Tom’s comments:
Liberation or self knowledge is not for the mind or for the person or for the body mind entity.
There is no separate entity that can be liberated or exist in liberation.
There is no separate person who could know the self.
The self figuratively speaking ‘knows’ itself. This is self-knowledge
🙏❤️
Genuine non-dual teachings do not say there is no right or wrong or no good or bad at the relative level of phenomenal objects.
On the relative level there are clearly some things that are more desirable in society than others, and some actions that are more harmonious and constructive than others.
This should be obvious in any clear-thinking human being that has not been brainwashed by an ideology.
Genuine non-dual teachings always encourage ethical and responsible behaviour.
Anything else, such as the notion that relatively speaking there is no right or wrong or good or bad, is just pure conceptual intellectualism, an erroneous pit of conceptual belief
🙏❤️
Q. Non-dual means total acceptance of everything. Everything!
Tom: No, that is just acceptance (of duality), for the ego-mind. ‘Everything’ means duality and multiplicity, and ‘accept’ means an action for the ego. (Note that practising acceptance can be a wonderful practise for some – that this can be a wonderful practise is not being denied here)
Even if we talk about the innate acceptance of awareness spontaneously ‘accepting’ all phenomena, there is still a subtle duality there.
Q. How so?
Tom: There is still the duality of awareness on one hand, and the phenomena which rise and fall within it on the other. That is still a duality, albeit a more subtle one. Non-duality is much much deeper that this, much more profound, and in its essence, much simpler too.
Genuine non-duality cannot be reduced to merely accepting whatever happens as it happens. Genuine non-duality is a shining sun, blissful, infinite, beyond all comprehension. In non-duality there is no ‘everything’ to accept, nor any entity that could accept.
It is the cessation of all phenomena, suffering and duality. There is no separation, nor any appearance of separation.
It is bliss and beyond words, infinite and bright, prior to and beyond both birth and death.
It is your true nature.
Turn within, humbled, with love and heartfelt earnest devotion and surrender, armed with and surrounded by Bhagavan’s (The Beloved’s) Grace, and discover what you truly are.
🙏❤️
Q. Today after meditation I find myself again in a non dual state, completely present and not separate. So why does anger, irritation, fear, loneliness, sadness etc still arise?
Tom: There is a “great secret’ which many non-dual teachings do not mention, and without this vital teaching, liberation will not occur for most (for some this teaching can occur spontaneously without it being taught, but for most it will need to be taught outright).
The reason disturbances and difficulties keep on coming back is this. However when the mind first hears this teaching, it may often resist it based on what it thinks it knows about non-duality. So it is important to keep an open mind when reading about these teachings, otherwise your mind, due to its beliefs and conditioning (eg. about the nature of non-duality and non-dual teachings), will not allow you to see the truth or effectiveness of what is being presented.
The key teaching seldom taught is this: it is that you will never attain liberation as long as you stay on the level of objects (savikalpa, which means on the level of objects).
This is why all the great sages and great teachers, and all the ancient non-dual teachings recommend that the mind should go within, away from objects, which is called ‘nirvikalpa’ (without objects), and discover the self or your true nature within.
Then, and only then is the genuine non duality reached in which suffering and egotism never returns. Otherwise these both keep on returning, together with the associated frustration and bemusement.
I explain this in more detail in this video here below. Please also see the introductory articles on tomdas.com together with the recommended reading list which go into more detail. The rest of the website goes on to answer almost every single question you can have on this path. All the teachings are available for free 🙏
Here is the video, please take a look if you want to know more:
https://youtu.be/s9LgE9u6PhI?si=25hBbMfLdYZ-lud7
Q. What does spiritual mean to you? What does the word mean? And what is spirit?
Tom: to me spirit means something ineffable that you are. Or it can mean the ineffable divine power that is within you and all around you, that moves all and can also teach you and guide you.
Both are ultimately the same.
Spiritual means pertaining to spirit.
Ultimately spirituality means to know yourself as you truly are (ie. as spirit)
Q. Thanks for your reply, there Tom! Would you say that, ‘Energy, Vibration, Frequency’, fits the description you commented?
Tom: I prefer not to use any of those words to describe spirit, for they pertain to movement and form, whereas spirit is ineffable and beyond movement or form.
🙏
by Tom Das
(Please see if the following is helpful for you…)
Total and utter humility and total self-honesty are keys to liberation:
Realise how fragile you are, how little you really know, and how vulnerable you are to suffering.
Your beliefs, your ego, your defences, your conceit and your thought patterns convince you that you will be safe, that you can weather the storm…but admit the truth! That you are totally helpless and totally vulnerable to immense suffering and calamity. Admit it.
At any moment you are liable to crack open, break down and become a nervous wreck. Be truthful with yourself – admit it.
So…
Instead…
Be small, be vulnerable, be humble…
And then you can,
With tears of pining despair flowing,
Admit how much you want to be with HIM,
SAFE IN HIS ARMS:
Take refuge in HIM
– only in HIM are you safe:
Withdraw from the many objects into the SUBJECT,
HIM,
– ‘Out there it is unsafe’…
Therefore,
Timid, vulnerable, cowing,
Withdraw within,
Fearful and quivering,
TAKE REFUGE in HIS PRESENCE
Wherein he will cleanse you and MAKE YOU WHOLE.
Guru Bhavagan Sri Ramana has told us:
“O heart of mine, it is not wise to stay out.
Safe it is to stay within. Conceal yourself from maya
Which plans to draw you out to destroy you.
Stay within.”
(Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 187)
and
“For those who ever think of and cling to the Feet of
the Sadguru, who is the blazing flame of pure Jnana,
through the Grace obtained by such Guru-bhakti, their
minds will become clear and they will achieve Mei-
Jnana [True Knowledge].”
(Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 305)
Abide with HIM, the SELF within,
Immerse yourself in HIS GRACE,
Drown and anihilate your ego-self, the SOLUTE
in HIM, the DIVINE SOLVENT.
As Guru Bhavagan Sri Ramana has told us:
“Worship of [ie. surrender to] the Feet of the Guru,
with Guru-bhakti, is the real mantra, which will
destroy all the rising vasanas and bestow Jnana,
in which there will be no fear of Maya’s delusion.
Thus should you know.”
(Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 306)
You – the ego – who are the source of all suffering and pain,
DISSOLVE YOURSELF in HIM
So that ONLY HIS RADIANT PRESENCE remains
Abiding silently as SELF WITHIN
is to BE WITH HIM
-This is the highest WORSHIP OF HIM
As Bhagavan Sri Ramana says:
“Extinguishing the triple fire,
The Guru’s Feet have given us shelter.
To abide there and control the mind
From craving for the world of sense
Is worship of those Flowery Feet.“
(Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 318)
Do NOT allow the world to take you away from him
Do NOT allow the world to prevent you from BEING WITH HIM
Do NOT allow the world to prevent you from BEING IN HIS BLISSFULL EMBRACE
Do NOT allow the world to prevent you from WORSHIPPING HIM EVERY SPARE SECOND YOU HAVE
Do NOT allow your thoughts to take you away from HIM
Do NOT allow your thoughts to prevent you from WORSHIPPING HIM IN SILENT BLISS
Do NOT allow your thoughts to stop you WITHDRAWING INTO YOURSELF and taking HIM AS REFUGE
Tell yourself:
I will NOT allow the world to take me away from HIM
I will NOT allow my thoughts to take me away from HIM
I will NOT allow the mind and world to take me away from MY WORSHIP OF HIM,
MY BEAUTIFUL REFUGE WITHIN
BE WITH HIM
Be in his PRESESNCE
BE STILL
and
BE WITH HIM
DISSOLVE YOURSELF IN HIM
So ONLY HE,
The Residue,
Remains.
Tell yourself:
I will allow myself to DISSOLVE IN HIM until ONLY HE REMAINS
Holy Mount Arunachala,
The FORM OF THE SELF,
Holy BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA,
The FORM OF THE SELF,
May I gaze upon thy form,
outwardly and inwardly,
May I take refuge in thee,
May I entrust myself to your BLISSFULL EMBRACE,
WITHIN
And become one with YOU
Destroying myself
Discovering myself
So that only YOU remain
As Maha Guru Sri Bhagavan says:
“By coming near to the Sadguru
and by depending completely upon His Grace,
with great Guru bhakti,
one will have no misery in this world
and will live like Indra.”
(Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 324)
!Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om!
!Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om!
!Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om!
Mocking, judging, or ridiculing others who have a different view to you – even when there is truth in your perspective – can point to a deeper lack of empathy and genuine understanding within yourself. It can reflect unprocessed emotions such as hurt, anger, frustration, or confusion, and it can also reflect a lack of understanding in what is actually going on in the world around you and in other people’s experiences.
This kind of ridicule also fosters ‘othering’, a subtle form of dehumanising those with different perspectives and different values to your own. Instead of opening space for dialogue or empathy, it widens divides and reinforces distance between people, keeping us more polarised rather than bringing us together. It escalates rather than de-escalates. It spews out more mess, rather than helping to clean up.
Rather than speaking and acting out of frustration and anger (or other negative emotions), it is often more healing and productive to pause, reflect, and process what is happening – both within yourself and also in trying to understand the experiences of others. If you want to help ‘clean up’ rather than ‘create more mess’, it is especially important to understand where other people are coming from in these situations: their experiences, their ideas, their values, their hurts, their frustrations, their grievances, etc, so take your time…
Be Still for a while. Be curious. Notice any resistance and rigidity/fixity in yourself. See if it helps you to replace condemnation and judgement with openness, curiosity, humility and emotional vulnerability. Learn about the other, listen, truly listen (and learn).
If you allow it, this process will eventually take you to LOVE and COMPASSION.
Others may still disagree with you, and you may disagree with them too! And some may ‘other’ you and even be rude towards you, but approaching interactions this way allows you to be clear in yourself. It allows you to go forth with empathy and compassion, peaceful and grounded; it allows you to be able to engage without fueling division and hatred, without adding to the mess in this already (apparently) messy world. It (hopefully) allows you to be able to respond more wisely rather than simply react.
Yes, there is a place for strength! Yes, there is also a place for limits and boundaries! But let us try to do this from a Place of Peace rather than of negativity, othering and frustration.
May peace be with you
❤🙏❤
This is a Path of Love.
Even the path of knowledge and the non-dual teachings are truly only a path of love.
That Love comes from within. It is a genuine Love, not just a concept of Love or Oneness. It is also called Peace or Bliss or the Heart ❤️
Be Still and Know.
Be Still and Receive.
🙏🙏🙏
❤️❤️❤️
The music of the Self, which is always playing in your Heart, can only be heard with the inner ear when the mind is extremely still.
This music dissolves all suffering, all duality and all doubt.
This music reveals the infinite love that you are, beyond all words, concepts and descriptions.
By Bhagavan’s Grace may this great truth be revealed to you.
🙏🙏🙏
When the mind becomes very quiet, it can become possible to realise that all gross and subtle perceptions are actually illusory and only the substratum-self is real.
If you lovingly, happily, repeatedly and consistently go towards this sense I AM, eventually you will merge into that, destroying your illusory sense of individuality (ie. ego).
What is then discovered is so much more than ‘the background of consciousness’ or ‘awareness’ or ‘being’…
…it is beyond all words and concepts and cannot be described…
…to put it into words one could say it is total infinite love and fulfillment
…but actually it is more than this too…
It is your ever-shining Self. You are That, now and always, but this is not to be believed by the ego-mind, but to be discovered directly in the Heart
~ Tom Das
🙏🙏🙏
Tom Das 