' Are You a Mystic ? '...
Of course, You are a Mystic..
To become aware that You and the Father are One is the First Reality..
The Final Reality is the complete Freedom of the domination of ego and is called Pure Awareness..
You need no longer than two sentences..
-thomas
' Causation '...
But why worry so much about causation?
What do causes
matter, when things themselves are transient?
Let come what
comes and let go what goes - why catch hold of things and
inquire about their causes?
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' What then are you ? '...
“It is so very easy to get confused by all the various teachings and descriptions of awakening. It’s very important to stay focused on one thing at a time and not to try to make sense of the many different spiritual teachings.
Since awakening relates to the reality of you, it will be best to focus only on that for now. To stay with one simple instruction in a sustained way is a challenge in and of itself. The mind is so addicted to believing that by collecting more and more information you will attain some advantage. However, in matters of the spirit less is often more. With this in mind, let me give you a simple instruction:
Come to see that any idea, image, memory, role, or bodily feeling is not truly you but rather, they are experiences that arise within you. They all occur within awareness. Look to see, is there someone who is aware, or is awareness aware?
What then are you?
Be still and don’t think about it. Simply observe. Rest and abide in the sense and presence of awareness. Keep it simple. Put all other questions aside and focus on direct experience rather than mental commentary or speculation.”
~ Adyashanti
' Mind is the Real '...
MIND is the Real, Energy is its appearance.
Matter is the form taken by radiation or energy.
It is not that the truth lies between two extremes but that it lies above both.
-- Notebooks Category 27: World-Mind >
Chapter 2: Nature of World-Mind > # 66
Paul Brunton
' Stillness of the Eternal '...
You may get rid of every object of thought and, seemingly, of every thought itself until there is only a void.
But even then you will still be thinking the void and consequently holding a "thought."
It will not be the true void.
The thinking "I" must itself be eliminated.
Only when this is done will all activity truly cease and the stillness of the Eternal be truly known.
This can be realized by some kind of mystical practice only and not by conceptual effort.
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity >
Chapter 5: The Void As Metaphysical Fact > # 24
Paul Brunton
' Sense It yourself first '...
So really what it comes down to, it's God.
Wherever you look, it's God
appearing as this, that, and what you really love and appreciate in each form
is the divine formless out of which each form comes.
But to be able to sense
that you have to sense it in yourself first.
And that is seeing the beauty in
everything, that's really what it means.
~Eckhart Tolle
' Nothing is Gained with Enlightenment '...
I once lived in an apartment so small I had to step outside into the adjacent
hallway to open my oven door. There was room only for a bed, a radio, and a
cardboard carton of books. I kept my clothes in a closet down the hall.
Even
in this confined space, there was housework to be done. Indeed, the demands
of maintenance follow us wherever we find ourselves, from palaces to prison
cells.
The Italian poet Cesare Pavese wrote in his journal that we never remember
days, we remember only moments. And Zen teachers tell us that this moment
is the only one we’ll ever have. Perhaps this is a better way of looking at
enlightenment. It’s not achieving or gathering something.
Nor is it losing or
overcoming something else. It’s simply stepping outside of the room you’re in
and allowing the oven door to open. It’s checking the ceiling overhead and
cleaning up the spills beneath your feet.
- Gary Thorp, "The Dust Beyond the Cushion"
' I'll fly away '...
The path is correct except the concept of 'I'..
The Energy released within Transition could explode dimensions..
You keep seeing 'I'..
Has, it not become boring ?..
To see Truth is always painful..
Until, you Realize that Truth is Freedom..
Dreams of separation become the realities of humans..
But, what is left without search and find ?..
-thomas
' Adventures for the adventurous '...
Whatever name be given to this exercise, whether "As If" or another, its essence is to consider the goal as already reached, to convert the end of the quest into the beginning.
Is this too audacious an assumption?
This elicits counter-questions.
Why remain within the circle of the probable as if the circle of the possible did not also exist?
Where did the saying "Adventures are for the adventurous" come from if not from human experience?
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 120 Paul Brunton
' A Movement in Consciousness '...
Movement in Consciousness, and nothing
else, constitutes the mind and all its
experience of the phenomenal universe.
To realize this is the cessation of thought
and liberation from the bondage of ego as
mind and experience.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' The end of the Quester '...
The end of the quest is the end of the quester.
No longer does he identify Being with the little routine self,
awareness with the ordinary ego.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 5: Balancing the Paths > # 209
Paul Brunton
' The Tao '...
"Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm at the end
as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.”
~ Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching
' Sit down and forget '...
"Yen Hui said, 'I'm getting better.'
Confucius said, 'What do you mean?'
'I have forgotten kindness and justice.'
'Fine, but that's not enough.'
On another occasion, they met again and Yen Hui said, 'I've improved.'
Confucius said, 'What do you mean?'
'I have forgotten rituals and music.'
'Good, but that is still not enough.'
On another occasion they met and Yen Hui said, 'I'm getting better.'
Confucius said, 'What do you mean?'
'I can sit right down and forget everything.'
Confucius was certainly disturbed by this and said, 'What do you mean by sit right down and forget?'
Yen Hui replied, 'My limbs are without feeling and my mind is without light. I have ignored my body and cast aside my wisdom. Thus I am united with the Tao. This is what sitting right down and forgetting is.'
Chuang Tzu
in Martin Palmer with Elizabeth Breuilly, Translators.
The Book of Chuang Tzu
NY: Penguin Arkana, 1996, pp. 57-58
' You cannot chase God '...
The billions of human organisms are merely instruments through which God or Totality or Consciousness is functioning.
It is the only power that has been functioning all these thousands of years, and it is that power that is functioning now and that power will continue to function.
It is an illusion for us to think that we are doing whatever we are doing.
You cannot chase God.
At the right time and place God will chase you.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Truth is simple '...
”Truth is simple and open to all.
Why do you complicate?
Truth is loving and lovable.
It includes all, accepts all, purifies all.
It is untruth that is difficult and a source of trouble.
It always wants, expects, demands. Being false, it is empty, always in search of confirmation and reassurance.
It is afraid of and avoids enquiry.
It identifies itself with any support, however weak and momentary.
Whatever it gets, it loses and asks for more.
Therefore put no faith in the conscious.
Nothing you can see, feel, or think is so.
Even sin and virtue, merit and demerit are not what they appear.
Usually the bad and the good are matter of convention and custom and are shunned or welcomed, according to how the words are used."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Final Reality '...
While within the First Reality,
questions must be presented to the Father for knowledge..
While existing as Light and Love, the pleasure of existence is present..
But, this existence as Light and Love still desires answers..
Shall I return to the Dream ?..
Questions are given to the Father and answers must be given..
What must also be learned ?..
Ask the Father,
" Is this the final reality ?"..
At this point, when only silence enters the room,
you will know the answer...
-thomas
' The Light '...
Now, the light which shines above this heaven,
above all the worlds, above everything,
in the highest worlds not excelled by any other worlds,
that is the same light which is within man.
Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
The Upanishads in Four Volumes
Translated by Swami Nikhilananda
' Ishvara '...
Ishvara (God) is an object as a tree is an object.
Your point of view in respect of the Absolute is
called Ishvara. It is a point of view only, it does
not really exist. If you cease to exist, it also goes.
You will not see Ishvara when you reach the
Absolute.
It is like an X in mathematics. It is a great help
in finding a solution but it is not in itself existing
there. Without it you cannot have the solution
and it in itself has no meaning. Ishvara cannot
be avoided as long as the world is seen with
your eyes.
The Ishvara concept is an automatic outcome
of your belief in the reality of the world and
when the world exists, Ishvara has to exist
as the cause thereof, but if the world does not
exist, Ishvara need not exist because if the
effect is not there, what is the use of the cause?
- Swami Krishnananda
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
' Experience '...
Through the portal of a merely metaphysical world-view one enters a dry barren realm which, although it is actually remote from experience, yields the deceptive illusion that it is the very essence of experience.
Here the student may perform successful logical somersaults and verbal contortions but he cannot successfully realize truth.
-- Notebooks Category 7: The Intellect >
Chapter 7: Metaphysics of Truth > # 35
Paul Brunton
' The Final Reality '...
While within the First Reality,
questions must be presented to the Father for knowledge..
While existing as Light and Love, the pleasure of existence is present..
But, this existence as Light and Love still desires answers..
Shall I return to the Dream ?..
Questions are given to the Father and answers must be given..
What must also be learned ?..
Ask the Father,
" Is this the final reality ?"..
At this point, when only silence enters the room,
you will know the answer...
-thomas
' The First and Final Reality '...
To become aware that You and the Father are One is the First Reality..
The Final Reality is the complete Freedom of the domination of ego and is called Pure Awareness...
-thomas
' You have become a Mystic '...
A strange sound within the western caucasions..
The Russian influence of nomenclature is welcoming..
The humans of Dream meet within words..
Somehow, you have become a 'Mystic'..
Usually, this is placed within the male gender,
The ego of the male is fueled with testosterone..
Do not blame them for chemicals..
The man without knowledge is a child seeking existence within this Dream..
A 'Women's Voice ',
It is difficult for the ying-yang of creation to blend as Libra..
The thought of gender is only a Dream..
My buddy , the Nazarene, told me so...
namaste, thomas
' Ping-pong '...
Don’t play ping-pong with your mind.
Simply stay as the detached witnessing presence.
When left alone, mind calms down by itself.
But don’t wait for this to happen.
Just stay as the unmixed presence.
Watch without interest or identity.
Come fully into your power.
- Mooji
' False-identification '...
Go back to that state of pure being where the "I am" is still in its purity before it got contaminated with "this I am" or "that I am".
Your burden is of false-identifications - abandon them all.
-Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Jackson Peterson: A Deterministic Reality '...
The perfect wisdom of the Buddha Mind is what is projecting all that is experienced.
As clairvoyance develops one can see what is already determined to happen in the future, as I described in the first chapter of my book.
One also gains the ability to see clearly what happened in the past, including past lives as I also described as actual experiences.
The entirety of past and future is already “written” within the Crystal Prism (wisdom data-bank, wave function) contained within the space of the Wisdom Eye just behind the forehead which includes both eyes. By developing and activating the “third eye” or Wisdom Eye, one can access this information.
The light from the heart rises through the subtle light channel of the “kati” and illuminates the “movie frames” within the Wisdom Eye that then project outward as our multi-colored 3D experience and inward as our inner mental experience. The movie of our lives is already complete and finished. We are only illuminating it frame by frame, which ultimately reveals the total perfection of its design.
There is no free-will or autonomous action possible, yet it can fully feel like there is; that’s the beauty of the design.
Whatever you think or feel or do, is always simply that pre-determined movie frame being illuminated. All “cause and effect” are already in the script with no actors originating any actions of their own.
Because it’s only the movie of the Great Perfection playing, the movie contains no defects. So one can completely relax, but only if total relaxation is written in the script.
But remember, it’s just a movie, a projection of empty images that seem so real. When attention releases from the movie projections, then attentive consciousness reverts back to the projector itself; then what is being shared here, is fully known.
' The True Religion '...
"The true religion to the sufi is the sea of truth and all of the different faiths are its waves."
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Gayan
London: Sufi Publishing Co, 1974 (1923), p. 67
' Perpetual rebirth '...
Bergson was right. His acute French intelligence penetrated like an eagle's sight beneath the world-illusion and saw it for what it is--a cosmic process of continual change which never comes to an end, a universal movement whose first impetus and final exhaustion will never be known, a flux of absolute duration and therefore unimaginable.
And for the sage who attains to the knowledge of THAT which forever seems to be changing but forever paradoxically retains its own pure reality, for him as for the ignorant, the flux must go on. But it will go on here on this earth, not in the same mythical heaven or mirage-like hell.
He will repeatedly have to take flesh, as all others will have to, so long as duration lasts, that is, forever. For he cannot sit apart like the yogi while his compassion is too profound to waste itself in mere sentiment. It demands the profound expression of sacrificial service in motion.
His attitude is that so clearly described by a nineteenth-century agnostic whom religionists once held in horror, Thomas Huxley: "We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than it was before he entered it."
The escape into Nirvana for him is only the escape into the inner realization of the truth whilst alive: it is not to escape from the external cycle of rebirths and deaths. It is a change of attitude. But that bait had to be held out to him at an earlier stage until his will and nerve were strong enough to endure this revelation. There is no escape except inwards. For the sage is too compassionate to withdraw into proud indifferentism and too understanding to rest completely satisfied with his own wonderful attainment.
The sounds of sufferings of men, the ignorance that is the root of these sufferings, beat ceaselessly on the tympanum of his ears. What can he do but answer, and answer with his very life--which he gives in perpetual reincarnation upon the cross of flesh as a vicarious sacrifice for others. It is thus alone that he achieves immortality, not by fleeing forever--as he could if he willed--into the Great Unconsciousness, but by suffering forever the pains and pangs of perpetual rebirth that he may help or guide his own.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 4: The Sage's Service > # 17
-- Perspectives > Chapter 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > # 64 Paul Brunton
' Anthony Damiani from Standing in Your Own Way '...
No ego is going to surrender itself unless it has reached the profoundest level of understanding. That comes either through the satiation of experience or this profundity of understanding, where the ego then realizes that it has to make that effort. And of course, Grace will have to come in to help it, but this is the point we're getting at, all right?
So after that point is reached, when the ego does reach that point, and it's willing to surrender itself and Grace does intervene, then enlightenment occurs. Now, we've got to stop right here, because then if you say, "Who is enlightened?" it is not the ego, it is the Void Mind itself that has recognized itself through that ego.
But I want to stop right there. You've got to realize the terrible orders he's giving you. I mean, this is an ordeal. The ego has to refine itself. Nobody else is going to do it. No one else is going to teach you. Isn't that the point of the quote?
quote referred to:
"ALTHOUGH we may grant the fact that it is the ego which is seeking truth, we must insist on the completing truth that the ego is never the finder of truth".
(v6, 8:4.440)
' Loving others as yourself '...
”Do not pretend that you love others as yourself.
Unless you have realized them as one with yourself, you cannot love them.
Don't pretend to be what you are not, don't refuse to be what you are.
Your love of others is the result of self-knowledge, not its cause.
Without self-realization, no virtue is genuine.
When you know beyond all doubting that the same life flows through all that is and you are that life, you will love all naturally and spontaneously.
When you realize the depth and fullness of your love of yourself, you know that every living being and the entire universe are included in your affection.
But when you look at anything as separate from you, you cannot love it for you are afraid of it.
Alienation causes fear and fear deepens alienation.
It is a vicious circle.
Only self-realization can break it.
Go for it resolutely."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Personal love '...
“Love is the supreme blessing of life; love as love is universal.
Personal love is concentrated universal love.
Ah, my heart flows, when I say:
‘Personal love is concentrated universal love.’”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Love and God
Fairfield, IA: Maharishi International University Press, 1972 (1965)
' self-renunciation '...
The wisdom that one is offered the opportunity to learn through experiences of suffering should lead not only to some self-renunciation, but also to some true self-humblement beneath the will of destiny, which has revealed itself as insuperable.
Once he becomes inwardly submissive, he will find that time quickly heals its own wounds, and that a great peace will be bestowed on his inner life.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience >
Chapter 1: Situation > # 408 Paul Brunton
' Sunday Night '...
Is it not strange that you as consciousness has survived war and death, to still appear within manifestation ?..
What is there, to seek ?..
Perhaps, music is an answer..
Perhaps, Love is an answer..
This little game of holograms must lead to peace..
The ego of the stealing of power, which is not Love..
Light appears to this consciousness as more pleasant than that of only the darkness of thought, but selfishness is present..
To eliminate this pain called 'egoic-desire' is most difficult..
To surrender every object, worked for within life,
perhaps, even life itself...
-namaste, thomas
' The present moment '...
Do not dwell in the past,
do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Gautama the Buddha
' Love gives meaning '...
"Love is the reflection of God's unity in the world of duality.
It constitutes the entire significance of creation.
If love is excluded from life, all the souls in the world assume complete externality to each other and the only possible relations and contacts in such a loveless world are superficial and mechanical.
It is because of love that the contacts and relations between individual souls become significant.
It is love which gives meaning and value to all the happenings in the world of duality.
But, while love gives meaning to the world of duality, it is at the same time a standing challenge to duality.
As love gathers strength, it generates creative restlessness and becomes the main driving power of that spiritual dynamic which ultimately succeeds in restoring to consciousness the original unity of being."
Meher Baba
Discourses
San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented, 6th ed., 1967, vol. 1. p. 164
http://discoursesbymeherbaba.org/v1-164.php
' A Great Peace '...
The wisdom that one is offered the opportunity to learn through experiences of suffering should lead not only to some self-renunciation,
but also to some true self-humblement beneath the will of destiny,
which has revealed itself as insuperable.
Once he becomes inwardly submissive,
he will find that time quickly heals its own wounds,
and that a great peace will be bestowed on his inner life.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience >
Chapter 1: Situation > # 408 Paul Brunton
' The Spiritual Guide '...
The greatest Guru is helpless as long as the disciple is not
eager to learn.
Eagerness and earnestness are all-important.
Confidence will come with experience.
Be devoted to your
goal - and devotion to him who can guide you will follow.
If your desire and confidence are strong, they will operate
and take you to your goal, for you will not cause delay by
hesitation and compromise.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY LOSE OURSELF? '...
A very strange thing happens in life: the very essence of who we are fades into non-recognition.
Understandably so when this happens, the experience of life starts to feel uncomfortable, and as the disconnection grows the uncomfortableness intensifies.
The returning of attention onto this essential core of our existence is a game changer.
This shift in attention is a shift from head to heart, a shift from experiencing everything through a filter of belief, judgement and thought to simply finding that there is another podium to stand at.
Drop out of the obsessive thinking about how things should or shouldn't be, about yourself and the other, and in that moment you'll find you ARE, untouched by all that's happened, and you'll smile. That's your reconnection to Source.
Peace for now.
-Roger Castillo
' The Illuminate '...
The illuminate can transmit his grace directly from mind to mind or indirectly by means of the
visual glance, the physical touch, the spoken word, or the written letter.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 5: Teaching Masters, Discipleship > # 269 Paul Brunton
' Pure Awareness '...
The 'I Am ' is the first Reality of Consciousness..
It is the space of Creative Dreaming of manifestation..
'It' is the Father and Son reunion..
The Prodigal Son returns to Reality..
But, this space of Dream remains within separation from Pure Awareness..
The 'Final Reality' exists within the ego that declares, "I Am "..
It is the state of Nothingness,
otherwise known as Pure Awareness..
-thomas
' God Dreaming '...
Death is that of egoic desire..
The manifestation of life is a Dream..
Sometimes, We wake up..
Love is something that is found when ego flees..
We cannot die,
because we are a Dream from God...
-thomas
' You Are '...
You are the sky and the ground.
You alone the day, the night air.
You are all things born into being.
Also, these flower offerings
that someone brought.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Consciousness has evolved '...
"When you realize what and who you are, completely, absolutely, and thoroughly, there's no doubt at all, and therefore, no suffering.
Suffering no longer exists for that person because they are no longer struggling with a conceptual me who is in opposition to what is.
The separate me is transcended.
Even consciousness is transcended.
That is a liberated person - liberated from ignorance of misunderstanding.
This is enormous in its implications for consciousness as a whole because every time one person realizes the Self, consciousness as a whole has evolved."
~ Adyashanti
The Impact of Awakening
' The Ultimate Observer '...
If there is not to be an endless series of observers,
which would be unthinkable,
there must be an ultimate one,
itself unobserved and self-illuminated.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 256 Paul Brunton
' Reality '...
Do not be fooled by politics,
They are two sides of the same coin of ego..
We are searching for the enjoyment called Love..
If you allow the vibrations of negativity to enter the ether surrounding the souls, you will fail the test of Reality..
The ego will demand anger and violence,
the Heart will demand Love..
It is not difficult to die for Love..
It is called, returning Home...
-thomas
' This is a mistake '...
All spiritual teachings are only meant to make us retrace
our steps to our Original Source.
We need not acquire
anything new, only give up false ideas and useless accretions.
Instead of doing this, we try to grasp something strange and
mysterious because we believe happiness lies elsewhere.
This is a mistake.
- Ramana Maharshi
' Words are paradoxical '...
The words of truth are always paradoxical.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu
' Flowers '...
The sheikh of the Halveti order in Istanbul, Sunbul Efendi, in looking
for a successor, sent his disciples forth to get flowers to adorn the
lodge.
All of them returned with large bunches of lovely flowers; only
one of them came back with a small, withered plant.
When asked why he
did not bring anything worthy of his master, he answered,
"I found all
the flowers busy recollecting the Lord--how could I interrupt this
constant prayer of theirs?
I looked, and one flower had finished its
recollection.
That one I brought."
It was he who became the next
sheikh.
Annemarie Schimmel
as collected by James Fadiman & Robert Frager
' It is only Tuesday Night '...
And yet the vision that I see are the elements of mind control that speak lies and false flags..
Are the other humans awake to deception ?..
War hides under the screaming of words..
It is so strange that Divine Consciousness would visit the yin and yang of Dreams..
But, this is the balance of Intellect that decides which road to travel..
To Know the True Path, many dead ends are entered..
Knowing that life is short for the human experience, we must not fear the future..
We are not the future, We have always existed as this moment, this Now..
We remain the Observer and thus, do not feel pain..
The voltage of the hologram runs down, to be recharged by desires..
Desires are the prison that promises happiness but delivers fear..
-thomas
' self-surrender '...
The indispensable prerequisite to mystical illumination is self-surrender.
No man can receive it without paying this price.
Any man in any degree of development may pay it--he has to turn around, change his attitude, and accept the Christ, the higher self, as his sovereign.
But once this happens and the Grace of illumination descends, it can affect the self only as it finds the self.
An unbalanced ego will not suddenly become balanced.
An unintellectual one will not suddenly become learned.
His imperfections remain though the light shines through them.
-- Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life > Chapter 4: Surrender > # 70
Perspectives > Chapter 18: The Reverential Life > # 38 Paul Brunton
' You begin to awaken '...
The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not “the thinker.”
The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.
You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence.
You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind.
You begin to awaken.
~ Eckhart Tolle
' Not the personality '...
Meditation is being free to the belief of being a separate person - then the byproducts of this freedom we reap in due time.
We have to start from freedom.
This freedom begins when we choose not to be identified with the personality.
~ Francis Lucille
' Just keep it in mind '...
”Anything you do for the sake of enlightenment takes you nearer.
Anything you do without remembering enlightenment puts you off.
But why complicate?
Just know that you are above and beyond all things and thoughts.
What you want to be, you are it already.
Just keep it in mind."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Mundaka Upanishad '...
"Brahman is supreme;
He is self-luminous,
He is beyond all thought.
Subtler than the subtlest is he,
Farther than the farthest,
Nearer than the nearest.
He resides in the lotus of the heart of every being."
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.7
' The vanished world's existence '...
Thus it became clear from both these initiations that it was all-important to rid the mind of the ego, or rather, of its crushing tyranny. This could not be the result of a single and sudden act, nor of years of disciplinary toil, but of a combination of the one leading to the other, of the Long Path leading to what is called the Short Path.
Although it properly belongs to my experience of philosophic initiation, it is perhaps interesting to note at this point that in the deep meditations accompanying that initiation I went through a stage where the ego's consciousness was annihilated so utterly and where pure consciousness, not centered or divided in any way, was so overwhelming that God alone reigned as I AM. There was then no duality of person and Overself, no hint even of the cosmic mysteries involved in the vanished world's existence.
And that is really the Truth: there is no second entity or power. There is only God.
-- Notebooks Category 12: Reflections >
Chapter 1: Two Essays > # 2
Paul Brunton
' Truth is found within experience '...
Truth is only found within experience..
The tales of others are fabrications and lies leading to power..
The three sins of pain are power, wealth and fame..
The ego cries within separation..
To be separate and within is a question to be answered..
The ego will lead you into puzzles which should be abandoned..
The only Truth is the energy called Love..
All other Thought is without value...
-thomas
' Pure Mind '...
“I do not dispute with the world; rather it is the world that disputes with me.”
“All experiences are preceded by mind, having mind as their master, created by mind.”
“If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows them like a never-departing shadow.”
“Radiate boundless love towards the entire world…”
“Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life,
even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.”
- Gautama the Buddha
' Death '...
The Transition of Dream to Reality is often a painful event within human mind..
The Dream dissolves and We find our self within a higher frequency of existence..
To some, it will appear as a heaven or hell according to the desires of Heart..
But, this is just a new road to walk..
No one dies..
The egoic desire now appears as the Dreamer or Creator of illusions..
Beyond this point is called non-ego..
Or what we name as Pure Awareness..
Whatever you desire will become reality within Dreams..
Do not fear, whatever you love will not be separated from you..
namaste, thomas
' Trust in God '...
"If you trusted in God as you should,
He would sustain you even as He sustains the birds,
which in the morning go forth hungry,
and return in the evening filled."
Prophet Muhammad
Bukari, al-Sahih, Riqaq, n. 463
quoted in Suleyman Derin
From Rabi`a to Ibn al-Farid Towards Some Paradigms of the Sufi Conception of Love
Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies The University of Leeds, 1999
' My dear Sir '...
”All that a guru can tell you is:
'My dear Sir, you are quite mistaken about yourself.
You are not the person you take yourself to be."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' All-encompassing Self '...
Oh ego, none of your claims are true.
Keep quiet with a heart of devotion to the Real,
and the all-encompassing Self will be spontaneously known.
- Mooji
' The bond called Love '...
All the experiences of human life and non-material life exists within stories that begin within imagining, which is called 'Dream'..
These stories are created for entertainment and learning..
Both, between the Dreamer and the Dreamed..
Therefore, the false-self becomes the master of material self and is often known as the 'ego'..
There is a 'binding', a 'glue', a 'non-separation' of Pure Thought and the engagement of this bonding of the non-selfish desire,
we call this bond of non-ego, 'Love'..
Yes, the word is diminutive,
but, so is Humility..
-thomas
' Thought creates manifestation '...
However you believe the world to be, that’s
exactly how the world will present itself to you.
You are always living your life out into your
beliefs about how life is.
You’ll see something in your life whenever you
begin to believe it strongly enough.
It’s not the other way around.
In fact, you’re creating your own private hell
every day through your attachment to your
belief that this, right here and right now,
is not heaven.
- Chuck Hillig
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
' No trace is left '...
”The world is like a sheet of paper on which something is typed.
The reading and the meaning will vary with the reader, but the paper is the common factor, always present, rarely perceived.
When the ribbon is removed, typing leaves no trace on the paper.
So is my mind - the impressions keep on coming, but no trace is left."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Overself '...
Let it never be forgotten what earlier studies have iterated and re‑iterated. The Overself is the real teacher in the heart, the one initiator of all struggling aspirants. It is the final bestower of insight. It is the benign mediator of grace to the imploring ego. It is not a theoretical presence but a living one with whom the aspirant can remotely or intimately commune. It can liberate him from his ignorance, instruct him in super‑intellectual truth and guide him to philosophic enlightenment.
All his efforts in yoga should be interfused with warm devotion to the inner reality for unless he really loves it he will never unite with it. He should therefore comprehend that a leading principle of all these ultramystic meditation exercises is that success ultimately depends not on the conscious efforts he puts forth but on the mysterious reaction to those efforts. This does not of course mean that the efforts are valueless in themselves for without them there would be no reaction.
It means that the over‑conscious gets to work independently upon him at a certain stage. When this actually manifests itself it will not be during any of his struggles to obtain it but during the periods of cessation from those struggles, not during positive concentration but during the absence of concentration. It becomes articulate not during the thinking about it but during the intervals of not thinking about it.
Henceforth, whatever has to he done, will not be done by himself. Instead, it will be done to him. He will be taken by the hand, as it were, and led into the profound stillness which guards the threshold of the Overself. Across that threshold he will receive the reply to the question: What Am I? Like a loving mother the Overself will take its progeny up into itself at this wonderful moment of initiation and thus the inner rebirth will occur. It will come as the culmination of long striving but it is not
itself an act of striving. For only the divine grace can bring it about.
Paul Brunton- WOTO The Mystical Phenomena of Meditation
' Two steps to Freedom '...
The first step is to Realize that You are Divine Consciousness.
The next step is to surrender, even this desire and be absorbed back home into 'Pure Awareness'.
Pure Awareness is the state of existence of Pure Thought without the desire for separation from Source..
This is the state of non-egoic desire, otherwise known as 'Love'...
-thomas
' Nothingness of the self-image '...
”Unless you make tremendous efforts, you will not be convinced that effort will take you nowhere.
The self is so self-confident that unless it is totally discouraged it will not give up.
Mere verbal conviction is not enough.
Hard facts alone can show the absolute nothingness of the self-image."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Call of the search '...
The more desperately you seek love
the more you communicate to the universe
that you are unworthy of it.
Your job is not to seek love, then,
but to be it,
know it as your essence,
feel it infuse your very being,
hear it drip from your in-breath,
and shimmer through your out-breath.
Call off the search. Love is You.
- Jeff Foster
' The nature of the Real '...
We must get to the very source of those deep-seated karmic, mental, and emotional tendencies if we would attain the Real which they obscure.
When this is done a tremendous sense of liberation is experienced, an inner revolution undergone, and then follows the "lighting flash" of insight into the nature of the Real.
-- Perspectives > Chapter 4:
Elementary Meditation > # 64
Paul Brunton
' Love and affection '...
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection”
— Gautama the Buddha
' Action '...
”By all means attend to your duties.
Action, in which you are not emotionally involved and which is beneficial and does not cause suffering will not bind you.
You may be engaged in several directions and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with a mirror like mind, which reflects all, without being affected."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Each of us '...
Each of us inevitable,
Each of us limitless --
Each of us with his or her
right upon the earth,
Each of us allow'd
the eternal purports
of the earth,
Each of us here
as divinely as any is here.
- Walt Whitman
from “Leaves of Grass”
' 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
' What remains is reality '...
If I ask you what is the taste of your mouth,
all you can do is to say:
it is neither sweet
nor bitter nor sour nor astringent; it is what
remains when all these tastes are not.
Similarly, when all distinctions and reactions are
no more, what remains is reality, simple
and solid.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Cosmic Mind '...
The existence of "archetypal ideas" or "divine thoughts" can be proven to exist nowhere else except in his own mind, therefore they have no more reality, no more value, and no more duration than other thoughts.
The cosmic mind and his mind are ultimately one and the same.
False habits of thinking cause false perception; hence he is not aware of this.
The cosmic mind "created" all these ideas of objects in the universe, including the self, the "I," in the same way that a dreamer creates his own dream universe.
Mind is ALL we know, all we ever shall know.
To discover what colour is, he must remember that the coloured object is itself but an idea;
what can the colour be save an idea also?
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 3:
The Individual and World Mind > # 87 Paul Brunton
' Self meeting Self '...
The love that any two beings share is the love
of Self for Self.
Keep away all notions and intentions
and you are meeting all beings in this love.
This is
Self meeting Self.
All attraction is for the Self only,
though appearances are deceiving.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Action within Divine '...
From all these studies, meditations, and actions the student will little by little emerge an inwardly changed man.
He comes to the habitual contemplation of his co-partnership with the universe as a whole, to the recognition that personal isolation is illusory, and thus takes the firm steps on the ultimate path towards becoming a true philosopher.
The realization of the hidden unity of his own life with the life of the whole world manifests finally in infinite compassion for all living things. Thus he learns to subdue the personal will to the cosmic one, narrow selfish affection to the wide-spreading desire for the common welfare.
Compassion comes to full blossom in his heart like a lotus flower in the sunshine. From this lofty standpoint, he no longer regards mankind as being those whom he unselfishly serves but rather as being those who give him the opportunity to serve.
He will suddenly or slowly experience an emotional exaltation culminating in an utter change of heart. Its course will be marked by a profound reorientation of feeling toward his fellow creatures. The fundamental egoism which in open or masked forms has hitherto motivated him will be abandoned: the noble altruism which has hitherto seemed an impracticable and impossible ideal, will become practicable and possible.
For a profound sympathy to all other beings will dwell in his heart. Never again will it be possible for him wilfully to injure another; but on the contrary the welfare of the All will become his concern. In Jesus' words he is "born again."
He will find his highest happiness, after seeking reality and truth, in seeking the welfare of all other beings alongside of his own. The practical consequence of this is that he will be inevitably led to incessant effort for their service and enlightenment.
He will not merely echo the divine will but will allow it actively to work within him. And with the thought comes the power to do so, the grace of the Overself to help him to achieve quickly what the Underself cannot achieve. In the service of others he can partially forget his loss of trance-joy and know that the liberated self which he had experienced in interior meditation must be equated by the expanded self in altruistic action.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 4: Its Realization Beyond Ecstasy > #
-- Perspectives > Chapter 20: What Is Philosophy? > # 72 Paul Brunton
' Innumerable forms '...
”Understand that it is not the individual, which has consciousness;
it is the consciousness, which assumes innumerable forms.
That something which is born or which will die is purely imaginary.
It is the child of a barren woman.
In the absence of this basic concept "I am" there is no thought, there is no consciousness."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Unmanifest '...
You cannot catch your own shadow, and neither can you escape it.
So long as man thinks in terms of phenomena being real,
the shadow of ignorance will both evade and haunt him.
Just as waves arising on the surface of water have no independent existence and are only the water itself,
so also are manifested phenomena only the apparent created form or body of the Unmanifest.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' A Virtual Void '...
If Mind is to be regarded aright, we must put out of our thought even the notion of the cosmic Ever-Becoming.
But to do this is to enter a virtual Void?
Precisely.
When we take away all the forms of external physical existence and all the differences of internal mental existence, what we get is an utter emptiness of being which can hardly be differentiated after we have taken away its features and individualities, its finite times and finite distances.
There is then nothing but a great void.
What is the nature of this void?
It is pure Thought.
It is out of this empty Thought that the fullness of the universe has paradoxically evolved.
Hence it is said that the world's reality is secondary whereas Mind's reality is primary.
In the Void the hidden oneness of things is disengaged from the things themselves.
Silence therefore is not merely the negation of sound but rather the element in which, as Carlyle said, great things fashion themselves. It is the supreme storehouse of power.
-- Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 1: Absolute Mind > # 114
-- Perspectives > Chapter 28: The Alone > # 5 Paul Brunton
' Self-knowledge '...
”There is nothing to gain.
Abandon all imaginings and know yourself as you are.
Self-knowledge is detachment.
All craving is due to a sense of insufficiency.
When you know that you lack nothing,
that all there is, is you and yours, desire ceases."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The road of knowledge '...
It is interesting to speak of magic and illusion..
To move one hand, to force your vision upon illusion..
Being, adults, we have the ability to see more clearly..
In this strange decade of witches and satanists,
we wonder if this experience of life is real..
The media will continue to abuse Truth and Mystics..
When you can clearly see the mind-control of news speakers,
you can also see the phrase, "Et tu brute "..
It is clear that many humans will easily give your life and freedom for their own life of wealth and fame..
But, by now, you are awake and thinking..
- thomas
' Love is the highest station '...
"Love for God is the farthest reach of all stations,
the sun of the highest degrees,
and there is no station after that of love,
except its fruit and its consequences."
Al-Ghazali
in Peter Lorie & Manuela Dunn Mascetti, Eds.
The Quotable Spirit: A Treasury of Religious and Spiritual Quotations, from Ancient Times to the 20th Century
NY: Macmillan, 1996, p. 146
' Bhagavad-Purana '...
“Whatever mystic perfections can be achieved by good birth, herbs, austerities and mantras can all be achieved by devotional service to Me;
indeed, one cannot achieve the actual perfection of yoga by any other means.”
Srimad Bhagavata by Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, 11.15.34
Also called Bhagavad-Purana or Bhagavatam
Collected and edited by Jay Mazo
International Gita Society, p. 665
' The Primal Idea '...
Within the Overself, the infinite absolute principle of mind, there arises the idea of the cosmos, and from this original idea proceed all other mental constructions that constitute a universe.
Because the Overself is formless and unindividuated, we have to picture it under the glyph of darkness.
The cosmic idea will then appear as a primordial germ of light, called by the Hindus Hiranyagarbha (the golden embryo).
The entire panoply of suns and stars and creatures is contained latently within this point of light.
This first-born God is the primal Idea.
-- Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea >
Chapter 4: True Idea of Man > # 178
Paul Brunton
' It is friday night '...
For many humans, the Play has ended for two days..
You are now allowed to be yourself for these hours..
You will then return to the corporate dream of puppet..
In these few hours of solitude, you can Realise Freedom..
These eighty years of life are short for the Pilgrim..
Reincarnation calls you to reenter the Dream..
You hear the soft voice of a mystic and begin to think..
How many circles will I enter?..
The answer is many and none..
It depends on you..
Can you surrender Everything?..
The Nazarene once told you to give up everything and follow Him..
Are you strong enough to follow Him?..
-thomas
' Time bound '...
"I do not negate the world.
I see it as appearing in consciousness, which is the totality of the known in the immensity of the unknown.
What begins and ends is mere appearance.
The world can be said to appear, but not to "be".
The appearance may last very long on some scale of time, and be very short on another, but ultimately it comes to the same.
Whatever is time bound is momentary and has no reality."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The ground of peace '...
“In this moment, however you are searching, stop. Whether you are searching for peace and happiness in a relationship, in a better job, or even in world peace, just for one moment stop absolutely.
There is nothing wrong with these pursuits, but if you are engaging in them to get peace or to get happiness, you are overlooking the ground of peace that is already here. Once you discover this ground of peace, then whatever pursuits you engage in will be informed by your discovery. Then you will naturally bring what you have discovered to the world, to politics, to all your relationships.
This discovery has infinite, complex ramifications, but the essence of it is very simple. If you will stop all activity, just for one instant, even for one-tenth of a second, and simply be utterly still, you will recognize the inherent spaciousness of your being that is already happy and at peace with itself.
Because of our conditioning, we normally dismiss this ground of peace with an immediate, “Yes, but what about my life? I have responsibilities. I need to keep busy. The absolute doesn’t relate to my world, my existence.”
These conditioned thoughts just reinforce further conditioning. But if you will take a moment to recognize the peace that is already alive within you, you then actually have the choice to trust it in all your endeavors, in all your relationships, in every circumstance of your life.
It doesn’t mean that your life will be swept clean of conflicts, challenges, pain, or suffering. It means that you will have recognized a sanctuary where the truth of yourself is present, where the truth of God is present, regardless of the physical, mental, or emotional circumstances of your life.”
― Gangaji, The Diamond in Your Pocket: Discovering Your True Radiance
' Consciousness is the reality '...
In the ordinary man's cosmic picture any one object is separate from any other object.
In the scientist's cosmic picture they are also separate, but intellectually he may have arrived at the point of holding them together in the idea that they are all different forms of one and the same ultimate Energy.
But this remains only an idea.
In the philosopher's picture, the ordinary man's and the scientist's are both included, but there is an addition, namely, he knows by his transcendental experience that these two are projections of Consciousness and that this Consciousness is the reality.
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5:
The Key To the Spiritual World > # 182
Paul Brunton
' The Christ '...
The 'Christ' is a mirror image of Self as Love..
This state of existence is beyond manifestation and moves as Light and Love..
Of course, this mental activity called Thought takes place within this dream..
But, when you have surrendered 'All',, especially this egoic bond for dreaming..
You find 'Self' as a stepping stone towards complete knowledge..
Few have found complete reality..
This state of existence is really that of the state of non-existence..
But, you have been promised 'Eternal Life '..
This 'Life' is called 'Energy' and the manifestor of illusions..
You exist and yet there is no you...
-thomas
' Love is will '...
"Love is will,
the will to share your happiness with all.
Being happy, making happy,
this is the rhythm of love."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The movements of materiality '...
They arrive and others arrive,
and then they go, and the others go.
Day and night, a constant traffic.
Where do they come from?
Where do they go?
Does it mean anything?
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992
' 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
' Wednesday '...
I am listening to music from the sixties with my ear phones..
It is obvious that words and vibrations are much different within this period of dreaming..
The voices of the sixties sing of love but the voices of this modern youth speak of violence..
Violence is a creation of ego desire..
Most mental and physical pain is created by the negative mind ..
Can anything be done, to warn the modern generation of the power and the destruction that dreams can produce upon the thoughts of mind..
You are the Creator of experiences and dreams..
This is the 'Free Will', spoken of..
How did the poverty of Saints continue within the Joy of Knowing ?..
It has always been personal choice..
Your role within this dream has always been a personal choice...
-thomas
' A puppet '...
The fundamental and unchangeable fact is that there
is no human being who can perform any act on his own,
any more than can a puppet on strings.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Seek the seeker '...
"Positive affirmations are for the mind only.
Leave the mind to the mind.
You are not this mind.
Stop trying to rearrange your mind and discover what lies before it.
You are the consciousness that contains the mind.
Ask yourself this question, before the mind, body, and emotions:
Who am I?
Meditate on that.
Seek the seeker."
~ Adyashanti
' Between the two '...
"I find that somehow, by shifting the focus of attention, I become the very thing I look at, and experience the kind of consciousness it has; I become the inner witness of the thing.
I call this capacity of entering other focal points of consciousness, love; you may give it any name you like.
Love says "I am everything".
Wisdom says "I am nothing".
Between the two, my life flows.
Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Only by spiritual means '...
Those who know what will be the true outcome of these world events are not yet permitted to make any prophecy: they are permitted only to utter the warning that mankind is in a position of extreme danger, a position from which he can free himself by one means alone.
He cannot save himself by military, political, or economic means; he can save himself only by spiritual means.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience >
Chapter 4: World Crisis > # 371 Paul Brunton
' Pay attention '...
If you are going through dark night of the soul after awakening, find someone who knows what it is, who went through the darkness themselves, and reemerged in complete clarity and humbleness.
We often consult with those who have no idea what we are going through, just because they have a public presence of authority.
Consult on your relationship with those who know harmony in the relationship in their own life, who through trial and error came to experience it in a relationship between them and their partner.
Consult on parenting with those who through trial and error came to harmony with their children.
Consult on your business with those who went through accumulating material wealth, loosing it, re-inventing themselves and their business, and are able to see where you stand and what steps to take.
Can you, guys, see that one teacher-fits-all is really rare.
Someone gave us a gift of awakening, someone will help in other areas.
Also life itself can be all of it in one, if you really immerse yourself without hiding behind awakened identity.
Life is also a zen master and a stick in one: it will point and hit, and if you don't get it it will do it again...pay attention to the blows! !
-Elena Nezhinsky
' Natural happiness '...
"Nothing can make you happier than you are.
All search for happiness is misery and leads to more misery.
The only happiness worth the name is the natural happiness of conscious being."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Something significant '...
"We can walk around thinking we are totally liberated and speak about total awakening and all that, but there is one proof of the pudding:
Are you still in conflict?
Do you experience emotional and psychological conflict?
If you do, that doesn't mean you have to throw out everything you think you realize, but it means, there might be more to see.
Liberation is the disappearance of conflict.
Or as I like to say: No more argument with yourself.
No more argument with God.
No more argument with the world and no more argument with death.
Now we are talking about something significant."
~ Adyashanti
' The human mind and Enlightenment '...
Even Ramakrishna once admitted that the enlightenment attained by the most highly spiritual person is slightly coloured by his own ordinary human mind!
It is obvious that differences of education or intellect, upbringing or tradition, will be responsible for some of the differences of teaching among mystics.
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives >
Chapter 15: Illuminations > # 65
Paul Brunton
' Suffering '...
"Suffering is exclusively the result of attachment or resistance,
it is a sign of lacking readiness to go on,
to flow with life."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Wisdom is born in the mind '...
Plato has pointed out in his seventh epistle that the philosophical wisdom "requires long continued communion between pupil and teacher in joint pursuit of the object they are seeking to understand,
and then suddenly, just as light flashes forth when a fire is kindled, this wisdom is born in the mind and henceforth nourishes itself."
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 6: Student-Teacher > # 618 Paul Brunton
' Endless River '...
“The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is.
Self-knowledge has no end - you don't come to an achievement, you don't come to a conclusion.
It is an endless river.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti
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