meditation

Non-duality meetings in London

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

A GENUINE REALISATION OF FREEDOM IN ORDINARY EVERYDAY LIFE

ND London

The course of structured teachings I’ve been teaching recently are due to restart this Thursday 7pm in Kingston, London, and the following week online.

As both a parent and a working doctor, my teachings are geared towards a genuine realisation of Freedom in everyday ordinary life.

It seems there are lots of conflicting teachings out there which can add to the confusion for a seeker of truth: are practices required? Is there anything you can do to help ‘get this’? Does the ego disappear? What happens when we die? Is there really ‘nobody here’? What about self-inquiry? The structured teachings, over the next few weeks, aim to address all these apparently contradictory points and more…

While this really can’t be put into words, concepts and practices can apparently help us along the way. Sometimes. It seems that some teachings are more effective than others, depending on ‘where the seeker is’.

The result? Seeing the Freedom that already is.

For more details see http://meetu.ps/e/.nwhrrlywdbmb/1GbHK/d or tomdas.com/events

Krishnamurti: meditation is not an escape from the world

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Meditation is not an escape from the world; it is not an isolating self-enclosing activity, but rather the comprehension of the world and its ways. The world has little to offer apart from food, clothes and shelter, and pleasure with its great sorrows.

Meditation is wandering away from this world; one has to be a total outsider. Then the world has a meaning, and the beauty of the heavens and the earth is constant. Then love is not pleasure. From this all action begins that is not the outcome of tension, contradiction, the search for self-fulfillment or the conceit of power.

Jiddu Krishnamurti, taken from his book ‘The Only Revolution’

Jesus: How to pray

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Alternative translation

“Whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees from the hidden place will reward you.”

(International Standard Version)

Here is the context of the quote:

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets so that they might be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their recompense.
But you when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father, the One in secret. And your Father, the One seeing in secret, will reward you.
And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Matthew 6:5-8

Practice vs no practice

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Many ‘practice orientated paths’ just keep one going round and round samsara. Why? Because the assumption is that the Freedom we seek is not already here and that it has to be obtained.

Many instant-enlightenment teachings also do not result in fruition. Why? Because they shun the need for practice.

For some, diligent practice is required. For others, sporadic practice is required. For some, no practice is required.

For more read here:

Sufism: Infinite ways to an infinite god (even if you don’t believe in God)

Roadmap to enlightenment: a (fairly) comprehensive guide to spiritual practices

Poetry: no way to talk about this

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

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When this is seen,
It is seen there are so many ways to talk about this,
So many ways to guide others to this,
So many helpful ways,
– yet all of them false.

Ultimately,
All ways are false,
All descriptions are false.
The Truth cannot be contained in words:
The best teaching is whatever works.

No self, True self, or just Self?
Freedom, Enlightenment or Bliss?
Emptiness, Fullness, or Infinite?
Personal, impersonal, or no story at all?
Duality, non-duality? Both, neither?

All can be helpful concepts pointing the way,
None are THE SACRED TRUTH.

The proverbial finger points at the moon,
Don’t cling to the finger!

 

Ramana Maharshi: Once you realise the Self, it becomes your direct and immediate experience. It is never lost.

~ Tom Das ~ 5 Comments
Ramana Maharshi sitting
‘Once you realise the Self, it becomes your direct and immediate experience. It is never lost.’
Ramana Maharshi

Time and time again I hear from spiritual seekers that they glimpsed the Self, they experienced that ecstasy, but it slipped through their fingers and fell away. Their question to me is how to get it back again. This is the wrong question, this is the wrong way, as it is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the path.

Everything that comes can also go. Everything that comes, all experiences that have been attained, are not the Self.

The Self is no particular experience. It is always here, fully manifest, fully evident. Everything that is perceived is It. It is not different from whatever is being perceived to be happening.

Realising that ‘this is It’ is Self-realisation. It is simply seeing what already is the case. When it is seen, there is no desire to reach a new experience, and a seeing that everything happens spontaneously without the presence of a separate doer-entity. Here suffering falls away as the simple truth of no-doer is seen.

Actions, thoughts and desires continue to manifest themselves, spontaneously, but there is nobody doing it, just like the wind blowing or digestion happening. Things happen, no doer.

As long are you are alive, you always are, you always exist. No matter what happens, you are. This knowledge of (your) being is Self-knowledge. It is not something to attain, just something to be ‘acknowledged’. It is not separate from whatever is perceived to be happening. How can this ‘knowledge’ be lost?