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Ultimately there is nothing to do because the pure absolute Self that we all are is not a doer. The Self is pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. There is no doing involved in pure Existence. In truth we are already completely free and perfect. I'm sure you must have heard this before, but just hearing the words does not make it your experience.

 

So if you are not unreservedly free and you suffer even a little bit, then certainly there is something you can do! Your real nature is happiness. You deserve to be completely happy. Vedantic Scriptures tell us to do three simple things:

 

1) LISTEN to teachings of truth
2) PONDER those teachings, and
3) MEDITATE -- dive within yourself to realize.

 

If you are the one who is bound, then you are the only one who can free yourself. It is the most fascinating thing you can possibly do-finding out who you really are.
 

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Listen: You may have noticed that all great spiritual traditions are talking about the same truth. All rivers lead to the ocean, but if you keep changing rivers it may take you a very long time to get there! After you have checked out the spiritual supermarket, pick one teaching and stick with it. Then read sacred texts and associate with wise sages. Use all of your time wisely toward your own liberation.

 

Ponder: Contemplate and fully consider the teachings. Don't just believe them. See if they hold true for you. Use your mind like a sword to cut through illusion. Keep the teaching always in mind. Try to get to the deepest meaning of the words.
How can this be so? How does it apply to me? Eventually you will cut through ALL limiting ideas and concepts.
The true meaning of the words will be understood directly without the limiting adjunct of the mind. The teaching will be your own.

 

Meditate: Set time aside every day just to sit and be with yourself. Sit comfortably in a position such that you will not fall asleep in. Bring your attention inward, away from all worldly distractions. In our way, being with yourself involves finding out who that self is! We ask ourselves the question "Who Am I?" It is called self inquiry. It is not watching thoughts. It is diving directly into who has the thoughts. It is a systematic looking at who you believe yourself to be. Are you really a body? Are you always a body? Are you any of your thoughts, or all of your thoughts put together? If something arises in meditation, to whom is it arising? Who you are has to be true ALL the time. If something comes and goes (like a body) it can't be you. If you hold onto your sense of "I" and keep eliminating the "I" that is seen as an object -- you will always come to a vaster, more formless "I". 

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Always come back to the seer and eliminate the seen. In this way you should be able to come to a thoughtless state. The thoughtless state is much closer to who you really are than the myriad web of thoughts. The innate peace and joy of the Self becomes uncovered in this manner.

 

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THE SPEAKING TREE

 

 

Indian tradition sees God in the guru, as someone who can lead us
from spiritual darkness to divine light. Can we acquire spiritual
knowledge merely by reading scriptures or listening to discourses,
without accepting any one learned person as one's guru? This question
is often posed by youth today, who feel that by restricting ourselves
to one guru, we would only get compartmentalised. To them I would
say, please try to understand the deep significance of a genuine
guru-shishya relationship.

 

A guru is distinctly different from a teacher. While a teacher makes
us learn, a guru helps us to transform and become. It is just like
igniting candles from one kindled lamp. Our process of knowledge is
routed through ego or the sense of "I am"-ness, while divine wisdom
is assimilated only with the annihilation of the ego or the
fragmented sense of self. Hence absolute surrender of the ego to God
or the guru is a precondition for spiritual transformation.

 

In the Mahabharata , before the great battle, Arjuna went to the
mountains to acquire secret weapons to win the battle. On the way he
saw a deer and killed it for food. Simultaneously a stranger
appeared, who said he had killed the deer, and laid claim to it. His
pride hurt, Arjuna refused to give up without a fight. But very soon,
to his utter surprise, the stranger set aside his arrows. Disarmed
and ashamed the great archer started praying to God with all humility
for help. Suddenly he found that his adversary was Lord Shiva himself
in disguise who had come to advise him not to undertake the great
venture without divine blessings. The power of the Creator must be
sought for winning over the unknown. "A man who bows down to nothing
can never bear the burden of himself" wrote Dostoevsky in The
Possessed.

 

Normally, we tend to behave like Arjuna; we want to win by ourselves
with our limited intellect and ego. But the rich storehouse of hidden
potentiality already within us is opened to us only when we are
humble, devoid of ego and possessed by a sense of total surrender,
which facilitate the receipt of divine grace. What exactly does a
guru do? He initiates the disciple to the exact path in view of his
existing spiritual position. He helps the disciple realise the
divinity already there within him. He keeps constant watch over his
progress. A guru therefore should be a realised master or at least
someone who is gifted with the blessings of a realised master through
lineage or tradition.

 

Learned people like Sri Ramakrishna would disclaim the status of guru
for themselves, as according to them, the only way to achieve
spiritual enlightenment is thro-ugh individual effort. They believe
in listening to the inner voice. The question is, how does one set
about finding a good guru? There is an infallible spiritual law that
when the disciple is ready the guru is bound to come to him. It has
happened in the life of innumerable saints and sages. Aspiration of
the disciple and his inward receptivity attracts the right sort of
guru to him.

 

Complete surrender to God and guru is the greatest preparation for a
disciple. Egoistic consideration prevents us from accepting a human
being as guru. But the guru must be accepted as the image of God.
Intense urge may lead to realisation without any precondition. But in
the absence of that rare urge, it is better to take refuge in a guru.
Otherwise, one could end up walking the razor's edge, looking for the
right path.

 

 

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By Jerry D. Stribling
July 1, 2004

Alcoholics Anonymous wrote the 12 steps that have have saved the lives of millions drunks and addicts. They are used today in many anonymous groups; narcotics, overeaters, gamblers, sex, codependents, etc. The largest stumbling block in working the 12 steps is the word "God" which appears all the way through them. But a belief in a God is required for the addict to have a spiritual experience without which the steps are worthless. Freud described this experience as an emotional upheaval deep enough to change the person outwardly. I am an alcoholic and the following is the story of my spiritual experience.

I had been going to AA meetings for 7 and a half years. During this time I was hospitalized or put in �drying out� places or treatment centers as they are now called, 10 times. I would stay sober for periods of three to six months then have a �slip,� a return to drinking. Everyone gave up on me, including myself, except for one man, my AA sponsor, Duncan. He would let me drink five to six months then pick me up and at times literally throw me in a hospital or treatment center. He interrupted what I hope was my last drunk after six months. I was still in the original blackout when he came by my apartment early one morning and I was opening a bottle of vodka. He returned that night and I was still opening a bottle of Vodka, but there were five dead Indians lying around the apartment that had not been there that morning. He told me later there was an extra procedure that night at the hospital, before they put me in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Ward. Since very few people can drink five fifths of whiskey in a 12 hour period, I am either one of them or I had a visitor during that day or they saved my life at the hospital. They pumped my stomach.

I had been �dry� for six months and after some minor problem, they are always minor, the alcoholic never gets drunk over a divorce, but a flat tire? Some small problem I don�t remember what in my donut shop that morning and I had decided to hell with it. I left the shop at noon which was still a successful business because of my nineteen year-old daughter who would take over management when her dad was drunk. I left with every intention of getting drunk, but this time I said would be different. I would control the drinking. This is the same thought I had before every �slip,� knowing full well that I went into a blackout on the first drink. I stopped by my apartment to leave my brief case then headed out the door for the nearest bar when the phone rang. It was Duncan.

�How are you, buddy?�

Now Duncan was the last man on earth I wanted to talk to on my way to get drunk. �Fine, Dunc.�

There was a pause. �No you're not. I�m coming over.� How he knew where I was going I have no idea. Sponsors just know those things.

He finally agreed to not come over if I would read the first part of Chapter five in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. I agreed immediately and hanging up the phone started again for the door and the nearest bar when I saw the big book lying by the phone. Now I knew I had a copy of this book given me by someone, but I certainly did not read it and there was no way it could be on the kitchen counter by the phone, but there it was. Without really thinking and only because I had just promised to read a part of this book I picked it up and scanned the two pages Dunc. had asked me to read.

My eyes stuck on a sentence, �God could and would if he were sought.� I'm a preacher�s boy, raised in the Bible belt in Southern Missouri in a charismatic religion. I had run from that religion as soon as I could get out of the State, but I never had a doubt there was a God. I also knew that he was the world�s biggest bastard and would never ever help someone who had lived the life I had. The third step of the 12 reads, �Turn my life and will over to the care of God, as I understood him.� There was no way I could work that step.

But something happened that day when I read that sentence. The phone was on an island between the kitchen and the dinning area and I was standing on the dinning area side. A chair was turned sideways at the table and I fell to my knees in front of it, my arms resting on the chair seat.

�God you s.o.b., you m_____ f_____. I called him every four-letter word I knew. I blamed him for my brother�s homosexuality and death from AIDs. I screamed at him and all the while a form stood behind that chair. Words came from that form.

�I�m not that way Jerry. I love you.�

I somehow knew if I could make that form mad I had won and could run to the bar, but I couldn�t. The only response I could get was the same thing over and over. �I�m not that way,� and �I love you.�

I have no idea how long this went on. When I woke it was dark outside. I was on the sofa in the front room of that apartment. I woke with the knowledge that I could now work the second of the twelve steps. Second? My problem had been with the third step? I grabbed the big book and read the second step. �Came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.�

I started working the 12 steps that day. That day was over 25 years ago and I have not had a drop of alcohol in that time, nor have I had a strong desire for the drug alcohol. The drug that I had lived for for twenty years.

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About the author Jerry Stribling: After I sobered up I quit NASA and moved to Spain to write my first novel. I have written four since, the last one three agents tried, but were unsuccessful in selling. I have not been published. I bought and lived on two different sailboats in the Caribean and Florida Keys and have spent the last twenty five years traveling and writing. I would stop when my money got low and buy another donut shop, of which I had three. I would keep it until I had enough money for my next dream. At present I live in Jerez, Zacatecas Mexico. Email: jsthedm@...

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< Useless-Knowledge.com � Copyright 2002-2004. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Charu Bahri
Rajasthan
India

 

 

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Aligning the Economic Cycle with the Time Cycle may be ordered through Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/yqosw

To order Sexual Dualism to Spiritual Oneness, please send your request to the author at bahriad1@...

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About "Aligning the Economic Cycle with the Time Cycle" (back cover)

Have you ever wondered whether the changing economic and social scenario is
linked to a greater time cycle? Aligning the Economic Cycle with the Time
Cycle weaves a pattern in the changing face of our socio-economic lives
vis-�-vis time. Time, like the boom and fall of economies, also follows a
cyclic model. Social perceptions of time form the basis for economic action.

Aligning the Economic Cycle with the Time Cycle emphasizes that we cannot
understand our true self until we master the flow of time and familiarize
ourselves with the intricate nature of time. It presents a time study
lucidly and puts forward searching questions that need to be addressed
before we formulate an opinion about the origin of our world and our
current position in the time cycle.

There is more to time than we generally perceive; Aligning the Economic
Cycle with the Time Cycle fits many jigsaw pieces in the right place to
understand the time puzzle more fully. While a rational approach to science
and theology answers many questions, the average reader often does not get
so much material in one compilation to formulate a concurrent opinion.

Aligning the Economic Cycle with the Time Cycle is ideal reference material
for scholars of time studies, economics and human-consciousness studies.

 

~ ~ ~

An extract from "Aligning the Economic Cycle with the Time Cycle"

Our Current Position In The Time Cycle  The Time For Change Is Now!

Quoting Chet B. Snow, 'Undertaking an 'internal spring cleaning' is never
easy; the vast majority of us have invested much time and energy in
creating all kinds of illusory thoughts, desires, fears and prejudices,
possible over several human lifetimes. As Jesus rightly remarked, it's much
easier to perceive a speck in someone else's eye than to notice the log
blocking one's own vision. Nonetheless, both outer and inner space
explorers agree that NOW is the time to quit dreaming, to wake up and set
our mental/spiritual house in order so that we can face whatever kind of
tomorrow is all too rapidly heading our way.'

Having briefly reviewed the nature of the self and critically analyzed the
origins of our world as propounded by scientists, the concept of linear
time does not seem wholly tenable. On the contrary, the concept of cyclic
time fits more easily into the scheme of our universe and offers a missing
link to our history and the future of humanity. What remains to be
considered is the point at which we stand today. Are we standing at the
threshold of a new age? The following analysis of prophecies provides
valuable clues.

Prophecies about the quality of life in the twenty first century and the
fate of the earth around the turn of the century abound. Most of us would
have heard of Nostradamus, one of the greatest soothsayers there ever was.
Through his crystal ball, he saw the fate of the world and the accuracy of
his prophecies is amazing. His predictions of the first and second world
wars are uncanny, to say the least. Of course, our understanding of his
prophecies is linked to a correct and unbiased interpretation of his work.

Other theories of prophecy abound too, which if interpreted correctly in
the light of the greater time cycle may suggest our current position in the
time cycle. Quoting Chet B. Snow's words on the use of prophecy, 'it is
ever destined to serve as a warning. The Biblical prophets have always
presented either a picture of a modifiable future, provided current
deficiencies are corrected, or an unavoidable future that will result
because past warnings were not heeded in time.'

Perhaps the most famous prophecy, which apparently avoidable, proved all
too accurate, was that of the Roman diviner Spurinna Vestritius, who told
Julius Caesar that 'a great danger' awaited him around the Ides of March
(March 15, 44BC). According to the Roman historian Suetonis, Spurinna
issued his prediction some time ahead, as a warning to the ambitious
leader. The two men met in the street on the fateful day. A scoffing Caesar
derided the sage, saying that the Ides of March had come and that he was
feeling fine.

'Yes', Spurinna is said to have replied, 'but they (the Ides of March) are
not yet gone.'

Shortly thereafter the overconfident Caesar was assassinated on the steps
of the Forum by his supposed friends Brutus and Cassius. He had failed to
heed the prophet's warning.

 

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An extract from "Sexual Dualism to Spiritual Oneness"

Many myths and legends refer to the androgynous ancestors of present
humanity, to the separation of the sexes, and to the first Gods being
double-sexed.

According to the Hindu Puranas, 'The mighty power became half male, half
female'. In one allegory, Brahma separates into two and recreates himself
as Viraj in one of his halves (the female Vach). Many Hindu images of Gods
are half male and half female, and have four arms. The ancient Persians
taught that humans were the product of the tree of life, growing in
androgynous pairs, till they were separated during a subsequent
modification of the human form. The Egyptian supreme God Ra is represented
as a perfect bisexual being, from which are derived the other Gods (Osiris,
Horus, Ptah, Ammon, etc.), representing Ra's various attributes, or the
powers of nature. Each of these lesser Gods had a female counterpart
representing the same individual in its female state. Similar ideas can be
found among the Chaldeans and the Assyrians. In the Hermetic books,
intelligence is said to be 'God possessing the double fecundity of the two
sexes'.

A higher man or woman must necessarily have awakened powers within
themselves that the ordinary person may perhaps, never even aspire to. The
'kundalini' power within humans and the power of 'kriyashakti' of humans
are other leads that seemed to explain this enigma further.

 

 

As a wave,
Seething and foaming,
Is only water

So all creation,
Streaming out of the Self,
Is only the Self.

Consider a piece of cloth.
It is only threads!

So all creation,
When you look closely,
Is only the Self.

- Ashtavakra Gita 2:4-5

From "The Heart of Awareness: A Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita," by Thomas Byrom, 1990. Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston. www.shambhala

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I gained nothing at all from supreme enlightenment, and for that very reason it is called supreme enlightenment
- the Buddha

~  ~  ~

Real Practice has orientation or direction, but it has no purpose or gaining idea, so it can include everything that comes.
- Shunryu Suzuki

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Lee Love ~ E-zendo

How To Fall In Love With Meditation

What we are attempting to do in practice is overcome stereotypes
and prejudices.     It is out of habit and laziness that we sort
experiences according to the stereotypes they can be categorized within,
according to our past experiences.  

            These habits inhibit our directly experiencing our lives,
because when we see a phenomenon, we dismiss it before we actually see
it, because we look and say,  "Aha!  I know this" and this "thinking we
know something" before we explore it,  short circuits our actually
seeing it.

            Understanding comes from direct experience, not simply
because we categorize the phenomenon in our lives.

Lee in Mashiko, Japan  http://mashiko.org 
http://journals.fotki.com/togeika/Mashiko/ Commentary On Pottery

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photo by Sam Pasciencier: http://home.hccnet.nl/sam.pas/odds_and_ends/photos/photo_12.html

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- Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

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Easter Morning

On Easter morning all over America
the peasants are frying potatoes in bacon grease.

We're not supposed to have "peasants"
but there are tens of millions of them
frying potatoes on Easter morning,
cheap and delicious with catsup.

If Jesus were here this morning he might
be eating fried potatoes with my friend
who has a '51 Dodge and a '72 Pontiac.

When his kids ask why they don't have
a new car he says, "these cars were new once
and now they are experienced."

He can fix anything and when rich folks
call to get a toilet repaired he pauses
extra hours so that they can further
learn what we're made of.

I told him that in Mexico the poor say
that when there's lightning the rich
think that God is taking their picture.
He laughed.

Like peasants everywhere in the history
of the world ours can't figure out why
they're getting poorer. Their sons join
the army to get work being shot at.

Your ideals are invisible clouds
so try not to suffocate the poor,
the peasants, with your sympathies.
They know that you're staring at them.

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Highlights Home Page and Archive: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Letter to the Editors: Click 'Reply' on your email program, compose your message, and 'Send'. All the editors will see your letter.

 

 

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Photos by Sam from http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/red%20&%20blue.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My dear friends, I know I risk alienating some of you by the following words, but the shattered world we live in has provoked me with a sense of urgency to deliver the message loud and clear from the depths of pure silence. I only ask that you read carefully and please reflect fully before you make any judgment. I feel that when you have finished you may find a sense of relief.

 

 

 

 http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/af89/intrview/cl.html

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I have a question (that turned into questions) for you. I am curious.

 

What you resonate most with these days that falls under "non-duality" or
outside?

 

Do you consider yourselves sitting, standing, extremely alert, awake,
enlightened, conscious, dreaming or "non-of-the-above-how dare you ask, isn't it
obvious" or your own description?

 

Is the idea/experience of enlightenment something you reserve as a description
for a rare few, it's never happened, it happened to 3 human beings ever, there
is a small percentage of humans that are self-realized living currently, or how
can one not see everything is awake including the mud beneath the lotus?

 

Is enlightenment/self-realization/awakeness (overlooking temporarily that
different teachers define these terms uniquely & differently and pointing to the
general idea) something you aspire to or accept as direct truth in your own
experience of yourselves?

 

Do you see enlightenment as an immediate permanent shift or as a process with
levels (overlooking for the moment how the concept "there is no time" negates
the concept "process" as time-based & focusing on humans living in space and
time)?

 

Have you, to your own satisfaction & criteria been with people you consider to
be awake? And/or extremely awake, somewhat awake, astonishingly unawake with
strangely happily nodding followers?

 

Do you feel any strong connections with realized masters no longer physically
alive and if so who?

 

Do you still/or ever attend satsangs and why?

 

At this point in your awareness, in your lives, what do you experience a)if you
attend satsang (in any role), b)when you interact/create/express online as in
what draws you to remain involved?

 

Is there any point to enlightenment in your opinion and if so what do you see it
as?

 

respectfully & sincerely, thank you for considering these points (& possibly
answering)

 

namaste,
josie

 

~ ~ ~

 

> I have a question (that turned into questions) for you. I am curious.
>
> What you resonate most with these days that falls under "non-duality" or
outside?

 

I am not sure what you mean by 'outside'.

 

I cannot answer all so a few comments in reply:

 

> Do you see enlightenment as an immediate permanent shift or as a process with
levels (overlooking for the moment how the concept "there is no time" negates
the
concept "process" as time-based & focusing on humans living in space and time)?

 

Here is yet another opportunity for me to express
my own view of this 'issue'.

 

The idea of 'shift' is an interesting one; I can say
that there is change of perspective (so to speak)
but 'shift'? No 'shift' that I am aware of.

 

If you substitute 'removal of obstruction' (to understanding),
for 'shift', that might do it.

 

To see _simultaneously_ the 'real' and the 'previous
illusion', to see these together, is to be hit with a
very large contrast which is (IMO) impossible to miss.

 

The issue of 'time' is easily disposed of, it seems
to me. 'Before', time is a very real concrete thing;
'after', time is now seen as quite elastic, malleable,
and in fact (perhaps ultimately) irrelevant; although
we must admit and remember that 'time' is still a
biggy for those in the 'before' dimension (so to speak).

 

I guess the real issue is that the actual experience of
contrast, as I describe above, cannot be transmitted
conceptually. We may speak of 'before' and 'after' but
the actual contrast is something that must be
experienced to be understood. And you must keep in
mind, that the 'realizations' which occur during and
after the experience of contrast, are nonsensical to those
who have not experienced the contrast.

 

I have to say also that nothing 'goes away'; if
anything, everything 'comes around'. If anyone
expects 'issues' to resolve, merely by the 'process'
of 'enlightenment', it is a mistake in thinking. And
that 'mistake in thinking' is one of the biggest
features in the 'before'; 'after', seen clearly as
a mistake.

 

I have many times said here that the word
'illusion' is grossly misused, in discussions of
'enlightenment'. There is no 'illusion' to dispel.

 

There is 'disillusionment', though.
See 'embarrassment' below.

 

The contrast clearly shows, that 'illusion' is
just as 'real' as 'reality'. We have the opportunity
to take hold of an entirely new paradigm, which
includes 'multiple interpenetrating dimensions';
if you are familiar with the Vajrayana teachings
of Bardo, you can intuit what this means.

 

In the same way that 'money is just pieces of paper',
we can state that the unenlightened, live in 'illusion'.

 

To assume, as is commonly stated, that one
reality 'expires' or can be thrown away, and
that a new, more 'accurately aligned' reality
dawns, is error. ALL realities are 'created equal',
and this must be considered by the 'student'.

 

There can be a huge surge of embarrassment,
which must be accepted and dealt with, as one
sees with clarity, how unclear one had been; those
reluctant or not practiced in the art of 'swallowing
the toad', may find this a mountain too steep to
climb, and may decide to continue to eat imaginary
steak.

 

> Have you, to your own satisfaction & criteria been with people you consider to
be
awake? And/or extremely awake, somewhat awake, astonishingly unawake with
strangely happily nodding followers?

 

Without exception, every one of the 'masters'
I have had proximity to, used (either deliberately
or unconsciously!) one or more 'Siddhe', to
create effects and impressions in the 'audience'.

 

I have had a few really 'side-splitting' experiences
with some of those 'masters', when it has occurred
that my own 'mastery' of the same Siddhe, allowed
me to 'cancel' theirs. This has led to more than one
display of bad temper, and once I had to leave the
auditorium, to avoid being jumped on by the 'guards'.

 

That occurred when I awakened the just-hypnotized
audience. I noticed that when their heads jerked up
and their eyes popped open, that they were very
shocked to realize that they had been put to sleep
without their consent. There was also a great sense
of disorientation, as the 'staff' were now in different
places in the room, than they had been before the
induction. The 'contrast' was too obvious to miss.

 

> Is there any point to enlightenment in your opinion and if so what do you see
it as?

 

My opinion is that 'enlightenment' is 'simply' a
stage of maturation, which many people do not
experience; our culture has not yet discovered
the means of eternal youth, but it has perfected
the means of eternal immaturity.

 

I should say that one of the biggest 'realizations'
for me, is that it is inappropriate to go around,
'brandishing' enlightenment, like some sort of
light-sabre. I would go so far as to say that to
misuse it is to surely lose it.

 

'Enlightenment' is not an 'extra', but is our
birthright as human. It is not an 'elective'
to be chosen; it is the natural movement of
'studious approach to maturation'.

 

That words can be put to it or not, is
of little importance.

 

There are certainly times when 'enlightenment' is
very much out of place. One learns to trust the
sense of those times. Learning continues, if one
can respond properly to what is happening. Such
response is rare, if one is 'stuck in enlightenment'.

 

~ ~ ~

 

hi josie,
i make a special effort to answer your questions because in the best
case you'll have three persons answer out of 800, life is designed
so that slumber is the most comfortable state for cowards and spooks
alike.
this is why Gene and a bunch of others are precious, this is the
only measure to a man, rather a giving sun than a sucking black hole.
(even if the rays are not always a coherent laser beam)
Note that your question have mostly value in mapping where you are
at, at this precise moment of you spiritual quest but still have a
universal value (it's often both).

 

> What you resonate most with these days that falls under "non-
duality" or outside?

 

e# i don't understand this one, maybe it's ok if i say, the state of
confusion of human culture and science proves that an elementary
questionning at the source of their premises is made necessary, i
call it nonduality.

 

>
> Do you consider yourselves sitting, standing, extremely alert,
awake, enlightened, conscious, dreaming or "non-of-the-above-how
dare you ask, isn't it obvious" or your own description?
>

 

e# i am not a realized egoless person like Greg or Jan for example,
my experience of consciousness is a profound well-being, a rooting
in self-confidence, that is here 24/7/365, if i wake up at night it
is here, if i am in a difficult situation it is here like a physical
feed-back and a psychological contentment.
It is like lying blissfully forgetting oneself on a sunny beach, i
am not aware most of the time. Especially since that state is
exactly the contrary of anything that would call attention, it is
rather the state where nothing calls your attention on yourself so
personnal issue like "did you sleep well?" hardly make sense.

 

> Is the idea/experience of enlightenment something you reserve as a
description for a rare few, it's never happened, it happened to 3
human beings ever, there is a small percentage of humans that are
self-realized living currently, or how can one not see everything is
awake including the mud beneath the lotus?
>

 

e# it is like, in some local place people have a mind busy with
heavy issues and this mind is very busy with itself, and the whole
rest of the world is neglected.
So at my incomplete level of losing ego, everybody is the same yet
some people make a big tension on the small place where mind
operates.

 

> Is enlightenment/self-realization/awakeness (overlooking
temporarily that different teachers define these terms uniquely &
differently and pointing to the general idea) something you aspire
to or accept as direct truth in your own experience of yourselves?
>

 

e# to me egolessness is the absence of story or theory but the
availability of resource that this 'no-state' releases in a master
makes him available to the crowds and he often builds up a 'system'
according to his background and in opposition to the
attachments/identifications/fads of the time, all this a a skillful
means to help seekers. but eventually the system has to be dropped.
yet i dislike the master figures.

 

> Do you see enlightenment as an immediate permanent shift or as a
process with levels (overlooking for the moment how the
concept "there is no time" negates the concept "process" as time-
based & focusing on humans living in space and time)?
>

 

e# ok we may overlook things but it stiffens your question.
i have no way to explain how year by year my nervous system has
become more sensitive and flexible and how most human issues stop
posing a problem (like: what is my future, my plans? where did i
grow from? who am i to others? what is my death? etc).
PLUS
i have no way to explain how this progressive physical/chemical
process (health has also considerably improved) is related to the
final egoless 'no-state' i believe i witness in some people.

 

> Have you, to your own satisfaction & criteria been with people you
consider to be awake? And/or extremely awake, somewhat awake,
astonishingly unawake with strangely happily nodding followers?
>

 

e# no i never met egoless people, apart here on the net, like you on
NDS.

 

> Do you feel any strong connections with realized masters no longer
physically alive and if so who?
>

 

e# obvious almost daily, JS Bach.

 

> Do you still/or ever attend satsangs and why?
>

 

e# 4-5 times i went to Thich Nhat Hanh sittings in NY, but it was a
misunderstanding.

 

> At this point in your awareness, in your lives, what do you
experience a)if you attend satsang (in any role), b)when you
interact/create/express online as in what draws you to remain
involved?
>

 

e# while writing this, a few lines above i had a samadhi rush in my
brain, like with a drug, when writing 'JS Bach', and thus making it
clear to myself what he really means to me. It often happens when i
write on the net, i don't think it means much, but it is, you might
say, "epiphanies related to my interactions on the net".

 

> Is there any point to enlightenment in your opinion and if so what
do you see it as?

 

e# the question is, is there a point in worry, fear and hope?

 

>
> respectfully & sincerely, thank you for considering these points
(& possibly answering)
>

 

equally so here,

 

Eric

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

> I have a question (that turned into questions) for you. I am
curious.
>
> What you resonate most with these days that falls under "non-
duality" or outside?

 

I resonate most with the sense of presence, that I most strongly
feel in satsang, but am starting to feel more continuously.
>
> Do you consider yourselves sitting, standing, extremely alert,
awake, enlightened, conscious, dreaming or "non-of-the-above-how
dare you ask, isn't it obvious" or your own description?

 

I see myself as having occasional glimpses of presence, and slowly
beginning to experience it more directly on my own.

 

>
> Is the idea/experience of enlightenment something you reserve as a
description for a rare few, it's never happened, it happened to 3
human beings ever, there is a small percentage of humans that are
self-realized living currently, or how can one not see everything is
awake including the mud beneath the lotus?

 

I feel strongly about this, that it is available to everyone and
that encouragement to see the truth of this is very important.

 

>
> Is enlightenment/self-realization/awakeness (overlooking
temporarily that different teachers define these terms uniquely &
differently and pointing to the general idea) something you aspire
to or accept as direct truth in your own experience of yourselves?
>

 

Both, albeit not concurrently necessarily...

 

> Do you see enlightenment as an immediate permanent shift or as a
process with levels (overlooking for the moment how the
concept "there is no time" negates the concept "process" as time-
based & focusing on humans living in space and time)?
>

 

I see life as a journey, and I don't see an end to it. The so
called "enlightened" teachers that I seem to resonate with suggest
that their own experiences seem to be continuing with no "end" in
sight. (but who knows?)

 

> Have you, to your own satisfaction & criteria been with people you
consider to be awake? And/or extremely awake, somewhat awake,
astonishingly unawake with strangely happily nodding followers?
>

 

Absolutely, I have felt that I've been with folks who are awake, and
that feeling has been one of being no different from them. I've had
a quivering heart and felt that that was the whole thing. Caring
about all. I've also been in "satsang" and felt that it was all a
sham. I'm not sure how much of that is the situation where I was, or
how much was my projection depending on my own thinking.

 

> Do you feel any strong connections with realized masters no longer
physically alive and if so who?

 

I have great respect for Ramana Maharshi, but feel more direct
connection with some of the "descendents" thereof...
>
> Do you still/or ever attend satsangs and why?

 

Yes, I attend satsangs with Pamela Wilson and Neelam whenever I can
because when I do, I feel presence and the more I feel presence in
such situations, the more I feel it elsewhere.
>
> At this point in your awareness, in your lives, what do you
experience a)if you attend satsang (in any role), b)when you
interact/create/express online as in what draws you to remain
involved?

 

The sense of presence is peacefull, joyful, and seems fundamental to
me. It's what I've been looking for for so long...

 

>
> Is there any point to enlightenment in your opinion and if so what
do you see it as?

 

I see it as letting go of local concerns and feeling a deep love for
all being everywhere. It's going home.
>
> respectfully & sincerely, thank you for considering these points
(& possibly answering)
>
> namaste,
> josie

 

It occurs to me to add one thought. I find "presence" whenever I
look for it, so my main "spritual practice" these days is to look
for it whevever it occurs to me to do so. The more I practice this,
the more it occurs to me to do so.

 

Love, Mark

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

Is there any point to enlightenment in your opinion and if so what do you
see it as?

 

@.When the mind is free from "spontaneous" deliberations irrespective the
subject (enlightenment, matter, space, the nature of the mind and the
shopping list for tomorrow to mention just a few) such a mind is at peace
irrespective vicissitudes: no event can trigger a chain reaction of mental
events.

 

Peace,
Jan.@

 

> Do you consider yourselves sitting, standing, extremely alert,
awake, enlightened, conscious, dreaming or "non-of-the-above-how
dare you ask, isn't it obvious" or your own description?

 

I'm always aware of awareness, which is awareness aware of
awareness.

 

> Is the idea/experience of enlightenment something you reserve as a
description for a rare few, it's never happened, it happened to 3
human beings ever, there is a small percentage of humans that are
self-realized living currently, or how can one not see everything is
awake including the mud beneath the lotus?

 

Everything shines as consciousness.

 

> Is enlightenment/self-realization/awakeness (overlooking
temporarily that different teachers define these terms uniquely &
differently and pointing to the general idea) something you aspire
to or accept as direct truth in your own experience of yourselves?

 

I don't aspire to anything like that. I do aspire to live well each
day, which means to look after my natural commitments.

 

> Do you see enlightenment as an immediate permanent shift or as a
process with levels (overlooking for the moment how the
concept "there is no time" negates the concept "process" as time-
based & focusing on humans living in space and time)? \

 

I awoke into reality at age 2, very clearly. Experienced pure I Am
at age 7. At age 28 it became a permanent knowing, accompanied by
the expression, "There is only one day." At age 42 the I Am
dissolved, and was accompanied by the utterance, "I arrived lighter,
unscarred," which expressed a re-birth, a total freshening.

 

> Have you, to your own satisfaction & criteria been with people you
consider to be awake? And/or extremely awake, somewhat awake,
astonishingly unawake with strangely happily nodding followers?

 

I have affinities with people at different levels and it's clear
that every person comes from a different base of knowledge, knowing
and perception. I've never said to myself or to anyone else that so
and so is enlightened or not enlightened. It doesn't interest me.

 

> Do you feel any strong connections with realized masters no longer
physically alive and if so who?

 

> Do you still/or ever attend satsangs and why?

 

No. Because there isn't any more reality there than on the street.

 

> At this point in your awareness, in your lives, what do you
experience ... when you interact/create/express online as in what
draws you to remain involved?

 

I remain involved in my lists and websites because it's good
discipline and I have a commitment to making the world of nonduality
available to people.

 

> Is there any point to enlightenment in your opinion and if so what
do you see it as?

 

If consciousness or awareness is something you value and must
investigate, there is no question of being a point. That's true for
anything a person is driven to undertake. The undertaking itself is
the point. If a person is looking for a point to a spiritual life,
it might be to calm down and get a bigger perspective on things.
That would be helpful in everyday life.

 

~ ~ ~

 

> to the one who wrote this and sent it privately
>
> > impressed with intellect, are we? :) these people are
> > thinkers, honey. some day you will know the difference
> > between a thinker and an enlightened being.
>
> you found me out. i'm easily impressed.
> and also impressed in the most difficult of ways
> perhaps you've seen the space age soft foam
> that has memory now used in beds,
> yup, that's me

 

 

You have had the inevitable
confrontation with the bitter,
holier-than-thou 'heart-based'
type.

 

Am I going too far, if I say that
such 'types' are limited, and so
seek to impose their limits onto
others?

 

Whatever the case may be, Josie,
your exposition, below, is
a magnificent and expansive
sharing.

 

Please 'take heart', when confronted
by such an attack on your heart. The
authoritarian 'types' who dare play that
gambit, will have a much harder time
of it than they can possibly imagine.

 

==GP==

 

 

 my mind gets stimulated all over the place
 today by this room, the sistine chapel another,
 reading New York Times discussion of latest
 astrophysics research, & seeing it's my brother,
 learning neurobiofeedback & watching computers display
 measurements of differences between brains
 filled with worry and those who are consciously in alpha state
 watching my mother resignedly commit to watch my daughter
 while i agree to drive a teacher across countries to satsang,
 thinking i'm sorry its so difficult for her to see
 her daughter who had so much potential with
 the highest scores in those meaningless measures
 mesmerized, absorbed, in love with absolutely nothing,
 (what's it good for, say it again, ..absolutely nothing)
 but then you should have seen her face a few years ago
 when i thought i'd be a minister
 cause that was what i was told you do
 when you love god so deeply, deeper than any other.

 so the other day it was amazement about Shrek,
 yesterday words that were written,
 the day before that, by my friend's aversion
 to anything related to "spiritual" even though
 she's writing her own book about it all

 in fact i have a serious lack of loyalty
 i've got very little i could defend
 lots i guess i could pretend
 but a glance, a color, a word, a comma and
 i fall in love yet again
 i sit with addicted sex trade workers, politicians, policemen,
 professors, artists, musicians, the media, elementary children,
 men who've damaged their babies, people who want to die,
 from children to adults and those who have already tried,
 those tortured by horrific cruelty that could make anyone cry,
 & those golden & rich seekers with all the answers & more
 and you know what?
 i'm just impressed by it all, by the fact that anyone's still here

 i've decided for this moment i don't care about the difference
 between who's enlightened and who thinks,
 who has a better teacher, or a silence bigger than mine
 what matters to me is who's frightened, who's happy, who's inspired, who's
real,
 those who genuinely care in spite of knowing better,
 and whether there is anything arising that i need or am drawn to do
 but that's just right now and i pledge allegiance to no other moment,
 you might find me selling flowers at your airport tomorrow
 in full resistance or a mini contraction or two, less even &
 especially if the airport happens to be in hawaii or paris

 but hey, i'm here, so are you..

 feel free to inform me
 let me know what you think i've missed

 love josie

 

---

 

 

 

by Alan Cohen

While walking through Costco, I noticed the large bin of photographs
that had been processed and were waiting for customers to pick up.
There were probably a couple of hundred packets listed alphabetically
according to customers� names. I was struck by the fact that all of
these personal bags of photos were just sitting out in the open, to
be purchased on the honor system. Anyone could have stolen any of
them, or taken someone else�s package and paid for it as their own.

 

Then it occurred to me that this system works because no one really
wants to take someone else�s photos home. Who wants to see Joshua
Bernstein�s Bar Mitzvah pictures? Or little Ashleigh in her high
chair with goopy baby food dripping from her lips? Or the Hendersons�
motor home vacation to Florida? No, no one really wants to take
anyone else�s pictures home.

 

Yet on a psychological level, we do this all the time � and live to
regret it. The photos we erroneously purchase are other people�s
pictures of reality. We adopt our parents� model of relationship; our
mother�s fears about money; our older brother�s attitude about sex;
our minister�s relationship with God; our teacher�s opinion about
politics; and on, and on. And we pay dearly for them. Most people�s
pictures of reality are fear-based and limiting, and do not serve us.
Yet we take them home and replicate them in our own lives, to the
point that we believe they�re our own. Then, if we are not careful,
we pass them on to our children. Then we wonder why we, and the
people we know, are so unhappy. All because we accepted and paid for
boring or unhappy pictures that never belonged to us in the first
place.

 

Contrary to what you have been taught, the reality you live in is a
choice. You generate reality by the images you focus on. The more you
pay attention to any picture of reality, the more real it becomes to
you. You can create and live in vast worlds simply by thinking they
are real. This does not mean they are real; it just means you have
given them a great deal of attention and belief.

 

A classic story tells of a man who went to visit a friend in his
country home. In the middle of the night, the man got up to go to the
bathroom and found a huge deadly snake coiled up on the floor, ready
to strike him. The next morning the host awoke to find his guest dead
on the floor, lying next to a coiled up piece of large rope. The
fellow died not of a snakebite, but of fright. He was just as dead as
if the snake had been real. His murderer was not a snake; it was his
own mind.

 

This parable applies to every fear we experience. Enlightened
teachers tell us that nothing we fear is real at all; the objects we
fear exist only in our imagination. The word "fear" is an acronym for
"false evidence appearing real." A Course in Miracles poignantly
adds, "You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering
that God goes with you wherever you go."

 

In a world where many people are afraid, and reinforce their fear by
attacking the objects of their fear, you can bring significant
healing by remaining sane and recognizing perceived snakes as actual
ropes. Nothing can hurt you unless you give it power with your
thoughts. When you remember the presence of love in a situation where
others have forgotten it, you are returning unwanted photos back to
their bin, and taking your own home.

 

The critical voice is not your own. Your were not born with thoughts
of judgment, lack, and separateness. They are all learned -- and can
be unlearned. Children and animals are our greatest teachers because
they have not yet passed the photo department and taken home other
people�s yucky albums. Children are connected to God and have not
been taught otherwise. Thank God for children, animals, and nature;
they are our lifelines to Original Innocence.

 

A five-year-old boy observed his parents bringing his newborn younger
brother home from the hospital. For days he pestered his parents to
let him be alone with his little brother. Fearing the older child
would hurt the infant, the parents resisted. But the boy persisted.
Finally the parents gave in, and hooked up an intercom in the baby�s
room so they could monitor any potential disturbance. Instead, they
heard the older brother close the door behind him, gently approach
the baby�s crib, lean over, look into the infant�s eyes, and speak
these words: "Would you please tell me about God? I�m starting to
forget."

 

At this time of year we celebrate the holidays of Easter and Passover
-- both powerful lessons in letting go of the old and limiting so we
can step into a life of greater freedom and aliveness. In essence,
both Jesus and the Hebrew nation returned unwanted photos to the bin,
and took home their own instead. In doing so, they set the stage for
us to do the same. Those dark pictures never belonged to you anyway.
You have your own and better to enjoy.

 

Highlights Home Page and Archive: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Letter to the Editors: Click 'Reply' on your email program, compose your message, and 'Send'. All the editors will see your letter.

 

 

---

 

 

A discussion about Sarlo's website: Sarlo's Guru Rating Service
at http://www.globalserve.net/~sarlo/Ratings.htm

 

 

Hi Sarlo,

I just wonder if the idea of rating gurus, giving them rankings, is
not just another example of the great western game of competition?
If you want to have the right career, you need to go to the right
school - Harvard, Yale, etc, and work for the right professor - the
one with the largest group and the highest grant profile... If you
want to be enlightened you need to be the disciple of the right
guru. Travel to India, sit at the feet of Bhagavan Maharshi,
anything less is... well... less. I wonder if people who hear such
reasoning from well respected "spiritual people" might not get some
subtle idea that the way to acheive enlightenment is to
compete? "I'm more silent than you..." I have longer and better
sahmadis than you." Perhaps there is no such subtle thinking going
on, except in my mind, but I wonder...

I recently met a fellow who's into Gurdgieff and some other folks,
who he described as "supermen". I gather he spent some time with
these folks (sorry, I'm blanking on the names) Anyway, I took him to
a satsang of Pamela Wilson, and it looked to me as though he
withdrew his attention entirely from the proceedings, even walked
out partway through and sat in the outer room reading. I spoke
during the time he was in the room, and later upon recounting
something I'd said, he made it clear he hadn't heard it. When I
asked him about his opinion of the satsang, he said it seemed to him
to be "too easy", that people were relaxed and not being challenged.
He later sent me the peice by Aziz Kristof that we discussed
recently warning against pseudoadvaita, and in particular, against
the followers of Papaji. It looks to me that my friend's image of
spirituality is a very macho, highly competitive sport and frankly,
he strikes me as kind of unhappy with that viewpoint, albeit unable
to hear any other. I realize that I can't really know whats going on
in his mind, and I may be projecting it, but like I say, I wonder...

Love, Mark
ps I am pointing to just one aspect of your list and site, and I do
not mean in any way to suggest that there are not positives. That
there are places online where one can find out about teachers and
become exposed to the kinds of concerns that folks have is in my
thinking, a very good thing. And there clearly are fakes and
charlatans out there preying on seekers, and your site and others
are probably very helpful in helping people avoid such traps. So
thank you for your service!
pps I'm curious to know your thoughts on whether a guru rating
service might,in some subtle way, impart the idea to readers that
enlightnement is a competition, and if so, does that help them
acheive enlightenment, or hinder them?

 

>I just wonder if the idea of rating gurus, giving them rankings, is
>not just another example of the great western game of competition?

Ah! Yes, hi Mark, now i see. I thought you were talking about my
forum-list. Thanks for all your thoughtful feedback.

>If you want to have the right career, you need to go to the right
>school - Harvard, Yale, etc, and work for the right professor - the
>one with the largest group and the highest grant profile... If you
>want to be enlightened you need to be the disciple of the right
>guru. Travel to India, sit at the feet of Bhagavan Maharshi,
>anything less is... well... less.

Actually my site does not mean to suggest this, but i can see how you might
get that idea. What i am comparing is the odds that a random seeker might
find "success" with this or that guru figure, but the appropriateness of
this seeker with that guru will always be determined by personal fit, that
elusive je-ne-sais-quoi that cannot be analysed.

>I wonder if people who hear such
>reasoning from well respected "spiritual people"

*AHEM!* Wash your mouth!

And then read my disclaimer. http://www.globalserve.net/~sarlo/Disclaimer.htm

>might not get some
>subtle idea that the way to acheive enlightenment is to
>compete? "I'm more silent than you..." I have longer and better
>sahmadis than you." Perhaps there is no such subtle thinking going
>on, except in my mind, but I wonder...

It is going on in plenty of minds.

But competition, like shit, happens. It is well established, way beyond
holier than thou. Any help it gets from me is less than a sunflower seed on
the icing on the cake.

Greg-san has shared some examples that are so prevalent they even have
syndrome-names:

LUCKNOW DISEASE - linguistic malady befalling seekers at Papaji's.
Characterized by never using the word "I" - to encourage one's self and
also show others that there is no one at home here. Instead, they would say
stuff like "This form is going to the rest room."

ADVAITA SHUFFLE - Conversational gambit. What Andrew Cohen accused Gangaji
of doing when she didn't want to talk about ethics and enlightenment.
Jumping to the absolute level at odd times. Like when the receptionist asks
why you were late for your doctor's appointment. "There's no one here to go
anywhere or be late for anything."

LANDING - Losing one's enlightenment. What Gangaji accused Andrew Cohen of
having done. Term used by those who think of enlightenment as a kind of
thing that can be lost. Something like claiming enlightenment and then
getting peevish and petty over who pays the tip at the diner.

NONDUAL POLICE - Those who badger others to use nondual terminology.
Whenever they hear someone saying something like "I'm going out for
coffee," they barge in: "WHO is going out for coffee??" Nondual police
want everyone to always be in constant Ramana-self-inquiry-mode.

THE EYE THING - Keeping eye contact with the other person as long as
possible. Whoever drops their gaze first is not as established in the
Beloved. Some blinking is OK, but not too much. The deeper into the Self
you are, the longer you can hold it. Used by many satsang teachers. One of
my friends can out-stare anyone. He kinds of drops into a Candida-mind-fog,
and hours can go by.

>I recently met a fellow who's into Gurdgieff and some other folks,
>who he described as "supermen". I gather he spent some time with
>these folks (sorry, I'm blanking on the names) Anyway, I took him to
>a satsang of Pamela Wilson, and it looked to me as though he
>withdrew his attention entirely from the proceedings, even walked
>out partway through and sat in the outer room reading. I spoke
>during the time he was in the room, and later upon recounting
>something I'd said, he made it clear he hadn't heard it. When I
>asked him about his opinion of the satsang, he said it seemed to him
>to be "too easy", that people were relaxed and not being challenged.
>He later sent me the peice by Aziz Kristof that we discussed
>recently warning against pseudoadvaita, and in particular, against
>the followers of Papaji. It looks to me that my friend's image of
>spirituality is a very macho, highly competitive sport and frankly,
>he strikes me as kind of unhappy with that viewpoint, albeit unable
>to hear any other. I realize that I can't really know whats going on
>in his mind, and I may be projecting it, but like I say, I wonder...

The Gurdjieff effort / struggle types are not going to find a lot of common
ground with the nowhere-to-go crowd. It's interesting that he chose to go
with you. His motivation certainly might be a little suspect. But yes,
who's to say?

>Love, Mark
>ps I am pointing to just one aspect of your list and site, and I do
>not mean in any way to suggest that there are not positives. That
>there are places online where one can find out about teachers and
>become exposed to the kinds of concerns that folks have is in my
>thinking, a very good thing. And there clearly are fakes and
>charlatans out there preying on seekers, and your site and others
>are probably very helpful in helping people avoid such traps. So
>thank you for your service!

Inasmuch as it can be of any real service, that's probably it, and
general-purpose articles on what to look out for on the Path, from many
sources. The "directory" aspect of it also has value but there are many
places to find such info. The rest is not to be taken too seriously, the
ratings themselves and the opinions masquerading as description. I
acknowledge the impossibility of value comparison.

>pps I'm curious to know your thoughts on whether a guru rating
>service might,in some subtle way, impart the idea to readers that
>enlightnement is a competition, and if so, does that help them
>acheive enlightenment, or hinder them?

I don't think many, if any, will get the impression that enlightenment is a
competition. It seems basic to me that "I'm more all-one than you" cannot
be entertained by anyone with a lick of common sense, though unconscious
competitive tendencies will come out about various aspects which are deemed
important, like humility or longer, harder samadhis.

Admittedly, if people did get the idea of competition having value from me
then that would be a disservice. I try in various ways to discourage that,
especially in the disclaimer, but perhaps there are other ways i can
address that too, without sacrificing the delicate balance of
non-seriousness, mock-seriousness and information.

Thanks!

Sarlo

 

 

Hi Sarlo,

I must say, I'm discovering that it is always very pleasant to
converse with you. Very clear.

I'm starting to see that I have not faired terribly well with
competition in my life and that I have a strong bias against it. And
yet, Darwin might suggest that it is not completely negative within
a changing universe. I think conditioned (and therefore blind to
global outcomes...) competition may well be a hindrance in the
uncovering of Self, as it requires an "other" to operate, but I
think I've recently been making more of a point of it than may be
helpful because of my personal issues. Your very clear response to
my post, as well as other recent developments in my life, has helped
me see this and I am most grateful. I enjoyed reading your
disclaimer and also the feedback, much of which seems
rather "competitive" (or combative...) to me... grin.

with great affection,
Mark

 

 

Mark, what a sweetheart! Thank you and blessings on your
journey-which-is-not-a-journey.

The feedback posted on my site is not all i get of course, but the
combative stuff is most likely more interesting than the supportive. �Why
is that? :-)

It is astute of you to notice that that combative feedback is also fairly
competitive. And my site itself has a significant personal competitive
element, which is rating my own master at the top. Competition is everywhere!

Love, Sarlo

 

 

Competition shows well: wild animals fight for food and mates. One rule is
that "bigger" is interpreted as "stronger" so the smaller animal often
avoids a fight by leaving the opportunity to the larger contender. But
smaller creatures can have properties the bigger animal is unaware of.
Awareness is both a key (to unlock "mysteries") and a power, able to
overcome eventual physical inequality.

Eurasian collared doves (ECDs) are quite smart and have learned that by
flying on my knees, hands or shoulders, they can outwit the physical
superiority of the temporary bullying ECD, hormone driven to defend a
territory for both access to food and a mate, at the cost of more fear than
the doves, not in that phase. Some former bullies (out of that hormonal
phase) know the issue so well that they behave like the common pet doves,
with the difference that ECDs still are in the wild and aware that
eventually they can get a full stomach without my aid.

This in turn attracts ppl, some take pics of the unusual scenes but others
want to know the secret. One man, after being told he should be aware of
unconscious movements, interpreted by all birds as a threat, responded by
saying he understood, and unconsciously made several gestures (again). So
the doves took off immediately and the man understood, understanding is
worthless.

A little girl, charmed by the sight of doves landing on my knees and
shoulders, in my hands, wanted to know too what it takes to make doves
behave that way. I showed, not to move unless very slowly, and never to
throw bread, like humans are throwing stones. She said to understand and
threw bread - like humans are used to throw stones. Even the resident bully
ECD immediately took off. The girl was disappointed and didn't understand
what happened. But her mother did :-)

Awareness has no competition.

 

 

---

 

 

 

If nothing is wanted,
it matters not
whether you have what it takes.

Whatever it takes
to get whatever,
is itself completely false
and has no foundation.

And whatever you accomplish
can only satisfy some delusion
until the next one takes hold.

See where you are.
Clearly.
It's easy.
There is nothing else to do.

Love to all,
Harsha

~ ~ ~

 

Dear Friends:

People speak of visions and white lights and spiritual
and psychic experiences. These are beautiful things
and indications of meditative practices at some time.

Those who know the source that lights all experiences,
spiritual and otherwise, remain unmoved by such
descriptions.

Advaita Vedanta declares without compromise. Atman Is
Brahman! Thou are That!

With what white light or spiritual experience shall we
now be impressed?

Once Sri Ramana was asked about traveling to different
planes and having visions.

The Sage of Arunachala asked the questioner something
like, "What are you experiencing now and how is it
different?"

So we see that grocery shopping and satsangh are not
two different things. Each serves is purpose in the
moment. Satsang really means company of the truth or
Self. So we are always in Satsang.

All techniques fall at the feet of the Sage and become
meaningless.

May all beings be free from sorrow.

Love to all
Harsha

 

 

 

---

 

 

taking it all back home.

Editor's note: The photos in issue 1849 attributed to Sam -- a fine photographer in his own right! -- were actually by Al Larus. Apologies to Sam and Al.  --Jerry

 

---

 

Humanitate
NDS

If you can watch this without smiling, you're really enlightened. If you can watch it with smiling, you're really enlightened.

http://www.mimfreedom.com/littlebitty.htm

 

---

 

 

 

 

---

 

        True happiness cannot be found in things
        that change and pass away.  Pleasure and
        pain alternate inexorably.  Happiness comes
        from the self and can be found in the self
        only.  Find your real self (swarupa) and all
        else will come with it.

                          - Nisargadatta Maharaj

        ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `

"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973

Along the Way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DHARMA TRANSMISSION BY E-MAIL: $49.95!
by Brad Warner
http://www2.gol.com/users/doubtboy/dharmabyemail.html

A little while ago a review of my book appeared on Amazon saying this:
"Perhaps my biggest concern is that if someone -- anyone -- like this can
receive Dharma Transmission stretching through the Masters all the way back
to the Buddha himself, can that individual then open up his own dojo --
offering, say, e-mail Dharma Transmission at $49.95 a pop? "

It's a telling question. I'm not sure the writer really understands what
he's asking. But the fact that he asked such a question really made me
happy. Even though he didn't like the book (the one star review begins "this
book is not totally without merit, but almost"), the writer understood
something very important which I'm not sure a lot of people who did like the
book picked up on.

The answer to his question is a resounding, yes. While I don't know of
anyone offering Dharma Transmission by e-mail (yet!), it could happen. The
person who did this would certainly be taken to task by his (or her, but
let's pretend only a man would be this slimy) teacher or the other members
of his group. He'd certainly be shunned by the entire worldwide Buddhist
community and denounced by whatever sect he'd been ordained in. The
transmissions he granted wouldn't hold much weight with anyone who was
serious about Buddhism. But that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. Or even
that he couldn't be extremely successful. I've seen more obvious scams than
this before. A few of them have been going on for hundreds of years...

However, that's not the part of the question that really interests me. It's
the "someone -- anyone" bit that's truly important. That's where the real
meat of his question lies.

The reviewer is just like most of us. We want Buddhist Masters to be
something special, something apart from the rest of humanity. The idea that
"someone -- anyone" could become a Master is appalling to us. We want to
believe that there are Great Enlightened Beings out there who can guide and
protect us along the Path of Awakening, who can confirm or deny our own
understanding for us, who know us better than we know ourselves. We want Big
Masters who can give us the Big Answers. It's scary as Hell to think that
maybe, just maybe, there is no one at all like that anywhere. If "someone --
anyone" can become a Buddhist Master we're left with no one to look up to.
There's no one who's more qualified than little old us to judge good and
bad. There's no one onto whom we can defer responsibility for our own
actions, no one who can take responsibility for our mistakes.

If "someone -- anyone" can become a Buddhist Master we're completely on our
own. Kicked out of the nest and forced to fly solo with no other option than
to go splat on the hard cold ground. But the fact is that every single
"Buddhist Master" out there is "someone - anyone" just like this poor excuse
for a monk sitting in an office at a company that makes bad monster movies
writing this silly little webpage. And just like all you poor unfortunate
people out there who have nothing better to do than read it.

One of the major reasons I wrote Hardcore Zen came out of the shock of
discovering that even a butthead like me could get Dharma Transmission. The
moment my teacher offered to recognize me -- of all people -- as having
attained the same realization as the Buddha his-self was terrifying. I did
not want that kind of responsibility. I did not deserve it. What made it
even worse was my teacher's insistence that I already had his transmission
whether I wanted it or not. There was no escape, no hope of ever going back
again.

I was forced to re-examine all my attitudes towards the Great Masters both
contemporary and ancient. Even my attitude towards my own teacher. What
if -- oh, dear Lord -- what if all of them all the way back to the Buddha
his very self were just schmucks like me? Not Supermen, not Saviors, not
even Great Enlightened Masters. Just regular people who'd accepted what
being a regular person really was (it ain't what you think it is, by the
way). Accepting Dharma Transmission was one of the hardest decisions I ever
made. Accepting such a thing meant that I would forever be left with no one
at all to turn to, no refuge in which to hide. I would no longer have anyone
to believe in, no authority figure who could tell me what was right and what
was wrong. I would be totally on my own.

Think about all the nonsense we see in America these days. Like people suing
fast food restaurants because they were too stupid to leave the lid on the
paper coffee cup in their laps when they skidded away from the drive-thru.
Look at the way we constantly look for someone else to blame for everything
we don't like about our lives -- our parents, our teachers, society, the
NRA, the KKK, the CIA. This isn't restricted to Americans by any means. The
Japanese have refined the blame game to a science. The only reason they
don't sue each other like we do is they have even more sinister methods at
their disposal to do the same thing (if you want to know how sinister look
at their suicide rate). Every culture does it.

Can you accept responsibility for every God damned thing in this whole wide
world? If you can manage this one little trick you'll become the King or
Queen of All Creation and the Master of All You Survey. When you blame no
one else for the situation in which you find yourself, you find that no one
else can ever blame you for theirs either. You're invincible. There's a kind
of power there which is so astounding it almost seems supernatural. But it's
not at all. It's simply your own natural state uncovered and allowed to
shine as it always should have.

To qualify for Dharma Transmission you simply have to demonstrate that you
are ready to take full and complete responsibility for the whole Universe
all the time -- every single second of every single day.

Go ahead. Try it sometime.

Then maybe I'll send you a certificate by e-mail...



        ...yeah, right!

 on E-zendo

---

 

 

 

 

Highlights Home Page and Archive: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

 

---

 

 Gazing at Stone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda 
(Translated by Stephen Mitchell)

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz 
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as certain dark things are loved, 
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries 
hidden within itself the light of those flowers, 
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body 
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, 
I love you simply, without problems or pride.
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving.

but this, in which there is no I or you, 
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, 
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Pablo_Neruda/11737

 

---

 

Viorica Weissman ~ MillionPaths  

A dialogue between David Godman and Maalok, #2

Maalok: If somebody wants to start practicing the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, where and how should they start?

David: This is another classic question: 'What should I do?' However, the question itself is misconceived. It is based on the erroneous assumption that happiness and peace are states that can be experienced by striving, by effort. The busy mind covers up the peace and the silence that is your own natural state, so if you put the mind in gear and use it to pursue some spiritual goal, you are usually taking it away from the peace, not towards it. This is a hard concept for many people to grasp. 

     People found their own inner peace in Sri Ramana's presence because they didn't interfere with the energy that was eradicating their minds, their sense of being a particular person who has ideas, beliefs, and so on. The true practice of Sri Ramana's teachings is remaining quiet, remaining in a state of inner mental quiescence that allows the power of Sri Ramana to seep into your heart and transform you. This can be summarized in one of Sri Ramana's classic comments: 'Just keep quiet. Bhagavan will do the rest.' 

     If you use the phrase 'practicing the teachings,' the following sequence is assumed: that Sri Ramana speaks of some goal that has to be attained, that he gives you some route, some practice, to reach that goal, and that you then use your mind to vigorously move towards that goal. The mind wants to be in charge of this operation. It wants to listen to the Guru, understand what is required, and then use itself to move in the prescribed direction. All this is wrong. Mind is not the vehicle one uses to carry out the teachings; it is, instead, the obstacle that prevents one from directly experiencing them. The only useful, productive thing the mind can do is disappear. 

     Sri Ramana himself always said that his true teachings were given out in silence. Those who were receptive to them were the ones who could get out of the way mentally, allowing Sri Ramana's silent emanations to work on them. In the benedictory verse to his philosophical poem Ulladu Narpadu Sri Ramana wrote, and I paraphrase a little: 'Who can meditate on that which alone exists. One cannot meditate on it because one is not apart from it. One can only be it.' This is the essence of Sri Ramana's teachings. 'Be what you are and remain as you are without having any thoughts. Don't try to meditate on the Self, on God. Just abide silently at the source of the mind and you will experience that you are God, that you are the Self.'

http://www.davidgodman.org/interviews/al1.shtml

---

Vietnam  http://tinyurl.com/4l67q

Allspirit Inspiration

In 1968, I was travelling with Thich Nhat Hanh on a Fellowship (of
Reconciliation) tour during which there were meetings with church, and
student groups, senators, journalists, professors, business people,
and (blessed relief) a few poets.
    (.......)
    After an hour with him one was haunted with the beauties of
Vietnam, and filled with anguish at America's military intervention in
the political and cultural tribulations of the Vietnemese people.
One was stripped of all the ideological loyalties that justified one
party or another in their battles, and felt the horror of the skies
raked with bombers, houses and humans burned to ash, children left to
face life without the presence and love of their parents and grandparents.
    But there was one evening when Nhat Hanh awoke not understanding
but rather the measureless rage of an  American. He had been talking
in the auditorium of a wealthy Christian church in a St. Louis suburb.
As always he emphasized the need for Americans to stop their bombings
and killing in his country. There had been questions and answers when
a large man stood up and spoke with searing scorn of the "supposed
compassion" of "this Mr. Hanh."
    "If you care so much about your people, Mr. Hanh, why are you
here? If you care so much about for the people who are wounded, why
don't you spend your time with them?" At this point my recollection of
his words is replaced by the memory of the intense anger which
overwhelmed me.
    When he finished, I looked towards Nhat Hanh in bewilderment. What
could he-or anyone-say? The spirit of the war itself suddenly filled
the room and it seemed hard to breathe.
    There was silence. Then Nhat Hanh began to speak-quietly, with
deep calm, indeed with a sense of personal caring for the man who had
just damned him. The words seemed like rain falling on fire. "If you
want the tree to grow" he said, "it won't help to water the leaves.
You have to water the roots. Many of the roots of war are here, in
your country. To help the people who are to be bombed, to try to
protect them from this suffering, I have to come here."
    The atmosphere in the room was transformed. In the man's fury we
had experienced our own furies; we had seen the world as through a
bomb bay. In Nhat Hanh's response we had experienced an alternate
possibility (here brought to Christians by a Buddhist and to Americans
by an "enemy") of overcoming hatred with love, of breaking the
seemingly endless chain reaction of violence throughout human history.
    But after his response, Nhat Hanh whispered something to the
chairman and walked quickly from the room. Sensing something was
wrong, I followed him out. It was a cool, clear night. Nhat Hanh stood
on the sidewalk beside the church parking lot. He was struggling for
air-like someone who had been deeply underwater and who had barely
managed to swim to the surface before gasping for breath. It was
several minutes before I dared ask him what had happened.

   Nhat Hanh explained that the man's comments had been terribly
upsetting. He had wanted to respond to him with anger.......
    "Why not just be angry with him," I asked. "Even pacifists have a
right to be angry."
    "If it were just for myself, yes. But I am here to speak for
Vietnamese peasants. I have to show them that we can be at our best."
    The moment was an important on in my life, one pondered again, and
again since then. For one thing, it was the first time I realized
there was a connection between the way one breathes and the way one
responds to the world around.

excerpt from chapter by James Forest
in The Miracle of Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh
translated by Mobi Ho

---

Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond

As for life,
I'm humbled,
I'm without words
sufficient to say

how it has been hard as flint,
and soft as a spring pond,
both of these
and over and over,

and long pale afternoons besides,
and so many mysteries
beautiful as eggs in a nest,
still unhatched

though warm and watched over
by something I have never seen�
a tree angel, perhaps,
or a ghost of loneliness.

Every day I walk out into the world
to be dazzled, then to be reflective.
It suffices, it is all comfort�
along with human love,

dog love, water love, little-serpent love,
sunburst love, or love for that smallest of birds
flying among the scarlet flowers.
There is hardly time to think about

stopping, and lying down at last
to the long afterlife, to the tenderness
yet to come, when
time will brim over the singular pond, and become forever,

and we will pretend to melt away into the leaves.
As for death,
I can't wait to be the hummingbird,
can you?

- Mary Oliver

from Owls and Other Fantasies. � Beacon Press

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There once was a boy who danced on the street,
  danced with his arms,  danced with his feet.

 

 

 

He danced all day from the sun's first light -
  danced with stars in the purple night.

 

 

 

'Nothing to lose!' he cried, 'Nothing to lose!
nothing at all but the  soles on my shoes!'

 

 

 

And people would stop and stare a while
shaking their heads with a little smile �

 

 

 

Sometimes he'd wriggle, sometimes shake, 
sometimes he even danced  like a snake.

 

 

 

At times he was wild, at times he was tame -
no two dances were ever the same.

 

 

 

He had names for his dances, Falling Snow
was the name of a dance that was terribly slow.

 

 

 

He made up others as he went along:
Polish Goose and Tibetan Gong.

 

 

 

Sometimes he'd chant or sometimes he'd hum -
mostly he just preferred to be stumm.

 

 

 

Was he born to dance? Nobody knows �
But when he was born he wriggled his toes.

 

 

 

He was dancing as soon as he learned to walk
dancing before he was able to talk.

 

 

 

'Hello, I see you're dancing too!'
he once exclaimed to a shy bamboo.

 

 

 

One day he met a holy man
who said, 'Things dance as best they can!

 

 

 

Everything - look! Even that table!
no, nothing is solid, nothing is stable!'

 

 

 

And the boy understood that dancing was good,
everything dances as everything should.

 

 

 

'Well, I'll dance the blue sky!' the little boy said,
'I'll dance the green sea, the flat ocean bed,

 

 

 

 'I'll dance for the young, dance for the old,
dance in the heat, dance in the cold.

 

 

 

'I'll dance every colour, dance every sound,
dance in the air, dance on the ground.

 

 

 

'I'll dance you a river! Dance you a lake,
the falling leaves, the crooked rake.

 

 

 

'Dance you whales that roam the sea,
dance you Time and Eternity.
 

 

'The sickle moon, the planet Mars,
the thousands and thousands and millions of stars!

 

 

 

'Yes, I will become the dance,' said he,
'I am the dance � the dance is me!'

 

 

 

e-mail: grosenstock@...

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 Here are some following thoughts that arose from Mark and Sarlo's
discussion (from issue #1852: http://nonduality.com/hl1852.htm):

The Ratings of Gurus

What a fun topic. And very appropriate at this time of the year with
MLB all stars happening. However, with baseball it is a little easier
to find the great ones. There are certain criteria by which to judge,
such as batting average and RBIs and strikeouts; yet even with such
clear guidelines undoubtedly disputes will arise. How much harder it
is to judge what teacher is "there!"  It seems every tradition has
such signposts, along with saints and sages who have chopped down
such notions. Is he a vegetarian, has he gone beyond that and eats
meat? Is he celibate or has he lots of shaktis? Is she a householder
or does she live in seclusion? Does she ask for money or lives on
what others give without asking? Is there anger or does he use anger
for others' benefit? Does she have titles and dresses spiritually or
does she look like anyone else with no titles at all? Is he a
pacifist or a martial artist? Is she an artist or write books, or
does she simply sit in the silence? Does he work miracles and speak
eloquently or is he just very ordinary? The questions are endless and
lead nowhere.

Sarlo, on his Guru Rating List, has me down as a Mini Advaitin, (is
that like being a mini me?) and that I have been finished off by
Ramana and ACIM. But what does "finished off" mean? Does that mean
that Janaka is perfect in his Awareness and actions? God, I hope not.
Does it mean that I am no longer searching to find perfect answers in
a swirling world of forms? Maybe I can buy that. In Monty Python's,
Life of Brian, Brian, the reluctant prophet, is being chased by would-
be followers. When cornered Brian yells that he is not the Messiah. A
follower cries, "Only a true Messiah would say he is not the
Messiah." "What chance does that give me?" replies Brian. "All right
then, I am the Messiah." "He is the Messiah!" they all exclaim.

The problem is all the baggage and expectations we have about the
title Guru or Teacher; just like we have the same with Presidents.
Every human will have faults, even our leaders. Hell, so does the
Earth. They tend to shake things up a bit, reminding us how imperfect
the world is as a place to stand firmly upon .And who is it anyway
that sees the faults, the Infinite Self or the ego? Many years ago
when I was just consciously starting out on the Path I had a dream. I
dreamt that I had met Jesus who was wearing blue jeans and smoking a
cigarette. Definitely not fitting my image about what he should look
like or doing. I called him on it and he agreed that it was a bad
habit and said he would go out into the desert to quit smoking. Then
we stood in front of the masses in Constantinople. He spoke first and
then I. I told them that they needed no one to tell them what was
true, that the Truth was found in each and every one of them. Yes,
yes, they cried. Be the leader of our new church. No, I said, you
don't need anyone. And I awoke in tears. A few days later I was
reading An Autobiography of a Yogi as I hitchhiked across the States.
It felt so familiar, being a disciple and having a master. I cried to
God to send me my teacher. A couple of months later I was sitting in
front of him, along with the chosen few, out in the desert of
Arizona. He touched me and I went into bliss, he manifested gems for
me, called in space ships, channeled Ascended masters, told me of my
past lives, knew the scriptures, knew everything I thought and loved
me as his son. Then I saw devotees with his hands on their throats as
they would not surrender to his will and soon I felt his around mine.
I fled. Not from fear of death, but because I failed to surrender. I
sought to make myself more worthy to surrender as he cast me out to
the "outer regions" of God. Like Cain I fled to Australia, marked by
the Son of God, as he claimed to be. Yet on a bus I met a little old
lady who invited me to her ACIM study group. And when I read in the
Course: You are as God created you. It felled me. How could I ever be
outside of God, Who is everywhere? Months later I went back and
confronted him with that question and walked away, this time in
freedom.

I had forgotten the Truth and looked for someone to tell me what is
true. It was not the teacher that was false, it was the whole
premise. The search can only lead to the false because it is a false
start. Every relationship is but a mirror of what we believe. Believe
that someone will complete us and they will, for a time, until we are
ready to see the truth. And this does not mean that we do not have
our relations with parents or lovers or teachers. It just means that
we cannot be attached to them always being there the way we want them
to in the forms we expect. All forms will come and go. I am a Waldorf
teacher and have spent years teaching children. I have taught not
because I have reached perfection as a human being but because the
work has inspired me and that I have the talent for it. I was made to
do it. And I learned from it as well. And the children moved on. If
we can look at spiritual teachers in the same way and not put them
into celebrity status then we can learn from them-and then move on. I
write about God and talk about God not because I an Avatar, or a
Perfect Master, or Boddhisattva, but because that is what I really
enjoy doing, and like to share what I love, and feel that basically
every other topic is a dead end, leading only to death. It is when I
try to fit the part or not fit the part of what a spiritual teacher
should be, or if I try to figure out what level of jnani I am or not
that I get all fucked up. It is simply the mind dividing up God and
categorizing into little compartments of lies.

For me, Ramana is the perfect teacher because he pretty much stayed
out of figuring out the rights and wrongs of the knotty world of form
(and there is nothing wrong about being a bit naughty), and always
had us focusing on the real question: Who am I? Who is it that asks
all these questions? As for the rest, I just let God take care of His
business of creating this Mystery called the World.

Hari Om

Janaka
www.janakastagnaro.com

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Namaste Jerry,
    A student sent me this. It has been typed from my original manuscript for a book published in Europe 3 years ago. I hope you enjoy this piece on the little known Krama system.
 
Guru Om
My Love
Markandeya
 
Krama System
 
 
Krama system does not recognize either the Pratyabhijna system or the Kaula system.  In Krama, the absolute is reached in stages of succession. To this end, Krama also describes in detail the rise of prana Kundalini as it moves in succession from one chakra or psychic center to the next. Krama primarily concerns itself with space-time, and therefore is primarily a system of Goddess worship in the form of Kali,  There are twelve forms of Kali in this system, but they are to be considered as the twelve movements of one cognition as it pertains to object, knowledge, and subject.  The first four Kalis represent the stages of objectivity or prameya; the next represent stages of knowledge and the means thereof or pramana; the final four Kalis represent the stages of the knower or pramata.  In the following description of the 12 Kalis, I am indebted to Jaideva Singh for his notes on verse 1 of the first section of the Spanda Karikas:
 
 
4 Phases of Objectivity (Prameya)
 
1) Srsti Kali � When the will to manifest arises in Kali and there is the movement towards manifestation, She is Known as Srsti Kali.  This is the conception of creative power in relation to objectivity (Prameya).
 
2) Rakta Kali � this is maintenance (sthiti) of the objectivity through the five senses.
 
3) Sthitinasha Kali � This is the power of samhara or withdrawl of the objective world, brining about termination of objectivity and a resting within Herself.
 
4) Yama Kali � This is that Indefinable aspect which represents her anakhya or transcendental power in relation to objective experience.
 
*As mentioned earlier, these four powers of srsti, sthiti, samhara and anakhya are relative to the objective (prameya) aspect of the energy of Consciousness.
 
4 Phases of Knowledge (Pramana)
 
5) Samhara kali - When Kali, also known as Para samvid or Supreme Consciousness in this system, brings about the disappearance of objectivity by digesting them in knowledge (pramana) She is known as Samhara Kali.  This is srsti or the emergence of knowledge in the stage of pramana.
 
6) Mrtyakali � This engulfs even Samahara Kali; She swallows up even the residual traces of the idea of withdrawl of the objective world. This is the sthiti or maintenance stage of Pramana or knowledge.
 
7) Bhadrakali � This is the power by which She destroys or dissolves all sense of vitiated or limited ideas in association with the senses and their objects.  This is the aspect of samhara or withdrawal in the stage of Pramana or knowledge.
 
8) Martanda Kali � This is that transcendental power by which She brings about the dissolution of the twelve senses in the ego-self.  The twelve Indriyas or senses are the five senses of perception, the five organs of action, the manas (mind), and the buddhi (ascertaining intellect).  This is that anakhya or transcendental phase which reduces the ego-feeling to such an extent that it becomes without substance.
 
*As mentioned earlier, these four phases of five through eight represent the srsti, sthiti, samhara, and anakhya phases of pramana or limited knowledge.
 
4 phases of Subject (Pramata)
 
9) Paramarkali � In this stage of pramata or the limited subject, objectivity (Prameya), and limited knowledge (Pramana) have been transcended, but the limited subject still retains the primal limiting veil of pasu or anava mala.  In this phase She represents srsti in relation to the limited subject.  As the Ahamkara or mind merges with her Creative Power, the emergence of awareness of limitation is evident.  This emergent awareness of a movement away from limitation and towards Parasamvid or Supreme Consciousness should not be confused with vitiated type of knowledge that is linear in nature.
 
10) Kalagnirudrakali � When Parasamvid brings about the identification of the limited subject with the Universal Self, She is known as Kalagnirudrakali.  This kali represents the power of maintenance (sthiti) in relation to the limited subject as it comes to abide or rest in the Universal Self.  At this phases She is also known as Mahakali.
 
11) Mahakalakali � She brings about the dissolution of the small �I� which is relational and exists as a point in space time, and brings about abidance in the perfect �I� which is the Bliss of the Absolute Consciousness characterized by awareness that is completely autonomous and possesses the absolute Knowledge/Power to accomplish any and every thing. This phase represents the power of samhara or withdrawal in relation to the limited subject.
 
12) Mahabhairava-ghora-candakali or Mahabhairavacandograghorakali � This state represents the transcendental state of anakhya in relation to the limited subject.  This refers to that state of Para Samvid which transcends all descriptions in words, hence it is called anakhya.  This is the Akula stage.  In it the subject (Pramata), the knowledge and means thereof (Pramana), and the object (Prameya) are all dissolved in the perfect I-consciousness.  This is also called Para or the Highest because all the previous states are Her manifestation.
 
And so it is in the Krama system that objectivity is dissolved, then limited knowledge of objectivity and means thereof are dissolved as well and finally, the limited subject comes to rest in the Supreme.
 
This system of Goddess worship in the form of Kali is termed shaktopaya. In it, the reverse path back to Supreme Consciousness is one of successive graduations, hence the worship of Kali who is the Goddess of time and space.  This is Krama system.
 
This small treatise is made possible by the grace of Lord Shiva, through Lord Shiva, as Lord Shiva, to the glory and bliss of Lord Shiva; my humble praise and undivided devotion go to my beloved Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, my beloved Swami Muktananda (Baba) Paramahamsa, and my beloved Mahamandaleshwar Nityananda (Guruji) of Shanti Mandir, and the world.
 
M Wampler
Park Hills, MO. U.S.A.
Oct. 30th 2000

 

 

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The Grand UniVerse of Primary Consciousness:
The Sorcerer's Handbook to the Void

by Michael Spirit
When Consciousness looks upon itself



What does it see?

THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF
THE UNIVERSE �AND THE 
ORIGINS OF LIFE!
Copyright 2001, All rights reserved

 

In One Magical Moment I looked at the Stars . .

                         I could just as easily have regarded the Cosmos as a happenstance of physicality, as an incidental artifact of an as yet unknown process of blind Chaos from which a Universe might emerge.

                        We really do not know what it is that we are born into because we interpret existence through an electro-chemical synthesis of senses and brain and therefore perceive a synthetic reality. ( All we are really able to perceive is a molecular coding in our gray matter. ) Our interpretation of space and time is a neurological translation of a quantum process that may only be conceived through mathematics ..and I assure you by my own experience - through deep meditation, but through normal classical observation, little of its true construct is actually perceived.

                         "There is no God".. as many Philosopher/Scientists in this day and age believe, "There is only our immature perception of a classical world, fraught with danger, that each of us are born into." I hear this quite often and I certainly understand the viewpoint, given the rigorous pursuit through Ockham's Razor of scientific fact.

But then I ask ..what is IT, actually, that many of us still call "God"?

                        I have carefully considered this question my entire life. What is the process of existence within which we dwell? ..and I have reached an inescapable conclusion. In order for a Universe to exist at all, however we perceive it, it must have come from a process that can only create a Universe by acting upon and through itself, a Wholeness of a Higher Order undivided from itself though differentiated within itself ..and in Dynamic Self-Encounter.

What would drive this process continuously and infinitely?
(From whence comes dynamic self-encounter?)

                        The Basis of Creation, the Primary Axiom of all Universal law is that a Wholeness is greater than the sum of its parts - hence it is unbalanced and thus seeks equivalence within and of itself ..and this curious, but fundamental fact that seems to go against all logic is nonetheless born out by the mathematical tools that are required to measure whole systems. If one attempts to measure a circle or a sphere, one must use an irrational number such as PI, which always leaves an irrational and therefore, dynamic remainder. (..and do not even begin to think that a wholeness would not have curvature. The straightest line conceivable is ultimately curved. A Wholeness is undivided from itself and therefore constrained to itself, stressing every part of itself. Such constraint is from whence curvature comes).

But, what does this mean in the grand scheme of things
and how does this apply as the basis of creation?

                          We look out upon the Cosmos even through our limited neurological interpretation and yet still perceive a constrained Universe. In the simplest understanding, if we consider the totality of the Cosmos, its spherical/elliptical construct is due to the curvature and therefore constraint of space-time. If we consider the fact that we cannot look out into the heavens to more than a distance of fifteen billion light years ..if we consider the fact that Hubble's Constant states that matter fifteen billion light years from us must be moving away at near the speed of light - hence we can see no further ..and finally if we consider that the speed of light itself restricts the velocity of matter, we must conclude that the Universe is a closed system undivided from itself, (consequently, the constraint of all Universal Constants and the laws of equilibrium and conservation of energy, ie "nothing is ever lost, only transformed"). 

It is a "Wholeness" from which nothing can escape. 

                          A Wholeness must act upon itself, for what else is there to act upon? Could it act upon another Wholeness, another Universe? If it could, then these two systems would be constrained within an even Greater Totality, undivided from each other as part of a Higher Order ..and since a Wholeness is greater than the sum of its parts and thus unbalanced, such Higher Order would continually drive its own self-encounter, forming diversified constructs within its own Infrastructure, (hence the creation of multiple Universal Expressions interpenetrating each other, all undivided from and as part of the infrastructure of a Greater Totality - a Multiverse). Of course, such Universal Constructs expressing within a Higher Totality are not individually separate from each other or from the Higher Totality and therefore do not meet the strict criteria of each being an individual Wholeness. If they exist within and as part of a Higher Order, then they are supported systems that require the forces of the Higher Totality in order to exist.

                         So now we can conceive of a driving force inherently fundamental to the Foundation of Creation, a Higher Totality in Dynamic Self-Encounter , driven by the fact that it is greater than the sum of its parts - driven by its own intrinsic Dynamism seeking balance ..within and of which Expressions - "Universal Spans", (our Span/ Expression conceived by science as the "Big Bang"), may be spawned. 

                         A Wholeness, even the Highest Totality, need not have size nor space. It can be an infinitesimal Iota - a sizeless condition, acting upon itself instantaneously and continuously, but it must express that action in some way within itself. If it is sizeless and spaceless and the Ultimate Totality, it would not display an "outside", since there would be nothing beyond it, all of existence contained within it, but it would still nevertheless have an infrastructure, an internal condition where its stress upon itself would be expressed. The action or "Tension" of a Wholeness upon itself must express as a multiplicity of diversities within itself, ( being in continuous self- encounter ), and thus its infrastructure though constrained, would be continuously and infinitely rearranged.

                         It is difficult to imagine an object that has no "outside", but has an "inside", given the limitation of our sensory perception, but it is not impossible given our propensity for mathematics. Isaac Newton conceived of such an object in his formulation of the Calculus and he called it a "Fluxion", a sizeless, spaceless function of Wholeness in dynamic self-encounter generating infinite diversity within its own infrastructure.

                         If we try to conceive of it from the outside, it isn't there - we imagine a "nothingness" and so cannot imagine from whence or how the Universe has emerged. The source Fluxion appears as a mystery that we call Chaos. If we interpret it from the inside, we see its infinitely changing infrastructure as the Cosmos, but still cannot imagine an "outside" - because there is no outside - and so still we cannot conceive how or from whence the Universe has emerged. 

                         In a Spiritual sense the mystery source becomes the Creator that we call God, somehow ruling from outside of the Universe, but nevertheless intimately entwined with it, and in the scientific view ..a Quantum Foam devoid of the logic of Classical Physics that has "somehow" created the Cosmos, (still perceived by the way, if only infinitesimally by science, as a "Creator"), and yet again I must point out that there is no "outside".

                         The Totality and Infrastructure of such an infinitesimal Wholeness would be constructed of the very force, the very law that drives it, as its own dynamic tension of imbalance upon itself, as the Axiomatic Willfulness of Creation. There is only one condition in existence that meets this criteria..

Consciousness!

                          It is sizeless and spaceless, but nevertheless Willful. Energy flows. Gravity constrains. Matter remains at rest until moved and remains in motion until interfered with. Matter is constructed of energy and energy is constructed of interactive "space-time" and space-time is constructed of the Primary Law of Creation - the instantaneous, continuous and therefore "Willful" Tension of a Sizeless, Spaceless, but Dynamic Wholeness upon itself - and that is what Consciousness is.

                          So now we have narrowed this concept down a bit. We can say that Consciousness,

The Fire That Lights Itself,

is the Primary Law of ...and the "Substance" of Creation and that this Cosmic Fluxion, this one and only Infinitesimal Wholeness, in Willful Self-Encounter is not other than this, from which has emerged our "Big Bang"...and many others ...and the entirety of Existence.

How would the Infrastructure of such a Condition
be affected by its Tension upon itself?

                           The stress of the Inertial Tension of an Iotic Wholeness upon itself must be taken internally, as such a structure has no "outside". Since the structure is "spherical" - ( actually elliptical due to differential stresses and weaknesses within its infrastructure and sizeless from every conceptual "outside" perspective ), the internal stress placed upon its infrastructure must express elliptically as well, as bubbles of inertial "space-time". Since the stress of a Wholeness upon itself affects every part of the Wholeness instantaneously, the stress upon its infrastructure is directionless, but nevertheless dynamic, (hence the "sphericity" of an emerging, expressing bubble, (Big Bang), of space-time). The infrastructure must express spherically within this Greater Totality from which it is undivided, (hence the curved structure of the Cosmos). But since this Greater Totality is acting upon itself there are always two undivided actions transpiring, the part that is acting, (the Wholeness), and the part being acted upon, (the Infrastructure of the Wholeness), and it is here in this process that the diversification of the Infrastructure and the further stress upon the Totality must occur. As a bubble of space-time emerges and expresses into the Wholeness, the infrastructure of the Wholeness is differentially stressed and at some point must express another bubble of space-time and therefore many "Universal Spans", many "Big Bangs" may be spawned, an infinite number, interpenetrating and interactive, within and of the Wholeness of this same process as, 

The Universe of Universes

The Multiverse

And this Entirety of Condition is what
we interpret as the Cosmos!

                        I know it is an Inertial Wholeness even through my classical neurological interpretation, because the Cosmos seeks equilibrium. Water seeks its own level, gases automatically fill a container, atoms and molecules unite wherever and whenever possible. 

                        Its primary function is "Imbalance seeking Equivalence", a Willful Function of Duality and therefore it acts upon itself through all of its undivided parts.

                        The simplest function of the Calculus describes the Multiverse perfectly. A function acting upon itself generates an infinite multiplicity of diversities within and of itself. It does not exist in space or time, for this Fluxion Foundation acts upon itself instantaneously, an Iota as the Noumenon of all Phenomena, as cause within its own effect! ..But within and of itself it is a Wholeness ..and nothing but that ..but within that, a Wholeness is always greater than the sum of its parts, (hence the existence of irrational and transcendental numbers), and through this fundamental attribute, Imbalance continually seeks Equivalence, generating an unending series of realities within and of its own structure.

                       Within such infinite diversity, Universes, Worlds and Life are generated ..and life forms being what they are, (Electro-Chemical Perceptors), especially higher life forms born into this process as Neuroceptors, (such as we), perceive the Wholeness from which they extend as "World" and thus such Localized Consciousness interpreting "space" and "time" are created Interactively and Undividedly within.

                         And then this process, undivided from the life forms it has made of itself thus looks back upon itself through the synthetic, analytical realities of its progeny and sees itself uniquely through their eyes as the Physical Cosmos!

                          Here is the seat of all Consciousness, the Foundational Axiom of Creation, as we and all that we perceive and beyond, are but extensions of this greater Universal Mind, whose thoughts we perceive and interpret as our own reality.

In all sincerity, I plead my case,

If not a Creator in Self-Creation,

Then what shall I call this..?

 

In Contemplation of the Universal Mind

                     What entity eludes our view at the root of existence, evermore unknowable, �a capricious shadow evading every attempt at description? Our World Reality seems but a trance-like derivative of this deeper, more fundamental Architect. Ahh �but our reality is not so dreamlike... Governed by the rules of physics, the rules of life �we are undeniably connected to this �Creator�, though we perceive its wonders through a transitory vision, through a neurological synthesis � experiencing our �World� through senses and brain. But at its foundation, this �Prime Mover� follows its own agenda, creating �trans-emanating� our world by experiencing itself in a differential way, dualizing and multiplying its perception and comprehension by seeing through itself, creating living forms of itself such as we and other beings in the process �and because it sees through itself �that which it �sees�, sees itself through the seer! �thus weaving into multiplicity, dynamic realities within and of its own structure. These are the undivided expressions of the Noumenon of Primary Consciousness that we as its extended awareness are born into, that we sensorially interpret as �World� �and that is what �Existence� is...

Copyright 2001, 2002 - All rights reserved

 

Read the entire book online: http://primordality.com/preface.htm

 

 

 

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Highlights Home Page and Archive: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

 

Letter to the Editors: Click 'Reply' on your email program, compose your message, and 'Send'. All the editors will see your letter.

 

 

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This is a fairly brief Highlights. It includes an original letter by me and a couple of articles found online. The subject is Advaita Vedanta.

 

 

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from http://www.ods.nl/am1gos/am1gos5/index.html?wl_instrument_us.html~mainFrame

 

Question: Advaita as a tool? A practical question. Is there anything that can be applied?

 

Wayne Liquorman: "If you go on the Web and type in 'advaita' you'll find 'the advaita of parenting', 'the advaita of business' etc. in the same way as 10 years ago about 'Zen': 'the Zen of power', 'the Zen of relationships' etc. and before that we got 'Tao', 'the Tao of power', 'the Tao of Pooh', 'the Tao of relationship' etc. So now 'advaita' is the latest label to play with. Parenting, relating, marketing, business or whatever ... in order to give it some marketing punch. But advaita is not a tool! Advaita, as all esoteric teachings like Zen and Tao are not tools, they are descriptors; they describe the nature of what is; they don't prescribe what you should do!!

 

~~~

 

 

I typed into Google 'Advaita' and 'the advaita of', and apparently there is no such culture.

 

To my knowledge, the only 'Advaita of' book (excluding titles such as 'The Advaita of Sankara ... of Hinduism, etc.) is The Advaita of Art, by Harsha V. Dehejia (excerpt below). It is a little known, scholarly work which puts forth an advaita of assertion, joy, creation and freedom. It's a diverse, playful Advaita, mostly steeped in Kashmir Saivism.

 

Besides that book, there is no such 'Advaita of' culture. The roots of such a culture are found in The Advaita of Art and probably in the spirit of other books, people and groups. There is an 'Advaita Vedanta of' culture which can be culled from the teachings of gurus and sages.

 

As far as description versus prescription, it is true that in the radical nondual teachings there is pure confession or description: "Where mind and speech can utter nothing, how can there be instruction by a teacher? To the teacher -- ever united with Brahman -- who has said these words, the homogenous Truth shines out." --Avadhuta Gita.

 

 

There are three terms interesting to look at: Advaita Vedanta, Advaita, and Nonduality. 

 

The Upanishads lean against the Vedas like ivy conforming to architecture. Vedanta means "end of the veda" and is the essence of the Upanishads as set forth in the Vedanta Sutras. Of Vedanta's three schools of thought, Advaita espouses radical nonduality as exemplified in the words from the Avadhuta, quoted above.

 

Nonduality, or nondualism, is non-separateness known either within or outside the roots of Advaita Vedanta. Nonduality is described from any point of existence, whether one is a farmer, a physicist or a transvestite. A given known nonduality may be fully separate from Hindu scriptural texts. Some western nondual realizers and confessors had no exposure to Hindu scriptures and have yet communicated classically about nondual realization.

 

Advaita is usually used as an abbreviated form of Advaita Vedanta. There is another Advaita that I would call chai nonduality. It's westernized Advaita Vedanta. It has some roots in Hindu scripture. Perhaps it's best demonstrated on certain email lists and forums where people speak freely. I don't have an example of it, but, like Wayne, I have an impression of its use. Some people use 'advaita' when they could use 'nonduality'. Maybe they're the same people that use chopsticks in a western restaurant where everyone else is using a fork. There is also the pre-Advaita Vedanta use of advaita. I don't know if we'd find anyone anywhere who is using the term advaita from that disposition

 

I like the freedom of the term 'nonduality' because there's nothing in the name that links it to any culture other than its own.

 

Here's an excerpt from The Advaita of Art, by Harsha V. Kehejia

 

Literally advaita merely means non-dual, the negative emphasizing the oneness, but even more importantly advaita is essentially an epistemic concept. Abhinavagupta rightly says that "ignorance is the sense of duality." However in the Indian tradition the term advaita always refers to matters transcendent and not merely mundane. What it came to the darsanas the term advaita came to be used to identify a certain school and in particular the Advaita Vedanta of Sankara, which is our purvapaksa. Our usage of the term advaita in this inquiry stays away from these conventional usages but instead investigates the oneness of art and aesthetic experience, the bond of the kavi, kavya and rasike, the unbroken unity of kavya, artha and ananda, the biune unity of the cognising subject and the object of cognition in an artistic epistemic experience, the advaita that retains the material and the vital of a purusa but pushes to the spiritual of the Purusa, and advaita that sustains itself not by negation but by assertion, and advaita of joyous celebration of the creative spirit of man, an advaita of artistic creation and aesthetic recreation, and advaita of freedom, and advaita that stirs the aesthete to experience the art object and exclaim Sivo 'ham.

 

 

 

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THE SPEAKING TREE

Ultimately the Seer Becomes the Seen

KAILASH VAJPEYI

The word ' Veda ' is derived from the Sanskrit root ' vid '. The Vedas are the wellsprings of
Indian literature and philosophy. They consist of: Samhitas or collection of hymns, prayers and
sacrificial formulas, Brahmanas , which contain theological matter and the significance of
sacrificial rites, and Aranyakas or forest texts and the Upanishads.

The Upanishads are like secret doctrines which are contained in various Vedas and the Brahmanas are
independent works and the meditations of forest hermits and ascetics � on God, the world and
humankind. Containing samhitas which originated in different schools, these divergent branches are
known as shakhas . Together, they form the foundations for sanatan dharm or eternal religion.

The acme of Vedas is known as the philosophy of vedant , the spirit of which is based on the
teachings of the Upanishads. Inspired by the content of the Upanishads, philosopher Badarayana
wrote some sutras known as Brahma Sutras . Since they were unintelligible to most, they were
defined and redefined by Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhwacharya. Shankaracharya formulated the
doctrine of advaita or non-dualism � that only the ultimate principle is real and all other
phenomena are ephemeral or maya ('that which is not'). For Shankara the apparent reality is
illusive and the only recourse to dispel this illusion is self-realisation with the help of
knowledge. The means to the attainment of knowledge are dispassion, discrimination, propitiating
the Lord, implicit faith in the words of the Vedas, turning away completely from all sense objects
and yearning for liberation from the bondage of ignorance. Shankara's doctrine of monism is
non-negotiable. According to him, you recognise the implicit nature of Brahmn when you become
oblivious of your own material existence. The seer becomes seen. The experiencer and the experience
become one.

Ramanuja's Shribhashya is a classic Vaishnava text. According to Ramanuja, Brahmn existed before
any other type of existence. Vishnu or Brahmn is the cause of all apparent reality. He is free from
all imperfections and beyond him there is nothing. Brahmn is the highest spiritual principle and is
at the root of all phenomena. For him the material world is achit or unconscious, but because of
being an integral part of Vishnu, apparent reality including the human soul, can never be separated
from Brahmn . It can't even offer resistance. Vishnu is full of love for humankind; therefore he
incarnates in various forms for the salvation of humans. The individual human soul is a quanta of
the Supreme Being and yet it has a separate identity. Ramanuja repeatedly said that the individual
soul is subject to ignorance and suffering mainly because of 'unbelief'. For him the means to
salvation is not knowledge but faith or love of Vishnu. Ramanuja's philosophy is known as qualified
dualism or Vishishta-advaita. Madhwacharya propounded the theory of dualism. According to him,
though Brahmn is the cause of the world, he is essentially different from the individual soul.

The differences in these approaches are fundamental, but as long as one is caught in the cycle of
birth and death it is fallacious to think that the jiva or the individual soul is identical to the
Brahmn . They cannot be coupled together as long as the individual soul is engaged in the pursuit
of material happiness. However, once ' jiva ' has transcended all the ordeals of worldly desires, a
reunion becomes possible.

 

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from http://www.poonja.com/Advaita_Vedanta.htm

In the Sankrit language Advaita means "not two" and Vedanta means "the end of knowledge". So one could say that Advaita Vedanta is the non-dual experience at the end of knowledge, or beyond knowledge. However, in the non-dual state there can be no experiencer and experience and so the term arises, "The Mystery beyond the mind," simply because that That that is beyond the mind cannot be conceptualized much less described by the mind. This mystery refers to the cessation of the experience of duality, the removal of separation between any two objects, the lifting of the veil of illusoryness, the drowning of individualness in the eternal ocean of Love.

This Mystery is the Majesty of Saints like Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi of Tiruvannamalai, his disciple Sri H.W.L. Poonja of Lucknow, Ananda Mayi Ma of Haridwar, and Sri Nisargadatta of Bombay. By their words, their touch, their look, and mostly just by their presence these Saints enlighten their disciples.

Enlighten is a word that is a gossomer vessel overflowing with sticky concepts. For lack of a better word it is used but realize that any word, any concept, and any Saint is a finger pointing to Advaita Vedanta, the Mystery Beyond the Mind.

The Rig Veda, the oldest book on the planet, tries to describe the mystery by singing hundreds of thousands of hymns and yet it comes to the famous conclusion: Neti, Neti, meaning 'not this, not this'. Freedom, Enlightenment, Love, though the topic of Advaita Vedanta remains untouched by the wondering mind, and yet is the light by which the mind sees. Only when the mind stops does Consciousness behold Itself. Then 'Consciousness knows the Truth and the Truth sets itself Free'. You are this Truth, the Isness joyously radiating as the Light of this Moment.

Photo by Sam: http://home.hccnet.nl/sam.pas/odds_and_ends/photos/photo_21.html

 

 

from "Wherever You Go There You Are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn:

When we describe the sitting posture, the word that feels the most
appropriate is "dignity."

Sitting down to meditate, our posture talks to us. It makes its own
statement. You might say the posture itself is the meditation. If we
slump, it reflects low energy, passivity, a lack of clarity. If we sit
ramrod-straight, we are tense, making too much of an effort, trying
too hard. When I use the word "dignity" in teaching situations, as in
"Sit in a way that embodies dignity," everybody immediately adjusts
their posture to sit up straighter. But they don't stiffen. Faces
relax, shoulders drop, head, neck, and back come into easy alignment.
The spine rises out of the pelvis with energy. Sometimes people tend
to sit forward, away from the backs of their chairs, more
autonomously. Everybody seems to instantly know that inner feeling of
dignity and how to embody it.

Try: Sitting with dignity for thirty seconds. Note how you feel. Try
it standing with dignity. Where are your shoulders? How is your spine,
your head? What would it mean to walk with dignity?

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Yoga Vasishtha

From "Teachings of the Hindu Mystics," � 2001 by Andrew Harvey. Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com

 

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Presence and unpretentiousness

"Presence can be described as Being aware of Itself. Its effects are
contagious. When we are in the Presence of an individual who has
awakened from the dream of "me", we can sense an unpretentiousness,
lucidity, transparency, joy and ease of being. Those same qualities
are elicited within ourselves. What is normally background may
temporarily be called into the foreground of attention. When Presence
is particularly strong and we are particularly open, it may feel as if
a fire has been ignited."
John J. Prendergast
The Sacred Mirror
.......................................

"What to look for in a teacher.
... 3. Can you have a regular, how's the weather conversation with
her? Look for a teacher who practices the "open secret," who enjoys
the fact we're all in this together. If she is too busy with her own
messianic complex, she probably won't have time to attend to your
education. She can be noble, grand, detached, and powerful while also
being down to earth and personal."
Elizabeth Lesser
.......................................

"When Bishop Desmond Tutu introduced Nelson Mandela at his
inauguration as the new president of south Africa, he described him as
being a man who had Obuntubotho. Obuntubotho, he said, is the essence
of being human. You know when it is there and when it is absent. It
speaks about humanness, gentleness, putting yourself out on behalf of
others, being vulnerable. It embraces compassion, and toughness. It
recognizes my humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human
together."
Elizabeth Lesser
.......................................

"Obuntubotho is a sign of progress on the spiritual adventure. As you
journey onward - with or without a teacher, in a group or alone, in
virgin territory or on a well-worn path - you will be given signs and
messages wherever you turn. The world will become a bank of messages.
The more you travel onward, the more finely tuned you will become."
Elizabeth Lesser
.......................................

"The Yiddish word for Obuntubotho is mensch. Spirituality makes you a
mensch. A mensch is someone others want to be around because of a
certain something - a kindness, a warmth, a quality of genuineness. A
sign of progress on the path is the trust of other people."
Elizabeth Lesser
The Seeker's Guide
(Cofounder of the Omega Institute)

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Viorica Weissman ~ MillionPaths

A dialogue between David Godman and Maalok, #9

Maalok: A curious thing happened the other day during my visit to Delhi. I accompanied my niece to a famous bookstore in Delhi. They had a big section on spirituality. I scanned the section carefully only to find not a single book on Ramana Maharshi. On inquiring, the bookstore manager told me that books on Ramana Maharshi are simply not popular and don't sell easily. Being the editor and author of significant books on Ramana Maharshi and his disciples, I was wondering if this has been your experience as well? If so, in your opinion, why?

 

David: They are not as popular as books by modern teachers such as Osho, nor do they have the appeal of the kind of self-help or new-age titles that seem to fill the 'spirituality' shelves in most bookstores. However, they do have steady, enduring sales. The standard texts that record Sri Ramana's dialogues tend to sell almost a thousand copies a year, every year, year after year. That means that a book such as Talks with Ramana Maharshi, which was first published in the mid-1950s, has probably sold well over 40,000 copies by now, and it continues to sell. I should mention that this is a 650-page hardback, and it's not an easy read unless you have a good knowledge of Sanskrit spiritual terms. New people discover Sri Ramana and his teachings every year, and every year the basic titles keep on selling. 

     Sri Ramanasramam, the publisher of most of the books on Sri Ramana, takes a rather passive approach to distribution. Its publishing and sales department fulfils orders that come in, but they don't advertise, and they don't lobby bookstores or distributors to take their books. That may be one reason why books on Sri Ramana don't often appear on bookstore shelves. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that most bookstore managers, even in India, don't know that good books on Ramana Maharshi exist. 

     Having said that, I will also concede that books that attempt to codify or explain his teachings will never be very popular. I think they will always be restricted to a small market of discriminating people who have a hunger for spiritual liberation. In any generation that group will not be very large. Sri Ramana's teachings are not a 'feel-good' philosophy, nor do they offer quick fixes or instant experiences. They, instead, offer a tried and tested roadmap to those who want to pursue spiritual practice seriously. That kind of traditional approach is not so popular nowadays. People want instant results, not a prescription for hard work. 

     About twenty years ago I attended a talk in which an enthusiastic speaker said that he wanted to bring Sri Ramana's teachings to millions of people all over the world. The next man who stood up commented on this proposal by saying: 'I think this idea is misguided. The more accurately you explain Ramana Maharshi's teachings, the fewer people you will find are interested in them. If you succeed in finding millions of new devotees for Sri Ramana, that will only be a measure of the extent to which you have diluted his teachings.' 

     I think that I agree with this. Ramana Maharshi was an exemplary saint who transformed the lives of countless people. Books about the transforming effect he had on people who came to see him will probably always find a good market, but if you publish a book about his teachings, few people will be interested in buying it, and even fewer in putting into practice the teachings that it contains.

 

www.davidgodman.org

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Skydancer ~ Dzogchen

"I often meet people who hold no
particular religious or philosophical
views but who, in a quiet and simple way,
take refuge in wisdom.

They are sensitive to their own and others'
needs and try to give their lives meaning
by developing themselves and helping others.

In my opinion, such people are Buddhists,
although they may never have heard
of Shakyamuni Buddha or his Dharma."

from 'Refuge' by Lama Yeshe
http://www.lamayeshe.com/lamayeshe/refuge.shtml

~  ~  ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear NondualitySalon,

I just joined you today, and I'm enjoying the discussions. My name is
Mark, and the discussion of trying to realize versus realizing is very
interesting to me.

Roger said

"I was reading something from Ramana Maharishi last night. He was saying
the effort is necessary right up to the point of realization."

, and I have noticed that when I try to relax, it often helps to first
tense the muscles I want relaxed, to get a feel for tension, so that I
recognize the absence of tension as I let go. I wonder if this may be a
metaphor for that grand finale we are calling "the moment of
realization"? I think that in the course of waking up, one discovers
that things as they are - with our personalities fully armed for defense
is unacceptable, and one begins trying to let go of the tension of all
that defense. For awhile, that works by itself, because the tension is
HUGE. As we let go and let go and let go, it becomes subtle, but there
is still letting go to be done. Perhaps the effort is simply helping us
remember what effort feels like so we can then allow effort to fall
away, just as I clench my jaw more tightly than normal to remember how
to unclench my jaw when I want to relax that bit of the effort.

jodyr said:

"I sure wish someone would have stepped up and explained to me the
difference between self confirmation and Self realization."

Is this not the same idea? The reason we are not "realized" is that we
are so busy confirming our being. (applying effort to be). Realization
is dropping that struggle to be and accepting that we don't really "be"
after all. We think we are human "beings", but we are concerned that
maybe we aren't, so we practice being on a constant basis. Indeed, as
we get closer to not being (the "true" state of affairs), it may well be
increasingly frightening, so validating oneself at Satsang is making use
of that all important defense against dissolution in the place it is
most important to use it - the very place where there is the pregnant
possibility of dissolution. It's not surprising that people want to do
that, and it is also quite appropriate to try to get them to stop it if
they want realization. That's why it is so useful to make everywhere
and everywhen into Satsang. The Sangha is the entire Universe, and
everything points to your identity with the whole thing, if you
cultivate that way of looking. Cultivating that way of looking is of
course the effort that finally exhausts you so you finally give up and
realize the thing you were working so hard to find has been there all
along. (Whew!) I don't think it IS a paradox. I just think we've
become so accustomed to the trying (the tension) we've forgotten that
it's possible to relax, so we don't know how to anymore.

One more metaphor and I will quiet down awhile. I think it's like
spinning when we were kids. The effort is the using our muscles to spin
around and around, and realization is the letting go and falling to the
ground to enjoy the ride. You've all been spinning long enough, so let
go and enjoy. (Aren't those great words for it? "Let go (let what
go?)" "en-joy". Letting yourself go IS joyous.)

I hope this helps. May all beings be free.
Love, Mark

 

 

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you asked about compassion/dispassion
Compassion is natural in relations with others. But before spending too much time on it, and if you are ready, why not inspect the whole matter in a much deeper way.

When you have compassion for another, a big assumption has already been made. You are assuming that there is someone else that is (different from) not you. You have assumed you are somebody or something or you wouldn�t be cognizing someone or something �else�. Before you go about trying to correct or help the apparent others, it is wise to see if there really are any others and who it is that is assuming such a thing. In order to know if there are any others you should first see who it is that cognizes them.

Who sees the others? This seems like such a remedial question, yet to honestly and sincerely ask it could change your whole outlook to the point of radical joy. Understanding the truth of your own existence will clear up the question of how to treat others.

If you inspect the conceiving of those others, who perhaps need your compassion, you may come to the understanding that there are no others unless you imagine them.

Consider your dream state. You may have deep compassion for the others in your dreams, and go about all kinds of maneuvering to help them out, yet upon waking you see the whole thing was a bunch of mind fluff. Not only were the others unreal, but yourself as a dream character was unreal. Is it ultimately important to spend time nursing phantoms? Is dispassion called for?


Teachings about dispassion toward the world and others are meant to turn your attention inward toward the source of all arising phenomena. The whole notion of others depends on who you are taking yourself to be. If you are an ant, the others will appear to be ants. If you are a dream character of some kind, the others will appear accordingly. Instead of looking outward towards the others, try looking at yourself. If it is obvious you are not an ant or a dream character, what makes you think you are a human being? Is a human body your real identity? When attention is turned inward toward the essence of your own existence it is possible to discover the wonderful truth of who you really are. Dispassion towards what seems to be outside of you is simply a tool to quiet the mind and thus wake up to what is real about yourself and others.

Dispassion gets interesting when it is directed at your own assumed identity. The real dispassion should be toward your own persona because all the �others� stem from that initial assumption. Instead of assuming an identity as a human being and then trying to be compassionate toward the apparently human others, it is more wise to question your own identity.

When you deeply and thoroughly look at your self, where do you find your self? If you find yourself objectively, can it really be you? To be dispassionate toward what you have wrongly taken to be yourself will allow you great clarity and freedom. When there are no notions about yourself and others, what remains? To find this out for yourself is liberation.

Once found, it is so enjoyable that no dispassion is needed! When you know who you really are, it is clear that there is only one Self with no others. If there appear to be others they are yourself. From this point of view where is the need for compassion?
.

 

 

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These are downloadable mp3 audios of Mokshananda, Marlies Cocheret, Mary Winslow and others, who each give satsang, mostly in and around Santa
Cruz, CA
http://www.cichlid.com/satsang

Site is maintained by Andrew Burgess (Andy), he sends out the Satsang
Newletter email for Santa Cruz area
http://www.cichlid.com/satsang_newsletter.html

from the newsletter:

 

Question
Why don't monks vacuum the monastery?
They have no attachments.

 

 

 

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"The foolish reject what they see,
not what they think,
the wise reject what they think,
not what they see."
~Huang Po


From the book "Buddhism Is Not What You Think,"
written by Steve Hagen, published by
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

~ ~ ~

 

"Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky.
Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon
is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the
moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear
mind - it is always there. When thinking comes,
behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes,
there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and
goes, comes and goes. You must not be attached to
the coming or the going."
~Zen Master Seung Sahn


From the website, "Twilight Bridge,"
http://www.twilightbridge.com/

 

 

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Our mentality is still so primitive that only certain functions and
areas have outgrown the primary mystic identity with the object. 
Primitive man has a minimum of self-awareness combined with a maximum
of attachment to the object; hence the object can exercise a direct
magical compulsion upon him.


GENERAL ASPECTS OF DREAM PSYCHOLOGY
[C.W. 516]
Carl Gustav Jung

 

 

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