In my awakening
Non-duality
There is only enlightenment
There is no ‘you’
that is enlightened
or not enlightened:
there is only enlightenment. Continue reading
Things as they are
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
There is no you
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
Spirituality and science have common aims
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
Alan Watts: You and the universe are one
“It’s not true that you came into this world. You came out of it, in the same way a flower comes out of a plant or a fruit comes out of a tree. An apple tree apples, the solar system peoples…You are a function of this total galaxy”
Alan Watts
Nisargadatta Maharaj: If my real self is peace and love, why is it so restless?
Questioner: If my real self is peace and love, why is it so restless?
Nisargadatta Mahara: It is not your real being that is restless, but its reflection in the mind appears restless because the mind is restless. It is just like the reflection of the moon in the water stirred by the wind. The wind of desire stirs the mind and the ‘me’, which is but a reflection of the Self in the mind, appears changeful. But these ideas of movement, of restlessness, of pleasure and pain are all in the mind. The Self stands beyond the mind, aware, but unconcerned.
Continue reading
Beyond self-realisation
No sadhanas are required
No sadhana (spiritual practice) can lead to self realisation. No map can take you to where you already are, and no practice can transform you into that which you always have been.
All sadhanas such as meditation, mindfulness, mantra, puja, selfless service and devotion – all sadhanas are for the illusory individual. They are an extension of greed/egotism. It is this web of illusion, all hinged upon the idea of being a person with a body and mind, that prevents the obvious from being ‘seen’. Continue reading
Ramana Maharshi: How to get peace
Questioner: …how to get peace?
Ramana Maharshi: As I said already, that which is, is peace. All that we need do is to keep quiet.
Peace is our real nature. We spoil it. What is required is that we cease to spoil it. We are not going to create peace anew. There is space in a hall, for instance. We fill up the place with various articles. If we want space, all that we need do is to remove all those articles, and we get space.
Similarly if we remove all the rubbish, all the thoughts, from our minds, the peace will become manifest. That which is obstructing the peace has to be removed. Peace is the only reality.
Excerpt taken from Day by Day with Bhagavan
Stop believing your thoughts
Here is another chapter from the book ‘The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss’. For my initial (and brief) opinion on this controversial but useful book click here. This chapter focuses on thought and how thought gets in the way of direct communion with that which lies beyond thought. Continue reading
Tom Das 