tom das
The Universal Way | The True Yoga | The Way, the Truth & the Light | Christ within
The ‘1 to 1 Fund’ goes live!
The’ 1 to 1 Fund’ is now live! This fund is an opportunity for you to support people on lower incomes to enable them to access 1 to 1 meetings with me.
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Namaste
Tom
Is there only one path to Liberation?| Come back to your True Self | Ramana Maharshi
Through Tom I’ve found a connection with Sri Ramana Maharshi. That’s made all the difference. Miracles happen regularly.
Here is a testmonial from Anne that she very kindly wrote some months ago for me, but I have only recently got around to putting up onto tomdas.com (tomdas.com/testimonials):
Through Tom I’ve found a connection with Sri Ramana Maharshi. That’s made all the difference. It feels like there’s guidance that comes from beyond my own mind. I feel that my own mind can’t be trusted, that following the deeper intuition of the heart is the only way forward. That can only be done by quietening the mind and quietening the mind can only be done by self-inquiry. This has been transformative.
Miracles happen regularly and they are not miracles, but just the way it is. God is speaking directly to me through the heart and I have a sense of what direction to go in, what direction not to go in. It’s like having an inner compass. My questions and doubts are answered internally (though ‘internal’ and ‘external’ don’t make sense). I realise I don’t have any worries.
I’m reading scripture in a way I never have before and I’m reading it because I want to, not because I ought to. There’s a pull towards it, not a push. The scripture seems to have some direct line to the teacher, the teacher within. It settles the mind. Tom taught me through silence, through words, through laughter, through transmission (for want of a better word) that I’m OK.
He taught me to have faith, to trust that intuition, to put down the load I’ve been carrying and allow Bhagavan (the Beloved) to carry it for me. It’s been a huge release. My mind whirls sometimes at the immensity of it and then there’s silence. I can sit in silence and look at a garden. That’s the best thing. It’s a gift.
Anne, Scotland
Guidance and Strength to do Self Enquiry
Over the last few months several people have wrote testimonials for me which I have only just got around to putting onto tomdas.com (tomdas.com/testimonials). Here is what Hesther writes about attending Satsang and occasional 1 to 1 meetings with me:
I don’t understand how it works, but Tom’s guidance gives me added strength and energy to do Self-enquiry, to study and to meditate. I feel I am not alone on this path. The recommended readings, the satsangs, and the occasional 1-1 meetings are all so trustworthy.
Instead of confronting me with my ‘short-comings’ as a seeker I feel free, validated and encouraged to follow my path. The path is full of paradoxes, that Tom allows for, enhancing the sense of freedom and trust that I have. I have never felt that I am being pushed into a mould that fits his vision. On the contrary, he doesn’t fill in the blanks that I have but gives me pointers so that I can discover things in my own experience. He doesn’t give me direct advice so much as that he seems to create a context in which I blossom as a seeker of spiritual truth.
Thank you so much for all your help and guidance, love,
Hesther, Portugal
Is the most important thing to love another and to be good to each other? Is this ‘true spirituality’?
The happier and more secure in ourselves we are, the more we are able to love others and receive love ourselves, the more able we are to deeply listen to others and be deeply present with others.
As we go towards the Absolute, the Subject, the Self, the Pure Consciousness that we ARE, the happier and more secure we become in ourselves, and the more loving and balanced we naturally are.
There are some who say no need to go towards the Absolute, or rather this is not so important, but instead loving each other is more important, being able to deeply listen to each other is more important, being able to deeply be present with someone is more important…
…not realising that the two are related, and that without going more and more towards the Absolute, either consciously or unconsciously, without more and more realising ourselves as THAT, we will be limited in our ability to give and receive love, we will be limited in our ability to deeply listen, to deeply receive, and to deeply be present with others.
When we ultimately discover ourselves as That Absolute, then all that is left is Love and Presence, giving and receiving become One, outside and inside disappear, and the thought of another as opposed to I or me also vanishes. There is only Eternal Love and Bliss.
Hence the most important thing, from a spiritual point of view, especially if you value kindness and love and deep listening and being present, is to go towards the Absolute and discover that Truth that we ARE.
When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, he said the most important was to love the lord our God with everything we have, (which I like to interpret as meaning to go towards the absolute and know your identity with that), and he said that the second most important commandment was to love each other. He did not say the most important commandment was to love each other, as I suspect he knew that we cannot love each other truly and fully unless we know our own Divine Nature as Absolute Love
Put simply, we are often told to love each other and be present with each other and be good to on another, but we are not told HOW we can love each other more or HOW we can be more present with each other.
The secret is to more and more know yourself as you truly are, ie. as Pure Formless Consciousness, as the Absolute.
Q. Tom, if you can, please can you summarise the basic essential teaching in a paragraph? | Advaita | Liberation | Enlightenment
Questioner: Tom, if you can, please can you summarise the basic essential teaching in a paragraph?
Tom: It cannot be fully put into words, but it is something like this: You are actually and already the One Infinite Divine Spirit whose nature is Eternal Happiness and Bliss.
You are not the body-mind at all, and thinking that you are is the prime illusion, or ignorance, that brings all suffering.
In order to discover this Truth (that is already the case, ie. it is a fact), one must turn away from all objective phenomena, including thoughts, feelings, etc, and intuitively go towards the I AM and discover this for oneself. Cultivating a spirit of love, happiness, affection and devotion can be a great help in this endeavor.
The reason we must turn away from all objects is that in attending to various objective phenomena the notion ‘I am the body-mind’ is perpetuated. This is very important to understand and realise. Only when we turn away from objects, either intentionally or spontaneously/by grace, is there a possibility of Self-Realisation. Otherwise we remain trapped in the (false) beliefs ‘I am a body-mind or person’ and ‘the world is real’.
Once we realise the Self, there is no need to integrate this understanding into daily life or anything like that, as Self-realisation is not an understanding for the mind, and in Self-realisation, all duality ceases: there is no entity left to integrate, no understanding or knowledge to integrate, and nothing left to integrate with. There is only the Infinite Blissful Self.
Teachings, such as those that talk about being adverse to the world, and all genuine spiritual teachings in fact, are just there to encourage and facilitate this discovery, and the form the teaching takes depends on the context in which they are given, including where the apparent seeker is at.
It is not about being some block of wood (a body-mind) that is detached and cut off, but about discovering something, the only thing, that is true and real – your True Nature, your Self.
This discovery is truly the most wonderful ‘thing’. (It is not a thing)
This discovery is not for or by the body-mind (or ego) at all, but is ‘by the Self’ so to speak…here words fall short, but poetically we say the Self itself discovers or realises the Self.
Hope that makes sense
Thank you
(much longer than a paragraph, I know!)
Questioner: can you support the above teaching you have given using authoritative quotes from Sri Ramana Maharshi or the Scriptures?
Tom: yes, sure, if you carefully read this article here, you will see all these above points mentioned and backed up by quotes from Sri Ramana Maharshi. The only point not backed up by quotes in that article is about not needing to integrate the teachings after realisation/liberation, for more on that see here. For quotes from the Vedanta scriptures see here.
Best wishes & namaste.
ATTEND FOR FREE: Tom Das speaking at The Journey of Awakening Conference on Saturday 11th Nov at 14:30pm GMT (UK time) – ‘The Timeless Wisdom of Advaita’
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I’ll be speaking at The Journey of Awakening Conference next Saturday 11th Nov at 14:30 GMT on ‘The Timeless Wisdom of Advaita’.
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Namaste
Tom
LIVE Interview on Monday 30th October 2023 with Tom Das – Journey of Awakening Conference
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Tom Das 