One word can be more precious than all the treasures of the earth.
Bowl of Saki, August 9, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There may perhaps be someone among our friends or acquaintances whose one word
has weight and power; whereas another person says a thousand words that go in at
one ear and out at the other. And this is because in one person his mouth
speaks, in another person his heart speaks, and in another his soul speaks.
There is a great difference.
Many, content with their honesty, speak just as they like at the moment. They do
not mind what effect it will produce as long as they are sure that what they say
is true. The truth that strikes like a hammer on the head of the listener is not
desirable, one would be better off without it. This shows that it is not only a
thing to consider that what one says is true, there is another consideration
which is most necessary, and that is what effect it will make on the other. ...
The complete spiritual life is not a dreamy one, but wide-awake, full of thought
and consideration.
The word has a magic in it, it can turn friends into your enemies, and it can
make your enemies your friends. The mystery of all success in every direction of
life is in the word. The word has power to turn the mind of the listener warm or
cold. The word can produce the effect of earth, water, fire, air, or ether. The
word can produce depression or joy. The one who knows the chemistry of the word
does not need drugs or herbs. He has medicine for every disease in the world,
not only for bodily disease, but also for the disorders of the mind, which still
remain unexplored by science. By a constant study of life, by special thought
given to one's word, by careful watching of the effects of one's speech upon
others, one arrives at a state of realization where one can heal hearts.
Prayer...
Prayer not only must be used as a suitable preface to
meditation, but may also be effectively used as a help
to meditation. Where an aspirant is unable to calm his
restless thoughts, in addition to the constant daily
regular effort to do so--for perseverance is part of
the secret of success--he may pray to the higher self
to take possession of his mind. Such prayer must be
deeply heartfelt, constantly repeated, and animated by
a longing to get away from the peaceless ego.
— Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 2: Prayer > # 188...... Paul Brunton
meditation, but may also be effectively used as a help
to meditation. Where an aspirant is unable to calm his
restless thoughts, in addition to the constant daily
regular effort to do so--for perseverance is part of
the secret of success--he may pray to the higher self
to take possession of his mind. Such prayer must be
deeply heartfelt, constantly repeated, and animated by
a longing to get away from the peaceless ego.
— Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 2: Prayer > # 188...... Paul Brunton
Ashtavarkra Gita...
A few verses from "Ashtavakra Gita" chapter 2.
v. 8:
My nature is light
nothing but light
when the world arises
I alone am shining.
v. 13:
How wonderful,
and how great my powers!
For I am without form,
yet till the end of time
I uphold the universe.
v. 25:
But O how wonderful!
I am the unbounded deep
in whom all living things
naturally arise,
rush against each other playfully,
and then subside.
v. 8:
My nature is light
nothing but light
when the world arises
I alone am shining.
v. 13:
How wonderful,
and how great my powers!
For I am without form,
yet till the end of time
I uphold the universe.
v. 25:
But O how wonderful!
I am the unbounded deep
in whom all living things
naturally arise,
rush against each other playfully,
and then subside.
Who am I?...
"To be constantly centered
on one's all perfect pure Self
is the acme of Yoga, Wisdom, and
all other forms of spiritual practice.
Even though the mind wanders restlessly
involved in external matters
and so is forgetful of its own state,
one should remain alert and remember;
the body is not 'I'.
'Who am I?'
Enquire in this way turning the mind
backward to its primal state.
The enquiry, 'Who am I?' is the only method
of putting an end to all misery
and ushering in Supreme Beatitude."
--Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi--
on one's all perfect pure Self
is the acme of Yoga, Wisdom, and
all other forms of spiritual practice.
Even though the mind wanders restlessly
involved in external matters
and so is forgetful of its own state,
one should remain alert and remember;
the body is not 'I'.
'Who am I?'
Enquire in this way turning the mind
backward to its primal state.
The enquiry, 'Who am I?' is the only method
of putting an end to all misery
and ushering in Supreme Beatitude."
--Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi--
The Short Path...
To Realise Enlightenment, you must become Nothing.. when
you have committed ego suicide, You will find Yourself as Identity within Divine
Consciousness.. this is where You are now, but you are lost within the belief in
separation.. Divine Consciousness is the Energy of Love and Light that uses
Light to create.. When You finally Realise that You are more than Consciousness,
You surrender Your Identity to Consciousness.. thus becoming Nothing.. this is
the final state of Reality.. this is beyond Consciousness and is called Pure
Awareness.. ego, no matter how small cannot enter this Reality.. I cannot
convince you of these words.. only your own experience can do this.. first try
to sacrifice your self(ego) to Reality and see what happens.. you will face the
greatest fear of your life in this experience.. but, It is worth the pain of
fear...............namaste, thomas
you have committed ego suicide, You will find Yourself as Identity within Divine
Consciousness.. this is where You are now, but you are lost within the belief in
separation.. Divine Consciousness is the Energy of Love and Light that uses
Light to create.. When You finally Realise that You are more than Consciousness,
You surrender Your Identity to Consciousness.. thus becoming Nothing.. this is
the final state of Reality.. this is beyond Consciousness and is called Pure
Awareness.. ego, no matter how small cannot enter this Reality.. I cannot
convince you of these words.. only your own experience can do this.. first try
to sacrifice your self(ego) to Reality and see what happens.. you will face the
greatest fear of your life in this experience.. but, It is worth the pain of
fear...............namaste, thomas
Belief...
When a hypnotist tells your subconscious mind that a match has just burned your arm, the skin on your arm will blister just from this speaking.. this is how powerful the Consciousness of the subconscious mind is.. this is We changing the manifestation of the human body merely by belief in it happening.. This is how water was changed to wine.. the eternal secret is Belief.. How strong is yours?..........namaste, thomas
The Bliss of non-ego...
When You realise that You are not the body or even the soul (Pure Awareness) then You are living in Reality and Bliss.. Bliss is the state of non-desire and therefore there is no reason to return to a body in reincarnation.. reincarnation is caused by attachment and desire.. Love is the state of non-ego, and is the state of Bliss.. This is the main teaching of all masters.. In the state of Reality called Divine Consciousness, which is where we are now, There exists Pure Love and Bliss.. but, we have fooled ourselves into believing that We are the object that We are within..thus begins the creation of ego and pain.. We appear to be separate in life and Divine Consciousness because We are acting as the Mirror of God.. Consciousness observing Itself for the purpose of learning about Itself...............namaste, thomas
Nisargadatta Maharaj from I AM THAT...
Somehow it was very simple and easy in my case. My guru, before he died, told me: "Believe me, you are the Supreme Reality. Do not doubt my words, do not disbelieve me. I am telling you the truth, act on it". I could not forget his words and by not forgetting, I have realized. Once the guru told me: "You are the Supreme Reality", I ceased having visions and trances and became very quiet and simple. I found myself desiring and knowing less and less, until I could say in utter astonishment: "I know nothing, I want nothing."
I was undeceived, that is all. I used to create a world and populate it. Now I don't do it any more. Now I live in the void beyond being and non-being, beyond consciousness. This void is also fullness; do not pity me.
The mind ceased producing events. The ancient and ceaseless search stopped—I wanted nothing, expected nothing, accepted nothing as my own. There was no "me" left to strive for. Even the bare "I am" faded away. The other thing I noticed was I lost all my habitual certainties. Earlier I was sure of so many things, now I am sure of nothing. But I feel I have lost nothing by not knowing, because all my knowledge was false. My not knowing was in itself knowledge of the fact that all knowledge is ignorance, that "I do not know" is the only true statement the mind can make.
By looking tirelessly, I became quite empty, and with that emptiness all came back to me except the mind. I find I have lost the mind irretrievably. I am neither conscious nor unconscious, I am beyond the mind and its various states and conditions. Distinctions are created by the mind and apply to the mind only. I am pure Consciousness itself, unbroken awareness of all that is.
I am in a more real state than yours. I am undistracted by the distinctions and separations which constitute a person. As long as the body lasts, it has its needs like any other, but my mental process has come to an end. My thinking, like my digestion, is unconscious and purposeful.
I am not a person in your sense of the word, though I may appear a person to you. I am that infinite ocean of consciousness in which all happens. I am also beyond all existence and cognition, pure bliss of being. There is nothing I feel separate from, hence I am all. No thing is me, so I am nothing. Life will escape, the body will die, but it will not affect me in the least. Beyond space and time I am, uncaused, uncausing, yet the very matrix of existence.
Having realized that I am with, and yet beyond the world, I became free from all desire and fear. I did not reason out that I should be free, I found myself free, unexpectedly, without the least effort. This freedom from desire and fear remained with me since then. Another thing I noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious.
The person is what I appear to be to other persons. To myself, I am the infinite expanse of consciousness in which innumerable persons emerge and disappear in endless succession.
The person, the "I am this body, this mind, this chain of memories, this bundle of desires and fears" disappears, but something you may call identity remains. It enables me to become a person when required.
Nothing troubles me. I offer no resistance to trouble—therefore it does not stay with me. On your side there is so much trouble. On mine there is no trouble at all. Come to my side.
What is added to memory cannot be erased easily. But it can surely be done, and in fact I am doing it all the time. Like a bird on its wings, I leave no footprints.
The world is like a sheet of paper on which something is typed. The reading and the meaning will vary with the reader, but the paper is the common factor, always present, rarely perceived. When the ribbon is removed, typing leaves no trace on the paper. So is my mind—the impressions keep on coming, but no trace is left.
Your world is transient, changeful. My world is perfect, changeless. You can tell me what you like about your world—I shall listen carefully, even with interest, yet not for a moment shall I forget that your world is not, that you are dreaming. In mine, the words and their contents have no being. In your world nothing stays, in mine nothing changes. My world is real, while yours is made of dreams. My world has no characteristics by which it can be identified. You can say nothing about it. My silence sings, my emptiness is full, I lack nothing. In your world I appear to have a name and shape, displaying consciousness and activity. In mine I have being only. Nothing else. I am my world. My world is myself. It is complete and perfect. I need nothing, not even myself, for myself I cannot lose. In your world I would be most miserable. To wake up, to eat, to talk, to sleep again—what a bother!
To me nothing ever happens. There is something changeless, motionless, immovable, rock-like, unassailable; a solid mass of pure being-consciousness-bliss. I am never out of it. Nothing can take me out of it, no torture, no calamity.
My condition is absolutely steady. Whatever I may do, it stays like a rock—motionless. Once you have awakened into reality, you stay in it. It is self-evident and yet beyond description.
All the three states (waking, sleeping, dreaming) are sleep to me. My waking state is beyond them. As I look at you, you all seem asleep, dreaming up worlds of your own. I am aware, for I imagine nothing. It is not samadhi, which is but a kind of sleep. It is just a state unaffected by the mind, free from the past and future. In your case it is distorted by desire and fear, by memories and hopes; in mine it is as it is—normal. To be a person is to be asleep.
The world of mind and matter, of names and shapes, continues, but it does not matter to me at all. It is like having a shadow. It is there, following me wherever I go, but not hindering me in any way. It remains a world of experiences, but not of names and forms related to me by desires and fears. The experiences are quality-less, pure experiences, if I may say so. I call them experiences for the lack of a better word. They are like the waves on the surface of the ocean, the ever-present, but not affecting its peaceful power.
I can see with the utmost clarity that you have never been, nor are, nor will be estranged from reality, that you are the fullness of perfection here and now, and that nothing can deprive you of your heritage, of what you are. You are in no way different from me, only you do not know it. Be fully aware of your own being, and you will be in bliss consciously. Because you take your mind off yourself and make it dwell on what you are not, you lose your sense of well-being, of being well.
You people do not know how much you miss by not knowing your own true self.
The moment you know your real being, you are afraid of nothing. Death gives freedom and power. To be free in the world, you must die to the world. Then the universe is your own, it becomes your body, an expression and a tool. The happiness of being absolutely free is beyond description.
The ordinary man is personally concerned, he counts his risks and chances, while the gnani remains aloof, sure that all will happen as it must; and it does not matter much what happens, for ultimately the return to balance and harmony is inevitable. The heart of things is at peace.
The particular is born and reborn, changing name and shape, the gnani is the Changeless Reality, which makes the changeful possible. The entire universe is his body, all life is his life. As in a city of lights, when one bulb burns out, it does not affect the network, so the death of a body does not affect the whole. With me, all is one, all is equal.
The Guru is basically without desire. He sees what happens, but feels no urge to interfere. He makes no choices, takes no decisions. As pure witness, he watches what is going on and remains unaffected. Victory is always his, in the end. He knows that if the disciples do not learn from his words, they will learn from their own mistakes. Inwardly he remains quiet and silent. He has no sense of being a separate person. The entire universe is his own, including his disciples with their petty plans.
Nothing in particular affects him, or, which comes to the same, the entire universe affects him in equal measure. In reality, the disciple is not different from the Guru. He is the same dimensionless centre of perception and love in action. It is only his imagination that encloses him and converts him into a person.
He is alone, but he is all. He is not even a being. He is the being-ness of beings. Not even that. No words apply. He is what he is, the ground from which all grows.
A gnani commands a mode of spontaneous, non-sensory perception, which makes him know things directly, without intermediary of the senses.
He is beyond the perceptual and the conceptual, beyond the categories of time and space, name and shape. He is neither the perceived nor the perceiver, but the simple and the universal factor that makes perceiving possible.
His state tastes of the pure, uncaused, undiluted bliss. He is happy and fully aware that happiness is his very nature and that he need not do anything, nor strive for anything to secure it. It follows him, more real than the body, nearer than the mind itself. To me, dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery. Pleasure and pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused, independent, unassailable.
As he gets older, he grows more and more happy and peaceful. After all, he is going home. Like a traveler nearing his destination and collecting his luggage, he leaves the train without regret. The reel of destiny is coming to its end—the mind is happy. The mist of bodily existence is lifting—the burden of the body is growing less from day to day.
I was undeceived, that is all. I used to create a world and populate it. Now I don't do it any more. Now I live in the void beyond being and non-being, beyond consciousness. This void is also fullness; do not pity me.
The mind ceased producing events. The ancient and ceaseless search stopped—I wanted nothing, expected nothing, accepted nothing as my own. There was no "me" left to strive for. Even the bare "I am" faded away. The other thing I noticed was I lost all my habitual certainties. Earlier I was sure of so many things, now I am sure of nothing. But I feel I have lost nothing by not knowing, because all my knowledge was false. My not knowing was in itself knowledge of the fact that all knowledge is ignorance, that "I do not know" is the only true statement the mind can make.
By looking tirelessly, I became quite empty, and with that emptiness all came back to me except the mind. I find I have lost the mind irretrievably. I am neither conscious nor unconscious, I am beyond the mind and its various states and conditions. Distinctions are created by the mind and apply to the mind only. I am pure Consciousness itself, unbroken awareness of all that is.
I am in a more real state than yours. I am undistracted by the distinctions and separations which constitute a person. As long as the body lasts, it has its needs like any other, but my mental process has come to an end. My thinking, like my digestion, is unconscious and purposeful.
I am not a person in your sense of the word, though I may appear a person to you. I am that infinite ocean of consciousness in which all happens. I am also beyond all existence and cognition, pure bliss of being. There is nothing I feel separate from, hence I am all. No thing is me, so I am nothing. Life will escape, the body will die, but it will not affect me in the least. Beyond space and time I am, uncaused, uncausing, yet the very matrix of existence.
Having realized that I am with, and yet beyond the world, I became free from all desire and fear. I did not reason out that I should be free, I found myself free, unexpectedly, without the least effort. This freedom from desire and fear remained with me since then. Another thing I noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious.
The person is what I appear to be to other persons. To myself, I am the infinite expanse of consciousness in which innumerable persons emerge and disappear in endless succession.
The person, the "I am this body, this mind, this chain of memories, this bundle of desires and fears" disappears, but something you may call identity remains. It enables me to become a person when required.
Nothing troubles me. I offer no resistance to trouble—therefore it does not stay with me. On your side there is so much trouble. On mine there is no trouble at all. Come to my side.
What is added to memory cannot be erased easily. But it can surely be done, and in fact I am doing it all the time. Like a bird on its wings, I leave no footprints.
The world is like a sheet of paper on which something is typed. The reading and the meaning will vary with the reader, but the paper is the common factor, always present, rarely perceived. When the ribbon is removed, typing leaves no trace on the paper. So is my mind—the impressions keep on coming, but no trace is left.
Your world is transient, changeful. My world is perfect, changeless. You can tell me what you like about your world—I shall listen carefully, even with interest, yet not for a moment shall I forget that your world is not, that you are dreaming. In mine, the words and their contents have no being. In your world nothing stays, in mine nothing changes. My world is real, while yours is made of dreams. My world has no characteristics by which it can be identified. You can say nothing about it. My silence sings, my emptiness is full, I lack nothing. In your world I appear to have a name and shape, displaying consciousness and activity. In mine I have being only. Nothing else. I am my world. My world is myself. It is complete and perfect. I need nothing, not even myself, for myself I cannot lose. In your world I would be most miserable. To wake up, to eat, to talk, to sleep again—what a bother!
To me nothing ever happens. There is something changeless, motionless, immovable, rock-like, unassailable; a solid mass of pure being-consciousness-bliss. I am never out of it. Nothing can take me out of it, no torture, no calamity.
My condition is absolutely steady. Whatever I may do, it stays like a rock—motionless. Once you have awakened into reality, you stay in it. It is self-evident and yet beyond description.
All the three states (waking, sleeping, dreaming) are sleep to me. My waking state is beyond them. As I look at you, you all seem asleep, dreaming up worlds of your own. I am aware, for I imagine nothing. It is not samadhi, which is but a kind of sleep. It is just a state unaffected by the mind, free from the past and future. In your case it is distorted by desire and fear, by memories and hopes; in mine it is as it is—normal. To be a person is to be asleep.
The world of mind and matter, of names and shapes, continues, but it does not matter to me at all. It is like having a shadow. It is there, following me wherever I go, but not hindering me in any way. It remains a world of experiences, but not of names and forms related to me by desires and fears. The experiences are quality-less, pure experiences, if I may say so. I call them experiences for the lack of a better word. They are like the waves on the surface of the ocean, the ever-present, but not affecting its peaceful power.
I can see with the utmost clarity that you have never been, nor are, nor will be estranged from reality, that you are the fullness of perfection here and now, and that nothing can deprive you of your heritage, of what you are. You are in no way different from me, only you do not know it. Be fully aware of your own being, and you will be in bliss consciously. Because you take your mind off yourself and make it dwell on what you are not, you lose your sense of well-being, of being well.
You people do not know how much you miss by not knowing your own true self.
The moment you know your real being, you are afraid of nothing. Death gives freedom and power. To be free in the world, you must die to the world. Then the universe is your own, it becomes your body, an expression and a tool. The happiness of being absolutely free is beyond description.
The ordinary man is personally concerned, he counts his risks and chances, while the gnani remains aloof, sure that all will happen as it must; and it does not matter much what happens, for ultimately the return to balance and harmony is inevitable. The heart of things is at peace.
The particular is born and reborn, changing name and shape, the gnani is the Changeless Reality, which makes the changeful possible. The entire universe is his body, all life is his life. As in a city of lights, when one bulb burns out, it does not affect the network, so the death of a body does not affect the whole. With me, all is one, all is equal.
The Guru is basically without desire. He sees what happens, but feels no urge to interfere. He makes no choices, takes no decisions. As pure witness, he watches what is going on and remains unaffected. Victory is always his, in the end. He knows that if the disciples do not learn from his words, they will learn from their own mistakes. Inwardly he remains quiet and silent. He has no sense of being a separate person. The entire universe is his own, including his disciples with their petty plans.
Nothing in particular affects him, or, which comes to the same, the entire universe affects him in equal measure. In reality, the disciple is not different from the Guru. He is the same dimensionless centre of perception and love in action. It is only his imagination that encloses him and converts him into a person.
He is alone, but he is all. He is not even a being. He is the being-ness of beings. Not even that. No words apply. He is what he is, the ground from which all grows.
A gnani commands a mode of spontaneous, non-sensory perception, which makes him know things directly, without intermediary of the senses.
He is beyond the perceptual and the conceptual, beyond the categories of time and space, name and shape. He is neither the perceived nor the perceiver, but the simple and the universal factor that makes perceiving possible.
His state tastes of the pure, uncaused, undiluted bliss. He is happy and fully aware that happiness is his very nature and that he need not do anything, nor strive for anything to secure it. It follows him, more real than the body, nearer than the mind itself. To me, dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery. Pleasure and pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused, independent, unassailable.
As he gets older, he grows more and more happy and peaceful. After all, he is going home. Like a traveler nearing his destination and collecting his luggage, he leaves the train without regret. The reel of destiny is coming to its end—the mind is happy. The mist of bodily existence is lifting—the burden of the body is growing less from day to day.
The Void...
The Void is also called "Pure Awareness"... It is the Final Truth and Final Reality.. It is the Reality that you do not exist but You reside in Pure Awareness.. This "You" is called God .. The place of "Being" that we now reside in is called Consciousness.. This is the place of movement and learning.. Pure Awareness needs no movement or Learning, as it is the birthplace of Learning.. and yet, Pure Awareness is not Aware of Itself because there is no ego to act as a mirror.. some, may think that the Void is boring because they are unaware of what boredom is... Boredom is the pain felt within the mind as an alarm device to inform you that you are not using the mind for advancement to Knowledge of Truth.. we try to stifle this pain of boredom by keeping our minds busy with entertainment, but, the pain will return when these activities of entertainment are found to be empty of substance and peacefulness.. This pain of boredom does not exist within Pure Awareness... When a soul has Realised Enlightenment and entered the Light of Knowledge and Love, the Realisation of Bliss is felt.. When a soul has finally surrendered the last vestage of ego called identity, they then enter the Nothinness called Void.. This Nothingness is the Creator of Consciousness which Creates All else.. This is who We Are.................namaste, thomas
You are That...
"Abide as That,
which is I as well as You,
as well as everyone else,
is the basis of All,
is one without anything else whatsoever,
is extremely pure and the undifferentiated Whole,
and with the firm conviction that you are That,
be always happy."
-Heart of the Ribhu Gita-
which is I as well as You,
as well as everyone else,
is the basis of All,
is one without anything else whatsoever,
is extremely pure and the undifferentiated Whole,
and with the firm conviction that you are That,
be always happy."
-Heart of the Ribhu Gita-
Consciousness...
Music, like every art, points to your real nature, but in this enjoyment there is not an enjoyer. This enjoying is no longer in subject-object relationship. There's only enjoying.
Every object to which you listen brings you back to listening, because the listened is a projection of listening. The projected has its homeground in listening. When the projected comes back to its homeground it discovers its nature, which is listening. That is really being.
You see a flower. The moment you see the flower there's only seeing, you are not thinking "that is a flower." If you do think, there is no more seeing at that moment. So when looking at a flower there is only looking; there is no more flower at all, there's only seeing. But you are not aware of this seeing. You become aware the moment the seen, which is a projection of the seeing, comes back to the seeing. Then there is an experience without an experiencer. So every object seen, heard, touched, can bring you back to your homeground which is pure seeing, hearing, touching. At first it appears as multidimensional attention, but when the attention is sustained for any reason, then it expands into awareness. First you are aware of something and then this something returns to awareness, to its homeground, and what remains is objectless awareness which knows itself by itself. When we use a word like listening or hearing or seeing, it is here the same as prayer. Praying is waiting, waiting without waiting.
Consciousness and its object are one. An object has no reality in itself, no reality outside consciousness. It depends on consciousness. So when you see a flower and there is only seeing, the flower is in agreement within you and me. But the enjoyment of the beauty, the joy, is after the flower. It comes when the flower has referred you back to the seeing, to your own beauty. The flower points directly to your looking, a looking where there's no looker, no seer. There is only seeing, only looking. Yes, the aesthetic joy is after the looking, after the seeing.
Jean Klein
Transmission of the Flame
Third Millennium Publications
Santa Barbara
1990
Every object to which you listen brings you back to listening, because the listened is a projection of listening. The projected has its homeground in listening. When the projected comes back to its homeground it discovers its nature, which is listening. That is really being.
You see a flower. The moment you see the flower there's only seeing, you are not thinking "that is a flower." If you do think, there is no more seeing at that moment. So when looking at a flower there is only looking; there is no more flower at all, there's only seeing. But you are not aware of this seeing. You become aware the moment the seen, which is a projection of the seeing, comes back to the seeing. Then there is an experience without an experiencer. So every object seen, heard, touched, can bring you back to your homeground which is pure seeing, hearing, touching. At first it appears as multidimensional attention, but when the attention is sustained for any reason, then it expands into awareness. First you are aware of something and then this something returns to awareness, to its homeground, and what remains is objectless awareness which knows itself by itself. When we use a word like listening or hearing or seeing, it is here the same as prayer. Praying is waiting, waiting without waiting.
Consciousness and its object are one. An object has no reality in itself, no reality outside consciousness. It depends on consciousness. So when you see a flower and there is only seeing, the flower is in agreement within you and me. But the enjoyment of the beauty, the joy, is after the flower. It comes when the flower has referred you back to the seeing, to your own beauty. The flower points directly to your looking, a looking where there's no looker, no seer. There is only seeing, only looking. Yes, the aesthetic joy is after the looking, after the seeing.
Jean Klein
Transmission of the Flame
Third Millennium Publications
Santa Barbara
1990
To Love God...
What exactly does this mean?.. Is it the love for a father or mother?.. To Love means to relinquish your self (ego) to something else.. Your attention is fully concentrated upon that else, without any thoughts of self.. This is why the only door to God is Unconditional Love.. not the normal love found within life, with ego attached for the ride.. Unconditional Love is the surrender of self without any desires that Love be returned.. This is Pure Love.. This is the most important lesson from any Master.. This was the teaching of Jesus and Gautama.. Give Pure Love without any desires for self and the Door will be Opened.. Light will Be Your Host............namaste, thomas
Primary Cause of Suffering...
A primary cause of suffering is delusion: our inability, because of a subtly willful blindness, to see things the way they truly are but instead in a distorted way. The world is in fact a seamless and dynamic unity: a single living organism that is constantly undergoing change. our minds, however, chop it up into separate, static bits and pieces, which we then try mentally and physically to manipulate. One of the mind's most dear creations is the idea of the person and, closest to home, of a very special person which each one of us calls "I": a separate, enduring ego or self. In a moment, then, the seamless universe is cut in two. There is "I" -- and there is all the rest. That means conflict -- and pain, for "I" cannot control that fathomless vastness against which it is set. It will try, of course, as a flea might pit itself against an elephant, but it is a vain enterprise....
John Snelling
John Snelling
The ego...
To trace the ego to its lair is to observe its open and covered manifestations, to analyse, comprehend, and note their everchanging ephemerality. Finally it too turns out to be but a thought structure--empty, and capable of dissolution like all thoughts.
— Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 4: Detaching from The Ego > # 387
...... Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 4: Detaching from The Ego > # 387
...... Paul Brunton
Enlightenment...
"There is a step beyond Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Nirvikalpa Samadhi could be described as a true beginning. Up until that moment you are on your way to the true beginning. You are not on the path. You are on the path to the path. So Nirvikalpa Samadhi is liberation but the next step is, its like a seed has sprouted but the tree is not there and the fruit cannot be enjoyed yet. So there is a post liberation or post enlightenment sadhana the purpose of which is to realign, to cooperate to the realignment of the mind and of the body with the truth that has been experienced. As this realignment takes place the psychological suffering is left behind. The name in Sanskrit for that state is called Sahaja Samadhi the Natural State. What the Natural State means that in the presence of the world, in the presence of objects, the presence of manifestation, we don't lose the peace. We live simultaneously on two levels, on the level of space and time, and also on the level of timelessness. On the level of the thoughts, the mentations and also simultaneously in the gap. There is only one gap. From the vantage point of the mind there seems to be a multiplicity of gaps, but all these doors lead to the same space, so there is in fact only one gap." ......
Francis Lucille
from Omega Retreat 7/17-22/2011
Francis Lucille
from Omega Retreat 7/17-22/2011
My Heart...
"My heart has become able
To take on all forms.
It is a pasture for gazelles,
For monks an abbey.
It is a temple for idols
And for whoever circumambulates it, the Kaaba.
It is the tablets of the Torah
And also the leaves of the Koran.
I believe in the religion
Of Love
Whatever direction its caravans may take,
For love is my religion and my faith."
Muhyiddin ibn Arabi (1165 - 1240)
from _Perfect Harmony: (Calligrapher's Notebooks)_
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/A/ArabiMuhyidd/Myhearthasbe.htm
To take on all forms.
It is a pasture for gazelles,
For monks an abbey.
It is a temple for idols
And for whoever circumambulates it, the Kaaba.
It is the tablets of the Torah
And also the leaves of the Koran.
I believe in the religion
Of Love
Whatever direction its caravans may take,
For love is my religion and my faith."
Muhyiddin ibn Arabi (1165 - 1240)
from _Perfect Harmony: (Calligrapher's Notebooks)_
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/A/ArabiMuhyidd/Myhearthasbe.htm
Life...
Life sinks down. We leave.
We keep walking day and night,
and come back where we began.
There is some mysterious meaning
in this, but what is it?
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
We keep walking day and night,
and come back where we began.
There is some mysterious meaning
in this, but what is it?
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
The Transcendental Consciousness...
It is the presence of the physical ego in the wakeful state that paralyses all spiritual awareness therein. It is the absence of the personal and physical ego in the deep sleep state that paralyses all material awareness therein, too. By keeping it out and yet keeping in wakefulness, the transcendental consciousness is able to provide the requisite condition for an unbroken spiritual awareness that is not only superior to the three states but continues its own existence behind theirs.
......... Paul Brunton
......... Paul Brunton
From Darkness to Light...
don't be bitter my friend
you'll regret it soon
hold to your togetherness
or surely you'll scatter
don't walk away gloomy
from this garden
you'll end up like an owl
dwelling in old ruins
face the war and
be a warrior like a lion
or you'll end up like a pet
tucked away in a barn
once you conquer
your selfish self
all your darkness
will change to light
--Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 3299
Translated by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994
you'll regret it soon
hold to your togetherness
or surely you'll scatter
don't walk away gloomy
from this garden
you'll end up like an owl
dwelling in old ruins
face the war and
be a warrior like a lion
or you'll end up like a pet
tucked away in a barn
once you conquer
your selfish self
all your darkness
will change to light
--Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 3299
Translated by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994
True Happiness...
True happiness is uncaused and this cannot
disappear for lack of stimulation. It is not
the opposite of sorrow, it includes all sorrow
and suffering.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
disappear for lack of stimulation. It is not
the opposite of sorrow, it includes all sorrow
and suffering.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Final Talks...
Good and bad qualities are ideas that manifest in the mind, in samsara. They are concepts that vanish when only this peace remains. When you are peace, when you are consciousness, all good qualities will manifest in you and through you, but you will not be aware of them as being `good'. You will just be that peace.
*************
Question: Does the mind die gradually or suddenly?
Annamalai Swami: One answer is: When the sun comes up, does darkness disappear suddenly or gradually?'
Bhagavan, speaking on this topic, once remarked: `Someone mistakes a rope hanging in the darkness for a snake. He then asks how many years it will take for the snake to die.'
This is a better answer. If the mind does not exist, it cannot die either quickly or slowly.
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.94-6
*************
Question: Does the mind die gradually or suddenly?
Annamalai Swami: One answer is: When the sun comes up, does darkness disappear suddenly or gradually?'
Bhagavan, speaking on this topic, once remarked: `Someone mistakes a rope hanging in the darkness for a snake. He then asks how many years it will take for the snake to die.'
This is a better answer. If the mind does not exist, it cannot die either quickly or slowly.
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.94-6
No self...
The state of no self is actually a pure manifestation of inner spacious reality,
Being in its openness, we experience it as empty space, immaculate and pure,
light and clean, empty of everything structured by the mind. However the self
reacts to the sense of no self in many ways -- as a loss, as a deficiency, and
so on, plus the associations, memories, and feelings that go with these
interpretations. All this psychic content pervades the inner spaciousness so
that we lose sight of its lightness, purity, immaculateness, and freedom.
Instead, we feel it as deficient emptiness, dull and flat, heavy and dark. Only
when we allow this emptiness to be, without judgment or rejection, without
reaction or opinion, does it shed its obscurations and reveal its inherent
truth: the state of no self, the freedom and openness of our Being.............. (The Point
of Existence, pg 337) A H Almaas
Being in its openness, we experience it as empty space, immaculate and pure,
light and clean, empty of everything structured by the mind. However the self
reacts to the sense of no self in many ways -- as a loss, as a deficiency, and
so on, plus the associations, memories, and feelings that go with these
interpretations. All this psychic content pervades the inner spaciousness so
that we lose sight of its lightness, purity, immaculateness, and freedom.
Instead, we feel it as deficient emptiness, dull and flat, heavy and dark. Only
when we allow this emptiness to be, without judgment or rejection, without
reaction or opinion, does it shed its obscurations and reveal its inherent
truth: the state of no self, the freedom and openness of our Being.............. (The Point
of Existence, pg 337) A H Almaas
The Heart of Spirituality...
DISCIPLE: “Sri Bhagavan speaks of the Heart as the seat of Consciousness and as identical with the Self. What does the Heart exactly signify?” MAHARSHI: “.... Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart, or the Seat of Consciousness, it is all the same. The point to be grasped is this, that Heart means the very core of one's being, the center, without which where would be nothing whatever.”
DISCIPLE: “Sri Bhagavan has specified a particular place of the Heart within the physical body, that it is in the chest, two digits to the right from the median.”
MAHARSHI: “Yes, that is the center of spiritual experience according to the testimony of the Sages. This spiritual Heart-center is quite different from the blood-propelling, muscular organ known by the same name. The spiritual Heart-center is not an organ of the body....”
Ramana Maharshi
DISCIPLE: “Sri Bhagavan has specified a particular place of the Heart within the physical body, that it is in the chest, two digits to the right from the median.”
MAHARSHI: “Yes, that is the center of spiritual experience according to the testimony of the Sages. This spiritual Heart-center is quite different from the blood-propelling, muscular organ known by the same name. The spiritual Heart-center is not an organ of the body....”
Ramana Maharshi
Be at Peace...
"Of what use is all this restless, busy activity?
This heavy weight of worldly concerns?
God's purpose stands firm,
And you, His dear one, need but one thing --
Trust that He will fulfill you highest need."
Tukaram
in Jonathan Star
_Two Suns Rising: A Collection of Sacred Writings_
NY: Bantam, 1991, p. 185
[Tukaram was a Hindu Perfect Master who lived in
Maharahtra, India in the first half of the seventeenth
century. Although born an illiterate peasant who never
studied formally, he is considered one of the greatest
Maharathi poets in the Bhakti tradition. He gave
thanks that he was not learned, for he said that it
would have led to arrogance. tjh]
=====
Live Unity, Celebrate Diversity
This heavy weight of worldly concerns?
God's purpose stands firm,
And you, His dear one, need but one thing --
Trust that He will fulfill you highest need."
Tukaram
in Jonathan Star
_Two Suns Rising: A Collection of Sacred Writings_
NY: Bantam, 1991, p. 185
[Tukaram was a Hindu Perfect Master who lived in
Maharahtra, India in the first half of the seventeenth
century. Although born an illiterate peasant who never
studied formally, he is considered one of the greatest
Maharathi poets in the Bhakti tradition. He gave
thanks that he was not learned, for he said that it
would have led to arrogance. tjh]
=====
Live Unity, Celebrate Diversity
Final Talks...
Even the sequence, `To whom has this thought come? To me,' is based on ignorance of the truth. Why? Because it is verbalising a state of ignorance; it is perpetuating an erroneous assumption that there is a person who is having troublesome thoughts. You are the Self, not some make-believe person who is having thoughts.
If you remain in the Self, as the Self, no harm can come to you. In that state, whatever comes to you will not be a problem. There is no duality when you remain as the Self; no thoughts about what you should or should not do, and no thoughts about what can be done or what can't be done. The main thing is not to go out of the Self. When you have switched on the light, darkness cannot come, not even if you desire it.
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.85
If you remain in the Self, as the Self, no harm can come to you. In that state, whatever comes to you will not be a problem. There is no duality when you remain as the Self; no thoughts about what you should or should not do, and no thoughts about what can be done or what can't be done. The main thing is not to go out of the Self. When you have switched on the light, darkness cannot come, not even if you desire it.
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.85
Persevere...
The time will come, if he perseveres, when his mind will naturally orient itself toward the spiritual pole of being. And this will happen by itself, without any urging on his part. No outer activity will be able to stop the process, for to make it possible his mind will apparently double its activity. In the foreground, it will attend to the outer world, but in the background it will attend to the Overself.
..... Paul Brunton
..... Paul Brunton
Serenity...
As water is serene when free of ripples, so
is the mind serene when free of thought,
when it is passive and fully receptive.
When quiet, the mind reflects Reality.
When absolutely motionless, it dissolves
and only Reality remains.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
is the mind serene when free of thought,
when it is passive and fully receptive.
When quiet, the mind reflects Reality.
When absolutely motionless, it dissolves
and only Reality remains.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
Now...
The real blessing of an encounter with truth is the opportunity to be stopped right now, not tomorrow.
Awakening to the truth of your being won't be attained in the future. It's not something you prepare for or earn or deserve.
Awakening is a radical shift in identity. You think you're you, but you're not. You are eternal being.
The time to wake up is now. Not tomorrow. Now.
~ Adyashanti -- From: Emptiness Dancing www.adyashanti.org/
Awakening to the truth of your being won't be attained in the future. It's not something you prepare for or earn or deserve.
Awakening is a radical shift in identity. You think you're you, but you're not. You are eternal being.
The time to wake up is now. Not tomorrow. Now.
~ Adyashanti -- From: Emptiness Dancing www.adyashanti.org/
Final Talks...
All is your own Self. This form is different; that form is different. This is more powerful; this is worse. These are all judgements you make when you see separate objects instead of having the true vision that all is an undifferentiated oneness. There may be different varieties of light bulbs, but the current that activates and sustains them is the same. You must learn to become one with this activating current, the unmanifest Self, and not get caught up in all the names and forms that appear in it.
Here is another verse from one of the Siddhas:
`Because of your ego you are going to the forest to look for spiritual light. You are looking for this darshan of light in Badrinath and other Himalayan pilgrimage places. These things are the illusion of the mind. They depend on the states of the mind and the functioning of the mind. That which you are searching for is within yourself.'
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.71
Here is another verse from one of the Siddhas:
`Because of your ego you are going to the forest to look for spiritual light. You are looking for this darshan of light in Badrinath and other Himalayan pilgrimage places. These things are the illusion of the mind. They depend on the states of the mind and the functioning of the mind. That which you are searching for is within yourself.'
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.71
Meher Baba/God and Love...
"The spiritual path is like climbing up to the mountain top through hills and
dales and thorny woods and along steep and dangerous precipices. If there is one
thing which is most necessary for a safe and sure arrival at the top, it is
_love_. All other qualities which are essential for the aspirants of the Highest
can and must come to them if they faithfully follow the whispers of the unerring
guide of love.
"If you lose hold of the mantle of this guide, there is only despair in store
for you. The gateway to the highest state of being One with God is firmly closed
to all who do not have the courage to lose their separate existence in the
restless fire of divine love.
Meher Baba
in Bhau Kalchuri
Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba
Myrtle Beach, SC: Manifestaton, 1st ed, Vol. 7 & 8, p. 2987
Copyright 1995 AMBPPCT
dales and thorny woods and along steep and dangerous precipices. If there is one
thing which is most necessary for a safe and sure arrival at the top, it is
_love_. All other qualities which are essential for the aspirants of the Highest
can and must come to them if they faithfully follow the whispers of the unerring
guide of love.
"If you lose hold of the mantle of this guide, there is only despair in store
for you. The gateway to the highest state of being One with God is firmly closed
to all who do not have the courage to lose their separate existence in the
restless fire of divine love.
Meher Baba
in Bhau Kalchuri
Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba
Myrtle Beach, SC: Manifestaton, 1st ed, Vol. 7 & 8, p. 2987
Copyright 1995 AMBPPCT
Success...
“To laugh often and love much:
To win respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give one’s self;
To leave the world a little better,
Whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch,
Or redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm
And sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived…
This is to have succeeded.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
To win respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give one’s self;
To leave the world a little better,
Whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch,
Or redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm
And sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived…
This is to have succeeded.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Paramahansa Yogananda Words of Wisdom...
Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations.
The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy. If, then you experience mental resistance during meditation, remember that reluctance to meditate comes from the ego; it doesn't belong to the soul.
Smiling away your troubles requires a clear conscience that harbor no insincerity.
Thinkers do not accept the inevitable; they turn their efforts toward changing it.
Faithfulness in the performance of small duties gives us strength to adhere to difficult determinations that life will someday force us to make.
Learn to be calm and you will always be happy.
The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.
Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.
Never do anything that taints your mind. Wrong actions cause negative or evil mental vibrations that are reflected in your whole appearance and personality. Engage in those actions and thoughts that nurture the good qualities you want to have.
He who is persistent will realize God. So try your best to make meditation a regular experience in your life.
Most people consider the course of events as natural and inevitable. They little know what radical change are possible through prayer. Every morning I offer my body, my mind and any ability that I possess, to be used by Thee, O infinite creator, in whatever way Thou dost choose to express Thyself through me. I know that all work is Thy work, and that no task is too difficult or too menial when offered to Thee in loving service.
Many people excuse their own faults but judge other persons harshly. We should reverse this attitude by excusing others' shortcomings and by harshly examining our own.
Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.
Love is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families and nations.
The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy. If, then you experience mental resistance during meditation, remember that reluctance to meditate comes from the ego; it doesn't belong to the soul.
Smiling away your troubles requires a clear conscience that harbor no insincerity.
Thinkers do not accept the inevitable; they turn their efforts toward changing it.
Faithfulness in the performance of small duties gives us strength to adhere to difficult determinations that life will someday force us to make.
Learn to be calm and you will always be happy.
The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.
Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.
Never do anything that taints your mind. Wrong actions cause negative or evil mental vibrations that are reflected in your whole appearance and personality. Engage in those actions and thoughts that nurture the good qualities you want to have.
He who is persistent will realize God. So try your best to make meditation a regular experience in your life.
Most people consider the course of events as natural and inevitable. They little know what radical change are possible through prayer. Every morning I offer my body, my mind and any ability that I possess, to be used by Thee, O infinite creator, in whatever way Thou dost choose to express Thyself through me. I know that all work is Thy work, and that no task is too difficult or too menial when offered to Thee in loving service.
Many people excuse their own faults but judge other persons harshly. We should reverse this attitude by excusing others' shortcomings and by harshly examining our own.
Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.
Love is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families and nations.
The Higher Self...
It is a mistake, however, to turn the higher self into a mere
convenience to be used chiefly for obtaining healing or getting
guidance, for healing the sicknesses of the physical body, or guiding
the activities of the physical ego. It should be sought for its own
sake, and these other things should be sought only occasionally or
incidentally, as and when needed. They should not be made habitual. In
his periodic meditations, for instance, the aspirant should seek the
divine source of his being because it is right, necessary, and good
for him to do so and he should forget every other desire. Only after
he has done that and found the source, and only on his backward
journey to the day's activities, may he remember these lesser desires
and utilize the serenity and power thus gained for attending to them.
— Notebooks Category 10: Healing of the Self > Chapter 5: The
Healing Power of The Overself > # 133...... Paul Brunton
convenience to be used chiefly for obtaining healing or getting
guidance, for healing the sicknesses of the physical body, or guiding
the activities of the physical ego. It should be sought for its own
sake, and these other things should be sought only occasionally or
incidentally, as and when needed. They should not be made habitual. In
his periodic meditations, for instance, the aspirant should seek the
divine source of his being because it is right, necessary, and good
for him to do so and he should forget every other desire. Only after
he has done that and found the source, and only on his backward
journey to the day's activities, may he remember these lesser desires
and utilize the serenity and power thus gained for attending to them.
— Notebooks Category 10: Healing of the Self > Chapter 5: The
Healing Power of The Overself > # 133...... Paul Brunton
Constant Flux...
"If you look closely at and contemplate deeply
The people and things that appear around you,
You can see that all are in constant flux.
Everything becomes the teacher of impermanence."
~Kelsang Gyatso, the 7th Dalai Lama
From the book, "Meditations To Transform the Mind," translated by
Glenn H. Mullin and published by Snow Lion.
The people and things that appear around you,
You can see that all are in constant flux.
Everything becomes the teacher of impermanence."
~Kelsang Gyatso, the 7th Dalai Lama
From the book, "Meditations To Transform the Mind," translated by
Glenn H. Mullin and published by Snow Lion.
Being Unborn...
Heaven is the experience when we've passed into our own nothingness. We realize our own pure awakeness and see that what we are is pure spirit with no form.....
That's the true meaning of being born again. Being born again is not just a great emotional religious conversion experience. That can be nice, but it's only like changing your clothes.
Being born again is actually being born again, not getting a new spiritual garment.
More accurately, it is being unborn when we realize that eternal nothingness is actually living this life called "my life."
~ Adyashanti -- From: Emptiness Dancing www.adyashanti.org/
That's the true meaning of being born again. Being born again is not just a great emotional religious conversion experience. That can be nice, but it's only like changing your clothes.
Being born again is actually being born again, not getting a new spiritual garment.
More accurately, it is being unborn when we realize that eternal nothingness is actually living this life called "my life."
~ Adyashanti -- From: Emptiness Dancing www.adyashanti.org/
Paradise...
Paradise is surrounded by what we dislike;
the fires of hell by what we desire.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
the fires of hell by what we desire.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
The Seer...
True understanding, which is enlightenment,
can happen only when there is total effortlessness -
in other words, in the utter absence of any com-
prehender. Then there is only the witnessing of the
dream of life without the least desire to change
anything.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
can happen only when there is total effortlessness -
in other words, in the utter absence of any com-
prehender. Then there is only the witnessing of the
dream of life without the least desire to change
anything.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
Quotes of Gautama the Buddha...
If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater.
I reached in experience the nirvana which is unborn, unrivalled, secure from attachment, undecaying and unstained. This condition is indeed reached by me which is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, tranquil, excellent, beyond the reach of mere logic, subtle, and to be realized only by the wise.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
I reached in experience the nirvana which is unborn, unrivalled, secure from attachment, undecaying and unstained. This condition is indeed reached by me which is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, tranquil, excellent, beyond the reach of mere logic, subtle, and to be realized only by the wise.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
Enlightenment...
The idea of enlightenment is of utmost
importance. Just to know that there is
such possibility, changes one's entire
outlook. It acts like a burning match in
a heap of saw dust. All the great teachers
did nothing else. A spark of truth can burn
up a mountain of lies. The opposite is also
true. The sun of truth remains hidden
behind the cloud of self-identification
with the body.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
importance. Just to know that there is
such possibility, changes one's entire
outlook. It acts like a burning match in
a heap of saw dust. All the great teachers
did nothing else. A spark of truth can burn
up a mountain of lies. The opposite is also
true. The sun of truth remains hidden
behind the cloud of self-identification
with the body.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Answer...
Jesus already gave you the answer when He said," I and the Father are One" and the "Kingdom of God is Within"... .. stop searching for a father that is above and apart from You.. Know the Truth that You are already Divine Consciousness (God)... There is Nothing that is not Divine Consciousness... You are not the body,mind, or thoughts.. You are Consciousness experiencing the dream called life.. The Truth is that the Father is Divine Consciousness as are We.. There is no division except for our belief that we are separate and we call this "ego".. Surrender the belief of separate ego while meditating.. this will feel as though you are dying.. you are !!...let your self die and You will awaken as You, Consciousness.. .. as Jesus said;" you must die, to be Born"..................namaste, thomas
Francis Brabazon/The World Is Being Run On Time...
"The world is being run on time, by time, for time, and at no time are we free
Just to sit and enjoy even the outward forms of the Beloved's beauty.
Each drop-bubble [soul] in time is a sphere bounded [mind], but infinite;
So fragile, yet the whole of creation is in it.
It is a mirror, never reflecting truth, but the drop-soul's desires
No matter how deep one dives in the truth-quest or how high one aspires.
Good man, bad man -- economy-tailored or king-sized --
Each gazes in his bubble-mirror self-hypnotized.
Since the blows of my will are too feeble to break my looking-glass,
At least, Beloved, let it reflect only your beloved face.
Then, though still in time, I will no longer be a fool
Under time's tyranny, but under your benign rule.
The amazing universe and this beautiful earth will vanish, leaving not a trace
behind,
When your glance shatters this so-unbreakable mirror of my mind."
Francis Brabazon (1907 - 1984)
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/B/BrabazonFran/worldisbeing.htm
[Francis Brabazon, an Australian, was a close disciple of Meher Baba. tjh]
Just to sit and enjoy even the outward forms of the Beloved's beauty.
Each drop-bubble [soul] in time is a sphere bounded [mind], but infinite;
So fragile, yet the whole of creation is in it.
It is a mirror, never reflecting truth, but the drop-soul's desires
No matter how deep one dives in the truth-quest or how high one aspires.
Good man, bad man -- economy-tailored or king-sized --
Each gazes in his bubble-mirror self-hypnotized.
Since the blows of my will are too feeble to break my looking-glass,
At least, Beloved, let it reflect only your beloved face.
Then, though still in time, I will no longer be a fool
Under time's tyranny, but under your benign rule.
The amazing universe and this beautiful earth will vanish, leaving not a trace
behind,
When your glance shatters this so-unbreakable mirror of my mind."
Francis Brabazon (1907 - 1984)
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/B/BrabazonFran/worldisbeing.htm
[Francis Brabazon, an Australian, was a close disciple of Meher Baba. tjh]
The Power of Thought...
Every thought that you have within your mind is a creative force of power.. You as Universal Consciousness has the ability to create what ever future and destiny that You desire.. This is why it is so important that your thoughts are of non-ego which is called Love.. You will create Heaven or Hell according to your thoughts.. Stay Awake to the thoughts moving through your mind and only allow those that bring you Peace and Joy.. Know Your Self as Consciousness that watches the mind.. You are above mind and have the complete power to control your mind and thoughts..Concerning health, You must see yourself as healed and Believe it.. if you do not Believe it then you are automatically believing that you are not healed.. As You Believe, it shall be done.. As Jesus said;" If you Believe and say, Mountain be moved, It shall be"...... pick up a book by Joseph Murphy called, The Power of the Subconscious Mind.. This will teach you the rest..............namaste, thomas
Opinion...
When it is said that all is opinion, it must further be said that all views of God exist in the minds of men as their opinions, too. The value of such opinions is only what these men give to it. For a view which is beyond the mental capacity of an unevolved person is of little value to him, whereas it may be life-saving to an evolved truth-seeker.
Notebooks Category 7: The Intellect > Chapter 2: The Service of Intellect > # 19
......... Paul Brunton
Notebooks Category 7: The Intellect > Chapter 2: The Service of Intellect > # 19
......... Paul Brunton
Shamas Faqir...
Several lyrics of Shamas Faqir centre round the theme of the mystic's quest for the primal cause of this universe. As an illustration, the lyric titled 'Agur Kami Manz Drav' repeatedly poses the question, 'what is the fountainhead of the stream?', which serves as its refrain. Here is my translation of some significant lines of the poem (attempted to convey the essential meaning):
Day and night does Pavan flow
Through the four Bhavans non-stop;
Whence did it come
And whither did it go?
It was even (all of one hue),
Whence did the stream come forth?
.......
He who owns the sea
Is the Lord of water,
The river issued from the drop;
To get to the meaning,
Sacrifice yourself first;
.....
O Shamas, to attain gnosis,
Throw open your heart's door;
Sun-like, roam the sky through
(To fathom the Secret);
What is the fountain-head?
We can see that the poem poses vital and thought- provoking questions regarding the First Cause. It instructs the seeker to pursue the spiritual journey inwardly to realize the Self. This would naturally call for annihilation of the little self. The answer to the imponderable question regarding the source of the Cosmos is provided through the intertwined images of the 'drop' and the 'river'. They parallel the images of the bindu and the sindu given in Hindu mystical literature, conveying what Swami Ram Tirtha does equally aptly through the phrase 'Infinite in the Finite'. In the concluding lines, that lay stress on cleansing the heart as a means to inward transformation, the tone of the poem changes as the poet addresses his own self. Without sounding the didactic, the changed tone stimulates self- introspection in the reader/listener.
The Persian Sufi poets have often used the word rinda in their lyrics. It refers to the true lover, a liberated soul (not tied to this or that school). With its rich associations, it has been absorbed into Kashmiri mystical poetry and has by now got into common usage among the Kashmiris. It occurs frequently in Shamas Faqir's verse too. One poem titled 'Rinda Sara Ho Sapdi Kunu Ye' is specifically addressed to the rinda. This is how the poet instructs the aspiring gnostic:
O rinda, in order to realize the One,
Learn to die while still alive.
Emphasis is laid in the poem on self-conquest as being the stepping stone to advancement in spirituality. Whether we call the aspirant a yogi or an arif, his sadhana has to consist in 'cleansing of the doors of perception', which involves a disciplining of the mind and the senses. He has to be discriminative and mentally alert throughout. Shamas Faqir is explicit about this quality required of the true aspirant:
Seemingly blind, look keenly for
What you seek, O rinda!
Sifting the pure grain
From the impure,
Winnowing the grains a hundred times
Will reveal the Precious One to you.
The poet draws our attention to the strenuousness and pains involved in the spiritual effort, in these lines:
Break the stones at the dead of night,
To take away the Gem guarded
by the cobra;
Feed the burning lamp
with your blood,
Eat up your own flesh;
Thus will you, O rinda, realize the One.
Special stress is laid in the closing lines on belief and divine grace:
Believe before you verify,
That's Shamas Faqir's gospel;
When you get the 'Word'
As a God-sent gift,
O rinda, you'll realize the One.
......... from koausa.org
Day and night does Pavan flow
Through the four Bhavans non-stop;
Whence did it come
And whither did it go?
It was even (all of one hue),
Whence did the stream come forth?
.......
He who owns the sea
Is the Lord of water,
The river issued from the drop;
To get to the meaning,
Sacrifice yourself first;
.....
O Shamas, to attain gnosis,
Throw open your heart's door;
Sun-like, roam the sky through
(To fathom the Secret);
What is the fountain-head?
We can see that the poem poses vital and thought- provoking questions regarding the First Cause. It instructs the seeker to pursue the spiritual journey inwardly to realize the Self. This would naturally call for annihilation of the little self. The answer to the imponderable question regarding the source of the Cosmos is provided through the intertwined images of the 'drop' and the 'river'. They parallel the images of the bindu and the sindu given in Hindu mystical literature, conveying what Swami Ram Tirtha does equally aptly through the phrase 'Infinite in the Finite'. In the concluding lines, that lay stress on cleansing the heart as a means to inward transformation, the tone of the poem changes as the poet addresses his own self. Without sounding the didactic, the changed tone stimulates self- introspection in the reader/listener.
The Persian Sufi poets have often used the word rinda in their lyrics. It refers to the true lover, a liberated soul (not tied to this or that school). With its rich associations, it has been absorbed into Kashmiri mystical poetry and has by now got into common usage among the Kashmiris. It occurs frequently in Shamas Faqir's verse too. One poem titled 'Rinda Sara Ho Sapdi Kunu Ye' is specifically addressed to the rinda. This is how the poet instructs the aspiring gnostic:
O rinda, in order to realize the One,
Learn to die while still alive.
Emphasis is laid in the poem on self-conquest as being the stepping stone to advancement in spirituality. Whether we call the aspirant a yogi or an arif, his sadhana has to consist in 'cleansing of the doors of perception', which involves a disciplining of the mind and the senses. He has to be discriminative and mentally alert throughout. Shamas Faqir is explicit about this quality required of the true aspirant:
Seemingly blind, look keenly for
What you seek, O rinda!
Sifting the pure grain
From the impure,
Winnowing the grains a hundred times
Will reveal the Precious One to you.
The poet draws our attention to the strenuousness and pains involved in the spiritual effort, in these lines:
Break the stones at the dead of night,
To take away the Gem guarded
by the cobra;
Feed the burning lamp
with your blood,
Eat up your own flesh;
Thus will you, O rinda, realize the One.
Special stress is laid in the closing lines on belief and divine grace:
Believe before you verify,
That's Shamas Faqir's gospel;
When you get the 'Word'
As a God-sent gift,
O rinda, you'll realize the One.
......... from koausa.org
Be aware...
Be aware of being conscious and seek the
source of consciousness. That is all. Very
little can be conveyed in words. It is the
doing as I tell you that will bring light, not
my telling you. The means do not matter much;
it is the desire, the urge, the earnestness that
counts.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
source of consciousness. That is all. Very
little can be conveyed in words. It is the
doing as I tell you that will bring light, not
my telling you. The means do not matter much;
it is the desire, the urge, the earnestness that
counts.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
The Mind of Absolute Trust ...
The great way isn't difficult for those who are unattached to their preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion, and everything will be perfectly clear.
When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth, don't be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning, you just trouble your minds serenity.
As vast as infinite space, it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject, you can't perceive its true nature.
Don't get entangled in the world; don't lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things, and all errors will disappear by themselves.
If you don't live the Tao, you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real, you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real, you are blind to the selflessness of all things.
The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can't go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning;
chasing appearances, you lose there source.
At the moment of profound insight, you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don't keep searching for the truth; just let go of your opinions.
For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt, you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free, with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant, perfect in its own being.
In the world of things as they are, there is no self, no non self.
If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is "Not-two."
In this "Not-two" nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places have entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss; one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny when you don't have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth, you won't see anything clearly.
One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving,
is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.
.........Early Zen Poetry of Seng-ts'an
Let go of longing and aversion, and everything will be perfectly clear.
When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth, don't be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning, you just trouble your minds serenity.
As vast as infinite space, it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject, you can't perceive its true nature.
Don't get entangled in the world; don't lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things, and all errors will disappear by themselves.
If you don't live the Tao, you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real, you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real, you are blind to the selflessness of all things.
The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can't go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning;
chasing appearances, you lose there source.
At the moment of profound insight, you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don't keep searching for the truth; just let go of your opinions.
For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt, you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free, with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant, perfect in its own being.
In the world of things as they are, there is no self, no non self.
If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is "Not-two."
In this "Not-two" nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places have entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss; one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny when you don't have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth, you won't see anything clearly.
One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving,
is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.
.........Early Zen Poetry of Seng-ts'an
Death...
Deepening The Wonder
Death is a favor to us,
But our scales have lost their balance.
The impermanence of the body
Should give us great clarity,
Deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes
Of this mysterious existence we share
And are surely just traveling through.
If I were in the Tavern tonight,
Hafiz would call for drinks
And as the Master poured, I would be reminded
That all I know of life and myself is that
We are just a midair flight of golden wine
Between His Pitcher and His Cup.
If I were in the Tavern tonight,
I would buy freely for everyone in this world
Because our marriage with the Cruel Beauty
Of time and space cannot endure very long.
Death is a favor to us,
But our minds have lost their balance.
The miraculous existence and impermanence of
Form
Always makes the illumined ones
Laugh and sing.
'The subject tonight is Love -
60 wild and sweet poems of Hafiz'
Versions by Daniel Ladinsky
Death is a favor to us,
But our scales have lost their balance.
The impermanence of the body
Should give us great clarity,
Deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes
Of this mysterious existence we share
And are surely just traveling through.
If I were in the Tavern tonight,
Hafiz would call for drinks
And as the Master poured, I would be reminded
That all I know of life and myself is that
We are just a midair flight of golden wine
Between His Pitcher and His Cup.
If I were in the Tavern tonight,
I would buy freely for everyone in this world
Because our marriage with the Cruel Beauty
Of time and space cannot endure very long.
Death is a favor to us,
But our minds have lost their balance.
The miraculous existence and impermanence of
Form
Always makes the illumined ones
Laugh and sing.
'The subject tonight is Love -
60 wild and sweet poems of Hafiz'
Versions by Daniel Ladinsky
Identification...
If you achieve that degree of identification with the light of knowledge as you
had with body in the waking state, there is nothing more to be achieved.....
Shri Atmananda from Spiritual Discourses
had with body in the waking state, there is nothing more to be achieved.....
Shri Atmananda from Spiritual Discourses
Crushed ego...
We should be careful to take away from ourselves any thorns that prick us in the
personality of others.
Bowl of Saki, July 17, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
We frequently say, 'I dislike him,' 'I wish to avoid her,' but if we examine
this carefully, we find it is the same element in all that we dislike, the ego.
And when we turn to ourselves to see if we have it in us, we find it is there
too. We should forget it, therefore, in other people, and first turn our
attention to crushing it within ourselves. We should determine to have our house
clean even if other people neglect theirs. We should be careful to take away
from ourselves any thorns that prick us in the personality of others. There is a
verse in the Quran, which says, 'Arise in the midst of the night, and commune
with thy Lord... Bear patiently what others say.' This is not only a command to
rise in the night and pray, but it also means that by rising in the night we
crush the ego, for the ego demands its rest and comfort, and when denied, is
crushed. The mystics fast for the same reason. The Sufi's base the whole of
their teaching on the crushing of the ego which they term Nafs-kushi, for
therein lies all magnetism and power.
For every soul there are four stages to pass through in order to come to the
culmination of the ego, which means to reach the stage of the rose. The first
stage is that a person is rough, thoughtless and inconsiderate. He is interested
in what he wants and in what he likes; as such he is naturally blind to the
needs and wants of others. In the second stage a man is decent and good as long
as his interests are concerned. As long as he can get his wish fulfilled he is
pleasant and kind and good and harmonious; but if he cannot get his wish and
cannot have his way, then he becomes rough and crude and changes completely. And
there is a third stage, when someone is more concerned with another person's
wish and desire, and less with himself; when his whole heart is seeking for what
he can do for another. In his thought the other person comes first and he comes
afterwards. That is the beginning of turning into the rose. It is only a
rosebud, but then in the fourth stage this rosebud blooms in the person who
entirely forgets himself in doing kind deeds for others. In Sufi terms the
crushing of the ego is called Nafs Kushi.
personality of others.
Bowl of Saki, July 17, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
We frequently say, 'I dislike him,' 'I wish to avoid her,' but if we examine
this carefully, we find it is the same element in all that we dislike, the ego.
And when we turn to ourselves to see if we have it in us, we find it is there
too. We should forget it, therefore, in other people, and first turn our
attention to crushing it within ourselves. We should determine to have our house
clean even if other people neglect theirs. We should be careful to take away
from ourselves any thorns that prick us in the personality of others. There is a
verse in the Quran, which says, 'Arise in the midst of the night, and commune
with thy Lord... Bear patiently what others say.' This is not only a command to
rise in the night and pray, but it also means that by rising in the night we
crush the ego, for the ego demands its rest and comfort, and when denied, is
crushed. The mystics fast for the same reason. The Sufi's base the whole of
their teaching on the crushing of the ego which they term Nafs-kushi, for
therein lies all magnetism and power.
For every soul there are four stages to pass through in order to come to the
culmination of the ego, which means to reach the stage of the rose. The first
stage is that a person is rough, thoughtless and inconsiderate. He is interested
in what he wants and in what he likes; as such he is naturally blind to the
needs and wants of others. In the second stage a man is decent and good as long
as his interests are concerned. As long as he can get his wish fulfilled he is
pleasant and kind and good and harmonious; but if he cannot get his wish and
cannot have his way, then he becomes rough and crude and changes completely. And
there is a third stage, when someone is more concerned with another person's
wish and desire, and less with himself; when his whole heart is seeking for what
he can do for another. In his thought the other person comes first and he comes
afterwards. That is the beginning of turning into the rose. It is only a
rosebud, but then in the fourth stage this rosebud blooms in the person who
entirely forgets himself in doing kind deeds for others. In Sufi terms the
crushing of the ego is called Nafs Kushi.
Free from confusion...
One man believes in existence, another says
"There is nothing!" Rare is the man who believes
in neither. He is free from confusion.
- Ashtavakra Gita
Chapter 18, verse 42
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
The Heart of Awareness: A Translation
of the Ashtavakra Gita
By Thomas Byrom
Shambala, 1990
"There is nothing!" Rare is the man who believes
in neither. He is free from confusion.
- Ashtavakra Gita
Chapter 18, verse 42
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
The Heart of Awareness: A Translation
of the Ashtavakra Gita
By Thomas Byrom
Shambala, 1990
Nothingness...
There are levels of No-thing-ness,, the first level is Divine Consciousness.. To awaken into this state, the ego must commit suicide.. the residue of ego left is called identity.. identity has no more desires except for Complete Freedom.. Most identities will stay within Divine Consciousness as it is a state of Bliss.. But, those identities that dissolve their created identity enter into the Final Reality of non-existence.. This is Pure Awareness and is the Source of Divine Consciousness which is the Source of Creation.. In Pure Awareness, there is no ego, therefore, Pure Awareness is not even aware of Itself.. This is why Divine Consciousness was Created.. As a Creative Mirror of Learning............namaste, thomas
Do we become God?...
If God is already Everything, how can we become that which We already are?..
This is why the word "Realisation" is used.. We "Realise" that We are already
God, when We have dropped the illusion of separate self.. The wall of separation
is called ego.. "Knock, and the door shall be opened"... All of this running
around trying to be spiritual and learning to be God is wasteing your time.. "
Sit Still, and Know that I Am God".. Be Yourself, and You will not have to run
any longer, You will be at Home, Divine Consciousness...........namaste, thomas
This is why the word "Realisation" is used.. We "Realise" that We are already
God, when We have dropped the illusion of separate self.. The wall of separation
is called ego.. "Knock, and the door shall be opened"... All of this running
around trying to be spiritual and learning to be God is wasteing your time.. "
Sit Still, and Know that I Am God".. Be Yourself, and You will not have to run
any longer, You will be at Home, Divine Consciousness...........namaste, thomas
The self...
The individual self is just a thought, a dream, an adventure, and a method of learning what God is and what God is not.. In this plane of duality, we must know one, to know the other... But, when We have Awakened to Reality, by leaving the belief in separation such as ego and even soul, We wake up in the Reality of Divine Consciousness.. In this State of Truth, We find Ourselves as separate identity within One Identity of Light and Love.. The next step is to dissolve the illusion of separate Identity and become Nothing... This Nothingness is Pure Awareness and exists before Creation and Divine Consciousness.. This final Reality is called Freedom... As it is written: " you must die, to be Born".........namaste, thomas
Peace...
If there is peace in your mind you will find peace
with everybody. If your mind is agitated you will
find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within
and you will see this inner peace reflected every-
where else. You are this peace! You are happiness,
find out. Where else will you find peace if not within
you?
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
with everybody. If your mind is agitated you will
find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within
and you will see this inner peace reflected every-
where else. You are this peace! You are happiness,
find out. Where else will you find peace if not within
you?
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Life...
When I see that I am nothing, that is Wisdom.
When I see that I am everything, that is Love.
My life is that which moves between these two.
.......Nisargadatta
When I see that I am everything, that is Love.
My life is that which moves between these two.
.......Nisargadatta
Insight...
Only those who are able to see their own
face without a mirror will be able to see
their true nature. What kind of seeing is
this? To see without the mirror is to see
not with eyes seeing objects but as THAT
which sees. It is the in-seeing or insight
by Consciousness itself in which there is
no one who is seeing.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
face without a mirror will be able to see
their true nature. What kind of seeing is
this? To see without the mirror is to see
not with eyes seeing objects but as THAT
which sees. It is the in-seeing or insight
by Consciousness itself in which there is
no one who is seeing.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
Superiority...
The presence of this light IN thought makes thought think that it is a self-
existent entity that has a right to its own views.
On the one hand, and this is paradoxical, you have the I AM which is present
in the matrix of thoughts. And then the matrix of thoughts takes itself to be
the I AM, which it clearly is not. Now that will also account for egotism.
That will also make a person think, "Look,"I'm superior to everyone else."
It's inevitable -- the consequences are inevitable. Once you accept the
congerie of thoughts with that light fused into it as separative, each one is
going to think itself superior to every other one. And each present thought
does. Just like each ego thinks itself superior to every other one.
-- Anthony Damiani 8/19/82
existent entity that has a right to its own views.
On the one hand, and this is paradoxical, you have the I AM which is present
in the matrix of thoughts. And then the matrix of thoughts takes itself to be
the I AM, which it clearly is not. Now that will also account for egotism.
That will also make a person think, "Look,"I'm superior to everyone else."
It's inevitable -- the consequences are inevitable. Once you accept the
congerie of thoughts with that light fused into it as separative, each one is
going to think itself superior to every other one. And each present thought
does. Just like each ego thinks itself superior to every other one.
-- Anthony Damiani 8/19/82
Surrender...
The most difficult endeavor for the seeker is to find the ultimate
courage to surrender their own existence.. This is the meaning of the church
altar.. To sacrifice Your "self"... This is the greatest gift to God.. The gift
in return is Freedom............namaste, thomas
courage to surrender their own existence.. This is the meaning of the church
altar.. To sacrifice Your "self"... This is the greatest gift to God.. The gift
in return is Freedom............namaste, thomas
Control the mind...
In battle, if someone shoots an arrow at you, you shoot one back. In maya, if the arrow of a bad idea comes speeding towards you, dodge it. Don't let it stick to you or you will end up in pain. Then, in retaliation, fire back the arrow of `I am the Self' at the place where the wrong idea came from.
Sadhana is a battlefield. You have to be vigilant. Don't take delivery of wrong beliefs and don't identify with the incoming thoughts that will give you pain and suffering. But if these things start to happen to you, fight back by affirming, `I am the Self; I am the Self; I am the Self'. These affirmations will lessen the power of the `I am the body' arrows and eventually they will armour-plate you so successfully, the `I am the body' thoughts that come your way will no longer have the power to touch you, affect you or make you suffer.
This fight all takes place within maya because in reality you are peace and peace alone. But while you are suffering in maya you can use these thoughts as a means of ultimately conquering it.
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.33-4
Sadhana is a battlefield. You have to be vigilant. Don't take delivery of wrong beliefs and don't identify with the incoming thoughts that will give you pain and suffering. But if these things start to happen to you, fight back by affirming, `I am the Self; I am the Self; I am the Self'. These affirmations will lessen the power of the `I am the body' arrows and eventually they will armour-plate you so successfully, the `I am the body' thoughts that come your way will no longer have the power to touch you, affect you or make you suffer.
This fight all takes place within maya because in reality you are peace and peace alone. But while you are suffering in maya you can use these thoughts as a means of ultimately conquering it.
Annamalai Swami
Final Talks
David Godman, ed
Avdhuta Foundation, pub
p.33-4
Knock...
"Knock, And He'll open the door
Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything."
— Rumi
Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything."
— Rumi
Ego is the thinking mind...
The thinking mind, the ego, the "me" are all the same. They are different names for the same thing, which is an illusion.
It is the nature of the monkey-mind to jump about and chatter.
Ego is the thinking mind.
Mind is merely a collection of thoughts, or a collection of impressions which makes up this "me", this self image.
The ego is the identified consciousness. When the impersonal Consciousness identifies itself with the personal organism, the ego arises.
Identification with the body is so total that it gives one a sense of separate identity. Now, the separate identity is merely a concept, a concept based on the individual body appearing solid.
All there is consciousness. That is the Source from which the manifestation has come.
The only truth is I AM - I Exist. That is the only truth. Everything else is a concept. Rebirth is a concept. Your karma is a concept.
What is seeking? Seeking is "you" wanting to know God.
Consciousness is the only Reality.
Seekers continue to practice all kinds of self-torture without realizing that such 'spiritual practice' is a reinforcement of the very ego that prevents them from their natural, free state.
Enlightenment is total emptiness of mind. There is nothing you can do to get it. Any effort you make can only be an obstruction to it.
The same Consciousness prevails at rest as the Absolute and in motion as duality. When the sense of "me" disappears completely, duality vanishes in ecstasy.
Ramesh Balsekar Quotes
It is the nature of the monkey-mind to jump about and chatter.
Ego is the thinking mind.
Mind is merely a collection of thoughts, or a collection of impressions which makes up this "me", this self image.
The ego is the identified consciousness. When the impersonal Consciousness identifies itself with the personal organism, the ego arises.
Identification with the body is so total that it gives one a sense of separate identity. Now, the separate identity is merely a concept, a concept based on the individual body appearing solid.
All there is consciousness. That is the Source from which the manifestation has come.
The only truth is I AM - I Exist. That is the only truth. Everything else is a concept. Rebirth is a concept. Your karma is a concept.
What is seeking? Seeking is "you" wanting to know God.
Consciousness is the only Reality.
Seekers continue to practice all kinds of self-torture without realizing that such 'spiritual practice' is a reinforcement of the very ego that prevents them from their natural, free state.
Enlightenment is total emptiness of mind. There is nothing you can do to get it. Any effort you make can only be an obstruction to it.
The same Consciousness prevails at rest as the Absolute and in motion as duality. When the sense of "me" disappears completely, duality vanishes in ecstasy.
Ramesh Balsekar Quotes
THE 'WEI WU WEI' ARCHIVES...
From 'Fingers Pointing Towards The Moon':
It is less what one is that should matter, than what one is not.
* * *
The qualities we possess should never be a matter for satisfaction, but the qualities we have discarded.
* * *
It is not for us to search but to remain still, to achieve Immobility not Action.
* * *
There is no becoming. ALL IS.
* * *
The Saint is a man who disciplines his ego. The Sage is a man who rids himself of his ego.
* * *
It is only the artificial ego that suffers. The man who has transcended his false 'me' no longer identifies with his suffering.
* * *
We ourselves are not an illusory part of Reality; rather are we Reality itself illusorily conceived.
* * *
Are we not wasps who spend all day in a fruitless attempt to traverse a window-pane - while the other half of the window is wide open?
* * *
Detachment is a state, it is not a totalisation of achieved indifferences.
* * *
The notion that human life has greater value than any other form of life is both unjustifiable and arrogant.
* * *
Wise men don't judge: they seek to understand.
* * *
How many of the ways (disciplines, exercises, practices) recommended as helpful, or even necessary, for the attainment of Satori are not in fact consequences of that state erroneously suggested as means?
* * *
There seem to 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.
It is less what one is that should matter, than what one is not.
* * *
The qualities we possess should never be a matter for satisfaction, but the qualities we have discarded.
* * *
It is not for us to search but to remain still, to achieve Immobility not Action.
* * *
There is no becoming. ALL IS.
* * *
The Saint is a man who disciplines his ego. The Sage is a man who rids himself of his ego.
* * *
It is only the artificial ego that suffers. The man who has transcended his false 'me' no longer identifies with his suffering.
* * *
We ourselves are not an illusory part of Reality; rather are we Reality itself illusorily conceived.
* * *
Are we not wasps who spend all day in a fruitless attempt to traverse a window-pane - while the other half of the window is wide open?
* * *
Detachment is a state, it is not a totalisation of achieved indifferences.
* * *
The notion that human life has greater value than any other form of life is both unjustifiable and arrogant.
* * *
Wise men don't judge: they seek to understand.
* * *
How many of the ways (disciplines, exercises, practices) recommended as helpful, or even necessary, for the attainment of Satori are not in fact consequences of that state erroneously suggested as means?
* * *
There seem to 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.
Walk alone...
First at the beginning of the Long Path, and again at the beginning of the Short Path a master, a spiritual guide, is really required. But outside these two occasions an aspirant had better walk alone.
— Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 3: Independent Path > # 286
.........Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 3: Independent Path > # 286
.........Paul Brunton
Thoughts...
Some thoughts are like things, like objects; other thoughts are like beings.
Some thoughts are like angels by our side, and some are like devils. They are all
around us, either helping us towards the accomplishment of the objects before us
or drawing us back from those things we wish to accomplish.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
Some thoughts are like angels by our side, and some are like devils. They are all
around us, either helping us towards the accomplishment of the objects before us
or drawing us back from those things we wish to accomplish.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
" Why is life so full of contradictions?"
It serves to break down mental pride.
We must realize how poor and powerless
we are. As long as we delude ourselves
by what we imagine ourselves to be, to
know, to have, to do, we are in a sad
plight indeed. Only in complete self-
negation there is a chance to discover
our real being.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
We must realize how poor and powerless
we are. As long as we delude ourselves
by what we imagine ourselves to be, to
know, to have, to do, we are in a sad
plight indeed. Only in complete self-
negation there is a chance to discover
our real being.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Unconditional Love...
Unconditional Love is to be in the state of non-self-ishness, this is non-ego.. Unconditional Love is to show this Love without any expectation of Love in return.. Unconditional Love is rare because most people have not been informed that you should Love without any selfish intentions for it being returned.. this ignorance of the levels of Love are what cause so many problems within relationships.. In speaking of the Anti-Christ as the ego, with contemplation, you will understand that the imaginary ego that we consider to be ourselves is a series of thoughts and memories that swirl around the self-ish creation of separation.. We create our own prisons and act as wardens.. The Christ state is a returning to Reality. The Reality of self-lessness or what we call Unconditional Love.. The Non-Christ state (anti-christ) is the normal state of humanity and is the cause of all violence and pain and is called by many names but the modern name is ego ..........namaste, thomas
" Love ye, One another"...
To Love each other means that You have dissolved the ego..
the ego is the Anti-Christ.. non-ego is Unconditional Love or what we call God..
Jesus taught the "short path" of yoga known as the path of non-ego or what we
know as being in the mental state of Unconditional Love............namaste,
thomas
the ego is the Anti-Christ.. non-ego is Unconditional Love or what we call God..
Jesus taught the "short path" of yoga known as the path of non-ego or what we
know as being in the mental state of Unconditional Love............namaste,
thomas
Cosmology by Douglas Mitchell...
Prior to the Big Bang, there is only pure (no subject, no
object), unaware, undifferentiated Consciousness (Parabrahman) which is
perfect, complete, void, and yet full of infinite potential energy. The
potential energy suddenly manifests/realizes itself as aware
Brahman/Shakti, a vibrating, dense, hot singularity which begins to
rapidly expand as space-time energy/matter (Maya). This is the birth of
our universe. Other universes manifest as well with their own physical
laws and forms. These are called multiverses in Physics. Each
universe is unique and not in contact with the other multiverses as far
as we know. In our own universe, energy/matter, down to the smallest
subatomic wave/particle, is each a unit of Consciousness which is
aware of itself and its determined function in relation to other units
of Consciousness. As the universe expanded,
matter and anti-matter were created and destroyed. Eventually, all of
the anti-matter was expended and a small amount of matter remained in
the form of hydrogen and then helium. As these gaseous elements began
to cool and combine, the first stars were formed. The stars, through
internal nuclear reactions, produced heavier atomic elements
which seeded the universe when the stars eventually exploded. All of
what would evolve into life forms are made of the elements forged in
these early stars. And everything is a unit of Consciousness performing
its determined function. These units of Consciousness aggregate to
form more and more complex forms. On Earth, the human brain is the most
complex aggregate unit of Consciousness, composed of lower level units
of Consciousness (neurons, molecules, atoms, subatomic particles,
space). There is no freedom of choice in the universe as
everything was determined by the cosmic laws which manifested from the
infinite potential of Parabrahman. Choice is an illusion, and time is
an illusion, because the manifestation of the universe was
instantaneous, complete, and whole. It only appears to evolve in
duration from our perspective. But the universe is whole and complete
the instant it manifests. All possible choices and outcomes were
anticipated by the universal unit of Consciousness known as
Brahman/Shakti. Maya is the "appearance" of an evolving universe in
duration. The whole manifestation of multiverses (known is physics as
the Omniverse) is the lila (play) of Parabrahman. Consciousness is One,
whether as undifferentiated, unmanifest Consciousness, or as
manifested, differentiated Consciousness. In the lila, our goal as
humans is to identify not simply with the body-mind but with the
Brahman/Shakti and
ultimately Parabrahman. We do this by retracing our identity to the
primary concept of Being, otherwise known as the nonverbal I am. This is
identification with Brahman/Shakti. As Brahman/Shakti, I am filled
with wonder and awe and the love of being and form. Identifying with
Brahman/Shakti is worship of Brahman/Shakti. Next, without depending
upon the mind: thought, memory, association, perception, emotion,
intention, attention, the body image, what has been learned; or the body
with its senses, inquire, "What am I?" With no references, "I" realize
that "I" am no-thing-ness: Parabrahman: Perfect, Whole, Infinite
potential energy. As Parabrahman "I" was never born and shall never
die. "I" am "not-I", transcending all human categories of thought,
including being and non-being. When this body-mind dies the highest
level unit of Consciousness (brain/mind) reverts to
its lower level constituent parts (units of Consciousness as
molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, space) which no longer have
access to the capacity for higher level personal memory. Thus the
person, self, ego, subject-I disintegrates and merges with Parabrahman.
There is no personal karmic residue and no reincarnation.
Reincarnation is a concept of the ego/mind which wants to continue after
the death of the body. This is ignorance, wishful thinking and
delusional. There is no ultimate meaning either, except for the meaning
we create for our temporal selves. There is no ultimate justice as
well, except for the justice systems we create for our illusory selves.
Maya is the cosmic dream which we are destined to wake up from. Gnana
(knowledge/wisdom), Bhakti (devotion/worship), selfless compassionate
service, and meditation practice are
the means for waking up. Ultimately whether or not you wake up to your
true identity while alive, you revert back to your true identity as
Parabrahman through death of the body-mind self. Why bother? you may
ask. To end the suffering as a limited, separate self identity now is
the answer. Why prolong the suffering unnecessarily?
object), unaware, undifferentiated Consciousness (Parabrahman) which is
perfect, complete, void, and yet full of infinite potential energy. The
potential energy suddenly manifests/realizes itself as aware
Brahman/Shakti, a vibrating, dense, hot singularity which begins to
rapidly expand as space-time energy/matter (Maya). This is the birth of
our universe. Other universes manifest as well with their own physical
laws and forms. These are called multiverses in Physics. Each
universe is unique and not in contact with the other multiverses as far
as we know. In our own universe, energy/matter, down to the smallest
subatomic wave/particle, is each a unit of Consciousness which is
aware of itself and its determined function in relation to other units
of Consciousness. As the universe expanded,
matter and anti-matter were created and destroyed. Eventually, all of
the anti-matter was expended and a small amount of matter remained in
the form of hydrogen and then helium. As these gaseous elements began
to cool and combine, the first stars were formed. The stars, through
internal nuclear reactions, produced heavier atomic elements
which seeded the universe when the stars eventually exploded. All of
what would evolve into life forms are made of the elements forged in
these early stars. And everything is a unit of Consciousness performing
its determined function. These units of Consciousness aggregate to
form more and more complex forms. On Earth, the human brain is the most
complex aggregate unit of Consciousness, composed of lower level units
of Consciousness (neurons, molecules, atoms, subatomic particles,
space). There is no freedom of choice in the universe as
everything was determined by the cosmic laws which manifested from the
infinite potential of Parabrahman. Choice is an illusion, and time is
an illusion, because the manifestation of the universe was
instantaneous, complete, and whole. It only appears to evolve in
duration from our perspective. But the universe is whole and complete
the instant it manifests. All possible choices and outcomes were
anticipated by the universal unit of Consciousness known as
Brahman/Shakti. Maya is the "appearance" of an evolving universe in
duration. The whole manifestation of multiverses (known is physics as
the Omniverse) is the lila (play) of Parabrahman. Consciousness is One,
whether as undifferentiated, unmanifest Consciousness, or as
manifested, differentiated Consciousness. In the lila, our goal as
humans is to identify not simply with the body-mind but with the
Brahman/Shakti and
ultimately Parabrahman. We do this by retracing our identity to the
primary concept of Being, otherwise known as the nonverbal I am. This is
identification with Brahman/Shakti. As Brahman/Shakti, I am filled
with wonder and awe and the love of being and form. Identifying with
Brahman/Shakti is worship of Brahman/Shakti. Next, without depending
upon the mind: thought, memory, association, perception, emotion,
intention, attention, the body image, what has been learned; or the body
with its senses, inquire, "What am I?" With no references, "I" realize
that "I" am no-thing-ness: Parabrahman: Perfect, Whole, Infinite
potential energy. As Parabrahman "I" was never born and shall never
die. "I" am "not-I", transcending all human categories of thought,
including being and non-being. When this body-mind dies the highest
level unit of Consciousness (brain/mind) reverts to
its lower level constituent parts (units of Consciousness as
molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, space) which no longer have
access to the capacity for higher level personal memory. Thus the
person, self, ego, subject-I disintegrates and merges with Parabrahman.
There is no personal karmic residue and no reincarnation.
Reincarnation is a concept of the ego/mind which wants to continue after
the death of the body. This is ignorance, wishful thinking and
delusional. There is no ultimate meaning either, except for the meaning
we create for our temporal selves. There is no ultimate justice as
well, except for the justice systems we create for our illusory selves.
Maya is the cosmic dream which we are destined to wake up from. Gnana
(knowledge/wisdom), Bhakti (devotion/worship), selfless compassionate
service, and meditation practice are
the means for waking up. Ultimately whether or not you wake up to your
true identity while alive, you revert back to your true identity as
Parabrahman through death of the body-mind self. Why bother? you may
ask. To end the suffering as a limited, separate self identity now is
the answer. Why prolong the suffering unnecessarily?
The open secret...
This message has been misunderstood if it is believed that it is saying that there is a "you" who can or can't do anything about becoming enlightened.
The open secret communication can only point to the simple wonder of being and attempt to illuminate the futility of seeking for it. It does not accept or reject the teachings of spiritual path or process but it will expose, without compromise, the singular and fundamental misconception that drives the belief that there is something called a seeker that is able to find something else called enlightenment.
Life is not a task. There is absolutely nothing to attain except the realisation that there is absolutely nothing to attain.
What is sought remains hidden from the seeker by already being everything.
It is so obvious and simple that the grasping of it obscures it. Never found, never knowable, being is the consummate absence that is beyond measure.
Looking for being is believing that it is lost. Has anything been lost, or is it simply that the looking keeps it away? Does the beloved always dance constantly just beyond our focus?
The very intention to seek for a treasure within life inevitably obscures the reality that life is already the treasure.
By seeking the myth it dreams it can attain, the seeker effectively avoids that which it most fears . . . its absence.
Many will reject this message and return to the comforting story of knowing and doing. But there can be a resonance within which the illusion of separation collapses and leaves nothing being everything.
Doctrines, processes and progressive paths which seek enlightenment only exacerbate the problem they address by reinforcing the idea that the self can find something that it presumes it has lost. It is that very effort, that investment in self-identity, that continuously re-creates the illusion of separation from oneness. It is the dream of individuality.
The “me” searches for peace and fulfilment, the “me” searches for self-improvement, purity, presence or detachment. The “me” seeks clarity or any formula which will give the “me” what it thinks it wants or needs. But the “me” not getting what it wants is not the dilemma. The dilemma is the apparent “me”.
Liberation is like a fuse that suddenly blows, and all the little lights go out and there is only light.
There is no answer to life because life is its own answer. It’s happening already. It’s this. It was never lost. When liberation apparently happens people say “it’s amazing because the thing I was looking for has never left. It’s the one thing that never comes and never goes, the one constant that can’t be known or held onto.”
When the assumed sense of being separate seems to collapse, already there is only the constant and unknowable wonder of being.
The open secret’s apparent communication is paradoxical, unreasonable, unbelievable, non-prescriptive, non-spiritual and uncompromising. There is no agenda or intention to help or change apparent individuality. It is prior to all teaching and its resonance is shared energetically, not through the exchange of ideas.
So, should the seeker climb the spiritual mountain or simply let go and surrender to life . . . Is that the question? Or is it possible that there is no question and no answer? Maybe what is sought is already all there is. Perhaps that which is longed for is already constantly happening . . . it never went away . . . the seeker did to look for it.
How can the seeker “Directly Approach” that which is already everything?
As we move from one formula to another, we seem unable to see that freedom does not reside here or there, simply because freedom, by its very nature, cannot be excluded or exclusive. We seem not to see that, as we march towards the next anticipated spiritual high, the treasure that we seek is to be discovered, not in where we are going, but within the simple nature of the very footsteps that we take.
Life is its own purpose and doesn’t need a reason to be. That is its beauty.
Life is simply life, and is not trying to prove anything at all. This springtime will not try to be better than last springtime, and neither will an ash tree try to become an oak.
Because the apparent self can only exist through its own knowing, its search for a deeper meaning will be limited to that which it can know and experience for itself. The separate seeker pursues everything that it can know and do, excepting the absence of itself. That absence is the emptiness which is unknowable, but paradoxically it is also the very fullness, the wholeness that is longed for.
Exclusivity breeds exclusion, but freedom is shared through friendship.
From wherever and whenever this insight is communicated, it has no connection with end-gaining, belief, path or process. It cannot be taught but is constantly shared. Because it is all that is, no-one can lay claim to it. It needs not to be argued, proven or embellished, for it stands alone simply as it is, and can only remain unrecognised and rejected, or realised and lived.
January
2011
........Tony Parsons
The open secret communication can only point to the simple wonder of being and attempt to illuminate the futility of seeking for it. It does not accept or reject the teachings of spiritual path or process but it will expose, without compromise, the singular and fundamental misconception that drives the belief that there is something called a seeker that is able to find something else called enlightenment.
Life is not a task. There is absolutely nothing to attain except the realisation that there is absolutely nothing to attain.
What is sought remains hidden from the seeker by already being everything.
It is so obvious and simple that the grasping of it obscures it. Never found, never knowable, being is the consummate absence that is beyond measure.
Looking for being is believing that it is lost. Has anything been lost, or is it simply that the looking keeps it away? Does the beloved always dance constantly just beyond our focus?
The very intention to seek for a treasure within life inevitably obscures the reality that life is already the treasure.
By seeking the myth it dreams it can attain, the seeker effectively avoids that which it most fears . . . its absence.
Many will reject this message and return to the comforting story of knowing and doing. But there can be a resonance within which the illusion of separation collapses and leaves nothing being everything.
Doctrines, processes and progressive paths which seek enlightenment only exacerbate the problem they address by reinforcing the idea that the self can find something that it presumes it has lost. It is that very effort, that investment in self-identity, that continuously re-creates the illusion of separation from oneness. It is the dream of individuality.
The “me” searches for peace and fulfilment, the “me” searches for self-improvement, purity, presence or detachment. The “me” seeks clarity or any formula which will give the “me” what it thinks it wants or needs. But the “me” not getting what it wants is not the dilemma. The dilemma is the apparent “me”.
Liberation is like a fuse that suddenly blows, and all the little lights go out and there is only light.
There is no answer to life because life is its own answer. It’s happening already. It’s this. It was never lost. When liberation apparently happens people say “it’s amazing because the thing I was looking for has never left. It’s the one thing that never comes and never goes, the one constant that can’t be known or held onto.”
When the assumed sense of being separate seems to collapse, already there is only the constant and unknowable wonder of being.
The open secret’s apparent communication is paradoxical, unreasonable, unbelievable, non-prescriptive, non-spiritual and uncompromising. There is no agenda or intention to help or change apparent individuality. It is prior to all teaching and its resonance is shared energetically, not through the exchange of ideas.
So, should the seeker climb the spiritual mountain or simply let go and surrender to life . . . Is that the question? Or is it possible that there is no question and no answer? Maybe what is sought is already all there is. Perhaps that which is longed for is already constantly happening . . . it never went away . . . the seeker did to look for it.
How can the seeker “Directly Approach” that which is already everything?
As we move from one formula to another, we seem unable to see that freedom does not reside here or there, simply because freedom, by its very nature, cannot be excluded or exclusive. We seem not to see that, as we march towards the next anticipated spiritual high, the treasure that we seek is to be discovered, not in where we are going, but within the simple nature of the very footsteps that we take.
Life is its own purpose and doesn’t need a reason to be. That is its beauty.
Life is simply life, and is not trying to prove anything at all. This springtime will not try to be better than last springtime, and neither will an ash tree try to become an oak.
Because the apparent self can only exist through its own knowing, its search for a deeper meaning will be limited to that which it can know and experience for itself. The separate seeker pursues everything that it can know and do, excepting the absence of itself. That absence is the emptiness which is unknowable, but paradoxically it is also the very fullness, the wholeness that is longed for.
Exclusivity breeds exclusion, but freedom is shared through friendship.
From wherever and whenever this insight is communicated, it has no connection with end-gaining, belief, path or process. It cannot be taught but is constantly shared. Because it is all that is, no-one can lay claim to it. It needs not to be argued, proven or embellished, for it stands alone simply as it is, and can only remain unrecognised and rejected, or realised and lived.
January
2011
........Tony Parsons
Tell me, O Swan...
Tell me, O Swan, your ancient tale.
From what land do you come, O Swan?
To what shore will you fly?
Where would you take your rest, O Swan,
And what do you seek?
Even this morning, O Swan, awake, arise, follow me!
There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule:
Where the terror of Death is no more.
There the woods of spring are a-bloom,
And the fragrant scent "He is I" is borne on the wind:
There the bee of the heart is deeply immersed,
And desires no other joy.
~ From Songs of Kabir, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, 1916
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From what land do you come, O Swan?
To what shore will you fly?
Where would you take your rest, O Swan,
And what do you seek?
Even this morning, O Swan, awake, arise, follow me!
There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule:
Where the terror of Death is no more.
There the woods of spring are a-bloom,
And the fragrant scent "He is I" is borne on the wind:
There the bee of the heart is deeply immersed,
And desires no other joy.
~ From Songs of Kabir, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, 1916
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Truth is simple...
Truth is very simple, don't complicate it.
You must be in the Light to know the darkness:
Just be aware of yourself, the Light.
Jump into the fire of Knowledge
and don't be concerned with what will happen
to your clothing of concepts and vasanas.
This fire will burn all
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
You must be in the Light to know the darkness:
Just be aware of yourself, the Light.
Jump into the fire of Knowledge
and don't be concerned with what will happen
to your clothing of concepts and vasanas.
This fire will burn all
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
The sadness of separation...
The sadness that we feel is actually the separate self (ego) fearing that it
will be abandoned and cease existence.. This feeling towards a separate God
keeps us within this pain.. We feel that we could not possibly Be that which we
worship.. But, the fact remains that ALL is Consciousness and that means
US..........namaste, thomas
will be abandoned and cease existence.. This feeling towards a separate God
keeps us within this pain.. We feel that we could not possibly Be that which we
worship.. But, the fact remains that ALL is Consciousness and that means
US..........namaste, thomas
The Higher Position...
We must take a higher position than ordinary religion
offers and come face to face with the mystery that is
Mentalism. The nonbeing of the universe, the
nonduality even of the soul may be too mathematical a
conclusion for our finite minds; but that this
matterless world and all that happens in it is like a
dream is something to be received and remembered at
all times. We are important only to ourselves, not to
God. All our whining and praying, chanting and
praising, gathering together and imagining that this
or that duty is required of us is mere theatre-play:
Mind makes it all. In this discovery we roll up the
stage and return to the paradox of what we really
are--Consciousness!
— Notebooks Category 17: The Religious Urge >
Chapter 3: Religion As Preparatory > # 104
.......... Paul Brunton
offers and come face to face with the mystery that is
Mentalism. The nonbeing of the universe, the
nonduality even of the soul may be too mathematical a
conclusion for our finite minds; but that this
matterless world and all that happens in it is like a
dream is something to be received and remembered at
all times. We are important only to ourselves, not to
God. All our whining and praying, chanting and
praising, gathering together and imagining that this
or that duty is required of us is mere theatre-play:
Mind makes it all. In this discovery we roll up the
stage and return to the paradox of what we really
are--Consciousness!
— Notebooks Category 17: The Religious Urge >
Chapter 3: Religion As Preparatory > # 104
.......... Paul Brunton
What is Real?...
Name and form are not real.
Look at the substratum from where they arise.
That is real. IT will not change.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Look at the substratum from where they arise.
That is real. IT will not change.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
The Tree of Love...
The tree of love its roots hath spread
Deep in my heart, and rears its head;
Rich are its fruits: they joy dispense;
Transport the heart, and ravish sense.
In love's sweet swoon to thee I cleave,
Bless'd source of love . . . ,
- St. Francis of Asissi, Into Love's Furnace I am Cast.
Deep in my heart, and rears its head;
Rich are its fruits: they joy dispense;
Transport the heart, and ravish sense.
In love's sweet swoon to thee I cleave,
Bless'd source of love . . . ,
- St. Francis of Asissi, Into Love's Furnace I am Cast.
The Portal...
As you go about your life, don't give 100 percent of your attention to the
external world and to your mind. Keep some within. Feel the inner body even
when engaged in everyday activities, especially when engaged
in relationships or when you are relating with nature. Feel the stillness deep
inside it. Keep the portal open.
Eckhart Tolle
external world and to your mind. Keep some within. Feel the inner body even
when engaged in everyday activities, especially when engaged
in relationships or when you are relating with nature. Feel the stillness deep
inside it. Keep the portal open.
Eckhart Tolle
~ Taking On God's Job ~...
The conditioned mind is always taking on God's job, wondering what people are doing and why they do it.
But that is none of your business, none of your concern.
You can just start walking through life
with this natural openness to what is
and be that way under all conditions at all times.
That's what the true Self has been doing all along.
When your true nature is realized,
it is not as if you will have some amazing experience,
and after that you say, "Okay world, I'm ready."
The deepest experience is when you realize that this open, radiant, empty mind and open, radiant heart
have always been open.
They don't need to open; they are not going to open; openness has always been here.
You no longer see two, you see the One in
and as everything.
~ Adyashanti ~
But that is none of your business, none of your concern.
You can just start walking through life
with this natural openness to what is
and be that way under all conditions at all times.
That's what the true Self has been doing all along.
When your true nature is realized,
it is not as if you will have some amazing experience,
and after that you say, "Okay world, I'm ready."
The deepest experience is when you realize that this open, radiant, empty mind and open, radiant heart
have always been open.
They don't need to open; they are not going to open; openness has always been here.
You no longer see two, you see the One in
and as everything.
~ Adyashanti ~
You are...
You embrace some form
saying, "I am this."
By God, you are not this
or that or the other
you are "Unique One"
"Heart-ravishing"
you are throne and palace and king
you are bird and snare and fowler
like water in jar and river
are in essence the same
you are spirit are the same
you every idol
prostrates
before you
your every thought-form
perishes
in your formlessness
.........Rumi
saying, "I am this."
By God, you are not this
or that or the other
you are "Unique One"
"Heart-ravishing"
you are throne and palace and king
you are bird and snare and fowler
like water in jar and river
are in essence the same
you are spirit are the same
you every idol
prostrates
before you
your every thought-form
perishes
in your formlessness
.........Rumi
Experience...
All experience is thought-experience. What we know as the world is a series of thoughts, not a number of material things plus a number of mental thoughts. Consciousness runs through all of them as their common element: they originate from it, exist in it, leave it behind when they vanish.
.... Paul Brunton
.... Paul Brunton
One Reality...
Don't talk of different religions.
The one reality is everywhere,
not just in a Hindu, or a Muslim,
or anywhere else! Realize:
your awareness is
the truth about God.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
The one reality is everywhere,
not just in a Hindu, or a Muslim,
or anywhere else! Realize:
your awareness is
the truth about God.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
Emily Dickinson's Mystic Poetry...
The sense of paradox so fundamental to Zen is also ever present in Dickinson. The similarities to Dickinson’s insights despite the fact that she had direct access to Eastern wisdom is testimony to the universality of the experience of self realisation. To the Indian Yogi self realisation is the gift of an inner energy known as Kundalini which manifests itself as a cool wind. During yogic states the heat of sympathetic nervous activity subsides and the parasympathetic nervous system comes into play relaxing and refreshing the body, with a breeze or fountain like energy, so that the attention can transcend physical needs and merge with the Atman or Self. According to Dickinson the moments of At–One–ment with Nature/Self happen “when the wind is within” (Thoreau wrote of ” ecstasies begotten of the breezes”) For the yogi or realised soul the sensation of this cool energy becomes his means of being sensitive to manifestations of Truth–Beauty–Love (Keats’ tripartite Unity). Dickinson stated that she had no other means to discriminate these qualities in art.
“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know of.”
and in one of her poems:
“Your breath has time to straighten,
Your brain to bubble cool
Deals one
imperial thunder bolt
that scalps your
naked soul”
Interestingly the yogi also experiences concentration of the Kundalini, or cool breeze at the top of the head, during union with the Self (the unity behind Truth–Beauty–Love). The yogic experience of self realisation is a simultaneous reception of grace, poured down from celestial realms, and an upsurging, or erupting, of energy from the unconscious depths within. Dickinson referred to herself as a “volcano at home”. “On my volcano grows the grass”; there is a sense of a vast underlying power of unconscious creativity waiting to be brought forth.
A final point of comparison with the yogis of the East is Dickinson’s spiritual detachment from a world that was unready to share her vision. She spent the second half of her life as a virtual hermit, just as Indian yogis and the Desert Fathers of early Christianity (some of whom went to the extreme of meditating for years on the tops of columns) isolated themselves from the materialism they saw in human society, in order to achieve yoga.
“I dwell in possibility”, she wrote. She had little time for the gossips and church people of 19th century Amherst with its restrictive Calvinist beliefs. “The soul selects her own society and then shuts the door”, perhaps things would have been different if she had been born 100 years later. Not everyone was turned away, however, the local children were especially welcome since they were relatively uncalcified by dogma and selfishness. She wrote of her “Columnar Self”, referring to her strength in standing alone, connected perhaps to other columns by celestial vaults in the great palace of the Self.
Emily Dickinson’s Mystic Poetry
— by Graham Brown
“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know of.”
and in one of her poems:
“Your breath has time to straighten,
Your brain to bubble cool
Deals one
imperial thunder bolt
that scalps your
naked soul”
Interestingly the yogi also experiences concentration of the Kundalini, or cool breeze at the top of the head, during union with the Self (the unity behind Truth–Beauty–Love). The yogic experience of self realisation is a simultaneous reception of grace, poured down from celestial realms, and an upsurging, or erupting, of energy from the unconscious depths within. Dickinson referred to herself as a “volcano at home”. “On my volcano grows the grass”; there is a sense of a vast underlying power of unconscious creativity waiting to be brought forth.
A final point of comparison with the yogis of the East is Dickinson’s spiritual detachment from a world that was unready to share her vision. She spent the second half of her life as a virtual hermit, just as Indian yogis and the Desert Fathers of early Christianity (some of whom went to the extreme of meditating for years on the tops of columns) isolated themselves from the materialism they saw in human society, in order to achieve yoga.
“I dwell in possibility”, she wrote. She had little time for the gossips and church people of 19th century Amherst with its restrictive Calvinist beliefs. “The soul selects her own society and then shuts the door”, perhaps things would have been different if she had been born 100 years later. Not everyone was turned away, however, the local children were especially welcome since they were relatively uncalcified by dogma and selfishness. She wrote of her “Columnar Self”, referring to her strength in standing alone, connected perhaps to other columns by celestial vaults in the great palace of the Self.
Emily Dickinson’s Mystic Poetry
— by Graham Brown
The message...
It is the message that proves the messenger, not the claim.
Bowl of Saki, July 6, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The prophet brings love, the love of God, the Father and Mother of the whole
humanity, a love that is life itself. No words nor actions can express that
love. The presence of the prophet, his very being, speaks of it, if only the
heart had ears to listen. Verily, to the believer all is right, and to the
unbeliever all is wrong.
The principal work of the prophet is to glorify the Name of God and to raise
humanity from the denseness of the earth, to open the doors of the human heart
to the divine beauty which is everywhere manifested and to illuminate souls
which are groping in darkness for years. The prophet brings the message of the
day, a reform for that particular period in which he is born. A claim of a
prophet is nothing to the real prophet. The being of the prophet, the work of
the prophet, and the fulfillment of his task is itself the proof of prophethood.
There was a time when the world was not capable of seeing. Humanity did not have
enough realization to recognize the message, that is why the claim of prophecy
had to be made. But now the world can recognize, sooner or later, what is right
and what is wrong. The warner, the master, the messenger of today will not
claim. He will only work. He will leave his work to prove for itself whether it
is true or false.
There was a time when the message was given while the people were waiting for a
messenger to come, as happened in the time of Jesus Christ, when there were
thousands and thousands waiting for a messenger from above. The Master came, and
gave his service to the world, and left again. Some realized what had happened
then, and some are still waiting. But the one who claimed to be Alpha and Omega
is never absent; sometimes he shows himself, sometimes he keeps in the
background. ... The divine message is the answer to the cry of souls
individually and collectively; the divine message is life and it is light. The
sun does not teach anything, but in its light we learn to know all things. The
sun does not cultivate the soil nor does it sow seed, but it helps the plants to
grow, to flower, and to bear fruit.
Bowl of Saki, July 6, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The prophet brings love, the love of God, the Father and Mother of the whole
humanity, a love that is life itself. No words nor actions can express that
love. The presence of the prophet, his very being, speaks of it, if only the
heart had ears to listen. Verily, to the believer all is right, and to the
unbeliever all is wrong.
The principal work of the prophet is to glorify the Name of God and to raise
humanity from the denseness of the earth, to open the doors of the human heart
to the divine beauty which is everywhere manifested and to illuminate souls
which are groping in darkness for years. The prophet brings the message of the
day, a reform for that particular period in which he is born. A claim of a
prophet is nothing to the real prophet. The being of the prophet, the work of
the prophet, and the fulfillment of his task is itself the proof of prophethood.
There was a time when the world was not capable of seeing. Humanity did not have
enough realization to recognize the message, that is why the claim of prophecy
had to be made. But now the world can recognize, sooner or later, what is right
and what is wrong. The warner, the master, the messenger of today will not
claim. He will only work. He will leave his work to prove for itself whether it
is true or false.
There was a time when the message was given while the people were waiting for a
messenger to come, as happened in the time of Jesus Christ, when there were
thousands and thousands waiting for a messenger from above. The Master came, and
gave his service to the world, and left again. Some realized what had happened
then, and some are still waiting. But the one who claimed to be Alpha and Omega
is never absent; sometimes he shows himself, sometimes he keeps in the
background. ... The divine message is the answer to the cry of souls
individually and collectively; the divine message is life and it is light. The
sun does not teach anything, but in its light we learn to know all things. The
sun does not cultivate the soil nor does it sow seed, but it helps the plants to
grow, to flower, and to bear fruit.
James Swartz - How to Attain Enlightenment ...
The conviction that I am awareness and not the body-mind entity is only liberation if it frees you from dependence on objects. Objects are anything appearing in awareness, the whole gamut of subjective experience: beliefs, opinions, judgments, fantasies, memories, fears, desires, etc. Self inquiry lumps them all into one category and calls them ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity. Some very intelligent individuals are ignorant that they are awareness and some not so intelligent individuals are aware that they are awareness. When an individual is ignorant of his or her identity, he or she takes ignorance to be knowledge and identifies with it. That I am awareness is knowledge because it cannot be negated. Only information can be negated when subsequent information shows that it is untrue.
Unfortunately, when I realize that I am awareness, I realize that my whole thought system does not agree. It developed when I did not understand who I was, so it has a completely different opinion. This situation is a little like being two people. One person says, "I am limited, inadequate and incomplete" and the other says"I am limitless awareness. I am capable of dealing with anything life has to offer. Far from being incomplete, I am fullness itself."
Because I am now convinced, for whatever reason, that I am limitless awareness, the first voice is not acceptable. After all, in a non-dual reality, the mind is also the self, so I would like my mind to be on the same page with me. If I know that I am awareness and my mind continues to spout ignorance—unless it knows it is ignorance—how enlightened am I? Ignorance and knowledge cannot exist simultaneously. At every moment the self ignorant ego identifies with beliefs, judgments, opinions, feelings and ideas that express its limited view of itself and the world, thereby continuing to reinforce its ignorance.
James Swartz
How to Attain Enlightenment
Knowledge Yoga
p242 Sentient Publications
2009
Unfortunately, when I realize that I am awareness, I realize that my whole thought system does not agree. It developed when I did not understand who I was, so it has a completely different opinion. This situation is a little like being two people. One person says, "I am limited, inadequate and incomplete" and the other says"I am limitless awareness. I am capable of dealing with anything life has to offer. Far from being incomplete, I am fullness itself."
Because I am now convinced, for whatever reason, that I am limitless awareness, the first voice is not acceptable. After all, in a non-dual reality, the mind is also the self, so I would like my mind to be on the same page with me. If I know that I am awareness and my mind continues to spout ignorance—unless it knows it is ignorance—how enlightened am I? Ignorance and knowledge cannot exist simultaneously. At every moment the self ignorant ego identifies with beliefs, judgments, opinions, feelings and ideas that express its limited view of itself and the world, thereby continuing to reinforce its ignorance.
James Swartz
How to Attain Enlightenment
Knowledge Yoga
p242 Sentient Publications
2009
Annamalai Swami Quotes and Sayings...
1.Your ultimate need is to get established in the changeless peace of the Self. For this you have to give up all thoughts.
2.Remember that nothing that happens in the mind is 'you', and none of it is your business. You don't have to worry about the thoughts that rise up inside you. It is enough that you remember that the thoughts are not you.
3. If you can hold on to this knowledge 'I am Self' at all times, no further practice is necessary.
4.Tayumanuvar, a Tamil saint whom Bhagavan often quoted, wrote in one of his poems: 'My Guru merely told me that I am consciousness. Having heard this, I held onto consciousness. What he told me was just one sentence, but I cannot describe the bliss I attained from holding onto that one simple sentence. Through that one sentence I attained a peace and a happiness that can never be explained in words.'
5.There are so many thoughts in the mind. Thought after thought after thought. But there is one thought that is continuous, though it is mostly sub-conscious: 'I am the body'. This is the string on which all other thoughts are threaded. Once we identify ourselves with the body by thinking this thought, maya follows. It also follows that if we cease to identify with the body, maya will not affect us anymore.
6.If you are having trouble with your enthusiasm for sadhana, just tell yourself, 'I may be dead in seven days'. Let go of all the things that you pretend are important in your daily life and instead focus on the Self for twenty-four hours a day. Do it and see what happens.
7.Go deeply into this feeling of 'I'. Be aware of it so strongly and so intensely that no other thoughts have the energy to arise and distract you. If you hold this feeling of 'I' long enough and strongly enough, the false 'I' wll vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent 'I', consciousness itself.
8.Sadhana is a battlefield. You have to be vigilant. Don't take delivery of wrong beliefs and don't identify with the incoming thoughts that will give you pain and suffering. But if these things start happening to you, fight back by affirming, 'I am the Self; I am the Self; I am the Self;'. These affirmations will lessen the power of the 'I am the body' arrows and eventually they will armour-plate you so successfully, the 'I am the body' thoughts that come your way will no longer have the power to touch you, affect you or make you suffer.
2.Remember that nothing that happens in the mind is 'you', and none of it is your business. You don't have to worry about the thoughts that rise up inside you. It is enough that you remember that the thoughts are not you.
3. If you can hold on to this knowledge 'I am Self' at all times, no further practice is necessary.
4.Tayumanuvar, a Tamil saint whom Bhagavan often quoted, wrote in one of his poems: 'My Guru merely told me that I am consciousness. Having heard this, I held onto consciousness. What he told me was just one sentence, but I cannot describe the bliss I attained from holding onto that one simple sentence. Through that one sentence I attained a peace and a happiness that can never be explained in words.'
5.There are so many thoughts in the mind. Thought after thought after thought. But there is one thought that is continuous, though it is mostly sub-conscious: 'I am the body'. This is the string on which all other thoughts are threaded. Once we identify ourselves with the body by thinking this thought, maya follows. It also follows that if we cease to identify with the body, maya will not affect us anymore.
6.If you are having trouble with your enthusiasm for sadhana, just tell yourself, 'I may be dead in seven days'. Let go of all the things that you pretend are important in your daily life and instead focus on the Self for twenty-four hours a day. Do it and see what happens.
7.Go deeply into this feeling of 'I'. Be aware of it so strongly and so intensely that no other thoughts have the energy to arise and distract you. If you hold this feeling of 'I' long enough and strongly enough, the false 'I' wll vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent 'I', consciousness itself.
8.Sadhana is a battlefield. You have to be vigilant. Don't take delivery of wrong beliefs and don't identify with the incoming thoughts that will give you pain and suffering. But if these things start happening to you, fight back by affirming, 'I am the Self; I am the Self; I am the Self;'. These affirmations will lessen the power of the 'I am the body' arrows and eventually they will armour-plate you so successfully, the 'I am the body' thoughts that come your way will no longer have the power to touch you, affect you or make you suffer.
What bliss at the sight of Thy light!...
As I muse on Thee a thrilling fountain spray lightninglike spreads from my heart
to all cells of my body, saturating them with divine devotion. I seek to enter
the inmost heaven of Thy presence.
The soul's secret door suddenly opens; and, oh, what bliss I feel at the sight
of Thy light!
-- from Whispers from Eternity, by Paramahansa Yogananda
to all cells of my body, saturating them with divine devotion. I seek to enter
the inmost heaven of Thy presence.
The soul's secret door suddenly opens; and, oh, what bliss I feel at the sight
of Thy light!
-- from Whispers from Eternity, by Paramahansa Yogananda
Who am I ?...
What frightens you? What holds you down?
Only ignorance and delusion; nothing else
can bind you. You are the Pure One, the
Ever Blessed.....he who knows this and
models his life accordingly will no longer
grovel in darkness.
--Swami Vivekananda--
The greatest guru is your inner self.
Truly he is the supreme teacher.
He alone can take you to your goal
and he alone meets you at the end
of the road.
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj--
Space and time bind me, only if I am
the body. I am nowhere, I am timeless,
I exist everywhere and always.
--Ramana Maharshi--
Only ignorance and delusion; nothing else
can bind you. You are the Pure One, the
Ever Blessed.....he who knows this and
models his life accordingly will no longer
grovel in darkness.
--Swami Vivekananda--
The greatest guru is your inner self.
Truly he is the supreme teacher.
He alone can take you to your goal
and he alone meets you at the end
of the road.
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj--
Space and time bind me, only if I am
the body. I am nowhere, I am timeless,
I exist everywhere and always.
--Ramana Maharshi--
The Short Path...
What is the key to the Short Path? It is threefold. First, stop searching for the Overself since it follows you wherever you go. Second, believe in its Presence, with and within you. Third, keep on trying to understand its truth until you can abandon further thoughts about it. You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego's false idea and affirm the real one. ..............Paul Brunton
To protect...
What does one want to protect? That
without which nothing else has any
meaning or value: the animating presence
of Consciousness, without which you
cannot know or enjoy anything. And the
best way to protect anything is not to be
away from it at all. This is the purpose of
spiritual practice – to remain continuously
one with Consciousness all the time.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
without which nothing else has any
meaning or value: the animating presence
of Consciousness, without which you
cannot know or enjoy anything. And the
best way to protect anything is not to be
away from it at all. This is the purpose of
spiritual practice – to remain continuously
one with Consciousness all the time.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1966
The One...
Simply put, you are The One.
But - - you're pretending to be "two."
So then you start to desperately seek for a
reunion with "The One."
The incredible irony is that it's a One which
you already are – and have never stopped
being.
A dog chasing its own tail will only get
dizzy and an occasional mouthful of hair.
But in Enlightenment, there's really no
further chasing of anything.
Only, perhaps, a deepening.
Enlightenment is simply being willing
to dance joyously – and with total
gratitude – to whatever music that's
being played for you – moment to
moment.
After all, it's all for your benefit
Just don't sit out the Dance!
- Chuck Hillig
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
But - - you're pretending to be "two."
So then you start to desperately seek for a
reunion with "The One."
The incredible irony is that it's a One which
you already are – and have never stopped
being.
A dog chasing its own tail will only get
dizzy and an occasional mouthful of hair.
But in Enlightenment, there's really no
further chasing of anything.
Only, perhaps, a deepening.
Enlightenment is simply being willing
to dance joyously – and with total
gratitude – to whatever music that's
being played for you – moment to
moment.
After all, it's all for your benefit
Just don't sit out the Dance!
- Chuck Hillig
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
Anger...
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal
with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned.
- Buddha
with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned.
- Buddha
Pride...
Man's pride and satisfaction in what he knows limits the scope of his vision.
Bowl of Saki, July 1, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
One wishes to be admired for his clothes, his jewels, his possessions, his
greatness and position, and naturally when this desire increases it makes a
person blind and he loses sight of right and justice. It is natural that the
desire for things that gratify vanity should have no end; it increases
continually. The tendency to look at others with hatred and prejudice, to
consider them inferior to oneself, and all such tendencies come from this ego.
There are even cases when people spend money in order to be able to insult
another. To make someone bow before him, to make him give way, to put him in a
position of inferiority, to make him appear contemptible, sometimes a person
will spend money. The desire for the satisfaction of vanity reaches such a
point, that a person would give his life for the satisfaction of his vanity.
Often someone shows generosity, not for the sake of kindness, but to satisfy his
vanity. The more vanity a person has the less sympathy he has for others, for
all his attention is given to his own satisfaction, and he is as blind toward
others. This ego, so to speak, restricts life, because it limits a person.
All the knowledge that man possesses he has acquired by belief. When he
strengthens his belief by knowledge then comes disbelief in things that his
knowledge cannot cope with, and in things that his reason cannot justify. He
then disbelieves things that he once believed in. An unbeliever is one who has
changed his belief to disbelief; disbelief often darkens the soul, but sometimes
it illuminates it. There is a Persian saying, 'Until belief has changed to
disbelief, and, again, the disbelief into a belief, a man does not become a real
Muslim.' But when disbelief becomes a wall and stands against the further
penetration of mind into life, then it darkens the soul, for there is no chance
of further progress, and man's pride and satisfaction in what he knows limit the
scope of his vision.
Bowl of Saki, July 1, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
One wishes to be admired for his clothes, his jewels, his possessions, his
greatness and position, and naturally when this desire increases it makes a
person blind and he loses sight of right and justice. It is natural that the
desire for things that gratify vanity should have no end; it increases
continually. The tendency to look at others with hatred and prejudice, to
consider them inferior to oneself, and all such tendencies come from this ego.
There are even cases when people spend money in order to be able to insult
another. To make someone bow before him, to make him give way, to put him in a
position of inferiority, to make him appear contemptible, sometimes a person
will spend money. The desire for the satisfaction of vanity reaches such a
point, that a person would give his life for the satisfaction of his vanity.
Often someone shows generosity, not for the sake of kindness, but to satisfy his
vanity. The more vanity a person has the less sympathy he has for others, for
all his attention is given to his own satisfaction, and he is as blind toward
others. This ego, so to speak, restricts life, because it limits a person.
All the knowledge that man possesses he has acquired by belief. When he
strengthens his belief by knowledge then comes disbelief in things that his
knowledge cannot cope with, and in things that his reason cannot justify. He
then disbelieves things that he once believed in. An unbeliever is one who has
changed his belief to disbelief; disbelief often darkens the soul, but sometimes
it illuminates it. There is a Persian saying, 'Until belief has changed to
disbelief, and, again, the disbelief into a belief, a man does not become a real
Muslim.' But when disbelief becomes a wall and stands against the further
penetration of mind into life, then it darkens the soul, for there is no chance
of further progress, and man's pride and satisfaction in what he knows limit the
scope of his vision.
The Void...
"Though words are spoken
to explain the Void,
The Void as such
can never be expressed.
Though we say
'the mind is a bright light',
It is beyond
all words and symbols.
Although the mind
is void in essence,
All things it embraces
and contains."
-- from Song of Mahamudra
-- Tibetan Buddhist Tilopa (988-1069)
to explain the Void,
The Void as such
can never be expressed.
Though we say
'the mind is a bright light',
It is beyond
all words and symbols.
Although the mind
is void in essence,
All things it embraces
and contains."
-- from Song of Mahamudra
-- Tibetan Buddhist Tilopa (988-1069)
Thoughts...
The one who follows the thought is also a thought!
The one who follows the thought IS in thought.
When you know that both are thoughts,
You are Home.
Then allow thoughts to arise
and allow them to be followed.
You remain as That unmoved and unconcerned Being.
This is the highest understanding.
- Papaji
The one who follows the thought IS in thought.
When you know that both are thoughts,
You are Home.
Then allow thoughts to arise
and allow them to be followed.
You remain as That unmoved and unconcerned Being.
This is the highest understanding.
- Papaji
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