The following is an excerpt from the book ‘Annamalai Swami Final Talks’ (bold added by me):
Annamalai Swami: ….Your mind is an insubstantial shadow that will follow you around wherever you go. Attempts to eliminate or control it cannot succeed while there is still a belief that the mind is real, and that it is something that can be controlled by physical or mental activity.
Question: But this shadow mind must still be eliminated by some means.
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The following is an excerpt from the book ‘Annamalai Swami Final Talks’ (bold added by me):
Question: One can have a temporary experience of the Self, the underlying reality, but then it goes away. Can you offer any guidance on how to stabilise in that state?
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The following excerpt is taken from the book “How to see yourself as you really are” by the Dalai Lama:
What makes all this trouble in the world? Our own counterproductive emotions. Once they are generated, they harm us both superficially and deeply. These afflictive emotions accomplish nothing but trouble from beginning to end. If we tried to counteract each and every one individually, we would find ourselves in an endless struggle. So what is the root cause of afflictive emotions that we can address more fruitfully? Continue reading
There is no ‘you’
that is enlightened
or not enlightened:
there is only enlightenment. Continue reading
When things are seen for what they are,
it can be seen there is no doer:
there is just what’s happening
happening.
Suffering tends
to drastically lessen
as old ideologies fall away. Continue reading
You have never done a thing.
Why?
Because you do not exist.
You did not chose your gender (at birth),
the colour of your eyes, Continue reading
To realise that there is no point to the spiritual search is the end of seeking spiritual experiences.
This absence of seeking is itself the fulfillment we were looking for.
Here there is no enlightenment. This is the enlightenment.
An apparent paradox.
Now things are seen for what they are: a mysterious unfolding of events, thoughts, feelings, desires and happenings.
All seamless,
Ever-changing and therefore without form,
And without a doer.
Just what is.
Spirituality is not physics. Lots of people who are interested and immersed in spirituality get confused about this. Just because something feels/ is perceived/ is intuited a certain way, does not mean that it is actually like that. It’s obvious really. Spirituality deals with subjective experience. Science deals with learning how to predict what will occur in various different situations. Some examples:
eg. I have a feeling/perception that all is one and everything is interconnected. Therefore everything in the universe is actually one and interconnected.
It just so happens that in the so-called ‘West’ there has been a rapid development of science in the last few centuries. If we want to understand how things work, if we want to develop technologies and medicine, we turn to ‘Western’ science.
Also, it just so happens that when it comes to introspection and exploration of subjective inner states of consciousness, the so-called ‘East’ has had the historical monopoly. There have been a few thousand years of rigorous exploration of consciousness through meditative, contemplative, tantric and various other practices. This has allowed humans to discover and access mental states in which truths about our minds and subjective experience can be discovered and experienced first-hand without the need for belief. Continue reading
Tom Das 