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Nondual Highlights
Issue #1907 Tuesday, August 31,
2004 Editor: Mark
It is possible to cultivate more conscious awareness. This has
been called polishing the mirror, awakening from sleep,
cultivating the witness, and developing the real 'I.' Through
changing the energy level of the brain, we can activate a
different kind of brain function - a finer attention that stands
above routine, habitual thought, feeling, and behavior.
This presence - this conscious listening mind - not only opens a
window on our experience, it also connects us to the source of
will. Attention can be called the first act of the will. It
establishes the relationship between observer and experience,
raising the level of experience and transforming a living
automaton into a sensitve agent. It is this sensitivity that
makes the difference between being nominally awake and
experiencing life as the gift it is.
- Kabir Edmund Helminski from Living
Presence, published by Tarchar Putnam,
posted to DailyDharma by Bill Kelley
not knowing
is welcoming
not knowing
is opening
to the Mystery
not knowing
is being Being
not knowing
is singing to the moon
just because...
not knowing
is allowing what is
to reveal the moment
not knowing
is pure Love
not knowing
is pure Silence
not knowing
is spacious
like the universe
and beyond
m.
submitted to AdyashantiSatsang by Emanuele De Benedetti
Gone to the Unseen
At last you have departed and gone to the Unseen.
What marvelous route did you take from this world?
Beating your wings and feathers,
you broke free from this cage.
Rising up to the sky
you attained the world of the soul.
You were a prized falcon trapped by an Old Woman.
Then you heard the drummer's call
and flew beyond space and time.
As a lovesick nightingale, you flew among the owls.
Then came the scent of the rosegarden
and you flew off to meet the Rose.
The wine of this fleeting world
caused your head to ache.
Finally you joined the tavern of Eternity.
Like an arrow, you sped from the bow
and went straight for the bull's eye of bliss.
This phantom world gave you false signs
But you turned from the illusion
and journeyed to the land of truth.
You are now the Sun -
what need have you for a crown?
You have vanished from this world -
what need have you to tie your robe?
I've heard that you can barely see your soul.
But why look at all? -
yours is now the Soul of Souls!
O heart, what a wonderful bird you are.
Seeking divine heights,
Flapping your wings,
you smashed the pointed spears of your enemy.
The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you -
You are the fearless rose
that grows amidst the freezing wind.
Pouring down like the rain of heaven
you fell upon the rooftop of this world.
Then you ran in every direction
and escaped through the drain spout . . .
Now the words are over
and the pain they bring is gone.
Now you have gone to rest
in the arms of the Beloved.
- Rumi, In the Arms of the Beloved,
Jonathan Star, New York 1997, posted to AdyashantiSatsang by
Mazie Lane
When it occurs to you, today,
consciously begin to look at
everyone you see through what
might be called sacred eyes -
soft eyes, caring eyes, loving eyes.
That is, look at each individual,
man, woman or child, and allow
(choose) an inner feeling
of total acceptance and love for
the goodness and kindness
that is inherently within each
person you see - on the street,
at the market, at a stop light,
in the office.
Do this for a few minutes
without regard for other people's
expression or appearance.
With sacred eyes (and heart)
you can "sense" God within all
others. Allow this feeling of
love, of kindness, of non-judgment
toward all others to continue
for a few minutes.
You will notice that while you
are practicing this meditation,
a gentle, loving and benevolent
smile will become your relaxed
expression, and you will realize
how wonderful and refreshing
this simple meditation is...
for your own heart.
God is Love. St. John
The very form of God is Love. Ramana
Always in Love,
- Jeff Belyea on meditationsocietyofamerica
We loosely talk of Self-realization, for lack of a better term.
But how can one real-ize or make real that which alone is real?
All we need to do is to give up our habit of regarding as real
that which is unreal. All religious practices are meant solely to
help us do this. When we stop regarding the unreal as real, then
reality alone will remain, and we will be that.
- Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) posted to MillionPaths by Gloria
Lee
Bitter Rain - A Poem by Hsu Yun
Bitter rain soaks the pile of kindling twigs.
The night so cold and still the lamp flame hardly moves.
Clouds condense and drench our stone walled hut.
Broken rushes clog the reed gate's way.
The stream gurgles, a torrent in its bed.
That's all we hear. Only rarely, comes a human voice...
But oh, how priceless is this peace of mind that fills us
As we sit on our heels and put on another Chan monk's robe!
A sublime inner atmosphere is created through meditation. In that
unique atmosphere, the mind finds its way down into the essence
of Being. In that moment, when the mind touches the
transcendental mind, or pure consciousness, there is a
spontaneous ascent into Light. Meditation, over time, ushers
human beings into an ever-present emptiness. It reunites us with
our own consciousness, which is vast and free.
Self-realization, the revelation that is born as perfected
meditation, is only one aspect of awakening. It can be said to be
the basis upon which a full awakening develops. Self-Realization
is a profound state of liberation to discover and to live in, but
it is not the entire spiritual reality. It is remarkable and
extraordinary to awaken into one's transcendental nature, into
That which is beyond time and space!
Beyond Self-realization are various ecstatic states and moods
that reveal the nature of the world as consciousness. At some
blessed point, there is the spontaneous revelation of sahaja
samadhi (full relaxation in total, pure
consciousness). In sahaja samadhi, a pristine Self-awareness of
full alignment with radiant Bliss has occurred irreversibly. The
mind has moved through, and beyond, the state of full
Self-realization. One now becomes saturated in transparent bliss
without lapse. Sahaja samadhi is being/Being both on the inside
and outside. It includes the divine and the mundane. It is
consciousness spilling its transparency through and beyond its
human container, the body itself now having become a living
stream or bubbling fountain of eternal life. At this point, there
is no longer any difference between the desiring process (the
whole mechanism of action), and the state of being in a naturally
fulfilled condition, which is beyond desire (samadhi). This
immense realization comes in its own ripeness and its own time.
It cannot be forced or produced through any kind of teaching,
technique or practice. It cannot be created or maintained through
any kind of belief, strategy, attitude or effort. It has not been
and never will be adequately described in any metaphysical
treatise, religious scripture or spiritual text. If one were
pressed into placing a "cause" before such a happening,
it would be devotion.
The fullest flowering of divine realization arises as one simply
lives in "sahaja samadhi." This transformation arises
in consciousness itself. It is being ushered into the Divine’s
brilliant-dark love-world. The mood of this love-world is
mysterious and unspeakable, never to be touched by human thought
or recorded in human memory. All teachings, teachers, yogis,
yoginis, saints, mystics, gurus and avatars arise in this world
of Love.
This supreme bliss of the Heart is a most miraculous stirring
from the depths of existence to the surface of sensory
perception. It is an endless wave of bliss and light radiated to
infinity, for the sake of the happiness, evolution, and
enlightenment of all beings. As one becomes sufficiently
inebriated in this mystical awakening, one notices a magnificent
fire moving through one's being constantly, an uninhibited warmth
to be shared with everyone and everything. One is now in the
perpetual love-embrace of feeling, light, energy, and grace.
- David Spero