Resistance To The Present Moment

The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life. The pain that you create now is always some form of non - acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is.

On the level of thought, resistance is some form of judgement. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity.The intensity of the pain depends on degree of resistance to the present moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind. The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it.

- Eckhart Tolle-

Lord Dakshinamurthi

The Self alone, the Sole Reality,
Exists for ever.
If of yore the First of Teachers
Revealed it through unbroken silence
Say, who can reveal it in spoken words?
– Ekatma Panchakam, Sri Bhagavan.

Sri Bhagavan once told the story that follows to Sri Muruganar. This brings out the profound significance of the Supreme Silence in which the First Master, Sri Dakshinamurti is established. Sri Bhagavan said, “When the four elderly Sanakadi rishis first beheld the sixteen-year-old Sri Dakshinamurti sitting under the banyan tree, they were at once attracted by Him, and understood that He was the real Sadguru. They approached Him, did three pradakshinas around Him, prostrated before Him, sat at His Feet and began to ask shrewd and pertinent questions about the nature of reality and the means of attaining it. Because of the great compassion and fatherly love (vatsalya) which He felt for His aged disciples, the young Sri Dakshinamurti was overjoyed to see their earnestness, wisdom and maturity, and gave apt replies to each of their questions. But as He answered each consecutive question, further doubts arose in their minds and they asked further questions. Thus they continued to question Sri Dakshinamurti for a whole year, and He continued to clear their doubts through His compassionate answers.

Finally, however, Sri Dakshinamurti understood that if He continued answering their questions, more doubts would arise in their minds and their ignorance (ajnana) would never end. Therefore, suppressing even the feeling of compassion and fatherly love which was welling up within Him, He merged Himself into the Supreme Silence. Because of their great maturity (which had ripened to perfection through their year-long association with the Sadguru), as soon as Sri Dakshinamurti assumed Silence, they too automatically merged into Supreme Silence, the true state of the Self.”

Wonderstruck on hearing Sri Bhagavan narrating the story in this manner, Sri Muruganar remarked that in no book was it mentioned that Sri Dakshinamurti ever spoke anything. “But this is what actually happened”, replied Sri Bhagavan curtly. From the authoritative way in which Sri Bhagavan replied and from the clear and descriptive way in which He told the story,
Sri Muruganar understood that Sri Bhagavan was none other than Sri Dakshinamurti Himself!

The Power of Obedience to the Guru

Q: The mind is so absolutely restless. For quieting it what is the way?

M: Trust the teacher. Take my own case. My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense ‘I am', it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears.

Just turn away from all that occupies the mind; do whatever work you have to complete, but avoid new obligations; keep empty, keep available, resist not what comes uninvited. In the end you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, of inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully real.

Source: I AM THAT, Dialogues with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Only The "I" Exists in Deep Sleep

"Consciousness never parts with you in any of the three states. In deep sleep you are conscious of deep rest or peace. Inference is possible only of those things which have not been experienced. The fact that you had a deep sleep or profound rest is your direct experience and you only remember it when you come to the waking state. It can never be an inference. Experience alone can be remembered. The fact that you were present throughout the deep sleep can also never be denied. The only three factors thus found present in deep sleep are Consciousness, peace and yourself. All these are objectless and can never be objectified.In other words, they are all subjective. But there can only be one subject and that is the 'I- Principle'. So none of these three can be the result of inference since they are all experience itself."

[From Nitya Tripta, Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda , 20th January 1951, note number 27.]

Arunachala - The Most Sacred Place on Earth

There is no place on the face of the earth which will give you peace of mind like Arunachala. Aruna means light and Achala means that which does not move. Arunachala means the "Immovable Light". To celebrate this there is the festival of Deepam, where they burn a very big light fueled by 1000 kilos of butter oil.

When you walk on such holy land as Arunachala where the Saint has lived you will have the same feeling as when he was there. There will not be any difference. Always remember this. You can keep the dust of this place with you. It is just as holy. Keep it in your room and you will not have to chant any mantra or even meditate.

-Papaji-

The Luckiest Of Opportunities

( A photo of Papaji reading the Ribhu Gita)

That realised person who abides in the Brahman-Self, and has lost all feelings of differentiation of self and non-self, is the Jnani or Mukta Purusha. Such a Jnani is rare to find even by searching among millions of people. If one has the lucky opportunity of getting his darshan (personal view and contact) one attains purification from all his sins, and what is more, such a person’s ego gets liquidated at once. (Ch.19, v.10)

Darshan of the matured Jnani constitutes the acme of purification of baths taken in sacred waters, divine worship, mantra-japa, spiritual austerities, charitable acts and devotional worship of Lord Siva Himself. To find and to gain access to the sacred presence of such a Jnani is the luckiest of opportunities that one could ever obtain in this world. (Ch.19, v.11)

Worshipful service rendered unto such a Jnani-Sat- Guru quickens one’s spiritual wisdom to attain the bliss of jivan mukti. If continued further, it bestows on the disciple even the status of videha mukti. Therefore, if one is keen on being released from bondage into the freedom of mukti, the one infallible means of achieving that aim is the loving and worshipful service
of the Jnani-Sat-Guru. (Ch.19, v.13)

The Pain Body

As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain. It merges with past pain and lodges in your mind and body. This accumulated pain is a negative energy field, and if you look upon it as an invisible entity in its own right, you are getting quite close to the truth. It’s the emotional pain-body. It has two modes of being: dormant and active. A pain-body may be dormant 90 percent of the time; in a deeply unhappy person, it may be active up to 100 percent of the time. Some people live almost entirely through the pain-body, while others experience it only in certain situations, such as in intimate relationships, or situations linked with past loss, abandonment, and physical or emotional hurt. Anything can trigger it, particularly if it resonates with a pain pattern from your past. When it is ready to awaken from its dormant stage, even a thought or an innocent remark can activate it.

Some pain-bodies are obnoxious but relatively harmless – a child who won’t stop whining, for example. Others are vicious and destructive monsters. Some are physically violent; many more are emotionally violent. Some will attack people around you, while others may attack you, their host. Your thoughts and feelings about your life then become deeply negative and self-destructive. Illnesses and accidents are often created in this way. Some pain-bodies drive their hosts to suicide. When you thought you knew a person and are suddenly confronted with this alien, nasty creature for the first time, you are in for quite a shock. However, it’s more important to observe it in yourself. Watch out for any sign of unhappiness; it may be the awakening pain-body. This can take the form of irritation, impatience, a sombre mood, a desire to hurt, anger, rage, depression, or a need to have some drama in your relationship. Catch it the moment it awakens.

The pain-body wants to survive, just like every other entity in existence, and it can only survive through your unconscious identification. It needs to get its food through you. It will feed on any experience that resonates with its own kind of energy, anything that creates further pain. When it has taken you over, it will create a situation in your life that reflects its own energy frequency for it to feed on. Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible.Once the pain-body has taken you over, you want more pain. You become a victim, or a perpetrator, or both; there really isn’t much difference. You are unconscious of this, of course, and will vehemently claim that you do not want pain. But look closely, and you will find that your thinking and behaviour keep the pain going. If you were truly conscious of it, the pattern would dissolve, for to want more pain is insanity, and nobody is consciously insane.The pain-body, the dark shadow cast by the ego, is actually afraid of the light of your consciousness. It is afraid of being found out. Its survival depends on your unconscious identification and unconscious fear of facing your pain. But if you don’t face it, you will be forced to relive it again and again.

The pain-body may seem like a dangerous monster that you cannot bear to look at, but I assure you that it is an insubstantial phantom that cannot prevail against the power of your presence. Some spiritual teachings state that all pain is ultimately an illusion, and this is true. The question is: “Is it true for you?” A mere belief doesn’t make it true. Do you want to experience pain for the rest of your life and keep saying that it is an illusion? Does that free you from the pain? What we are concerned with here is how you can realize this truth – that is, make it real in your own experience.The pain-body doesn’t want you to observe it directly and see it for what it is. The moment you observe it, the identification is broken. A higher dimension of consciousness has come in. I call it presence. You are now the witness, or the watcher of the pain-body. It can no longer use you by pretending to be you, and it can no longer replenish itself through you. You have found your own innermost strength. You have accessed the power of Now.

Source: The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle

Karma - Action Arising out of Denial of the Present Moment

Eckhart Tolle presents a unique perspective on Karma, which he says is action arising out of denial on the present moment. Read on....

"Very often there is denial of what is happening in the present moment, not wanting it to happen, which includes what’s happening inside you at that moment, to completely say "yes" to whatever emotion may be there or whatever your inner state may be at this moment or to completely say "yes" to whatever the external situation may be at this moment. It’s too late to fight it because it is. You can’t fight what is. You can take action on the basis of your acceptance of what is. Action that arises out of that acceptance is very empowered. Action that arises out of a negative state of resistance and denial and saying ‘no.’ can also sometimes contain a lot of energy, but it is contaminated with heavy negativity. It comes out of the saying ‘no’ and it’s there to strengthen or defend the egoic sense of self. So, whatever action arises out of that would, in Eastern terms, be called "karmic" which produces further karma and further suffering."

- Eckhart Tolle

Remain In Wonder!

Remain in wonder if you want the mysteries to open up for you. Mysteries never open up for those who go on questioning. Questioners sooner or later end up in a library. Questioners sooner or later end up with scriptures, because scriptures are full of answers. And answers are dangerous, they kill your wonder.

-OSHO-

Paying Attention

The secret of beginning a life of deep awareness and sensitivity lies in our willingness to pay attention. Our growth as conscious, awake human beings is marked not so much by grand gestures and visible renunciations as by extending loving attention to the minutest particulars of our lives. Every relationship, every thought, every gesture is blessed with meaning through the wholehearted attention we bring to it. In the complexities of our minds and lives we easily forget the power of attention, yet without attention we live only on the surface of existence. It is just simple attention that allows us truly to listen to the song of a bird, to see deeply the glory of an autumn leaf, to touch the heart of another and be touched. We need to be fully present in order to love a single thing wholeheartedly. We need to be fully awake in this moment if we are to receive and respond to the learning inherent in it.

--Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield, in Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart

Ten Things To Be Understood

Understand that outer appearances are unreal because they are mistaken.

Understand that inner mind is empty because it is devoid of self-identity.

Understand that thoughts are momentary because they occur due to conditions.

Understand that both your physical body and your voice are impermanent because they are conditioned.

Understand that the consequences of your actions are inevitable because all pleasure and pain of sentient beings results from karma.

Understand that pain is your spiritual friend because it is the cause of renunciation.

Understand that pleasure and happiness is the demon of attachment because it is the root of samsara.

Understand that many engagements are obstacles for merit because they hinder spiritual practice.

Understand that enemies and obstructors are your teachers because obstacles are inspiration for spiritual practice.

Understand that everything is of equal nature, because all phenomena are ultimately devoid of self-nature.

These were the ten things to understand.--Gampopa, from "The Precious Garland of the Sublime Path"(trans. by Erik Pema Kunsang)

Total Commitment to the Spiritual Path

"Few people are capable of wholehearted commitment, and that is why so few people experience a real transformation through their spiritual practice. It is a matter of giving up our own viewpoints, of letting go of opinions and preconceived ideas, and instead following the Buddha's guidelines. Although this sounds simple, in practice most people find it extremely difficult. Their ingrained viewpoints, based on deductions derived from cultural and social norms, are in the way."

"We must also remember that heart and mind need to work together. If we understand something rationally but don't love it, there is no completeness for us, no fulfillment. If we love something but don't understand it, the same applies. If we have a relationship with another person, and we love the person but don't understand him or her, the relationship is incomplete; if we understand that person but don't love him or her, it is equally unfulfilling. How much more so on our spiritual path. We have to understand the meaningof the teaching and also love it. In the beginning our understanding will only be partial, so our love has to be even greater."

--Ayya Khema From the book, "When the Iron Eagle Flies: Buddhism for the West", posted to Daily Dharma