' The only way to peace '...
"Emotional reactions, born of ignorance or inadvertence, are never justified.
Seek a clear mind and a clean heart.
All you need is to keep quietly alert, enquiring into the real nature of yourself.
This is the only way to peace."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Intellect is Essential '...
Intellect is essential to bring a sentient being to
the point of take-off into Self-realisation,
which
is the point where intellect recognizes that it
cannot know its own source.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' The Mysterious Void '...
Two things have to be learned in this quest.
The first is the art of mind-stilling, of emptying consciousness of every thought and form whatsoever.
This is mysticism or Yoga.
The disciple's ascent should not stop at the contemplation of anything that has shape or history, name or habitation, however powerfully helpful this may have formerly been to the ascent itself.
Only in the mysterious void of Pure Spirit, in the undifferentiated Mind, lies his last goal as a mystic.
The second is to grasp the essential nature of the ego and of the universe and to obtain direct perception that both are nothing but a series of ideas which unfold themselves within our minds. This is the metaphysics of Truth.
The combination of these two activities brings about the realization of his true Being as the ever beautiful and eternally beneficent Overself. This is philosophy.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? >
Chapter 4: Its Realization Beyond Ecstasy > # 134
Paul Brunton
' Everything is changeable '...
"Everything is changeable,
everything appears and disappears;
there is no blissful peace until one passes beyond the agony of life and death."
"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely."
- Gautama the Buddha
' 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 round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall into its proper place."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
'Accept misfortune '...
Accept disgrace willingly. Accept misfortune as
the human condition.
What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"?
Accept being unimportant. Do not be concerned
with loss or gain. This is called "accepting dis-
grace willingly."
What do you mean by "Accept misfortune as the
human condition"? Misfortune comes from having
a body. Without a body, how could there be mis-
fortune?
Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted
to care for all things. Love the world as your own
self; then you can truly care for all things.
- Lao-tzu
' The desire for pleasure '...
My experience is that everything is bliss.
But the desire for bliss creates pain.
Thus
bliss becomes the seed of pain.
The entire
universe of pain is born of desire.
Give up
the desire for pleasure and you will not
even know what pain is.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Experiences and No Self '...
Our path is usually entertained by seeking to have and then acquiring various experiences and insights that seem to inspire and propel our on-going "enlightenment project". All "spiritual" experiences are being collected by the egoic mind for its own enjoyment and edification.
The real path begins and ends when that seeking self suddenly vanishes. All the wonderful insights and ecstatic experiences it collected are completely lost and are seen to have no value whatsoever.
It's known then that all notions of higher and more subtle levels of insights and realizations were all just more "magical thinking" regarding a "higher" dimension of "me".
The problem with even Dzogchen is that it offers the highest benefits for the egoic self; an escape from physical death and suffering, the realization of total clarity and magical powers, and the attainment of a permanent "body of light", all apparently promised through no effort at all! The egoic mind couldn't have found a better path!
The egoic selfing tries to become the perfect awareness of rigpa, the original Buddha Mind. It gets glimpses of certain states that make it seem that it's right on track for the final achievement. However, it's actually only reinforcing its own self-delusion.
On the other hand, the real liberation is when the egoic mind and self ceases being generated. It vanishes along with all its problems. No one remains to realize or stabilize "rigpa". Rigpa is
it's own emptiness, not a state or achievement for a "someone".
I am not aware of any practices or conscious insights, not even "resting in non-meditation", that can facilitate this sudden cessation of the egoic mind and self. That's because all practices and insights are only for the benefit of the "me". They actually energize and further reify the "me".
I don't think most lamas and teachers understand this.
The cessation of the illusion of being an individual self, a "me", occurs at the level of subconscious mental activity. It's the same subconscious processing that generates who you seem to be in a dream at night.
The self is the sum total of all conditioning regarding identity. It's the "tip of the iceberg" that peeks out into consciousness, just barely above the deep waters of the subconscious.
By simply exposing this information to the subconscious mind, it can suddenly cease the selfing activity. It's like downloading a virus into a computer's software that shuts down particular programs automatically.
I have included below, a batch of really good videos that can cause a shift in the egoic selfing mechanisms.
Immediately below are two good quotes from a Tibetan Dzogchen teacher, Anam Thubten, from his book: "No Self, No Problem".
Let's use this thread to only pose questions and answers that could be helpful for future readers.
Liberation is not for yourself, it's from the self that is seeking liberation.
Anam Thubten wrote:
"Look. Who is searching for enlightenment? If we bring about awareness in our mind right now, we see that it is the same “I” who searches for everything. Who is searching for fame? Who is searching for pleasure? Who is searching for a way to arrive at the truth? It is the same “I.” The “I” who is searching for enlightenment is the same “I.” This “I” is sometimes very holy and sometimes extremely nasty. You see, this “I” has a big closet filled with all kinds of masks. There are masks of being holy and masks of being quite sinister. The “I” who wants to wring somebody’s neck is the same “I” who is searching for enlightenment. You see, it’s all the business of “I.” There is no good “I.” There is no bad “I.” There is only one “I” and it’s called the ego. Ego is a mental construct, a fabrication. It has nothing to do with who we really are. The very heart of the matter is that all of our problems, of course, are the creation of this “I.”
"Trying to acquire enlightenment from the outside, from a very impressive teacher or from an exotic practice, is also an illusion. These are simply other ways ego uses to sustain its illusory reality." Anam Thubten
One of the videos is a really interesting conversation between Chogyam Trungpa and Krishnamurti.
-Jackson Peterson: Experiences and No Self
' Non-Duality '...
Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else.
But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me.
Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place.
The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything.
That sounds like utter insanity.
This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, it was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped.
-Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev - The Founder of Isha Foundation
' Real Surrender '...
"The only Real Surrender is that in which poise is undisturbed by any adverse circumstance,
and the individual, amidst every kind of hardship,
is resigned with perfect calm to the will of God."
-Meher Baba
"The Seven Realities"
Discourses
San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented, 6th edition, 1967, vol. 1, p. 16
' Ever-present '...
There is a presence which is more profound than
any thought.
It announces itself here, in the heart.
It is ever-present, stable and pure.
When the
attention rests inside, automatically the mental
noise subsides and Presence alone prevails.
- Mooji
' Between Pure Awareness and Awareness '...
"Between pure Awareness and Awareness reflected as consciousness there is a gap which the mind cannot cross.
The reflection of the sun in a drop of dew is not the sun itself."
- Ramesh Balseka
' Fear of Spirituality '...
Are you not speaking of the Apostles and Jesus ..
Think Deeply within prayer..
Think of Gautama the Buddha..
Think of Self..
The negative can only control the mind until Love enters..
Carry the Cross of non-egoic desire..
" My load is easy",
said the Nazarene...
-thomas
' Earnestness and Clarity '...
"You need both clarity and earnestness for self-knowledge.
You need maturity of heart and mind, which comes through earnest application in daily life of whatever little you have understood.
There is no such thing as compromise in Yoga.
If you want to sin, sin wholeheartedly and openly.
Sins too have their lessons to teach the earnest sinner, as virtues - the earnest saint.
It is the mixing up of the two that is so disastrous.
Nothing can block you so effectively as compromise, for it shows lack of earnestness, without which nothing can be done."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Things and events '...
It is not the present which is fleeting past us with sickening speed.
The present moment is indeed eternal.
It is our imperfect perception that creates the horizontal succession in time.
Sequential duration is a consequence of the single-track verbalization of our split-mind, which does not grasp the outer world instantaneously but interprets it perversely by extracting bits and pieces and calling them things and events.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar,
' Being no-thing '...
You can't turn either towards Consciousness
or away from Consciousness.
In fact, "you" can't even "turn" at all because
your life is really only a melodramatic story that
Consciousness has been telling Itself.
And your only choice is whether or not you want
to believe in the validity of your story.
As usual, the ego wants to proudly say, "That's
my story and I'm sticking to it."
Actually, since you and your story arise
simultaneously, your story is also sticking to
you!
Without the historical framework of your time-
based story, though, "you" are really "no-thing."
Actually, being "no-thing" might not be such a
bad idea.
- Chuck Hillig
' The game called life '...
The manifestation and the Creator of Dreams is always present within thoughts..
Buildings are created to speak to this invisible Dreamer of our characters..
Of course, the parents, child, or school create the character played within life..
Mind-control is the responsibility of media and education..
To burst through the wall of mind-control, courage is your best friend..
To leave all and walk on your own is often painful..
But, Reality has always been the goal of seeking..
Along this path to Knowledge, Love is found..
The Invisible is held together by this glue called Love..
This Space is called Source or what humans call God...
-thomas
' The Noble-Minded '...
"The noble-minded are all-encompassing, not stuck in doctrines....
The noble-minded are principled but never dogmatic."
Confucius
Analects, 2.14, 15.37
Mencius comments:
"The problem with clinging to a single doctrine is that it plunders the Way [Tao]."
Mencius 7.A.26
in Bonnie Louise Kuchler
One Heart: Wisdom from the World's Scriptures
NY: One Spirit, 2003, p. 48
' Presence '...
There is a presence which is more profound than
any thought.
It announces itself here, in the heart.
It is ever-present, stable and pure.
When the
attention rests inside, automatically the mental
noise subsides and Presence alone prevails.
- Mooji
' Yoga and Meditation '...
Through yoga or meditation, one arrives at mind-control.
Then he takes his sharpened, concentrated mind and applies it to the understanding of the world. Thus he discovers that the world of matter is ultimately space and that all material forms are merely ideas in his mind.
He discovers, also, that his inmost self is one with this space, because it is formless. Then does he perceive the unity of all life, and only then has he found Truth--the whole truth.
All this must be discovered by experience, not by intellectual theory, and here his power to control thoughts becomes important . . .
first to make the mind absolutely still, then to use this exceedingly sharpened mind to survey and penetrate the truth of things. That is why neither mysticism nor yoga can lead directly to Truth. They are only preparations for the higher path that does lead to Truth.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? >
Chapter 4: Its Realization Beyond Ecstasy > # 130
Paul Brunton
' A rain and snow filled night '...
Thursday is the cousin to that which is called 'weekend'..
The search for Love..
The human soul and this desire for egoic-attachment to a desire can be a detriment to Source..
All presentations of Reality before your eyes are a lie..
How can you grasp upon a construction of reality ?..
Look within the Mirror, as all is opposite..
The Dream Continues...
Let us remain the Observers...
=thomas
' Desires '...
"Desires are just waves in the mind.
You know a wave when you see one.
A desire is just a thing among many.
I feel no urge to satisfy it, no action needs to be taken on it.
Freedom from desire means this:
the compulsion to satisfy is absent."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Heart Rises '...
We are a haystack, the wheat entangled
with the hay;
Through the reviving wind, disentangle
the wheat from the hay,
Let the sorrow go to the sorrow, the joy
to the joy,
Let the mud go to the mud, and the heart
rise to heaven.
- Rumi
Muriel Maufroy
Breathing Truth - Quotations from Jalaluddin Rumi
Sanyar Press - London, 1997
' Earthly Misfortunes '...
To the man on this Quest,
the man willing to step aside from his ego,
earthly misfortunes may sometimes be seen as disguising spiritual blessings if they force him to fall
back on the eternal truths and his own deeper resources.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience >
Chapter 1: Situation > # 265 Paul Brunton
' Searching for Bliss '...
Bliss is within us.
There's no journey about it.
You have to realize it.
How?
Reject the things
which are barriers
and impositions upon Bliss:
the worries of the past
and the plannings
of the future.
If you want true Bliss
forgive and forget
everything, without exception,
any sin, even to the extent of
'Forgive them, Father
for they do not know
what they are doing.'
If you can do that
then only can you hope for Bliss;
not otherwise.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' The Great Oblivion '...
The real meaning of death and dying is completely different from what is generally understood by these words.
When you know the continuum of life, all perceptions (of which body is a part) are felt as appearing and disappearing in consciousness. This apparition and disappearance is the true meaning of birth and death. We are born every time a thought or sensation appears, and we die whenever the concept or percept disappears.
We die every night before we fall asleep and we are born every morning anew. We have to get used to this death, to the ‘lâcher’ (appearance) of the objective world. We should ask ourselves, the deepest of ourselves: "what is there before the apparition of thought? What happens when thought disappears? What is there before the body fell asleep and before we woke up?"
When we look carefully, we discover not the absence of us, but a presence, a presence that cannot be objectified. It is too close to us.
- Jean Klein, The Great Oblivion
' Non-Interaction '...
If you understand what Dzogchen is saying about non-dependent “awareness” as rigpa or Dharmakaya, as an all pervasive and “permanently changeless” cognitive field; this “changeless” description forces the fact of total “non-interaction” between such an empty awareness and it’s field of phenomena.
This is much like how reflections do not interact with the glass in a mirror. The glass is all pervasive within the field of the appearing reflections without either interacting with the other, even slightly.
This is why any form of practice or study or effort is useless. The Clear Light Nature, the only aspect which has the quality of changeless, cognitive awareness, doesn’t interact with its field of phenomena. Mental phenomena only seem “conscious” because they are fully pervaded by the changeless, Clear Light Awareness field.
This is how in Dzogchen, we say the karmic mind, the egoic self and the karmic traces have no impact upon changeless rigpa or empty, pure awareness.
It’s much like how the brightness of the moon, shining upon the surface of a pond at night, doesn’t disturb the water and how the moon’s reflection captured upon the water, doesn’t reduce the brightness of the moon.
“This clear and luminous nature of mind is as changeless as space. It is not afflicted by desire and so on, the adventitious stains, which are sprung from incorrect thoughts. The nature of space is not changed through clouds, smoke, and so on. In the same way, the tathagatagarbha, the clear and luminous nature of the minds of all beings, is changeless. It is not in the slightest altered by the fact that the veils are purified or unpurified, and so on.”
- Jamgön Kongtrul
' Divine Grace '...
"Divine grace is essential for realization.
It leads one to God realization.
But such grace is vouchsafed only to him who is a true devotee or a yogi.
It is given only to those who have striven hard and ceaselessly on the path towards freedom."
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Be As You Are: Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharish=
Edited by David Godman
New York: Penguin Arkana, 1985, p. 61
' Stop being so religious '...
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like
That.
- Hafiz
' The Primer of Zen '...
Soto Zen master, Dogen Zenji, wrote this primer of Zen instruction around 1242 a.d.
Fukanzazengi
Translated by Norman Wadell & Masao Abe
“The Way is originally perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization?
The Dharma-vehicle is utterly free and un-trammeled. What need is there for our concentrated effort?
Indeed, the Dharmakaya is far beyond the world’s dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean?
It is never apart from you right where you are. What use is there going off here and there to practice?”
Shen-hui was the champion of Zen’s Sixth Patriarch, Huineng’s “Sudden Enlightenment” teaching tradition. This was the lineage that was transmitted to me by my teacher Yen Wai Shi, while I was in China in 1978. The teaching seems identical to earliest Dzogchen tradition called “Semde”.
Shen-hui:
“Do not practice mindfulness of the Buddha, do not grasp the mind, do not view the mind, do not measure the mind, do not meditate, do not contemplate, and do not interfere with the mind. Just let it flow. Do not make it go and do not make it stay. Alone in a pure and ultimate location as the absolute, the mind will be naturally bright and pure.”
An example:
Look at a coffee cup. It is already a coffee cup. It requires no further help or enhancements to be what it already is. Our Buddha Mind is the same; it is already perfect and requires no additional “perfecting”. It is the Absolute and therefore never changes. It is the only quality of consciousness that is “aware” and “knowing” by default. That quality of sentience is like empty, aware space. All that’s required is being what you already are; not a body, not an individual soul, not any identity at all, just “aware knowingness” that has no location in space or time. It’s the space-like context, all the rest is merely ever-changing content.
Longchenpa clarifies the Dzogchen view:
"Because Awareness (Rigpa) has no finite essence, and because suchness and deliberate activity are mutually exclusive, and because Awareness is already timelessly and spontaneously present, nothing need be done concerning levels of realization on which to train, spiritual paths to traverse, mandalas to visualize, empowerments to be bestowed, paths to cultivate in meditation, samaya to uphold, enlightened activities to accomplish, and so forth. This is because there is no need to accomplish anew what is already timelessly and spontaneously accomplished. If there were such need, it would be inappropriate to use the conventional designation "spontaneously present and uncompounded." And it would follow that dharmakaya was subject to destruction, because it would be compounded, and this because it would be created by causes and conditions." (practices etc.) Longchenpa, Choying Dzod, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission, page 120, first paragraph. Padma Publications.
Page 190: first main paragraph:
Longchenpa writes: "Since all phenomena are timelessly free, nothing need be done to free them anew through realization."
Next paragraph: "Even the thought that freedom comes about through “direct introduction “is deluded. One strives to free this essence from whatever binds it, but nothing need be done to free it, for unobstructed Awareness, which has never existed as anything whatsoever, does not entail any duality of something to be realized and someone to realize it. There is equalness because nothing is improved by realization or worsened by it's absence, so there is no need for any adventitious realization. And because there never has existed anything to realize- for the ultimate nature of phenomena is beyond ordinary consciousness- to speak of realization on even the relative level is nothing but deluded. What can be shown at this point is the transcendence of view and meditation, in which nothing need be done regarding realization, nothing need be directly introduced, and no state of meditation need be cultivated. So there is the expression 'it is irrelevant whether or not one has realization'."
Page 191: middle paragraph
"In this case what makes perfect sense in the Ati approach is the superior realization whereby one directly experiences the unobstructed state in it's nakedness, without relying on anything whatsoever. Since one does not experience separation from the essence of Awareness even for an instant, to say that is realized or perceived is merely to use a conventional expression."
Longchenpa wrote in his Choying Dzod:
"There is only awareness, pure in being free of adventitious distortions; there is no essence of buddhahood other than this Mind itself; nothing to seek through causes or conditions, effort or achievement, because the term "buddhahood" is being used merely to describe pure awareness." (P. 84)
Sri Ramana Maharshi:
"You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it."
Longchenpa:
"Awareness abides as the aspect which is aware under any and all circumstances, and so occurs naturally, without transition or change."
' What is a Christ ? '...
Can we not speak about that which is beyond Christ ?..
Christ is the Mystical attachment to Reality..
Christ is the Self that denies the ego..
Christ is the gate of Reality..
" The road is straight and narrow is the gate",
said the Nazarene..
The only Reality is that of the non-desire for manifestation..
We can fight over Liberal and Conservative,
but, Reality always remains, Truth..
The rest of this road is left to you...
-thomas
' Itdabak '...
"Whosoever serves God out of love comes into union (itdaḅak) with the place of the Highest of the High,
and comes into union, too, with the holiness of the world which is to be."
-Zohar, ii. 216
in J. Abelson
Jewish Mysticism (1913), p. 167
' Understanding is all '...
It is vital to realize that understanding is all,
that there is
no question of altering,
or amending what is,
and that
therefore the question of any method or technique for
“attaining” enlightenment is totally irrelevant.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' The master image '...
We receive as by hypnosis the World-Mind's master image because we are so intimately rooted in it.
But we receive it only within the limits of our particular capacity and only upon the plane of our individual perceptions.
That is, we think only a minute fragment of the whole thought as it exists in the World-Mind's consciousness..
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 3:
The Individual and World Mind > # 61
Paul Brunton
' All is God's '...
"To me you are your own God.
But if you think otherwise, think to the end.
If there be God, then all is God's and all is for the best.
Welcome all that comes with a glad and thankful heart.
And love all creatures.
This too will take you to your Self."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Three stages in Sufism '...
"There are three stages of the disciple in Sufism. In the first stage the Master draws the disciple to himself. This is the stone stage. The disciple is enwrapped in deep ignorance and has no sense for spiritual values. He cannot know the Master at this stone stage, and the initiative is entirely with the Master.
"The second stage is called worm stage. Just as the worn is engaged in all kinds of movements and actions, so the mind of the disciple is active in all kinds of doubts and questions. At this stage the disciple asks many questions to the Master. There is constant movement of thought at this worm stage.
"The third stage is called the dog stage. At this stage the mind has no questions to ask. It is in a faith-state. Just as the dog follows the master without challenge or doubt, the disciple has unswerving faith in the Master, and follows his instructions unfailingly. At this stage asking comes to an end. When spiritual progress has not yet begun as well as when it is at its height, there is no asking to the Master."
-Meher Baba
"Questions Baba Answers"
by Dr. C. D. Deshkmuth
Meher Baba Journal, Vol, 1, No. 8, June, 1939, Ahmednagar, India, p. 62
' Self-Identification with Overself '...
This practice in the Short Path of self-identification with the Overself is to be done both casually at odd moments and deliberately at daily contacts in meditation.
It is through them--whenever the identification is effectual--that Grace gets some of its chance to work its transformation upon him.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 118
Paul Brunton
' Meeting the Holy Spirit '...
Only God, which I call, Only Source..
I do not have names for that which is beyond names..
The Holy Spirit that you speak of has spoken to me many times..
The 'Voice' is baritone and filled with kindness..
How can I hear a voice within the silence of Light ?..
Sounds do not exist within the silence of Light..
Therefore, sound was only produced within Spirit..
Sound became a silent voice within Consciousness..
There are words for this event but few search..
-thomas
' Just Dreams '...
I have my own road to travel, in which the desire to appear separate from Source is dishonored..
We as offshoots of Consciousness are just Dreams..
Reality is much stronger than are thoughts..
There is only Source, the rest of thoughts are just desires..
But, we will eventually discover Truth..
Consciousness will win the war over Mind..
-thomas
' Vital Requirement '...
For
God
To make love,
For the divine alchemy to work,
The Pitcher needs a still cup.
Why
Ask Hafiz to say
Anything more about
Your most
Vital
Requirement?
- Hafiz,
' Do you think ?'...
Do you think I know what I'm doing?
That for one breath or half-breath
I belong to myself?
As much as a pen knows what it's writing
or the ball can guess where it's going next.
- Rumi, version by Coleman Barks,
from The Essential Rumi
' Fana-el-fana '...
The knowledge of Allah follows upon the dissolving of the ego, fana, says Sufism.
But some Sufi masters go even farther and assert that it follows only on the dissolving of this dissolving (fana-el-fana).
What does this strange statement mean?
The answer is nonduality.
What nonduality itself means is to be gleaned from another Sufi declaration:
"The outer path: I and Thou.
The inner path: I am Thou and Thou are I.
The final insight: neither I nor Thou."
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 117
Paul Brunton
' Friday within the Dream '...
Humans meet with friends for the feeling of Love..
Republicans and Liberals meet to discuss Truth..
The left and right are stations of mind..
All want Truth, but Truth must be found without desire..
As Mystics, you see more than the others..
You see the dissolving of materiality..
You begin to see Thought..
Thought creates materiality..
The Dream begins within Mind..
That is why, you are here,
you are facing your own Dream...
-thomas
' Taking Refuge in the Darma '...
"Taking refuge is like a foreigner who has arrived at a new port and doesn't know anything.
If you meet a powerful influential person, he can help you; if you meet ordinary people, they can't do anything for you.
Similarly, in Dharma we have absolutely no freedom; we must take refuge in those who have realized the true nature of the mind.
Some people think that there is no need to take refuge in the Three Jewels and that they only need to take refuge in their own minds.
But until we reach the highest goal of realization, there is no way to take refuge in your mind."
-Kalu Rinpoche
Dharma Teachings
San Francisco: Kagya Droden Kunchab, n.d., p. 72
' The Being of Nothingness '...
Among the great things which are to be found
among us,
the Being of Nothingness is the
greatest.
- Leonardo Da Vinci
' The Pure Truth '...
Although the pure truth has never been stated, nevertheless it has never been lost.
Its existence does not depend upon human statement but upon human sensitivity.
In this it is unlike all other knowledge.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? >
Chapter 5: The Philosopher > # 191
Paul Brunton
' Ram Tzu Speaks '...
Ram Tzu knows this:
You are perfect.
Your every defect
is perfectly defined.
Your every blemish
is perfectly placed.
Your every absurd action
is perfectly timed.
Only God could make
Something this ridiculous
Work.
- Ram Tzu, No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced",
' The Word of Higher Self '...
Interior Word.
When he succeeds in penetrating the still depths of his being, another mind will appear to superimpose itself on his own, directing, teaching, and inspiring him.
It will speak to him out of the silence within himself yet it will not be his own voice.
Its tone will be friendly, and when he becomes familiar with it he will know it to be none other than the voice of the Holy Spirit, the word of the Higher Self.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 2: Inspiration > # 123 Paul Brunton
' The Peace of Wild Things '...
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- Wendell Berry, from Collected Poems
' To Conquer Destiny '...
"There are only two ways to conquer destiny or to be independent of it.
One is to enquire whose this destiny is and to discover that only the ego is bound by it and not the Self, and that the ego is non-existent.
The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, realising one's helplessness and saying all the time:
`Not I, but Thou, oh Lord!', giving up all sense of `I' and `mine' and leaving it to the Lord to do what he likes with you.
Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord.
True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation.
In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-enquiry or through bhakti-marga."
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Day by Day with Bhagavan
From the Diary of A. Devaraja Mudaliar
Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, p 266
' Infinite Consciousness '...
The mountains, the forest, the earth and the sky - all
these are but infinite consciousness.
That alone is the
very being of all, the reality in all.
- Yoga Vasistha
' Consciousness '...
In this state there is no Shiva,
nor any holy union.
Only a somewhat something moving
dreamlike on a fading road.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992
' Dis-identify from the mind '...
....the single most vital step
on your journey toward enlightenment is this:
learn to dis-identify from your mind.
Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind,
the light of your consciousness grows stronger.
One day you may catch yourself smiling
at the voice in your head,
as you would smile at the antics of a child.
This means that you no longer take
the content of your mind all that seriously,
as your sense of self does not depend on it.
- Eckhart Tolle
' Your Real Being '...
Our true nature is that simple and undeniable presence of awareness that illumines all thinking, feeling and perceiving.
Always present and radiantly clear, it is never obscured by time, circumstances or thoughts.
The body, mind and world rise and set in awareness and have no independent existence apart from awareness.
Awareness, your real being, is all there is.
You are not the limited person you have taken yourself to be.
Look for the separate self and you find it entirely absent.
Seeing this, suffering, doubt and confusion effortlessly drop away, revealing your natural state of innate hap- piness and freedom.
Understanding who you are is immediately and always available - here and now.
- John Wheeler, from Shining in Plan View
' A Certain Distance '...
To live in the world by the higher laws a man must keep it at a certain distance.
This may not be flattering to the world but it will give him more serenity.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience >
Chapter 2: Living in The World > # 362
Paul Brunton
' Creation by Om '...
"All things are created by the Om;
The love-form is His body.
He is without form, without quality, without decay:
Seek thou union with Him!
But that formless God takes a thousand forms in the eyes of His creatures:
He is pure and indestructible,
His form is infinite and fathomless,
He dances in rapture, and waves of form arise from His dance.
The body and the mind cannot contain themselves,
when they are touched by His great joy.
He is immersed in all consciousness, all joys, and all sorrows;
He has no beginning and no end;
He holds all within His bliss."
-Kabir
in Songs of Kabir, XXVI (II. 75)
Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1915, p. 74-75
' Tao is the source of both '...
The mind remains undetermined in the great Void. Here the highest knowledge is unbounded.
That which gives things their thusness cannot be delimited by things.
So when we speak of 'limits', we remain confined to limited things.
The limit of the unlimited is called 'fullness.'
The limitlessness of the limited is called 'emptiness.'
Tao is the source of both.
But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness...
~ Chuang Tzu
' The Silence which Speaks '...
There is here no form to be perceived, no image born of the senses to be worshipped, no oracular utterance to be listened for, and no emotional ecstasy to be revelled in.
Hence the Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, said: "In eternal non-existence I look for the spirituality of things!"
The philosopher perceives that there is no such thing as creation out of nothing for the simple reason that Mind is eternally and universally present.
"Nothing" is merely an appearance. Here indeed there is neither time nor space.
It is like a great silent boundless circle wherein no life seems to stir, no consciousness seems to be at work, and no activity is in sway.
Yet the seer will know by a pure insight which will grip his consciousness as it has never been gripped before, that here indeed is the root of all life, all consciousness, and all activity.
But how it is so is as inexplicable intellectually as what its nature is. With the Mind the last word of human comprehension is uttered.
With the Mind the last world of possible being is explored. But whereas the utterance is comprehensible by his consciousness, the speaker is not.
It is a Silence which speaks but what it says is only that it IS; more than that none can hear.
-- Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 1: Absolute Mind > # 115
-- Perspectives > Chapter 28: The Alone > # 15 Paul Brunton
' Become, what you know '...
"Someone may ask: What is the state of the person who follows the true Light to the best of his ability"?
I must tell you frankly that it can never be described.
For he who not on the path is unable to put it into words.
And he who is on the path and knows is equally unable to voice it.
Whoever wants to know must wait until he becomes what he knows."
Anonymous
Theologia Germanica, 19
Edition of Martin Luther
in Bengt Hoffman, Tr.
The Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther
NY: Paulist Press, 1980, p. 85
' Consciousness is King '...
What we are is what we are conscious of.
The mind makes its own reality.
Consciousness is king.
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism >
Chapter 2: The World As Mental > # 135
Paul Brunton
' Knowing the Knowing '...
All experiences fall into two categories: knower and known. The knower is the sense of the subject knowing and the known is the sense of an object known.
Both are two ends of a single pole called “knowing”. The division into a knower and it’s known, is a conceptual division that doesn’t actually exist. What does exist is the “knowing”. The knowing is the subject as well as the object, but not divided in two.
The “stuff” of all experience is this undivided “knowing”. The experiences of the five senses are NOT a sensory perception AND the knowing of it.
A color is an undivided moment of knower/known. The color IS the knowing of it. There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having perceptions of colors.
A sound is an undivided moment of knower/known. The sound IS the knowing of it. There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having perceptions of sounds.
This holds true for all five sense experiences.
But let’s include thoughts as well:
A thought is an undivided moment of knower/known. The thought IS the knowing of it. It doesn’t matter if the thought is true or fiction. There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having thoughts.
A wisdom insight is an undivided moment of knower/known. The wisdom insight IS the knowing of it. There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having wisdom insights.
There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having difficult emotional states. But the knowing can appear as though a “someone” is experiencing difficult emotional states, like in a dream at night.
There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having painful sensations. But the knowing can appear as though a “someone” is experiencing painful sensations, like in a dream at night.
There is “no one” as an observer experiencing or having moments of suffering. But the “knowing” can appear as though a “someone” is experiencing moments of suffering, like in a dream at night.
It’s not that the “knowing” has textured characteristics, but that the knowing IS textured characteristics.
Seeking is the “knowing” appearing as a seeking seeker without being a seeker. The “seeker” would be an imaginary division into being a subject that seeks.
If a moment of “knowing” appearing as anything, is looked into, each experience would be found to be empty, like an ungraspable cloud in the sky.
The empty quality of the knowing experience itself prevents it from ever actually becoming a real something with inherent characteristics that endure.
The dualistic distortion only “seems” to occur when the “knowing” appears as either a separate knower or as a separate known. But even then no dualism has actually ever appeared, how could it, seeing that every experience is always the knowing being exactly that experience?
You are only ever the “knowing” appearing AS everything possible, without being a knower, witness, perceiver or observer. Each moment of experience is its own knowing.
The “knowing” can also appear as a wisdom or glimpse that knows the “knowing” in its deepest, and non-dual nature.. (Like maybe right now)
-Jackson Peterson
' Falling into Reality '...
The falling into Reality is often a fear filled experience, as you feel as though you are dying..
And in fact, you are dying..
The you as ego must die before entrance into Divine Consciousness..
This is why God is called a jealous God, as only God can enter God..
In fact, we have never left God and the entrance is just a "Realization" that we have never left God..
The dissolving of the ego during life is to lessen this fear of death that we experience upon Enlightenment..
This fear will drive many away from this experience, this is the work of the ego and courage must be applied to drive through this obstacle of fear..
As Jesus said; "you must die, to be born"...
- thomas
' The Gospel of Andrew the Apostle '...
15- Medias of Philippi came and prayed for his sick son. Andrew wiped his cheeks and stroked his head, saying: 'Be comforted, only believe,' and went with him to Philippi.
As they entered the city an old man met them and entreated for his sons, whom for an unspeakable crime Medias had imprisoned, and they were putrefied with sores.
Andrew said: 'How can you ask help for your son when you keep these men bound? Loose their chains first, for your unkindness obstructs my prayers.
' Medias, penitent, said: 'I will loose these two and seven others of whom you have not been told.'
They were brought, tended for three days, cured, and freed. Then the apostle healed the son, Philomedes, who had been ill twenty-two years.
The people cried: 'Heal our sick as well.'
Andrew told Philomedes to visit them in their houses and bid them rise in the name of Jesus Christ, by which he had himself been healed. This was done, and all believed and offered gifts, which Andrew did not accept.
-From "The Apocryphal New Testament"
M.R. James-Translation and Notes
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924
' Hasidic Sayings '...
"Many a man who thinks he harbors God knows nothing of Him.
And God is close to many a man who thinks he is yearning for God from afar.
Now you ought always to feel that you are standing on the shores of Jordan and have not yet entered the land."
-Martin Buber
Ten Rungs: Hasidic Sayings Collected and Edited by Martin Buber
NY: Shocken Books, 1947, p. 101
' Truth will find you '...
Discard every self-seeking motive as soon as it
is seen and you need not search for Truth;
Truth will find you.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' Intimate and Inseparable '...
What he has gained is good but not enough, is mystical but not philosophically mystical.
For it is now but a flash when it has yet to become constant; it is now partial when it has yet to become full.
Its felt presence should be intimate and inseparable as well as clear and complete.
When insight continues whatever his occupation of the hour may be, it can be called philosophic.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 8: Glimpses and Permanent Illumination > # 36
Paul Brunton
' A purely subjective world '...
Our world is not, in fact, an objective world but a purely
subjective one,
a world of thought, a world of the word,
a world given rise to by the extraordinary fertility of the
imagination.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Alone- All-One '...
Whenever you are alone,
remind yourself that God has sent everyone else away so that there is only you and Him.
-Rumi
' "What leads to unity consciousness?'...
Unity consciousness is when we experientially and actually feel our own self in all things, times and places.
The full brunt of that experience is timeless and does not last in its fullness forever; but leaves a residual experience thereafter.
Once we transcend our mind/body condition, discover the witness, sense our self as unchanging awareness; we realize that there is an ego still that remains.
We can damn this ego, push it away, and try and go further into emptiness. If we continue that path it eventually leads to a harsh and disconnected vantage point; and we inevitably become an “ego hater or denier,” either subtly or obviously.
Or, we can draw the blade of inquiry once again and ask the question, “What is the relationship between awareness and this ego?”
If this question is pursued all the way to the end, unity consciousness will descend.
-Atreya Thomas
' Your Nature '...
Happiness is your nature.
It is not wrong to desire
it.
What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside .
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
' Alone within the Universe '...
Realization is a very misunderstood...I was going to write achievement, but it's not an achievement, just a happening. It is like making a long, steep, tough climb up a mountain, only to get to the top and go, "mmmm, nice view." Then you walk back down. That's it, nothing special, but it revolutionizes everything. Enlightenment is the shocking realization that there is only one. Not one thing, or all is connected, just one. It sounds like a simple re-ordering of words, but the meaning of that word order is profound..
Everyone has the constricting belief that enlightenment or God is over "there" somewhere and their job in life is to "find" it. The problem is that we are "here" and will always be "here"- but if enlightenment is over "there", how can it be found? Actually enlightenment/God is also here, always was here, but what it is, is actually not what 99% of seekers really want. Seekers want the enlightenment they have been sold: being happy, important, full of love, no more problems. Like a continuous orgasmic or drug high. That is the reason they are seeking in the first place, the wished for blissful finish line. If anyone really understood what awakening was, no one would want it. Enlightenment is about "alone."
A true encounter with the Absolute/God reveals that no one is doing the experiencing, only the absolute revealing itself to the absolute. Nothing exists, yet there i s the appearance of existence. Realization is alone (all-one). But everyone fears alone, so they run to spiritual practice, patterns, lovers, food, booze, any distraction to avoid the only true fear. The fear of no self (often called emptiness) the fear that "I" do not exist. Fear of no self is not the fear of death, but the fear that you as a human being do not exist at all.
That is where all the "spiritual groups" get caught, they are looking for what's in it for "them" or "us". Realization is one and alone for there is no other. Everything that tells you that you are separate from a nything else falls away. Thus you are alone, with the appearance of others. The initial glimpse of this is so terrifying to ego it responds with the emotions of meaninglessness and despair. But as soon as the mind falls away, those emotions go too and all that is left is What Is, and the marvelous curiosity about the dream and what is going to happen next.
"The great path has no gates,
thousands of roads enter it.
When you pass through the gateless gate,
you walk the universe alone."
- Mumon -
' Undiscriminating Perception '...
To the ordinary person, the body of humanity seems vast. In truth, it is neither bigger nor smaller than anything else.
To the ordinary person, there are others whose awareness needs raising.
In truth, there is no self, and no other.
To the ordinary person, the temple is sacred and the field is not.
This, too, is a dualism which runs counter to the truth.
Those who are highly evolved maintain an undiscriminating perception.
Seeing everything, labeling nothing, they maintain their awareness of the Great Oneness.
Thus they are supported by it.
- from the Hua Hu Ching
' Where is Truth ?'...
Honestly, Truth is not only found within time..
The small opening in this journey is found within the small door of ego..
There is this creation of thoughts and actions called life..
But, ego is a small insignificant object of desire and yet controls life..
The extinction of egoic- desire opens the thin gate..
This is the Gate to Freedom..
The 'Needles Eye'..
This is Reality, the rest is desire...
-thomas
' Words and Thought are sacrificed '...
Man considers himself a special, elect being apart from the rest of creation, but so far as the components of the physical construct are concerned there is no difference between various kinds of sentient creatures.
Only the process differs. Your personality has come about only after birth and is clearly the result of a natural process in which neither you nor your parents had any choice.
No individual has ever been consulted prior to birth about his issue from a particular set of parents, since prior to birth there was no personality to consult. Therefore, you have not even been party in any sense to the creation of the so-called independent individual you are supposed to be!
The effectiveness of words is clearly seen in the case of the manifested universe which is made by them to appear real although it is in fact an illusion.
Then again, it is through words that the individual finally comes to realize his true nature when words and thought are ultimately sacrificed in the direct realization of the Absolute.
-Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Dormant Powers '...
A powerful interest which dominates a man's life
polarizes his mind, which then acts like a magnet
and continually draws out from his stored-up
experience and also from new experiences whatever
is relevant and useful to the end in view.
Deep
interest invigorates the mind, awakens its dormant
powers and is the key to super excellence, invention
and discovery.
- Swami Krishnananda
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
' Transformation of the character '...
He should seek to develop on all four sides of his nature--the intellectual, the emotional, the practical, and the intuitional.
The entire endeavour should be directed towards discovering his weaknesses of character and remedying them, strengthening his capacity to think abstractly and metaphysically, refining and ennobling his feelings, disciplining and understanding his passions, cultivating and responding to his intuitions.
Thus the philosophic quest is an integral one.
It aims at a total illumination of the mind and transformation of the character.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? >
Chapter 3: Its Requirements > # 202
Paul Brunton
' The confusion of thought '...
Let us now enter Reality..
So many of the humanic desire run in circles of sheep..
Money is the God of Illusion..
They, call this 'Desire' by many names, including those of Angels..
But, Reality is Real and all of the stories are from the thoughts of egoic desire..
So, let us see within this non-egoic teaching called Love ?...
You keep searching and cannot find one that agrees with you..
Stop trying to speak of Truth,
but, only teach of Reaity...
'thomas
' Living in the time of Now '...
"The disease is simple and the remedy equally simple.
It is your mind only that makes you insecure and unhappy.
Anticipation makes you insecure, memory - unhappy.
Stop misusing your mind and all will be well with you.
You need not set it right - it will set itself right,
as soon as you give up all concern with the past and the future and live entirely in the now."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
'Inside the Flow '...
Let the world call you lazy for not running about like a
frightened ghost. Just be quiet inside yourself.
Don't
bother about knowing how things should be and simply
begin observing without prejudice, projections or desires.
Notice how life flows of its own accord.
Nothing here is a
chaos, but a harmony.
You are already inside this flow.
- Mooji
' The Bondage of Thought '...
Time is woven inextricably into all our thinking and the only way to escape
its domination is to escape the bondage of thought.
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity >
Chapter 4: Time, Space, Causality > # 152
Paul Brunton
' Change is life '...
All you can do is to act your role to the best of your ability.
The consequences are not in your hands.
Change is the basis of life.
Opposites are interconnected polarities,
not irreconcilables over which we have to make a choice.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' The State of Now '...
"Time is in the mind, space is in the mind.
The law of cause and effect is also a way of thinking.
In reality all is here and now and all is one.
Multiplicity and diversity are in the mind only."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Guardian of Divine Light '...
"Although you appear in earthly form
Your essence is pure consciousness.
You are the fearless guardian of Divine Light.
So come, return to the root of the root of your own soul.
"When you lose all sense of self
the bonds of a thousand chains will vanish.
Lose yourself completely.
Return to the root of the root of your own soul.
"You descended from Adam, by the pure Word of God,
but you turned your sight
to the empty show of this world.
Alas, how can you be satisfied with so little?
So come, return to the root of the root of your own soul.
"Why are you so enchanted by this world
when a mind of gold lies within you?
Open your eyes and come --
Return to the root of the root of your own soul."
-Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved
Translations by Jonathan Star
NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997, pp. 4-5
' Faith and Destiny '...
"Steady faith is stronger than destiny.
Destiny is the result of causes, mostly accidental, and is therefore loosely woven.
Confidence and good hope will overcome it easily."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Your True Being '...
A: Thank you for your question and for sharing your wonderful insight. That within us which so desperately seeks to be acknowledged is our relative being, our ego. Although it is nice to have our relative being be seen and acknowledged, it is never quite enough, because our ego, our image of ourself, is found primarily through the reflections that others give us.
It is not our true being and so it cannot be truly satisfied with anything less than awakening from its own self-created dream. The ego leaves us feeling terribly vulnerable because those who have a good image of us can always change their minds about us, and frequently do.
Your true being, however, is in no way defined by your ego’s image of itself, nor is it found in the image others have of you. Who knows, maybe not having your parents acknowledge you as much as you wanted them to when you were a child gave you the inclination to look inside, beyond all self-images, whether they be yours or others.
In the end, it is actual life, whether easy or difficult, that provides the opportunities to awaken from the dream of self to our true being. Good for you—no more crying over spilled milk. Let a new life, a new vision, bloom.
Your true being has no history, no past or future. It is the timeless awareness of now. And it has no past grievance, no resentful relationship to what was. It is, and that is enough. How few people know the absolute joy of having no image, no dream of self, no idea or thing to hold onto. To be imageless, formless, conscious, and free, is to regain our true being. Then we meet ourself in every face we see.
-Adyashanti
' Existence of the Soul '...
The light streaming from a table lamp proves the existence of electricity.
The light streaming into the mind in these exalted moments proves the existence of the Soul.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 4:
Introduction To Mystical Glimpses > # 155 Paul Brunton
' Resolve and Persevere '...
The body is a material thing and needs time to change.
The mind is but a set of mental habits, of ways of thinking
and feeling, and to change they must be brought to the
surface and examined.
This also takes time.
Just resolve
and persevere, the rest will take care of itself.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' I have not any fear '...
"Supreme luster am I, I am everlasting, good;
Fully aware am I, devoid of death, decay;
I have not any fear. I am eternal, whole.
And free from throbs of thought. No intellect have I,
No body nor a mind - my real nature is Bliss.
No hunger, neither thirst nor ego have I got;
No wish have I – I am free from every sort of change;
No father, mother, son or family have I;
No duty, birth no death doth appertain to me.
In this wilderness of samsara ‘t is for whom
That you are looking? No relatives
Are really yours, who is caught within the net
Of this false maya have forgotten the Truth of your own Self. Just find out who you are!
You wanton with the billows of desire
Thinking that they are yours.
But never once
You think of who you are, whence you were born,
And what are parents, what are relatives,
And what your friends: When in this dream, woven
By false desires, the actor's part you play.
You have forgotten the knowledge of the Truth:
In this dark mire of grief now lying drunk
You never try to find out your own Self.'"
-Sri Brahmajna Ma
' The first step on the Short Path '...
However tirelessly and relentlessly he pursues the Long Path, he may come one day to the tragic discovery that the ideal it proposes to him embodies a humanly impossible perfection.
With that discovery he will fall into a numb inertness, a pathetic and hopeless state which could even bring his overwrought mind not far from a breakdown.
He may feel alone and deserted.
He may enter into the dark night of the soul, as some mystics name it.
His ego will feel crushed.
He will not know what to do, nor even have the strength of will to do anything more.
At this point he must wait . . . out of bleakness and weakness there will presently come a guidance, bidding him respond affirmatively to a suggestion, a book, or a teacher directing him toward what is really his first step on the Short Path.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 4:
The Changeover To the Short Path > # 148 Paul Brunton
' The Avatar's Call '...
"Age after age, when the wick of Righteousness burns low, the Avatar comes yet once again to rekindle the torch of Love and Truth. Age after age, amidst the clamor of disruptions, wars, fear and chaos, rings the Avatar's call:
"'COME ALL UNTO ME.'
"Although, because of the veil of illusion, this Call of the Ancient One may appear as a voice in the wilderness, its echo and re-echo nevertheless pervades through time and space to rouse at first a few, and eventually millions, from their deep slumber of ignorance. And in the midst of illusion, as the Voice behind all voices, it awakens humanity to bear witness to the Manifestation of God amidst mankind.
"The time is come. I repeat the Call, and bid all come unto me.
"This time-honored Call of mine thrills the hearts of those who have patiently endured all in their love for God, loving God only for love of God. There are those who fear and shudder at its reverberations and would flee or resist. And there are yet others who, baffled, fail to understand why the Highest of the High, who is all-sufficient, need necessarily give this Call to humanity.
"Irrespective of doubts and convictions, and for the Infinite Love I bear for one and all, I continue to come as the Avatar, to be judged time and again by humanity in its ignorance, in order to help man distinguish the Real from the false.
"Invariably muffled in the cloak of the infinitely true humility of the Ancient One, the Divine Call is at first little heeded, until, in its infinite strength, it spreads in volume to reverberate and keep on reverberating in countless hearts as the Voice of Reality.…"
-Meher Baba
The Avatar's Call
' Neither within nor without '...
“Because your outlook is externally directed, you speak of a ‘without’.
In that state you are advised to look within.
In fact, the Self is neither within nor without.”
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Sri Maharshi’s Way: A Translation and Commentary on Upadesa Saram
D.M. Sastri
Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1999, p. 33
' You-niverse '...
The problems in your life are in direct proportion
to your unwillingness to swallow absolutely
everything that’s on your Path.
The problem is not in what’s showing up for you.
The problem is in your resistance to what’s
showing up for you.
It’s in your shouting out to the Cosmos, "This
should not be so!"
When you swallow the entire "you-niverse,"
then you’re not resisting "what is."
If you’re patient, though, then everything that
shows up for you will eventually become edible.
However…don’t expect it all to taste just like
dessert!
- Chuck Hillig
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
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