There is only ‘life’ fixing a computer.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' Real Poetry '...
Real poetry,
is to lead a beautiful life.
To live poetry is better than to write it.
-Matsuo Basho
' Speaking with God '...
The Mystics reading these words will remember the first conversation with the Father of Creation..
After the egoic desire has been surrendered, Spirit returns as light..
The Intelligence within Light absorbs the flow of Wisdom..
This Circle of Knowledge and Love is the True Heaven, spoken about..
" I, and the Father are One ", said, the Mystic..
This Knowledge of Creator and that which said;
" Let, there be Light"..
Yes, there is more Knowledge, than that of Creator..
This Silence of Thought called Pure Awareness,
awaits for the 'Prodigal son' to return..
The story continues for the fully curious...
-thomas
True Bliss '...
"All happiness comes from awareness.
The more we are conscious, the deeper the joy.
Acceptance of pain, non-resistance, courage and endurance -
these open deep and perennial sources of real happiness, true bliss."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Unknown '...
In spiritual seeking, the conceptual mind searches for meaning or release from suffering. Ultimately, the mind is looking for an answer to the question, “Who am I?” When the conceptual mind is involved in this seeking, questions beget answers, which beget more questions, and so forth. The final answers to life’s questions always appear out of reach, somewhere else, at some other time.
When it is seen that thought cannot solve this identity crisis, a fresh opportunity arises. This is not necessarily the end of thought, just the end of seeking a sense of self in it. The space within you that is already totally connected to this moment sees every attempt by the mind to “get it.”
In that seeing, there is a falling into a vast, spacious, silent unknown. “Non-duality” is that unknown.
It points to the realization that no dualistic answer can solve this great mystery. The mind freefalls unable to land solidly on any position. In this freefalling, nothing needs to be solved.
The questions die in the seeing. It is revealed that there is only ‘This’—the present play of life—and that this present reality is the answer.
What joy!
It is realized that the answer was always ‘This.’ The conceptual mind couldn't see it. It was too busy looking for some future ‘This’ or some idea of ‘This.’ Ideas are never the actual ‘This.’ They are second hand knowledge.
Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' I do not know '...
"Into crowded minds no revelation is possible.
In the stillness of the mind, that admits,
`I do not know,'
illumination is more apt to be achieved."
-Krishnamurti
' The control of minds '...
As Consciousness, You have accepted the role of human..
The 'mind' controls all human activity and decisions..
Therefore, for the masters of society to control all actions of the human,
they control information entering the mind..
Controlling information called propaganda is the main purpose of control..
You are now under the constant barrage of false information to form false decisions..
Look within the eyes of liars..
The soul is present and the eyes averted..
The soul is merely a recorder of events and does not control reality..
You will find yourself alone within Truth..
Always know that we will walk with you...
-thomas
' Find Yourself '...
Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury;
all the calamities flow from it.
Take care of
the most important, the lesser will take care
of itself.
You do not tidy up a dark room. You
open the windows first. Letting in the light
makes everything easy.
So, let us wait with
improving others until we have seen ourselves
as we are - and have changed.
There is no need
to turn around and around in endless questioning;
find yourself and everything will fall into its
proper place.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Present Moment '...
Whatever the present moment contains,
accept it as if you had chosen it.
Always work with it, not against it.
Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy.
This will miraculously transform your whole life.
- Eckhart Tolle,
' The Grand Illumination '...
The grand illumination itself is sudden but the process of achieving it is a task so complex that it can be carried through only by successive stages.
For the obstructions to be cleared on the way are heavy and numerous while the advances involve shifting from one tentative standpoint to another.
The way to ultimate being cannot be travelled in a single leap; there must be a time-lag until the moment when it actually dawns.
The interval naturally falls into elementary, intermediate, and advanced stages. Nothing once gained in yoga need be discarded; only we take it up into the wider gain which absorbs and preserves but also transcends it.
The newer knowledge does not disqualify the results of earlier investigations. For the price of advanced yoga must be paid partly out of the profits got from elementary yoga.
For want of a better term, we have sometimes designated the highly advanced meditation exercises here given as "ultramystic"--for a study of them will reveal that the common or popular forms of yoga do not exhaust the possibilities of man's quest of the Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 20
Paul Brunton
' Attitude needs readjustment '...
"Get hold of the main thing that the world and the self are one and perfect.
Only your attitude is faulty and needs readjustment.
This process of readjustment is what you call sadhana.
You come to it by putting an end to indolence and using all your energy to clear the way for clarity and charity.
But in reality these are all signs of inevitable growth.
Don't be afraid, don't resist, don't delay.
Be what you are.
There is nothing to be afraid of.
Trust and try.
Experiment honestly.
Give your real being a chance to shape your life.
You will not regret."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' A drop '...
"A drop
Melting into the sea,
Everyone can see.
But the sea
Absorbed
In a drop--
A rare one
can follow!"
-Kabir
Translated by Azfar Hussain
from Reading About the World, Volume 2
Edited by Paul Brians et al
Harcourt Brace Custom Books
' The not-self '...
To know itself the self must be faced with its opposite - the not-self.
Desire leads to experience.
Experience leads to discrimination, detachment, self-knowledge - liberation.
And what is liberation after all?
To know that you are beyond birth and death.
By forgetting who you are and imagining yourself a mortal creature,
you created so much trouble for yourself that you have to wake up,
like from a bad dream.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Reality of the Void '...
The illumined person must conform to the double action of nature in him, that is, to the outgoing and incoming breaths.
So his illumination must be there in the mind, and here in the body.
It is the two together which form the equilibrium of the double life we are called upon to live--being in the world and yet not of it.
In the prolongation of the expiring breath, we not only get rid of negative thought, but also of the worldliness, the materialism of keeping to the physical alone.
With the incoming breath we draw positive inspiring remembrance of the divine hidden in the void.
Hence we are there in the mind and here in the body.
We recognize the truth of eternity yet act in time.
We see the reality of the Void, yet know that the entire universe comes forth from it.
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity >
Chapter 2: The Double Standpoint > # 59
Paul Brunton
' Discover all you are not '...
"Discover all you are not.
Body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and not-being, this or that - nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is you.
A mere verbal statement will not do - you may repeat a formula endlessly without any result whatsoever.
You must watch yourself continuously - particularly your mind - moment by moment, missing nothing.
This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self from the not-self."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Mastering the self '...
Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of willpower.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.
- Lao-tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1989
' A Cosmic Cinema '...
Mentalism tells us not only that matter is an unreal show but also that motion is just the same.
The events and movements on a cinema film are not affecting or moving the white backsheet at all.
Yet withdraw matter and motion and the whole universe will become nothing more substantial than a cosmic cinema picture.
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 2:
The World As Mental > # 89
Paul Brunton
' Seek Source , first '...
There is a thread that runs through all things, times and places.
Once discovered, it is realized to be the sacred inner oracle; and serves as a lifeline that runs straight to the source.
It is the mitochondria of all form; which manifests as creative expression, destruction and preservation.
Therefore, seek the Source first and foremost; then all that is hidden from you will made visible by It's grace.
-Atreya Thomas
'Life is but a Dream '...
The young man sings below me and covers me with Consciousness..
This Consciousness is You..
You keep hiding and desireing..
You desire to stay within the illusion that you call life..
If, You only knew that,
You are the Dreamer..
And life was only a Dream...
-thomas
' Let me be empty '...
Such a strange request ..
We keep trying to become something,
perhaps, something called God..
This Voice called Love keeps calling,
a Voice that is not easily forgotten..
This Vibration of Love appears to welcome us into Truth..
The energy called Love knows that It is a binding of non-egoic Thought..
It also knows that It exists as the Thought of Consciousness..
As a Mystic, you already know that Consciousness is the Maestro of the Band..
As Consciousness, you must guide the sub-conscious mind (soul)..
The soul is a recorder of events, it does not judge of events or kindness..
You are Free and traveling within different ceilings of Thought,
Keep Thinking...
-thomas
' Pure Witness '...
"When the mind is quiet, we come to know ourselves as the pure witness.
We withdraw from the experience and its experiencer and stand apart in pure awareness, which is between and beyond the two.
The personality, based on self-identification, on imagining oneself to be something:
`I am this, I am that', continues, but only as a part of the objective world.
Its identification with the witness snaps."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' There is only Source '...
"'Twas my one Glory —
Let it be
Remembered,
I was owned of Thee —"
-Emily Dickinson
' Awareness is all there is '...
Awareness is all there is.
You can't say it comes from anywhere, because it is all that there is.
We talk about non-duality. It is never born; it never dies. It is just unceasing. It is constantly and ever and all that there is.
Yet, it is no thing that can be grasped in any way, shape or form. It has no beginning and no end, no time, no space. All those things appear in it.
They are all things. And things can't grasp what to the thing is no thing. It can't grasp it. It is just like asking 'where does space come from?'
when you ask 'where does awareness come from?' Can you find a centre to space? Can you find a circumference to space? Can you postulate anything outside of space? What would it be in? It must be in space! It is the same with awareness. It is everywhere. It is every 'when'. It is all times and all places.
- Sailor Bob Adamson
' From Consciousness -- There Are No Mistakes '...
No matter how much you have achieved here, unless you know the
living truth you are like a seed that has not sprouted and you have
missed the true purpose of human existence.
And even if your life has been full of suffering and mistakes, it takes only this knowing to redeem it and retrospectively endow the seemingly meaningless with profound meaning.
If all your mistakes have taken you to this point, this realization,
how could they have been mistakes?
"I am not what happens, but the space in which it happens." This knowing, this living truth, frees you from identification with form,
from time as well as from a false, mind-made sense of self.
What is that space in which everything happens?
Consciousness prior to form.
~ Eckhart Tolle- The Diamond in Your Pocket (Foreword)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)