A powerful Affirmation by Eckhart Tolle

I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions and experiences.

I am not the content of my life.

I am Life.

I am the space in which all things happen.

I am consciousness.

I am the Now.

I am.

Inspirational Quotes by Eckhart Tolle

“Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures.”

True salvation is freedom from negativity, and above all from past and future as a psychological need.”

“Is suffering really necessary? Yes and no. If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you, no humility, no compassion.”

“Enlightenment means choosing to dwell in the state of presence rather than in time. It means saying yes to what is.”

“As you go about your life, don’t give 100 percent of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within. Feel the inner body even when engaged in everyday activities, especially when you are relating with nature. Feel the stillness deep inside it. Keep the portal open.”

My impressions on "What is Meditation?" By Eckhart Tolle

Like any other talk of Eckhart Tolle, this too begins with silence. The audience must have been waiting to hear what he has to say, but he is simply adjusting the mike or looking at the audience. Eckhart doesn’t straight get to the point by doling out steps to meditation or define what meditation is.

This talk by Eckhart Tolle starts in a humourous vein, wherein he pleasantly says that to meditate successfully, the idea that you are doing meditation can be quite an obstacle. He immediately launches off saying that he used the term “guided meditation” as the theme of his talk, because he needed some word to get them to come to the talk. The audience breaks into peals of laughter along with Eckhart.

Eckhart Tolle says “True meditation has not got nothing to do with doing, but the realisation that YOU ARE or BEING. Meditation is prior to all doing. The realisation is simply expressed in the words “ I AM”. The realisation that you are, not as a concept but life itself.

According to Eckhart, the entry point into realisation, is the present moment and thinking is not required to being present. On the contrary, thinking a hindrance. Meditation is being completely present here and now with the totality of Being. He refers to this state as conscious presence.

He adds that Consciousness is born into a thought form. To him, the dance of forms is an amazing spectacle, but adds that when we know only the world of form, and never know ourselves as the consciousness behind the form, then the dance of forms no longer is fun and it becomes serious.

He advises us that theimportant thing we should understand is to participate in the world of things, through alert awareness and not judging and reacting to things and events. Once we become aware, the doing or the words that come will come from a field that is the source of all power, and then the action or words will be much more relevant, powerful and intelligent than that which emanates from the conditioned reactive mind. Then the quality of doing will be completely enhanced once we are connected to BEING.

To him the greatest delusion lies in our thinking that the present moment is a hindrance or an obstacle to realisation. When we use the present moment as a means to an end and the end is the next moment or moments( which is a mere thought in our heads), then we completely miss the point or purpose of our life. The key is to treat the present moment as a friend and stop treating it as an enemy. He states that the secret of life is to be internally aligned with the form that this present moment takes instead of rejecting or mentally demeaning the form that the present moment takes.

The only way to go beyond the form to the timeless dimension or Being, is to honour the form that this moment takes. If we react against the form that this moment takes, then the “LITTLE ME” gets stronger and it becomes difficult to go beyond the form. The form that this moment looks like a limitation on our freedom, and that will keep us trapped. Only if we unconditionally say “Yes” to the form that this moment takes, will we be able to go beyond the mind. If we do this then the dimension of space within ourselves or Being opens itself. This is because we have not strengthened the “I” by resisting the present moment. We cannot find the dimension of the Formless, if we keep resisting the form that this moment takes. This is easy, and he says that is the great deception that most of us are subject to.

This is truly beautifully and enlightening - The future peace or liberation is “hidden” behind the “seemingly unsatisfactory form" that the present moment takes, whereas we keep searching for liberation as something to be attained in the future. Allowing the moment creates spaciousness in our consciousness. Out of this spaciousness, words, actions or simply spaciousness will arise, which will have much greater impact.

To him, the present moment is so precious because it is Life itself and is inseparable from the very BEING that we are. We are not what happens to us or what we do. We are Being.

Overall, a wonderful talk by Eckhart.

Faith in the Guru - Bhagavan's response

Question: When does one get the company of sadhus?

Bhagavan: The opportunity to be in the company of a Sadguru comes effortlessly to those who have performed worship of God, japa, tapas, pilgrimages etc for long periods in their previous births.

There is a verse by Thayumanavar that points out the same thing:-
For those who, in the prescribed manner,
have embarked upon the [pilgrim] path

of divine images, holy sites and holy tanks,
a Sadguru, too, will come
to speak one unique word,
O Supreme of Supremes!

He who has done plenty of nishkamya punyas (austerities done without any thought of reward or consequence) in previous births will get abundant faith in the Guru. Having faith in the Guru’s words, such a man will follow the path and reach the goal of liberation.

Source: Ramana Paravidyopanishad in David Godman's website

Arunachala Navamanimalai - Composed by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

1. Although Siva is motionless, he dances before the Mother (Sakti) who stands still in the court (of Chidambaram). But know that that Sakti is withdrawn into His unmoving Self and He stands in His grandeur as the towering Arunachala.

2. When one enquires into the meaning of Arunachala, which is lustrous like red gold and bestows Liberation, one finds that the word ‘Aruna’ means Sat, Chit and Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and bliss), the identity of the individual self and the Supreme Self (according to the Mahavakya ‘That thou art’ and that the word ‘Achala’ means perfection.

3. Persons with minds free from attachment to riches, lands, relatives, caste and the like and, having become pure, seek benign grace at the red lotus feet of the Lord of Compassion presiding over Arunachala, rid themselves of their ignorance and, attaining the grace which shines like the rays of the rising sun, always abide in this world happy, sunk in the Ocean of Bliss.

4. Annamalai! Delight of my Eyes! Lord who art Consciousness itself, beyond differences of male, female and neuter! Do not think of letting me pine away in despair as one unmindful of Thee . Is it not unbecoming of Thy Grace that I should be reduced to dust mistaking the vile body for the Self? Do not therefore deceive me in any manner but turn Thy full and refreshing glance upon me. Abide in my heart.

5. Lord! Who art Consciousness Itself, reigning over the famous Sonagiri, forgive all the grievous faults of this poor self and by Thy merciful glance, benignant as the rain cloud, save me from being lost once more in the dreary waste, or else I cannot cross the terrible ocean of births and deaths. What can match a mother’s care for her child? Deal with me (like a mother).

6. ‘Killer of Kama’ Thou art always called by Thy votaries. Yes, that is true. But, Lord of Arunachala, I doubt whether this (name) fits Thee. If it is fitting, how can the Invisible One (Kama), the mighty, dare, brave and valiant though he be, to creep into a mind sheltering under Thy Feet Who art his killer?

7. Annamalai! As soon as Thou didst claim me, my body and soul were Thine. Can I then lack anything? (What else can I desire?). I can think only of Thee (hereafter), not of merit and demerit, O my Life. Do as Thou wilt, then, my Beloved, but grant me only ever increasing love for Thy (dear) Feet!

8. I was born at the holy Tiruchuzhi, the seat of Bhuminatheshwara, renowned in the world, to the virtuous Sundara and his faithful wife Sundari. In order that Siva, the Absolute Consciousness, might shine forth and the Self flourish, and I might be rescued from the misery of the world and the snares of the despicable senses, the Lord of the Red Hill (Arunachala) raised me to His state.

9. Bearing and tending me in the world in the shape of my father and mother, Thou did enter my heart, and before I fell into the sea called Mahamaya and was drowned, Thou did draw me to Thee and keep me at They Feet. How shall I describe Thy wonderful Grace, O Arunachala who art Consciousness itself?

The Glory of Arunachala

Sage Gautama has said on the greatness of Arunachala Hill:

Even a million tongues cannot delineate fully how the formless, Supreme Being out of compassion took this holy form of Arunachala Hill. Nay, even if a million Brahmas came together, they would fail to narrate His glory satisfactorily. Arunachala in this form was in former times worshipped by Brahma, Vishnu, Soma (the moon), Surya (the sun), Agni (fire), Indra and the other devas, dikpalakas (the protectors of the quarters), siddhas, charanas, yakshas, vidyadharas, gandharvas, nagas, serpents, birds, divine sages, siddha yogis and others, in order to get rid of their sins and to obtain the fulfilment of their desires. The Lord of Arunagiri is capable of removing all the sins of those who merely see Him and of fulfilling all the desires of those who worship Him. He is capable of granting Liberation even to those who utter the word ‘Arunachala’ from a distance. It is well known that what is called ‘Arunadri’ is the embodiment of Effulgence.

Source: "The Glory of Arunachala" published by Ramanashram

The Guru Gita

We would be familiar with the verse:

Gururbrahmä gurur vishnur gururdevo maheshvaraha
Guru Sakshat param Brahma Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha

This verse is an adaptation from a verse in the Guru Gita:

Gururbrahmä gururvishnur, gururdevo maheshvaraha
Gurureva parabrahma,tasmai srigurave namaha

The Guru Gita is an exalted text in the form of dialogue between Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi in the Skanda Purana. This text solely deals with the Glory of the Guru, the way of behaviour in the Presence of Guru, devotion to the Guru, the way of Moksha by adoring the form of the Guru and living by his / her teachings.

Lord Shiva has categorically stated that of all the stotras, the Guru Gita is the most powerful and efficacious. This text differs from other stotras in a sense that it contains an extensive Phalasruti, spread across the portions of this text, rather than at the end of the text. In this sense, it differs from the Vishnu sahasranama and other stotras, wherein most of the Phalasruti is placed after the 1000 names.

An online text is posted on the website of Sri Nannagaru.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win® by Stephen Covey

Acquire an everyone-can-win attitude.

"There's plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. An Abundance Mentality involves sharing prestige, recognition, profits, and decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity."-Stephen R. Covey

To live a rich life, it's imperative to believe in your ability to prosper-that you are deserving. Once understood and embraced, an Abundance Mentality allows you to see your life and your relationships from a new perspective. It's about sharing the wealth and focusing on the universal truth that there is truly enough in this world for everyone.

Each day become more generous with yourself and others in order to reap the benefits, which means getting rid of "all about me" thinking and developing an everyone-can-win mind-set.
Make it a habit to Think Win-Win.

Significance of Dharma

There is no equivalent word in the English language for "Dharma".

"Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitaha" is an oft repeated quote from the Hindu scriptures and it means "If we protect Dharma, Dharma will protect us". Putting Dharma into practice would involve:

1. Helping the poor and needy
2. Worshipping and obeying God
3. To be in the company of persons with purity and virtues
4. Listening and understanding matters that reflect divine values and virtues.
5. Dharma teaches not to be avaricious to possess others wealth.
6. Dharma is Ahimsa. It is merciful nature not to harm any one at any time.

- His Holiness Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswami-

Jnana

This is one of quotes of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi that I read often and is one of my favourites:

Jnana is given neither from outside nor from another person. It can be realised by each and everyone in his own Heart. The jnana Guru of everyone is only the Supreme Self that is always revealing its own truth in every Heart through the being-conciousness 'I am, I am.' The granting of true knowledge by him is initiation into jnana. The grace of the Guru is only that Self-awareness that is one's own true nature. It is the inner conciousness by which he is unceasingly revealing his existence. This divine upadesa is always going on naturally in everyone.

- Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi-

Pranayama - Swami Vivekananda

The breathing exercises, called Pranayama, bring about regulation of the breathing, rhythmic action of the Prana. When the Prana is working rhythmically, everything works properly. When the Yogis get control over their own bodies, if there is any disease in any part, they know that the Prana is not rhythmic there and they direct the Prana to the affected part until the rhythm is re - established.

Just as you can control the Prana in your own body, so, if you are powerful enough, you can control, even from here another man's Prana in India. It is all one. There is no break; unity is the law. Physically, psychically, mentally, morally, metaphysically, it is all one. Life is only a vibration. That which vibrates this ocean of ether, vibrates
you.

Source: Hints on Practical Spirituality by Swami Vivekananda

Knowledge of the Self

Q: Is there knowledge of the Self in the Egoless State?

A:The truth about the Egoless State is conveyed by the Sage by means of negations. "What is called Self-Knowledge is that State in which there can be neither knowledge nor ignorance; for what is commonly regarded as knowledge is not true knowledge;* the Self is Itself true Knowledge, because It shines alone — without any other that could become an object of Its knowledge or a knower of It. Understand that the Self is not a void" (Ulladu Narpadu verse 12). Because the Egoless State is not described to us in positive terms, many people are apt to conclude that it is mere nothingness or utter annihilation; this mistake was committed by many of the professed followers of the ‘Enlightened One’, Gautama Buddha; the Sage here provides against a similar mistake being made by those who might become his disciples, by declaring that it is not a void.

- Sri Ramana Maharishi's answer to the question on the knowledge of the Self-

The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri

I was delighted to read an article on Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal of Sringeri Math, in the current issue of "Mountain Path". I am glad that the MP has included an article on the Mahaswami, a Jnani, who was the pontiff of the Sringeri Math from 1912-1954. He was a Brahmajnani and his life and teachings are a great source of inspiration to us.

The life and teachings of Swami Chandrasekhara Bharati have been published in the following books:

1. Chandrasekhara Bharati, Jagadguru Sankaracharya of Sringeri, Selected works, Part 1
2. Sparks from a Divine Anvil, compiled by Sri Jnanananda Bharati, Ganesh & Co., Chennai
3. R. Krishnaswami Iyer (Swami Jnanananda Bharati), Dialogues with the Guru: Talks with His Holiness Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swamin, with an introduction by Paul Masson
4. Swami Jnanananda Bharati, The Saint of Sringeri, Sri Ramakrishna Press, Madurai, 1963.
   

An introduction on Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal can be found in http://www.ittc.ku.edu/~krsna/Sringeri/chandrasekhara.html

I found an interesting article in the website www.kamakoti.org on the mutual admiration and the highest respect that Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal and Paramacharya had for each other. The article is written by Ra. Ganapati and the link is given below:

http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

The Art of Meditation - OSHO

The art of meditation
Is the art of listening
With your total being

Eckhart Tolle's visit to Arunachala - by Kim Eng

Eckhart Tolle visited India for a lecture tour in 2002, and visited Tiruvannamalai, the abode of Arunachala. Here's an extract on his visit.

After Pondicherry, Eckhart made a short three-day stop to visit the ashram of the late Sri Ramana Maharshi and the sacred mountain of Arunachala. Eckhart and a group of thirty people ascended to the hill top caves and, much like Ramana, Eckhart and the group sat silently within the cool cave walls meditating, engulfed by the shakti energy, that intensified by the minute. On the last day, the president of the ashram, who made several private visits to Eckhart and was absolutely taken by Eckhart's presence and serenity, asked Eckhart, on his next visit to India to return to the ashram and give a talk. This kind of invitation to another spiritual teacher, especially western, was virtually unheard of. I was deeply impressed by the sincere and open invitation and saw it as another confirmation of Presence recognizing Presence and the one-life ready to meet itself in the different manifested forms. Om
Shanti.

Source: Eckhart Tolle's website

The Law of Karma - OSHO

The law of karma, in the first place, is not a law. That word gives it an aroma as if it is something scientific, like the law of gravitation. It is merely a hope, not a law at all. It has been hoped for centuries that if you do good you will attain to good results. It is a human hope in existence which is absolutely neutral.

If you look at nature, there are laws -- the whole of science is nothing but discovery of those laws -- but science has not come even close to detecting anything like the law of karma. Yes, it is certain that any action is going to bring certain reactions, but the law of karma is hoping for much more. If you simply say any action is bound to produce some reactions, it is possible to have scientific support for it. But man is hoping for much more. He is asking that a good action inevitably brings a good consequence with it, and the same with a bad action.


Now, there are many things implied in this. First, What is good? Each society defines good according to itself. What is good to a Jew is not good to a Jaina; what is good to a Christian is not good to a Confucian. Not only that, what is good in one culture is bad in another culture. A law has to be universal. For example, if you heat water to one hundred degrees centigrade, it will evaporate -- in Tibet, in Russia, in America, even in Oregon. In Oregon it will be a little puzzled, but all the same at one hundred degrees water will evaporate. Certainly the law of karma is neither a scientific law nor part of any legal system.

Then what kind of law is it? It is a hope. A man wandering in immense darkness, groping his way, clings to anything that gives a little hope, a little light -- because what you observe in life itself is something totally different from the law of karma. A man who is a well-known criminal may succeed and become the president, the prime minister; or vice versa: he was not a criminal before, but when he becomes the president or prime minister of a country he becomes a criminal... So in life this strange situation happens: bad people reach good positions, become respectable or honored, not only in their time but throughout history. It is full of their names. In history, Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Kanad, Gautam, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu -- people like these you will not find even in the footnotes. And Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler -- they make up the major portion of history. In fact, we have to write the whole of history again because all these people have to be completely erased. Even the memory of them should not be carried on, because even their memory may have evil effects on people.

A better humanity will not give these names even a place in the footnotes; there is no need. They were nightmares; it is better they are completely forgotten so they don't follow you like shadows. And we have to discover people who have lived on this earth and made it in every way beautiful; shared their joy, their dance, their music, shared their ecstasies -- but lived anonymously. People have completely forgotten even their names. To me, certainly each action has its result, but not somewhere far away in a future life. The action and the result are continuous, they are part of one process. Do you think sowing the seed and reaping the crop are separate? It is one process. What begins in sowing the seed, grows, and one day the one seed has become thousands of seeds. That's what you call your crop. It is the same seed which has exploded into thousands of seeds. No death is intervening, no afterlife is needed; it is a continuum.

So the one thing to be remembered is: in my vision of life, yes, every action is bound to have some consequences, but they will not be somewhere else, you will have them here and now. Most probably you will get them almost simultaneously. When you are kind to someone, don't you feel a certain joy? A certain peace? A certain meaningfulness? Don't you feel that you are contented with what you have done? There is a kind of deep satisfaction. Have you ever felt that contentment when you are angry, when you are boiling with anger, when you hurt somebody, when you are mad with rage? Have you ever felt a peace, a silence descending in you? No, it is impossible. You will certainly feel something, but it will be a sadness that you again acted like a fool, that again you have done the same stupid thing that you decided again and again not to do. You will feel a tremendous unworthiness in yourself. You will feel that you are not a man but a machine, because you don't respond, you react. A man may have done something, and you reacted. That man had the key in his hands, and you just danced according to his desire; he had power over you. When somebody abuses you and you start fighting, what does it mean? It means that you don't have any capacity not to react.

OSHO on the Law of Karma

Who is a Jnani?

It wasn't until I read the works of David Godman, that I clearly understood who a Jnani is. My earlier understanding was that Jnani is a Sanskrit word used interchangeably to refer to a Saint. The true import of this word Jnani is one who has realised himself as the Self or Brahman.


The scriptures like the Ribhu Gita, Asthavakra Gita have mentioned in detail the state of a Jnani. A simple point is that He / She is a Jnani whose "I" thought is totally absent and they abide in the Self / Brahman.


A Jnani has no real teaching, and has nothing new to add to us in the conventional sense. This is because he / she sees everything as the manifestation of the Self and there is no difference in their perceptions of the world of forms. To them, the individual jivas are no different from them. Their Presence is the most powerful transformational force and their teaching is through Silence.


Saints who re-incarnate on earth or exist in different lokas cannot be Jnanis as they have some desire to reincarnate or exist in subtle realms of creation. A Jnani has no mind, hence the question of re-incarnating does not arise. Usually Jnanis don't initiate people into Mantras as mantras relate to the mind, and in fact they exhort people to go beyond the mind. They sometimes encourage people to chant mantras if asked, but otherwise they only prescribe Vichara - discrimination between the Unreal and the Real.

I suggest reading "Mahayoga" by WHO, and "No Mind - I am the Self" by David Godman to get a clear understanding of who a Jnani is. It will be clear that most of the Saints and Spiritual teachers may not fit the description of a Jnani. It is not to demean the spiritual status of Saints, and I do believe each person has a role to play in the cosmic scheme of things. But to elevate them as Jnanis and Avatars is too far fetched.

I intend to publish more posts on Jnanis in the near future. More later.............

Bhagavan on "The Mind"

MIND IS A WONDERFUL FORCE INHERENT IN the Self.That which rises in this body as ‘I’ is the mind. When the subtle mind emerges through the brain and the senses, the gross names and forms are cognized. When it remains in the Heart, names and forms disappear.... If the mind remains in the Heart, the ‘I’ or the ego which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self, the Real, Eternal ‘I’ alone will shine. Where there is not the slightest trace of the ego, there is the Self.

Mind and breath have the same source. Hence breath is controlled when mind is controlled and mind when breath is controlled. Breath is the gross form of the mind. Pranayama (breath control) is only an aid to subdue the mind and will not serve to kill it. Like pranayama, worship of a deity, japa (repetition) with a mantra, strict regulation of diet are all aids for mind control. Control of breath (pranayama) may be internal or external. The internal is as follows: Naham (the idea I am not the body) is rechaka (exhalation), Koham (Who am I?) is puraka(inhalation), Soham (I am He) is kumbhaka (retention of breath). Doing this, the breath becomes automatically controlled.

External pranayama is for one not endowed with the strength to control the mind. There is no way so sure as control of mind. Pranayama need not be exactly as prescribed in hatha yoga. If engaged in japa, dhyana (meditation), bhakti, etc., just a little control of breath will suffice to control the mind. The mind is the rider and breath the horse. Pranayama is a check on the horse. By that check the rider is checked. Pranayama may be done just a little. To watch the breath is one way of doing it. The mind is drawn away from other activities by being engaged in watching the breath. That controls the breath, and the mind in its turn is also controlled.

If rechaka and puraka are found difficult to practise, retention of breath alone for a short while may be practised while in japa, dhyana, etc. That too will yield good results.

- An extract from "Gems from Bhagavan" by Devaraja Mudaliar-

Tennyson's Experience of the Self

The following extract from a letter of the poet Tennyson to B. P. Blood was read out in Bhagavan’s presence: ‘… a kind of waking trance I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has generally come upon me through repeating my own name two or three times to myself, silently, till all at once, as it were out of the intensity of consciousness of individuality, the individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being; and this not a confused state but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of the surest, the weirdest of the weirdest, utterly beyond words, where death was an almost laughable impossibility, the loss of personality (if so it were) seeming no extinction but the only true life’.


Bhagavan said, ‘That state is called abidance in the Self.’

Self Realisation - Ramana Maharishi

The state we call realisation is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realized, he is That which alone is, and which alone has always been. He cannot describe that state. He can only be That. Of course we loosely talk of Self-realization for want of a better term.


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. For instance, there is space in a hall (room). We are not going to create space anew. 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 from the mind the peace will become manifest. That which is obstructing the peace must be removed. Peace is the only Reality.

Mukti or Liberation is our Nature. It is another name for us. Our wanting mukti is a very funny thing. It is like a man who is in the shade voluntarily leaving the shade, going into the sun, feeling the severity of the heat, making great efforts to get back into the shade, and then rejoicing ‘At last I have reached the shade, how sweet is the shade!’ We are doing exactly the same. We are not different from the Reality.

It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize? The real is as it is, ever. How to realize it? All that is required is this: We have realized the unreal, i.e., regarded as Real what is unreal. We have to give up this attitude. That is all that is required for us to attain Jnana. We are not creating anything new or achieving something which we did not have before.

-Ramana Maharishi on Self Realisation-