Non-duality
Bow, bow deeply
Bow to life,
Bow deeply,
Feel gratitude for the gifts God gives us,
And everything that comes our way
Is a gift from Him
Bow deeply,
And fall in love,
Fall in love with Life,
Allow Her to take you,
Overwhelm you,
And show you Her treasures.
Allow life to make you whole,
Make you clean,
Clean from outside through to within.
Bow deeply,
Bow to life,
Gratitude pouring in,
Taking you over,
One with Him,
Cleasing you,
Purging you of negativity
Ridding you of illusion,
as Love takes over.
Now Love takes over,
It compels you to bow,
And delights you,
Moves you this way and that,
A willing servitude,
All a gift,
Flowing with gratitude,
Flowing with bliss,
So thankful,
Only Her.
Now where are you?
Where are you to be found?
At first you were the lover
-that (subject) which was loving,
But now, where are you?
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Easy instructions for spiritual practice | Self-Enquiry | Self-Realisation | Advaita
Avoid ‘spiritual bypassing’: dealing with emotions and psychological trauma during the spiritual journey
Am I the Subject, or am I beyond both subject and object?
Question: Am I the Subject, or am I beyond both subject and object? Some teachers will say, ‘you are not the object, nor are you the subject, you are beyond that which is both.’ Could you explain please?
Tom: The essential teaching is that You – the Absolute, the Self, the Divine – You are beyond all objects, that is, you are beyond body-mind-world.
If a teaching says what you are is beyond both subject and object, then subject refers to the body-mind and object refers to the world, and you are That Pure Consciousness which is beyond both.
If a teaching states you are the Pure Subject beyond all phenomenal objects, then You refers to Pure Consciousness beyond all objects, ie. body-mind-world.
Don’t forget the purpose of the teaching is not to have merely an intellectual understanding of the above, but to turn your attention selfwards and abide as the Self, for this is the key/clue that leads to self-realisation – otherwise it is just theoretical talk.
Namaste
Tom
Amritabindu Upanishad – the path to Moksha
Note specifically what the verses state: sever all contact with sense objects (verse 4), empty the mind of objects (verse 3), wipe objects away from the mind (verses 2 & 3), prevent the mind from functioning (verse 5). Also see here: IN BRIEF: HOW TO ATTAIN LIBERATION (MOKSHA)
2. Mind alone is the cause of bondage or liberation; lost in enjoyment it leads to bondage, emptied of objects it leads to liberation.
3. As the mind emptied of objects leads to liberation, one desirous of liberation must always try to wipe away objects from the plane of his mind.
4. The mind severed from all connection with sensual objects, and prevented from functioning out, awakes into the light of the heart, and finds the highest condition
5. The mind should be prevented from functioning, until it dissolves itself in the heart. This is Jnana, this is Dhyana, the rest is just mere talk.
How to abide in Pure Consciousness?
The word ‘pure’ in ‘pure consciousness’ traditionally denotes consciousness devoid of objects, ie. without the experience of objects. This is opposed to the ‘mixed’ or ‘reflected’ consciousness in which objects such as the mind, body and worldly objects appear.
Therefore to abide in pure consciousness means to turn away from objects, turn towards the Self/Subject and rest in Pure Being which is your True Nature.
This is why Shankara states in Vivekachudamani: ‘Dwelling on external objects will only increase evil propensities, so wisely recognising this fact, one should abandon external objects and and constantly attend to one’s true nature within, the Atman’.
For more information on how this is done please see here:
IN BRIEF: HOW TO ATTAIN LIBERATION (MOKSHA)
Life is an illusion?
Once you start Self-Enquiry you can’t go wrong!
Sri Ramana Maharshi – Turn Within (Guided Meditation & Quotes)
The Following teaching statements of Sri Ramana Maharshi are taken from the text Guru Vachaka Kovai (Garland of Guru’s sayings). This text is widely consider to be the most authoritative text on Sri Ramana’s verbal teachings – you can download it using the link below.
In the following video I have read the quotes to form a guided meditation/guided contemplation. You are invited to sit comfortably and allow these soothing words to wash over you and guide you to the Self.
393.One who has wisely chosen the straight path
Of self-enquiry can never go astray;
For like the bright, clear Sun, the Self
Reveals itself direct to whoso
Turns towards it.
391. Those who do not dive into the Heart
And there confront the Self in the five sheaths hid
Are only students answering out of books
Clever questions raised by books,
And not true seekers of the Self.
835. Renouncing this phenomenal world
Which seems to, but does not, exist
We gain (the great ones say) the Self,
The Awareness shining all unseen.
755. If without wasting time one starts
And keeps up steady self-enquiry,
One’s life becomes at once ennobled,
One is no more this wretched body,
And there wells up within one’s heart
A sea of bliss supreme.
647. If you refrain from looking at this
Or that or any other object
Then by that overpowering look
Into absolute Being you become
Yourself the boundless space of pure
Awareness which alone is Real
Being.
432. …If you observe
Awareness steadily, this Awareness
Itself as Guru will reveal
The Truth.
291. For those who seek eternal life
The assurance stands: the senses five
Retracted tortoise-like, the mind
Turned homeward to the Self and there
Abiding is pure bliss.
130. When will the fool, who thinks the body
And the world are permanent and clings
To them, find peace? Only when this
Folly leaves him and he trusts
And like a limpet clings to That,
The Self within. Thenceforward he
Shall never more know pain.
390. Without abiding in calm solitude
As the Being-Awareness shining in the heart,
To tear oneself away and look for truth
Fussing everywhere without,
Is like searching with a lighted torch
For a diver in deep water sunk.
420. The knowledge that ignores the Self,
The knower, and holds as true the field
Perceived, is but illusive folly…
293. Know that these countless things are pictures
In a dream and none is real
Apart from the beholder. Shun
This phantom world of names and forms
And dwell in the pure, blissful being
Of Awareness.
697. …Not an iota of the past can touch
Those who dwell unceasingly
In the firmament of Self-Awareness,
Vast, boundless, frontierless and full.
921. None can confront and overcome
The mind. Ignore it, then, as something
False, unreal. Know the Self
As the real ground and stand firm-rooted
In it. Then the mind’s movements will
Gradually subside.
898. When we with mind serene and still
Experience pure unbroken Being,
That is samadhi. In this state
The mind, abiding as the Self
Supreme, shares God’s own Being.
399. If in this manner day after day
Practice is maintained, the mind
Is rendered flawless, pure, the quest
Becomes so easy that the moment
It begins the Heart is reached.
877. Only when the world-illusion goes
Does the blissful light of Self arrive.
Life lived in this bright, blissful light
Is our true, natural life. Other ways
Of life are full of trouble and fear.
974. Unbroken Self-awareness is
The true, bright path of devotion or love.
Knowledge of our inherent nature
As indivisible Bliss supreme
Wells up as Love
418. The only true and full awareness
Is awareness of awareness.
Till awareness is awareness
Of itself, it knows no peace at all.
Tom Das