Jesus
Paris Terrorist Attacks/ Be still for the presence of the Lord
In the wake of the tragic atrocities in Paris that took place on Friday, I would like to offer my condolences and sympathies to all those victims who have been affected and their families and loved ones. It is truly shocking to have this happen, and yes, it feels more shocking to me that it has happened in Northern Europe (my own personal bias, I know).
Guru
Do you really think a spiritual teacher can teach you anything?
How can the guru really know what is right for you?
Every word of his leads you into further illusion,
Concept upon concept,
A field full of traps
– do not walk there!
– do not listen to him!
Jesus and non-duality
Also see:
The Non-Dual Vision of Jesus Christ and the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta (Jesus, Christanity, Advaita and Non-Duality)
In non-dual teachings, the basic teaching is that the sense of self that we presume ourselves to be is a fiction. What remains after this is seen is a mysterious and ordinary sense of ‘divine oneness’. One ramification of this teaching is that we can learn to see that we are not the authors of our own actions even though we appear to be. This is known as non-doership. This teaching is often stated explicitly in non-dual traditions such as Advaita Vedanta, Zen, Dzogchen and Taoism.
In theistic traditions like much of Hinduism and the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, non-duality is still expressed, but its form often differs. Continue reading
Do ‘greater works’ than Jesus
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12
People often argue away this one, but it seems clear to me, especially in the context of John 14 and the other Gospels, that Jesus is saying if you follow his teachings, then you will do greater things than Jesus.
Jesus often claimed in John’s Gospel that he did nothing by himself and that it was the Father in him that did everything. Jesus’s constant message to humanity was to turn away from the world and towards God, realise that God is Love, to love one another, to see the Kingdom of Heaven is within, and to surrender to God’s will. Not the worst teachings in the world, eh?
Jesus and Krishnamurti: The importance of being alone
I was reading a passage from J. Krishnamurti’s slim book called meditations which reminded me of a passage from The Gospel According to Matthew. The language they use is strikingly similar. I’ll start with the biblical passage as it’s shorter:
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6
Did Jesus meditate?
For me, the answer is he probably did. Let me preface this by stating the obvious: I don’t actually know for sure what Jesus did. I don’t even want to get into the ‘did Jesus exist’ debate in this post. But if we take the New Testament at face-value (I don’t want to get into this debate either) it seems to me that he did meditate, or at least engage in contemplative-meditative practices. Continue reading
Sufism: Infinite ways to an infinite god (even if you don’t believe in God)
There are infinite ways to an infinite God; there are as many ways to God as there are people or beings: I have often thought this to myself, so whilst leafing through a newly purchased book (pictured above), I was pleasantly surprised to read a quote by Sheikh Abol-Hasan, a Sunni Muslim and Sufi from 10th century Persia, saying just this:
There are as many paths to the Lord as there are grains of sand and drops of rain…whomever seeks, eventually finds his way There
Sheikh Abol-Hasan, saying 141 from ‘The Soul and A Loaf of Bread’
These infinite ways are just variations of the One Way. And this One Way, for the purposes of exposition, can broadly be subdivided into two: one path for those who believe in God and one path for those who do not. Continue reading
Tom Das 