' 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
' Realization '...
If you want it [realization], it will come.
There is
no qualification necessary, except wanting it.
That is the only qualification.
If it is not wanted,
it will not come.
It comes when it is wanted,
but wanted wholly, not a little.
-Your Questions Answered
Swami Krishnananda
The Divine Life Trust Society, 1995
' The Spiritual Master '...
The benefit of approaching a master as a disciple is that he provides inspirational stimulus and aspirational uplift.
He pours a current of power into the disciple who then finds renewed strength to continue the Quest in a general sense.
In the special matter of practising meditation, he is able to go into it deeper and to sustain it longer.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 5: Teaching Masters, Discipleship > # 72
Paul Brunton
' Mundaka Upanishad '...
Brahman is not grasped by the eye, nor by speech,
nor by the other senses, nor by penance or good
works.
A man becomes pure through serenity of
intellect; thereupon, in meditation, he beholds
Him who is without parts.
- Mundaka Upanishad
' 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 channel is still human '...
Nobody is perfectly fulfilled, completely virtuous, totally enlightened, on this physical plane.
The best of sages and saints are so because of their inspiration's source, which is beyond other men's.
But the channel is still human, still limited and still liable to color what flows through, as Ramakrishna himself admitted.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 3: The Sage > # 353 Paul Brunton
' He who has faith, has all '...
"Creeds and sects matter nothing. Let every one perform with faith the devotions and practices of his creed.
Faith is the only clue to get to God. He who has faith has all, and he who wants faith wants all.
The faith-healers of India order their patients to repeat with full conviction the words, 'There is no illness in me, there is no illness at all.' The patient repeats it, and, thus mentally denying, the illness goes off. So if you think yourself to be morally weak and without goodness, you will really find yourself to be so in no time. Know and believe that you are of immense power, and the power will come to you at last.
Bhagavan Srî Ramachandra [Lord Rama] had to bridge the ocean before he could cross over to Lanka (Ceylon). But Hanuman, his faithful monkey-servant, with one jump crossed the ocean through the firmness of his faith in Râma. Here the servant achieved more than the master, simply through faith.
A man wanted to cross the river. A sage gave him an amulet and said, 'This will carry thee across.' The man, taking it in his hand, began to walk over the waters. When he reached the middle of the river curiosity entered into his heart, and he opened the amulet to see what was in it. Therein he found, written on a bit of paper, the sacred name of Rama. The man at this said deprecatingly, 'Is this the only secret?' No sooner had he said this than he sank down. It is faith in the name of the Lord that works miracles, for faith is life, and doubt is death."
-Sri Ramakrishna
in F. Max Muller
Ramakrishna: His Life And Sayings, 200-204
Longmans, Green, And Co., London & New York, 1898, p.
p. 143-144
' Universal Vibration '...
The universe is like a dome;
it vibrates to that which you say in it,
and answers the same back to you;
so also is the law of action we reap
what we sow.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
' Differences between humans '...
The differences between human beings still remain after illumination.
The variations which make each one a unique specimen and the individual that he is, still continue to exist.
But the Oneness behind human beings powerfully counterbalances.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2:
Enlightenment Which Stays > # 189 Paul Brunton
' Become Brahma '...
"He whose faith in the Tathagata is settled, rooted, established, solid, unshakeable by any ascetic or Brahmin, any deva or mara or Brahma or anyone in the world, can truly say: 'I am a true son of Blessed Lord (Bhagavan), born of his mouth, born of Dhamma, created by Dhamma, an heir of Dhamma.'
Why is that?
Because, Vasettha, this designates the Tathagata:
'The Body of Dhamma,' that is, 'The Body of Brahma,' or 'Become Dhamma,' that is, 'Become Brahma.'"
Digha Nikaya III.84,
Maurice Walshe
The Long Discourses of the Buddha
Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 1995, p 409
' The value of non-action '...
The softest thing in the universe
Overcomes the hardest thing in the universe.
That without substance can enter where there is no room.
Hence I know the value of non-action.
Teaching without words and work without doing
Are understood by very few.
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1989
' Freedom of the Absolute '...
"It is not uncommon in the presence of a powerful teacher, and under ideal conditions, to have a glimpse of enlightenment. But all too often most seekers are unwilling to surrender to the overwhelming implications of that revelation. The profound intimacy and vulnerability inherent in true freedom marks the destruction of the ego's boundaries to such an extent that all beings and all things become the content of one's own Self. To most seekers this is simply too much because the limitlessness of the Self leaves no room for any separateness from the whole. It is this complete lack of separation from the whole which is the very definition of selflessness and love.
The aim of spiritual practice is to discover in your own present experience That which the movement of thought never touches. This does not mean to suppress the thinking mind, nor does it mean to attempt to understand by using thought. What I am pointing toward is the Unknown: the already, ever-present, silent-still-source that not only precedes thought but surrounds it. You must become more interested in the Unknown than in that which is known. Otherwise you will remain enslaved by the very narrow and distorted perspective of conceptual thinking. You must go so deeply into the Unknown that you are no longer referencing thought to tell you who and what you are. Only then will thought be capable of reflecting that which is true rather than falsely masquerading as truth.
What I am talking about is a condition where the mind never fixates; where it never closes; where it has no compulsive need to understand in terms of ideas, concepts, and beliefs. A condition where you are no longer referencing the mind, feelings, or emotions for security in any way. What I am talking about is the complete surrender of all separateness until liberation becomes a permanent condition, and you are forever lost in the freedom of the Absolute."
~ Adyashanti, That Which Thought Never Touches
' The Formless One '...
1. I am the attributeless absolute Nirguna (Formless One). I have no name and no residence.
2. I embroiled myself in karma (action) and got this body. Brahman (the Absolute) is my father and Maya (Power of Illusion) is my mother. I am formless and in everything. I fill all space and am omnipresent. I am in water, in dry places, in crowd and solitary wilderness. I am in the fire and in ether.
3. I am the Progenitor of God. Meditate on me as pure Anand Nirakara (Formless Bliss), but if you cannot do this, then meditate on this Sai Body exactly as you see it.
4. I am not the body or the senses. I am the eternal Sakshi (Witness).
-Shirdi Sai Baba
Mani Sahukar
_The Saint of Shirdi_, Ch. 11
"Sai Baba Speaks: His Charters and Sayings"
' Compassion '...
“Do you remember when your idea of compassion was to join in someone’s illusory story of what was happening? You felt, ‘I have to support your illusory story so you will support mine, and then we will really feel bonded and closer together.’
But the level of compassion I’m speaking of means something else. This compassion means a devotion to Truth.
And the first movement of this compassion has to be to oneself.
The world is full of people who want to be compassionate to everyone else and save the world. But they don’t want to take it within themselves because it will remove the center.
That is the ultimate compassionate act, to remove the center.
Then there is only freedom—the freedom of awakeness, the freedom to be what one already is, which is spirit, instead of the living incarnation of a story.
So this devotion to Truth becomes a movement of compassion, not only for ourselves but for others, and we start to see that what we do for ourselves, we automatically do for others.”
- Adyashanti
Emptiness Dancing
' Authentic action '...
Asked a student at a class in New York, 'How can we get more from
these lectures?'
'Accept the actions as well as the words. If I tell you it is wise
to learn something from every experience you will agree wholeheartedly.
But do you do it? You may agree that sunshine is healthy, but it does
no good if you remain indoors.'
'That is true, but how can we distinguish between artificial action and
movements having real meaning?'
'The only test of action is whether it truly changes the kind of human
being you are. All else is illusion masquerading as reality.'
Never hesitate to perform authentic action, for results can never be
anything but good."
Inspire Yourself, p. 36 Vernon Howard
' The Dream '...
"After doing something we should forget about it and go on to the next matter.
Nothing should be taken as ultimately real.
As the Vajra Sutra says,
'All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, like dew drops or flashes of lightening.'
One should contemplate them thus."
Master Hsuan Hua
Spring Sun, Lotus Flower: Quotes from the Teachings of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Translation Society,
2004, p. 40
' It Felt Love '...
How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
- Hafiz
-"The Gift"
Translations by Daniel Ladinsky
' “Man Was Not Born To Cry” by Joel S. Goldsmith '...
Through meditation and pondering truth, a time comes when the “click” takes place within, a definite awareness that something has happened that never happened before, and from then on we nurse it. We retire into ourselves more and more frequently, not for long periods of time, but many times a day and several times a night until we are so well established in God that there does not even seem to be a human selfhood left to care for.
This other Thing is caring for us. It provides in advance for something of which we have no knowledge of needing at the present time. There is an invisible Wisdom governing our life; there is an invisible Love enfolding us, providing, caring, protecting, and sustaining.
It is through our own dedication and consecration that we bring this about. It will not happen to us “out of the blue,” although it has happened occasionally to a few persons who, without even having a thought in their mind of a spiritual subject, suddenly have an experience such as this, but then because they knew nothing of its nature very often they have lost it and have been unable to recapture it.
That is not true of us because when we have the experience, we know why we have it. We know that we have awakened to the awareness of the Divine Presence; and we know that since this is true, we can return again and again and again to this quiet Withinness and bring It back into conscious expression until eventually the day comes when this is no longer necessary, and the Spirit is really living our life. The ultimate is being reached, and then we become so established in this that there really is no little “I” to take care of. Something Invisible is always doing the taking care of in advance.
All that the Father, the Invisible Infinite, has is made manifest through my individual being. This inner Meat that I have, and which the world knows nothing of, appears outwardly as food on my table. This spiritual Water that I have within bubbles up into life eternal. This power of divine Grace that is now mine by virtue of my oneness with God becomes my awakening, and even my body is raised up out of the tomb of disease, the tomb of old age, or the tomb of infirmity and is restored again to its normalcy and harmony.
As I consciously realize that I am fed from within, and that all that the Father has is flowing in me and through me, even the lost years are restored: the money that has been lost or dissipated begins to return, reputations that have been ruined are remade, and the body that was weak and ailing is restored to health.
Out of this Infinity, all things become new. All that I shall ever need is given to me from the infinite Source within my being, continuously fulfilling God’s plan as individual being.
-“Man Was Not Born To Cry” by Joel S. Goldsmith
' What is the Heart ?'...
You see the drawing of the 'Heart' every day when the subject is Love..
You wonder why..
Why is the 'Heart' used as the symbol of Love?..
Most humans are unaware that the 'Heart' produces much more voltage than the Brain..
Voltage is used as the Energy source of the body and mind to function the operating of the human body hologram..
Light is the building Source..
So why is the 'Heart' involved in Love ?..
Heart is the Energy source and therefore contains no personality..
'No personality' is the 'Door' to Reality..
'No personality' is 'Pure Awareness', otherwise known as Reality..
'No personality' called non-egoic desire is known as 'Love'..
'Love' is Known as 'God'..
'God' is Known as 'Reality'..
The Heart is Consciousness expanding...
-thomas
' Make yourself ignorant '...
"Would he had been less full of borrowed knowledge!
Then he would have accepted inspired knowledge from his father.
When, with inspiration at hand, you seek book-learning, your heart, as if inspired, loads you with reproach.
Traditional knowledge, when inspiration is available, is like making ablutions in sand when water is near.
Make yourself ignorant, be submissive, and then you will obtain release from your ignorance."
-Jalaluddin Rumi
' Keep Quiet '...
You are not that, you are aware of that.
If you hold to the intuition, the sense "I am", and don't allow this to connect with any other concept; if you just let the "I am" incubate in itself, inmediately joy and space prevails.
Spontaneously, there is the silent and intuitive conviction: "I am timeless, unbound being."
This is not a teaching, it's a powerful inner experience, inexplicable.
Thankfully, you don't have to write a thesis about it.
Something it is seen, it's enough.
You cannot prove it and you needn't prove it.
You don't need to talk about it, or even to share it.
Keep quiet.
Remain in the natural inner solitude.
- Extract from Mooji's book "Before I am", page 26.
' The Same Spirit '...
It is a mistake to believe that the mystical adepts all possess the same unvarying supernormal powers. On the contrary, they manifest such power or powers as are in consonance with their previous line of development and aspiration.
One who has come along an intellectual line of development, for instance, would most naturally manifest exceptional intellectual powers.
The situation has been well put by Saint Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit.
And there are diversities of ministries but the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings but the same God who worketh all in all." When the Overself activates the newly made adept's psyche, the effect shows itself in some part or faculty; in another adept it produces a different effect.
Thus the Source is always the same but the manifestation is different.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 3: The Sage > # 94
-- Perspectives > Chapter 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > # 55 Paul Brunton
' Without passions '...
Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu: "Are there, then, men who have no passions?"
Chuang Tzu replied: "Certainly."
"But if a man has no passions," argued Hui Tzu, "what is it that makes him a man?"
"Tao," replied Chuang Tzu, "gives him his expression, and God gives him his form. How should he not be a man?"
"If, then, he is a man," said Hui Tzu, "how can he be without passions?"
"What you mean by passions," answered Chuang Tzu, "is not what I mean. By a man without passions I mean one who does not permit good and evil to disturb his internal economy, but rather falls in with whatever happens, as a matter of course, and does not add to the sum of his mortality."
-Chuang Tzu
in Lionel Giles
Musings of a Chinese Mystic, 1909, p. 87-88
http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/mcm/mcm14.htm
' Our Inmost Being '...
Some beings have had enough of experiencing. Their urge for
freedom is very strong now.
That company I find most alive.
At
some point many relationships become worn out and tired.
They
mostly begin to fall away.
Do not grieve.
Do you honestly want to
find those old conversations interesting again?
A voice within says:
Come fully inside. Come lay down here in the silence of Being.
If there is a sadness it will be to spend our life in separation from
our inmost being.
- Mooji
' Disidentify with the ego '...
There seem to be two kinds of searchers:
those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as though you could make a fish unfish),
and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting,
that there is only one thing that can be done,
which is to disidentify themselves with the ego,
by realising its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being.
- Wei Wu Wei, from Fingers Pointing Towards The Moon
' All thinking is in duality '...
96. All thinking is in duality.
In identity no thought survives.
97. Go forth, unburdened with ideas and beliefs.
Abandon all verbal structures, all relative truth,
all tangible objectives.
The Absolute can be reached
by absolute devotion only.
Don't be half-hearted.
98. Too much analysis leads you nowhere.
There is in you the core of being
which is beyond analysis, beyond the mind.
99. Mere listening, even memorizing, is not enough.
If you do not struggle hard to apply every word of it
in your daily life,
don't complain that you made no progress.
The above Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj quotes are from the book
The Seven Steps to Awakening.
' The Beloved '...
"If you befriend the Beloved,
You will never be lonely."
-Jalaludin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali, Translators
Rumi: Hidden Music
Barnes & Noble, 2009 (reprint), p. 134
' Pure Consciousness '...
The ultimate Knower is supra-personal, divine pure consciousness, the knowing and understanding Self, Saint Thomas Aquinas' "God Himself who is the Soul's Creator and only Beatitude." All this is higher than the ego, the person, the individuality, the man himself.
The omnipresence of the Infinite Mind carries great meaning for us individually. For it signifies that this Mind is not less present and not less active in us too.
The World-Mind cannot be separated from any point of the world. It is present in every point, every creature, now, at this very moment. There is no need for anyone to think himself cut off or apart or remote from this divine source of his being. This is just as true in his sorrowful hours as in his joyful ones.
It is because the World-Mind supports man, gives him consciousness and energy, that he is a sharer in divine existence.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 22-25 Paul Brunton
' We become Him '...
"When you say Self, God, Infinity, they mean nothing.
To attempt to understand by reading or hearing explanations is an insult to our beloved God, Who is beyond all understanding.
The only answer is Love.
If we love God, we become Him. There is no further question.
But we must love with all our hearts, so that only God exists for us."
-Meher Baba
in Malcolm Schloss and Charles Purdom
Three Incredible Weeks With Meher Baba: September 11-30, 1954
N. Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Press, 1955, p. 82
' Co-operate with destiny '...
Do understand that you are destined for
enlightenment.
Co-operate with your destiny,
don't go against it, don't thwart it.
Allow it to
fulfill itself.
All you have to do is to give
attention to the obstacles created by the
foolish mind.
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Essential Self '...
If there were any part of the universe, or any thing in the universe, or any creature in the universe without God in its essence, then the universe could not have been manifested by God. The essential self of man must be divine.
Wang Yang-ming's disciples often remarked, "The streets are full of enlightened men!" By this they reiterated their Master's teaching that all men have the possibility of attaining enlightenment because all have the divine self hidden under their egoism.
Each of us is linked with that Being, the Mover of all this moving universe. This link must be brought into our field of awareness. There lies the highest fulfillment of our lives.
The individual consciousness is not alone. It is fathered by a universal consciousness. Between the two there is this link. To awaken one day and discover (in several cases, rediscover) it will be a man's most satisfying experience.
The World-Mind is omnipresent. There is a point where every man touches it. When he attains awareness of this point, he is at last attending the true Holy Communion service.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 26 - 30 Paul Brunton
' What is Spirit ?'...
You have been told of the Holy Spirit..
Spirit, means to have no material manifestation..
You are speaking of Consciousness..
This Grand Dreamer..
This, Everything that we desire to be..
This, Everything that We already Are..
For some reason, we are taught that we must suffer..
This makes a great deal of money for those that take money for sin..
-thomas
' Awakening '...
STEP ONE
Know that a journey that never goes beyond words, ideas, thoughts or concepts is not a journey to awakening.
Know the difference between:
A. The final direct experience of infinite consciousness where all suffering, the body, the universe, etc. disappear forever and only infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss remains.
B. Thinking about infinite consciousness or any other spiritual topic.
Thinking is not Liberation or Realization.
Know the difference between:
A. Using the teachings as practice instructions.
B. Getting lost or stuck in concepts.
The words and concepts taught in
The Seven Steps to Awakening
lead to the final awakening
only if they are actually practiced.
Every time you read a quote in The Seven Steps to Awakening ask yourself these two questions:
A. What is the purpose of this quote?
B. What would I have to do to put this purpose into practice?
Write your answers to those questions or make an audio recording of your answers and play them back many times repeatedly. Then actually practice the teachings.
The above quotes are from the book
The Seven Steps to Awakening.
' Light '...
"The brilliance of Your presence in my soul is my guide,
And I am lost in the enormity of my longing.
It leads me where I might not go
Where I not so lost in You."
-Hakim Sanai
The Walled Garden of Truth
in _The Book of Everything: Journey of the Heart's Desire
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, 2002, p. 26
' Freedom '...
Freedom is not arrogance.
Freedom is not self-assertion.
Freedom is where you feel joy.
Without learning anything
you know everything
and having everything
you are bound by nothing;
this is the true nature
of a free soul.
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' Life is a misery '...
Life is a misery for the man absorbed in himself.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The more living the heart, the more sensitive it is; but that which causes sensitiveness is the love-element in the heart, and love is God. The person whose heart is not sensitive is without feeling; his heart is not living, it is dead. In that case the divine Spirit is buried in his heart. A person who is always concerned with his own feelings is so absorbed in himself that he has no time to think of another. His whole attention is taken up with his own feelings. He pities himself, he worries about his own pain, and is never open to sympathize with others. He who takes notice of the feelings of another person with whom he comes in contact, practices the first essential moral of Sufism.
A person who, alone, has seen something beautiful, who has heard something harmonious, who has tasted something delicious, who has smelt something fragrant, may have enjoyed it, but not completely. The complete joy is in sharing one's joy with others. For the selfish one who enjoys himself and does not care for others, whether he enjoys things of the earth or things of heaven, his enjoyment is not complete.
When a person is absorbed in himself, he has no time for character-building, because he has no time to think of others: then there is no other. But when he forgets himself, he has time to look here and there, to collect what is good and beautiful, and to add it naturally to his character. So the character is built. One need not make an effort to build it, one has only to forget oneself.
Every step in evolution makes life more valuable. The more evolved you are, the more priceless is every moment; it becomes an opportunity for you to do good to others, to serve others, to give love to others, to be gentle to others, to give your sympathy to souls who are longing and hungering for it. Life is miserable when a person is absorbed in himself; as soon as he forgets himself he is happy. The more he thinks of himself, his own affairs, work and interests, the less he knows the meaning of life. When a person looks at another he cannot at the same time look at himself. Illness, disappointments and hardships matter very little when one can look at them from a higher standpoint.
' The Ultimate Knower '...
The ultimate Knower is supra-personal, divine pure consciousness, the knowing and understanding Self, Saint Thomas Aquinas' "God Himself who is the Soul's Creator and only Beatitude." All this is higher than the ego, the person, the individuality, the man himself.
The omnipresence of the Infinite Mind carries great meaning for us individually. For it signifies that this Mind is not less present and not less active in us too.
The World-Mind cannot be separated from any point of the world. It is present in every point, every creature, now, at this very moment. There is no need for anyone to think himself cut off or apart or remote from this divine source of his being. This is just as true in his sorrowful hours as in his joyful ones.
It is because the World-Mind supports man, gives him consciousness and energy, that he is a sharer in divine existence.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 22-25 Paul Brunton
' Beyond the Thinker '''.
I am not speaking of the opposite of Source, called Destruction..
This game and dream of reality..
A dream will never be Reality..
You will, wake up, and smile..
But, to think that, this spiritual ego is superior is false..
" The first shall be last, and the last will be first ",
said: The young Hebrew Mystic..
Who can be believed?..
Do not worry !..
The Creator will not let the bowl break..
Become the advisor...
-thomas
' The Domain of Infinity '...
"I preserve the original One, while resting in harmony with externals. It is because I have thus cared for my self now for twelve hundred years that my body has not decayed."
"The Yellow Emperor prostrated himself and said, 'Kuang Cheng Tzu is surely God.'
"Whereupon the latter continued, 'Come, I will tell you. That self is eternal ; yet all men think it mortal. That self is infinite ; yet all men think it finite. - Those who possess Tao are princes in this life and rulers in the hereafter. Those who do not possess Tao, behold the light of day in this life and become clods of earth in the hereafter.
"'Nowadays, all living things spring from the dust and to the dust return. But I will lead you through the portals of Eternity into the domain of Infinity. My light is the light of sun and moon. My life is the life of heaven and earth. I know not who comes nor who goes. Men may all die, but I endure for ever.'"
-Chuang Tzu
Herbert Giles, translator
Chang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, Social Reformer
London: Bernard Quaritch, 1889, p. 128
' Everything is Circular '...
The human mind thinks in lateral terms,
but almost
everything in the universe is circular.
Anything that
changes has to come back again.
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Seek Source Within '...
The innermost being of man and the cosmos is ever at rest, and single.
The incarnate being of both is ever in movement, and dual.
The inner is the Real, Changeless; the other is the Appearance, and subject to the play of two opposed but interpenetrating active forces. Because it is the quintessence of consciousness and intelligence, I call the first Mind.
It is without shape, infinite and untouchable by man, but because it is, universes are able to appear, expand, disintegrate, and reincarnate. This activity is directly due to the agency of the first entity to appear, which I call World-Mind.
From the latter flows ceaselessly the energy which is at the heart of every atom, the life-force which is at the heart of every man. World-Mind and Mind are for us the twin sides--a crude but simple, understandable metaphor--of God.
The human being draws breath, exists, and thinks with awareness only because of this relationship.
If he declares himself an atheist, sees himself only as an animal, rejects any divine basis to his mind, he testifies thereby to a failure on his own part: he has failed to seek and find, or because of prejudice--that is, of prejudgement--has sought wrongly.
Jesus gave two helps in this matter: seek the kingdom of heaven first, and seek it within. It is open to anyone to test this truth that he is related to God. But if he does not bring certain qualities into the work, such as patience and humility, the going may be too hard, the result disappointing.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 6 Paul Brunton
' Ego discerned '...
Ego will not immediately vanish upon the realisation of the Truth,
but it will be more quickly and more easily discerned.
Its power
keeps diminishing in the light of self-awareness until it becomes
insignificant altogether.
- Mooji
' Spirit '...
If matter did not have spirit in it, it would not awaken.
from the Teachings of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & arranged by
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
' Related to Source '...
The innermost being of man and the cosmos is ever at rest, and single.
The incarnate being of both is ever in movement, and dual.
The inner is the Real, Changeless; the other is the Appearance, and subject to the play of two opposed but interpenetrating active forces. Because it is the quintessence of consciousness and intelligence, I call the first Mind.
It is without shape, infinite and untouchable by man, but because it is, universes are able to appear, expand, disintegrate, and reincarnate.
This activity is directly due to the agency of the first entity to appear, which I call World-Mind. From the latter flows ceaselessly the energy which is at the heart of every atom, the life-force which is at the heart of every man.
World-Mind and Mind are for us the twin sides--a crude but simple, understandable metaphor--of God. The human being draws breath, exists, and thinks with awareness only because of this relationship.
If he declares himself an atheist, sees himself only as an animal, rejects any divine basis to his mind, he testifies thereby to a failure on his own part: he has failed to seek and find, or because of prejudice--that is, of prejudgement--has sought wrongly.
Jesus gave two helps in this matter: seek the kingdom of heaven first, and seek it within. It is open to anyone to test this truth that he is related to God. But if he does not bring certain qualities into the work, such as patience and humility, the going may be too hard, the result disappointing.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 6 Paul Brunton
' To Know Him '...
"Naught ever can be known in God:
One and Alone Is He.
To know Him,
Knower must be one with Known."
-Angelus Silesius
Selections from The Cherubinic Wanderer
Translated by J. E. Crawford Flitch
London, 1932
' Samadhi '...
"After passing the six centers the aspirant arrives at the seventh plane.
Reaching it, the mind merges in Brahman.
The individual soul and the Supreme Soul become one.
The aspirant goes into samadhi.
His consciousness of the body disappears.
He loses the knowledge of the outer world.
He does not see the manifold any more.
His reasoning comes to a stop."
Sri Ramakrishna
The Gospel of Ramakrishna, vol. 1
Sunday, June 10, 1883
' True humility '...
True humility is not the opposite of pride
but the very negation of a separate entity
who could either be proud or humble.
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Acaranga Sutra '...
"I have heard and realized that bondage and liberation are both within yourself."
Acaranga sutra 5.36 [Jain]
in Andrew Wilson
World Scripture: An Anthology of Sacred Texts
NY: International Religious Foundation, 1991, p. 488
' Understanding '...
Understanding makes the trouble of life lighter to bear.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
We often suffer because we do not understand. Many conditions and many people are difficult to tolerate because we do not understand them, but once we understand we can tolerate almost anything.
All tragedy of life, all misery and inharmony are caused by one thing and that is lack of understanding. Lack of understanding comes from lack of penetration. The one who does not see from the point of view from which he ought to see becomes disappointed because he cannot understand. It is not for the outer world to help us to understand life better; it is we ourselves who should help ourselves to understand it better.
What a great thing is understanding! It is priceless. No man can give greater pleasure to his fellow man than by understanding him. The closest friend in life is the one who understands most. It is not your wife, brother or sister, it is the one who understands you most who is your greatest friend in the world. You can be the greatest friend of God if you can understand God. Imagine how man lives in the world -- with closed eyes and closed ears! Every name and every form speaks constantly, constantly makes signs for you to hear, for you to respond to, for you to interpret, that you may become a friend of God. The whole purpose of your life is to make yourself ready to understand what God is, what your fellow man is, what the nature of man is, what life is.
Now coming to a still greater secret of life I want to answer the question: how can we grow to read and understand the message that life speaks through all its names and forms? The answer is that, as by the opening of the eyes you can see things, so by the opening of the heart you can understand things. As long as the heart is closed you cannot understand things. The secret is that when the ears and eyes of the heart are open, all planes of the world are open, all names are open, all secrets, all mysteries are unfolded.
' Patience and humility '...
The innermost being of man and the cosmos is ever at rest, and single. The incarnate being of both is ever in movement, and dual.
The inner is the Real, Changeless; the other is the Appearance, and subject to the play of two opposed but interpenetrating active forces.
Because it is the quintessence of consciousness and intelligence, I call the first Mind. It is without shape, infinite and untouchable by man, but because it is, universes are able to appear, expand, disintegrate, and reincarnate.
This activity is directly due to the agency of the first entity to appear, which I call World-Mind. From the latter flows ceaselessly the energy which is at the heart of every atom, the life-force which is at the heart of every man.
World-Mind and Mind are for us the twin sides--a crude but simple, understandable metaphor--of God. The human being draws breath, exists, and thinks with awareness only because of this relationship.
If he declares himself an atheist, sees himself only as an animal, rejects any divine basis to his mind, he testifies thereby to a failure on his own part: he has failed to seek and find, or because of prejudice--that is, of prejudgement--has sought wrongly.
Jesus gave two helps in this matter: seek the kingdom of heaven first, and seek it within. It is open to anyone to test this truth that he is related to God. But if he does not bring certain qualities into the work, such as patience and humility, the going may be too hard, the result disappointing.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 1: Their Meeting and Interchange > # 6
Paul Brunton
' Thoughts on a Saturday Night '...
Bayazid said, "Paradise is of no worth to those who love."
The Reality of this statement is that within Unconditional Love,
there is no ego and therefore, no one to seek anything..
Within Source, there is no ego..
There is only 'Pure Awareness',
without a desire for a name..
But, that draws our attention to the present hologram of life..
Source, playing a game of egoic-attactment..
Paradise is the First Reality..
Pure Awareness is the Final Reality...
-thomas
' To See Reality '...
"Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh.
He did not in fact take this privilege from you.
As He says:
"Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you did to me."
-St. Augustine
in Carol Kelly-Gangi
The Essential Wisdom of the Saints
NY: Fall River Press, 2008, p. 50
' The Neighbor '...
Bayazid said, "Paradise is of no worth to those who love."
Rabia had a
related saying:
"First the neighbor, then the house."
That is,
the
neighbor, or God, is more important than the house, or Paradise.
-Fariduddin Attar
' The Universal Vision '...
The attainment of a certain experience marks the permanent attainment of a higher grade in the aspirant's evolution.
When this experience comes to him, he will have "the universal vision," wherein he will actually experience whatever beings, persons, forms, and creatures in the world he thinks of.
For a few minutes or a few hours he will forget his real ego and be universalized.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 294 Paul Brunton
' Thoughts on a Friday Night '...
The Souls meet in a half-circle called bar...
The Souls seek Love within those Souls called Friends..
The Addiction of meeting Souls on the same Journey..
The 'Sleeping' will not understand..
Ten million Souls, Awaken, everyday..
Consciousness has Awakened to Dream..
Truth will Appear and Hell will cease..
-thomas
' The 'I' attachment '...
"The more mine and I,
that is to say I-attachment and selfishness,
recede,
the more God's I,
that is God Himself,
increases in me."
Theologia Germanica
Bengt Hoffman, Tr.
NY: Paulist Press, 1980, p. 79
' Divine Illumination '...
To look at everything, trying to see what is behind
it, to see it in its right light, requires divine illumination,
a spiritual outlook on life.
And this outlook is attained
by the increase of compassion.
The more compassion
one has in one's heart, the more the world will begin to
look different.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
' Unchanging Consciousness '...
There, in the deepest state of contemplation, the awareness of a second thing--whether this be the world of objects outside or the world of thoughts inside--vanishes.
But unconsciousness does not follow. What is left over is a continuous static impersonal and unchanging consciousness.
This is the inmost being of man. This is the supreme Self, dwelling within itself alone.
Its stillness transcends the activity of thinking, of the knowing which distinguishes one thing from another. It is incommunicable then, inexplicable later.
But after a while from this high level the meditator must descend, returning to his human condition. He has come as close in the contact with the Great Being, the most refined ultimate Godhead, as is possible.
Let him be grateful. Let him not ask for more for he cannot know or experience more. This is as far as any man can go, for "Thou shalt not see God and live."
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 293 Paul Brunton
' I scarcely speak '...
"On meeting worldly men, I scarcely speak,
and so they say that I am dull of wit.
Without, I have what seems a dullard 's stare;
within, my crystal clarity of mind
soundlessly tallies with that mystic hidden way
which you worldly folk have yet to learn."
-Master Hui Hai
in John Blofeld
The Secret and the Sublime: Taoist Mysteries and Magic
NY: E. P. Dutton, 1973, p. 163
' Human appetites '...
Man's bodily appetites take him away from his heart's desires; his heart's desires keep him away from the abode of his soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There are two parts in man. One part is his external self, which the soul has borrowed from the earth; and the other part is his real self, which belongs to his Source. In other words an individual is a combination of spirit and matter, a current which runs from above and attracts to it the earth from below, shaping it in order to make it a vehicle. The human body is nothing but a vehicle of the soul which has come from above and has taken the human body as its abode. Thus an individual has two aspects of being: one is the soul, the other is the body. ... Whether he is in the forest or amidst the world's strife, the soul of man is always capable of rising to the greatest heights, if only he wishes to attain to them. ... Man does not need to trouble about what is lacking outside, for in reality all is within himself.
The soul cannot see itself; it sees what is round it, it sees that in which it functions; and so it enjoys the comforts of the shell which is around it, and experiences the pains and discomforts which belong to the shell. And in this way it becomes an exile from the land of its birth, which is the Being of God, which is divine Spirit; and it seeks consciously or unconsciously once again the peace and happiness of home. God therefore is not the goal but the abode of the soul, its real self, its true being.
Plato wrote that we live in a shadow world, where we confuse the shadow of ourselves with reality. This is the Nafs, the false ego, which stands in the light before God, causing, so to speak, a spiritual eclipse. ... The Nafs turns us from the One to the many, enticing us with the things of this world. Then man attaches himself to one thing after another, which brings, at best, momentary satisfaction. Through his spiritual practices the Sufi learns to chain the Nafs, to perceive that it is only a shadow of reality; and finding the sun of truth within his being, looking upon it, one is no longer aware of the shadow. Then the Nafs is not destroyed, but harnessed. The whole of man's being is attuned to God and everything within him serves God.
The one and only thing that hinders man from advancing spiritually, or at least from advancing towards the goal for which he is destined and which he is longing to attain, is this: that the mind is so absorbed by the demands and wants of the physical body that it has hardly a moment to give itself entirely to the reflection of the light of the soul.
' To Feel Reality '...
When attention is stilled, the mind void of thoughts and the desires at rest, it is possible for the instructed person to perceive truth much more clearly than before, and to feel Reality. But the instruction must concern what is the always-true and the ever-real.
It is only as he frees himself from all inward and outward pressures, all suggestions and impositions, that he becomes relaxed enough to receive what the Overself can present him with--ego-freed truth.
In the mind's stillness it is possible to find either nothing at all or clear understanding. It depends on the man's preparation for it, on his knowledge, character, and experience.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 287-289 Paul Brunton
' Right Here '...
But here it is. Right here.
There’s no getting there
or not getting there.
This is what Zen calls the gate
of sudden enlightenment.
If you hesitate, you’ve lost it.
If you go after it, you draw farther away from it.
- Zen Master Bankei
' The Secondary Consciousness '...
Our primary consciousness is the Mind of Clear Light. It doesn’t rely on thoughts or “outside” entertainments. Its nature is bliss, emptiness and wisdom. It is completely self-sufficient and perfect. It’s permanent and never degrades.
It can energetically contract and “seem” to enform itself into being a secondary consciousness that doesn’t know that it is merely a contracted state of the primary consciousness. This is like water becoming ice.
As an ice cube, it’s dimension is limited to “thought” instead of knowing. It doesn’t feel its intrinsic nature as bliss, and so seeks its bliss from other sources; it’s an endless task.
In a moment of perfect stillness, the ice cube can suddenly melt into water, or the secondary consciousness can revert to its primordial condition. In that moment it knows it’s true nature. That wisdom is only available in the “melted” state. The idea is to remain as that primordial state of Clear Light.
A body with a Mind of Clear Light, free of all self-identities and conceptual constructions of thought, navigates its world perfectly from a much higher capacity to see clearly and being free from all suffering.
Actively engaging in thought is what sustains the secondary mind. Thinking is what freezes the ice cube into its form, as well as all other apparent conceptual formations.
The karmic mind and self IS the Mind of Clear Light, but in it’s contracted state. Without thought, the contraction releases.
What we call the subconscious, is that dimension of historical information that the limited secondary consciousness is no longer able to access due to its contracted state. It then becomes a puppet of that same subconscious information that is constantly stimulated through its reactive thought.
The Mind of Clear Light has no subconscious mind, but rather has an infinite matrix of “potentials” that manifest spontaneously as the landscapes, forms, objects, people and creatures that form its projected mandala. Due to its capacity of clairvoyance, it can preview upcoming projections before actually being projected. Clairvoyance is a definite signature or symptom of the authenticity of one’s state being the Mind of Clear Light. Such a mind navigates its world effortlessly with a similar capacity of intuitive knowingness.
A big mistake is for the secondary mind to merely hear and believe what’s explained above and to then create a new philosophical view to live by. The secondary mind has to relax and release from its own self-contraction, generated and sustained by thought. The water can’t flow freely while still being a frozen ice cube. Both states are mutually exclusive.
-Jackson Peterson
' Meditation '...
"Whoever does not meditate, is like someone who never looks in the mirror before going out, doesn't bother to see if he's tidy, and may go out dirty without knowing it.
The person who meditates and turns his mind to God, who is the mirror of his soul, seeks to know his faults, tries to correct them, moderates his impulses, and puts his conscience in order."
- Padre Pio
~ , also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, was a friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic, now venerated as a saint of the Catholic church.
' This '...
'This' is the moment of Presence'
one, might even call this, Now..
Francis once said that embracing of Now,
was the only path to Heaven..
But, we all have different definitions of returning to Source..
Some will find the desire of attraction to exist within the Heaven of humanic features..
Some will surrender every desire and actually come Home...
-thomas
' Realization '...
It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize?
The real is as it is always.
We are not creating anything
new or achieving something which we did not have before.
The illustration given in books is this.
We dig a well and
create a huge pit.
The space in the pit or well has not been
created by us.
We have just removed the earth which was
filling the space there.
The space was there then and is
also there now.
Similarly we have simply to throw out all
the age-long samskaras [innate tendencies] which are
inside us.
When all of them have been given up, the Self
will shine alone.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
' No Self, No Problem '...
“In Buddhism this is called no self. This is the only true awakening.”
“As we begin to rest and pay attention, we begin to see everything clearly. We see that the self has no basis or solidity. It is a complete mental fabrication. We also realize that everything we believe to be true about our life is nothing but stories, fabricated around false identifications.”
“Who is the one being angry or disappointed?” In such inquiry, inner serenity can effortlessly manifest.”
“When all the layers of false identity have been stripped off, there is no longer any version of that old self. What is left behind is pure consciousness.”
“... we come to this one powerful understanding, that ultimately there is no samsara to be rejected. There is no misery to be transcended. There is not even a self to be liberated. Everything is just our own concepts and nothing more.. My misery, my enemy, my life, they are all my concepts. That’s it.”
“We just get rid of all of our concepts, all of our painful concepts, whatever concepts we are having an affair with. We are always having an affair with concepts and there are plenty of them. Every concept has a story line. Think about it. “I am poor.” That is a concept. “I am stupid.” That is a concept. “I am a woman.” That is a concept. “I am a man.” That is a concept too. They are all concepts. “I don’t have enough money, but if I had a million dollars, then I would be happy.” That is a concept. They are all concepts. Get rid of them in a single moment without even taking the time to meditate, without taking the time to analyze them. Transcend all limiting concepts as soon as they arise.”
“When the self completely collapses, there is this inexpressible, simple yet profound and ecstatic, compassionate awareness. Nobody is there. “I” is completely nonexistent in that place.”
“The “I” who doesn’t like what is unfolding is completely gone and that is all that matters in the ultimate sense.”
“When we try to get rid of it, it doesn’t work. It backfires because who is trying to get rid of it? There is nobody there in the ultimate sense.”
“I remember a very short quote from a Buddhist teacher: “No self, no problem.” It is really short but true and very effective too.”
“My ego is struggling. “Well, I want to be enlightened. I want to have that bliss that he is talking about right now.. I want to feel good. I want to have rapture but it’s not there. Time is running out.”
“There is struggle when we are meditating and there is struggle when we are not meditating, as long as the self is being perceived as real. When the self goes away, then we are already in paradise and there is nothing to do.”
“Karma is actually nothing more than thought.”
“Buddha taught this wisdom, and in his tradition it is called anatman, or “no self.” “
“This old version of self is the sense of an “I” that believes that it is inextricably bound to conditions. For example, when we feel that “I am going to die, and it scares the daylights out of me,” that is the old version of self. We know that it seems real to all of us. It seems as real as the sun and moon in the sky, as real as the coffee table in front of us. But remember that we once believed in many things that we no longer believe are real. When we were children Santa Claus was real to many of us. How could anybody dare tell a child that Santa is not real? But one day we figured it out all by ourselves. We simply knew that Santa was not real and that he had never been real. When we realize that this old version of self is no longer real, then we are no longer bound to conditions. Death is no longer a terrorizing threat. We have literally transcended death. Our body might decay and collapse but that is not death to us. This deathlessness has nothing to do with the idea that our soul or mind keeps reincarnating again and again when we lose our body. Rather we know that our true nature is one with everything, so it goes beyond birth and death as well as beyond reincarnation. Does the sky die? Our true nature is one with the sky.”
“When we suffer it means that we are attached to a thought. When we feel happy that means that we are experiencing another thought. The very sense of “I” is a thought too. The “I” that I believe to be so real and concrete doesn’t exist in the ultimate sense. It is just a thought.”
“The only thing that we must transcend is our thoughts. Beyond our own thoughts there is no suffering. There is only thought. This is not simply theory. But what does it mean to transcend our thoughts? It simply means not to believe in our thoughts. When we don’t believe in our thoughts we are always awakened. When we believe in our thoughts we are unawakened.”
“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.”
“In the ancient times, spiritual seekers used various methods to practice meditation. Yet, there is only one meditation. That is a state of nondoing. When we stop trying to get somewhere and let go of all of our inner exertions, surprisingly the ineffable truth reveals itself to us. Then that’s it. There is nothing else to be found. The realization of that truth sets us free from the prison of our imaginary self. When we go deeply into meditation, we always witness the dissolution of self. If the self is still sticking around, we have not gone deep enough.”
“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.”
“One of our biggest problems is the idea of death. Even that doesn’t exist because there has never been anybody there to die in the first place. This sense of “I” is a grand illusion. Life without this illusion is truly beautiful. Without this illusion we feel that we have much love and joy to share with everyone in the world.”
-Quotes of Tibetan Dzogchen teacher, Anam Thubten:
' Ingenious Inventions '...
It might well be said that I am connected with God on the one hand,
with the world on the other hand, but both connections are highly ingenious inventions.
God is literally in me.
His "I" makes my "I" possible.
My own sense of being is immersed in God's archetypal thought.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 3 Paul Brunton
' Zangtal '...
Tulku Urgyen:
“These three —resting freely, being pervasive and being wide open —are the three essential points of rigpa. Any other meditation training is usually stuck in either thinking that there is an object to keep in mind ‘over there’ or concentrating on something inwardly.
If one is not concentrating on anything here or there, one usually thinks there is a state to be retained in between. That becomes like conventional shamatha practice.
Letting go of these three reference points, there is total transparency, a complete openness that is an essential point of rigpa.
In Tibetan it is called zangtal, which means unimpededness.
It’s just like the window here: through it, you can unobstructedly see throughout the whole valley.
Another analogy is of a sieve, which allows poured liquid to flow straight through, not kept in any way whatsoever.
When training in rigpa, that quality of unimpeded openness should be understood as being the most essential.”
' Truth by Grace '...
It is important to live this non-direction, not knowing, that waiting without waiting for anything.
It Acts on our cells, on our psychosomatic body, bringing them expansion and harmony.
Only your attention is still without.
Live in the absolute absence of yourself.
That's the threshold.
You are in a complete opening, open to nothing, free of all ideas, free of hope.
And when you are completely transparent, open to openness, you are taken by the truth, by grace.
That's for sure.
-Jean Klein
' Freed from desire '...
Freed at last from this ever-whirling wheel of birth and death to which he was tied by his own desire-nature, what happens to him can only be an opening up to a new better and indescribable state, and it is so.
He as he was vanishes, not into complete annihilation and certainly not into the heaven of a perpetuated ego, but into a higher kind of life shrouded in mystery.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 194
Paul Brunton
' HE IS IT '...
For enlightenment to happen the perceiver must turn right around and wake up to the fact that he is face to face with his own nature - that HE IS IT.
The spiritual seeker ultimately finds that he was already at the destination,
that he himself IS what he had been seeking and he was in fact already home.
-Ramesh Balsekar
'Craving form '...
No permanence is ours;
we are a wave
that flows to fit
whatever form it finds:
Through night or day,
cathedral or the cave
we pass forever,
craving form that binds.
- Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)
' This is Tao '...
Chuang Tzu wrote:
"From wholeness one comprehends; from comprehension one comes near to Tao.
There one stops.
To stop without knowing how one stops--this is Tao."
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 81
Paul Brunton
' A letter to Jufa '...
Do you not see the duality within the writings that you submitted..
It has always been about the slavery of material egos..
This Circle keeps going, around and around..
By the third sentence, you were awake..
Reincarnation is the generator of Energy..
This positive and negative energy..
Create a character or ego..
We suffer cold and hot and believe that life is heaven..
You know the deal...
-thomas
' The True Lover '...
"Your earthly lover can be very charming and coquettish,
But never very faithful.
The true lover is the one who on your final day
Opens a thousand doors."
Jalaluddin Rumi
in Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali
Rumi: Hidden Music
London: Harper Element, 2001, p. 84
“Spiritual Addiction”...
A spiritual person can become addicted to spiritual highs and miss the experience of Truth. Spiritual addiction occurs when something great happens and it feels as if you have received a hit of a great drug. As soon as you have it, you want more. There is no drug more potent than spiritual experience. The intellectual component of this addiction is the belief that if you just had enough of these experiences, you would feel great all the time. It’s like morphine. You get a hit of it in the hospital because you break your arm, and you think, “If I had a little drip going all the time, life would be relatively pleasant no matter what happens.” Spiritual experiences often become like this, and the mind puts them into its familiar pattern, thinking, “If I had this experience all the time, that would be freedom.”
Soon you find that your condition is not much better than that of a common drunk, except that drunks know they have a problem because it’s not culturally acceptable to be a drunk. The spiritual person is very certain that there is no problem, that his or her inebriation is unlike the other forms of inebriation, and the whole point is to be spiritually inebriated forever. That’s the mindset of an addict: “I got it and I lost it. I need it. I don’t have it.”
In our culture, with most kinds of addiction, the addict is understood to be miserable. But not in the spiritual world. The seeker is told that spiritual addiction is different from all the other addictions. You’re not a junkie. You’re a spiritual seeker.
This problem will last as long as there is something in you that holds out some hope for the high experience. When that begins to break down, you start to see that pleasant, wonderful, and uplifting experiences are somewhat like very pleasant and uplifting alcohol binges. They feel great for a short time, and then there is an equal and opposite reaction. The spiritual high is followed by a spiritual low. I have seen this in many students.
Once these high and low experiences have played themselves out for a long enough period of time, it starts to dawn on you that maybe the high spiritual experience is just a pendulum swing followed by a low experience. At some point, you may have an ordinary moment and get on to the fact that these pendulum swings are equal and opposite reactions. You realize it’s impossible to sustain one part of the pendulum swing because its nature is to move back and forth. There’s no way you are going to pin that pendulum to any one point.
This is the movement of the seeker, but it’s also the movement of the me because the me is always interested in opposite and equal reactions, trying to sustain one experience and avoid other experiences. That’s what the me does. It chases after the good and avoids the bad. As long as identity is in this movement, even if it’s at the spiritual high point that seems very noble, you are never going to be free. There is no freedom in this because there is no such thing as sustaining an experience. By its very nature, freedom doesn’t have anything to do with sustaining a particular experience, because the nature of experience is to move. Like a clock ticking, it continually moves.
We have to discuss this issue of spiritual addiction, because unless you understand it, the second point I am going to make will just be another fancy spiritual concept. But if you get the first part—that spiritual awakening is not about any particular high experience—then the second part becomes much more meaningful and interesting. The second part is that everything is consciousness. Everything is God. Everything is One. Seeing that everything is One shoots a hole in trying to pin the pendulum swing of experience in any particular place. If it’s all One; it’s no more One when the pendulum is in the high state than when the pendulum is over in some other state.
Zen teachers don’t explain anything in an abstract way, which is both the beauty and the terror of it. My teacher’s way of explaining this would be to hold up his staff and say, “This is Buddha.” Then he would bang it on the ground, and everyone would think, “Wow! That’s really wild Zen stuff. I wish I knew what he was talking about.” Then he would go—bang, bang, bang, bang—and he would say, “This is Zen. This is it!” And everybody would react, “Oh wow!” People would wonder, “What? Where?” but nobody would say that. “It couldn’t be that because that’s just beating a stick on the ground.” Since it’s not all One to the mind, the mind keeps looking for it, “Where is it? What state is it?” Because the me references everything to its own emotional state, that’s what it uses to decide what is true. It thinks that what is true is always a spiritually high emotional state, but this stick pounding is not a very spiritually high emotional state. Then, to make it worse, to make it more horrifying, he would say, “This is a concrete description of the truth. This is Buddha. This is not abstract.” Then we would really be defeated.
It is a real blessing to have a teaching that insists upon being concrete, because he could have just said, as I sometimes do, “Everything is consciousness. It’s all One.” Then the mind thinks, “I got it. I’ll buy that. I know what that means.” But when a stick bangs on the ground and the teacher says, “That’s it!” you can’t wrap your mind around it. That banging of the stick is as much God as you’re ever going to get. Everything else after that is an abstraction, a movement away from the fact. In Zen, no concessions are made to abstraction. This is both Zen’s power and its curse because it forces students to realize the real thing instead of thinking they understand something when they don’t.
This puts a spiritual seeker into a dilemma. In contemplating what it means that everything is One, the me starts looking for an experience of Oneness. Then it reads a book about the experience of Oneness, and sees a description of merging and losing oneself in the tree bark or somewhere else, and starts hunting in past emotional experiences to find if it’s had that kind of experience.
The merging experience is very pleasant and very beautiful, and you may or may not ever have it. If you have a particular type of body-mind, you might experience having it every five minutes. If you are another type of body-mind, you might have it every five lifetimes. It means nothing whether or not this happens or how often. I have met many people who can merge at the drop of a hat, and they are about as free as a dog chasing its tail in a cage. Merging has nothing to do with being free or actually having any idea what Oneness really is. Oneness simply means that everything is the One. Everything is That, and everything always was That. When there is a very deep knowing that everything is One, then the movement of the me trying to find a past experience ceases. Movement is cut off. Seeking is cut off. The seeker is cut off. Realization cuts everything off all at once. Every experience that you will ever have is the One, whether that experience is merging or having to go to the bathroom. Even when it’s beating a stick on the floor and saying, “This is it. This is the Buddha. This is enlightened mind. It doesn’t get more enlightened than this!” It is all God.
So every experience is just an expression of that which is not an experience. Everything is that, and there is nothing but that, and there never was anything but that. This is what it really means to know that everything is One. That’s why all the sages throughout time have said, “This is the Promised Land.” This Oneness is God. This is the One. This is it. It’s not somewhere else. And as soon as the center is seen to be empty, and you know there is nobody there looking for it to be other than it actually is, this is much better than the highest of the high spiritual states. As nice as those are, the Truth is infinitely more free.
-Adyashanti
' The First Reality '...
We may reasonably hope to see God one day but not to be God.
The Cosmic Vision of the World-Mind at work which Arjuna had may be ours too but not the complete union with the World-Mind Itself.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 103
Paul Brunton
' Trust in Source '...
Spontaneous, natural action happens only
when the mind is vacant of the slightest trace of
intention or planning.
The greatest liberty is in
having total trust in that final authority that makes
the grass grow and our limbs, organs and minds
work by themselves.
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita
' Vanity is a barrier '...
One day a man reproached Bayazid, the great mystic of the ninth
century, saying that he had fasted and prayed and so on for thirty
years and not found the joy which Bayazid described. Bayazid told
him that he might continue for three hundred years and still not find
it.
"How is that?" asled the would-be illuminate.
"Because your vanity is a barrier to you."
"Tell me the remedy."
"The remedy is one which you cannot take."
"Tell me, nevertheless."
Bayazid said: "You must go to the barber and have your
(respectable) beard shaved. Remove all your clothes and put a girdle
around yourself. Fill a nosebag with walnuts and suspend it from
your neck. Go to the market-place and call out: "A walnut will I
give to any boy who will strike me on the back of the neck." Then
continue on to the justices' session so that they may see you."
"But I cannot do that; please tell me something else that would
do as well."
"This is the first move, and the only one," said Bayazid, "but I
had already told you that you would not do it; so you cannot be
cured."
-as collected by Idries Shah
' When ego is put aside '...
When the concept of the ego is put aside,
all those other individuals who are associated with it will be put aside with it.
This will apply not only to family and friends, as Jesus taught,
but even to the spiritual master.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 5: Teaching Masters, Discipleship > # 278
Paul Brunton
' Thoughts on a Thursday Night '...
The media will speak lies to you, to train your mind..
We live in a world of lies..
It is called TV programing for a reason..
Your mind is being programed to believe lies..
It is called 'Brain Washing '..
It is difficult to go against the fashion of opinions..
Your friends will move away from you..
It takes courage to be Real..
This is why Jesus was killed..
This Hologram is but seconds within Eternity but your thoughts will create your future..
This is why they desire your thoughts..
You are the Creator of your future..
This power, they must steal..
-thomas
' Craving '...
"The mind tends toward stillness but it is opposed by
craving."
Eva Wong, Tr.
Cultivating Stillness: A Taoist Manual for Transforming Body and Mind
Boston: Shambhala, 1992, p. 41
' Seeking Pleasure '...
What you seek is pleasure and not an object.
So do not
make the mistake of thinking that your mind wants this or
that object.
You do not want anything, only pleasure.
And
if you think that a particular object can give pleasure you
go near it, but if it does not give satisfaction you will leave
it alone and go to another place for another object.
In this
way, your life is spent looking for pleasure and not for a
particular object which it really cannot find.
And nowhere
you will find this pleasure you are seeking - nowhere.
Because it is not a commodity of this world.
It belongs
to some other realm altogether.
- Swami Krishnananda
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
' I'm Thine '...
More than a thousand hearts have You laid waste, More than a thousand suffer grief for You, More than a thousand wounds of Yours I've counted,
Yet the uncounted still are more than these.
Lord! who am I, and of what company? How long shall tears of blood thus blind my eyes? When other refuge fails I'll turn to You, And if You fail me, where shall I go?
I am that sea now gathered in a tear.
I am that universe now centered here.
I am that book of destiny which seems
To form a lonely dot of hope and fear.
If I am trapped in flesh and lust - I'm Thine
And though I doubt Thine ways, or trust - I'm Thine.
Whether to Christ I cling or Mazda's Wing
Behind these veils of dreams and dust - I'm Thine.
Whether I cling, whether I part- You know.
Whether I break or keep my heart - You know.
Whether I crown my head or drown my eyes,
You know my goal from end to start - You know.
I find my ill in You, my cure in You.
I part from You and then endure in You.
If knives would cut my tissues each from each,
My naked soul is e'er secure in You.
Baba Taher Hamadani
Persian Mystic
' The composition of knowing '...
Self deception..
The ego declares that it is Reality..
But, you have been walking a long time and know better..
The media will tell you what you are..
But, you have been awake a long time..
The soul is an object of awareness..
Being a slave within the material has become normal..
To desire the material is a trap of reincarnation..
The circle of slavery..
To leave all desires is Freedom..
What are you waiting for ?...
-thomas
' Unself yourself '...
"Unself yourself!
Until you see your self as a speck of dust
you cannot possibly reach that place;
self could never breathe that air,
so wend your way there without self."
-Hakim Sanai
The Walled Garden of Truth
Translated and abridged by D. L. Pendlebury
London: Octagon, 1974, p. 36
' Free of attachmeents '...
Because liberation is assured for a mind which
Is not devoted to objects, for that very reason, the
mind should constantly be made free of attachments
to objects, by one who aspires for liberation.
- Amrtabind Upanishad
' In order to Awaken '...
"In order to awaken...
you must want presence more than anything else."
-Robert Earl Burton
' The Glimpse '...
As the human mind develops, it forms higher and higher conceptions of the deity until, finally, it is lifted above itself into a tremendous experience.
It loses itself in the deity itself, and when it returns to normal living, it does not need to seek further.
I do not refer here to the experience which several mystics have had called "the glimpse," but something which is of a once-and-for-all nature and which does not, in its essence, ever leave him.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 26
Paul Brunton
' Unfragmented Consciousness '...
To permit the world idea to be manifested through you without you distorting it: that's correct thinking.
In other words, if we go to a lower level, we spoke about you being pure looking, pure seeing, pure observation.
The perceptual manifold goes on manifesting.
You're not interfering.
Why? Because you're not going to identify with a portion of that;
you're going to remain as mind, unfragmented consciousness.
Then that would be correct thinking.
- Anthony Damiani, from Standing In Your Own Way
' Today, I awoke '...
Today I awoke, finally I see the Self has re-turned to the Self.
The Self is none other than the Self.
I am deathless. I am endless. I am free.
The birds outside sing…
The birds outside sing and there am I.
The seeing of leaves on the trees, that seeing am I.
The body breathes, breathing am I.
I am awake and I know that I am awake.
Seen from the old eyes, everything is asleep, a game, a delusion.
But now I am awake. I am the play. I am the game. I am the delusion.
I am the enlightenment I sought, looking everywhere.
Nothing is separate, nothing is alone.
I am all that I see. All that I smell, taste, touch, feel, think and know.
I am awake and this awakeness is the same as Shyakyamuni Buddha’s.
Today the leaf has returned to the root.
I am all name and form and beyond all name and form.
I am Spirit, no longer trapped in a body.
I am free. I am free because I am awake.
So ordinary. Who would have thought ? Who could have guessed?
I am home. I am really home. Ten thousand life times.
Ten thousand life times but today I am home.
Ten thousand life times but today I am home.
This is not an experience. This is me.
I am awake. Finally, I am awake.
Nothing has changed, but I am awake.
Before I tasted the root many times and felt, how delicious.
Today I became the root. How ordinary.
~ by Adyashanti. From: My Secret is Silence: Poems & Sayings …
' The effects of Enlightenment '...
The effects of enlightenment include: an imperturbable detachment from outer possessions, rank, honours, and persons;
an overwhelming certainty about truth; a carefree, heavenly peace above all disturbances and vicissitudes; an acceptance of the general rightness of the universal situation,
with each entity and each event playing its role; and impeccable sincerity which says what it means, means what it says.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 255
-- Perspectives > Chapter 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > # 22 Paul Brunton
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