Eventually we will find (mostly in retrospect, of course)
that we can be very grateful to those people who have
made life most difficult for us.

-Ayya Khema, "When the Iron Eagle Flies"

In the city of Brahman is a secret dwelling,

the lotus of the heart. Within this dwelling is a
space, and within that space is the fulfillment
of our desires. What is within that space
should be longed for and realized.

-Chandogya Upanishad

Feelings,

whether of compassion or irritation,
should be welcomed, recognized, and treated
on an absolutely equal basis; because both
are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me.
The mustard greens I am planting are me.
I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean
this teapot with the kind of attention I
would have were I giving the baby Buddha
or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated
more carefully than anything else. In
mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard
green plant, and teapot are all sacred.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

The One

Spiritually, the enormous challenge for each and every one of us is to look directly into what it actually means to be the one who is going to consciously evolve for the sake of our collective salvation and transformation. From the absolute or nondual perspective that emerges in spiritual revelation, there is only ONE. There literally is no other; there is only one without a second. To truly understand conscious evolution, we have to grapple with the profound implications of that absolute fact. I believe we can only consciously evolve to the degree that we have actually realized at the deepest level of our being that we are that one without a second. Facing into the truth of nonduality—that the many is the one and that the one is ultimately who we always are—in an evolutionary context forces a confrontation with any relationship to the life process that is less than whole, complete, and fully committed. To consciously evolve is to surrender unconditionally to the truth that there is no other and at the same time to accept responsibility for what that means in an evolving universe—a cosmos that is slowly but surely becoming aware of itself through you and me. That one without a second is simultaneously awakening to itself as it develops, as it evolves, and it is that one, as you and me, alone, that can now begin to take responsibility for endeavoring to consciously create its own future.

Andrew Cohen

The outside world is not really concerned at all in
man's dilemma of suffering. It is all within the
fictitious 'me' of personal identity.
Realization of this fact is the ultimate
Understanding.

A Net of Jwels
Ramesh S. Balsekar

Four ducks on a pond,
A grass-bank beyond,
A blue sky of spring,
White clouds on the wing;
What a little thing
To remember for years-
To remember with tears!

~William Allingham

SOMEONE UNTIED YOUR CAMEL

I cannot sit still with my countrymen in chains.
I cannot act mute
Hearing the world's loneliness
Crying near the Beloved's heart.

My love for God is such
That I could dance with Him tonight without you,
But I would rather have you there.

Is your caravan lost?

It is,
If you no longer weep from gratitude or happiness,
Or weep
From being cut deep with the awareness
Of the extraordinary beauty
That emanates from the most simple act
And common object.

My dear, is your caravan lost?

It is if you can no longer be kind to yourself
And loving to those who must live
With the sometimes difficult task of loving you.

At least come to know
That someone untied your camel last night
For I hear its gentle voice
Calling for God in the desert.

At least come to know
That Hafiz will always hold a lantern
With the galaxies blooming inside
And that

I will always guide your soul to
The divine warmth and exhilaration
Of our Beloved's
Tent.

~ Hafiz ~

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.

And what did I see I had not seen before?
Only a question less or a question more;
Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,
House without air, I leave you and lock your door.
Wild swans, come over the town, come over
The town again, trailing your legs and crying!

~ Millay, Edna St. Vincent

Having To Go

Do you remember sitting in your boss's
office discussing a very important and
urgent topic while feeling that... you
"have to go" [to the bathroom that is...]!


I do remember it!


Similarity, do you remember sitting in
a prayer, in a church, in a sermon, in
a temple, in a satsang...

while feeling that you "have to go"...


Do you remember sitting with your
lover in a beautiful garden full of
roses, streams, green grass, singing
birds under the blue sky...

while feeling that you "have to go"...


Or, rowing your beautiful canoe with
you lover in the lake under the
moonlight...

while feeling that you "have to go"...



The whole joy seems to fade away...

the beauty seems to disappear...

you don't clearly hear...

you start missing the songs of birds...

you start missing the joke that your lover uttered...

Children playing around don't appear that
beautiful anymore...

The air doesn't feel that fragrant anymore...

Your lover doesn't seem that intriguing anymore...


you feel you "have to go"...
and, the beauty and reality of "where you are"
seem to fade and start disappearing for you...

The tension builds...

Division builds...

You feel divided...
you feel split between... the feeling
of being in this canoe under the
beautiful sky... versus you feeling the
need to go...


And, the need to go feels much
stronger than what you are actually
doing now, where you are actually
sitting now...

You physically stay at one place and
your mind keeps traveling to other
place and keeps reminding you that...
you "have to go"...


That I realized is the source of constant
pain that most of us constantly feel...

It builds [inner] conflict, it builds
tension, it creates [inner] split...
and, it perfectly spoils even most
beautiful Moments!

You feel annoyed at your boss [for making
you sit in an "important" meeting while
you needing "to go"]...

You feel annoyed at your lover [for making
you come on this canoe ride], you snap
at her...


It makes even the paradise a torturous Hell!


And, I realized that this "feeling"
of "having to go"***... is a constant
companion for almost all of us!


It gives a constant feeling of inner unease,
an inner discomfort and pain that unless deeply
investigated, examined and revealed accompanies
us all our life!

It lives as a constantly present inner
tension that seems to keep "reminding"
us of the "need" of 'being somewhere else',
'doing something else'... the "need" of
'being someone else'...


It practically keeps us always divided,
always split... and, in constant pain that
results from this 'split'!


Split this way,
we pass through our entire life...
without really "living" it!

and, our life seem to have just passed
through the rear-view mirror of our
memory whereas, we have been always
[mentally] "running" to... be Somewhere else!



...in very few moments when this
background tension, this stress to
be somewhere else is not present...

the real beauty appears...
real laughter appears...
real love appears...
real happiness appears...

real freedom appears...



and,

when this [Momentary] "gap" appears...

it doesn't appear because of any "effort"...

it appears because the constant
'reminding' effort [of being somewhere
lese, doing something else, having
something else, being someone else...]
ceased for a moment due to "surrender"...


or,

the effort broke for a moment of a
"sudden" movement that ego couldn't cope
with and thus left...




 

    "having to go" in real life is
also felt as "having to do", "should do",
"need to do", "need to be somewhere else",
"need to do something else", "need to get
something else", "need to achieve something
else"... "need to feel some way different than
excatly how I am feeling right now",
"need to do something other than
EXACTLY what I am doing right now"

I realized that, peace is when I clearly know that:

- I want to do... exactly what I am doing right now.

- I want to be... exactly where I am at this very moment.

- I want to be... exactly the way I am this very moment.

- I want to feel... exactly what I feel this very moment.

- I want... exactly what I have at this very moment.

- I need... exactly what I have at this moment.



Peace is when I realize with all my heart,

when I choose with all my heart...

- to be exactly where I am,
do exactly what I am doing,
think exactly what I am thinking,
feel exactly how I am feeling,
to be with exactly whom I am with!

Anything else keeps me divided,
split and... 'in pain'.

---

When I am perfectly clear, what is
is what I want.

~Byron Katie.


and,


I'm a lover of what is, not because
I'm a spiritual person, but because it
hurts when I argue with reality.

~ Byron Katie.


What is is. You don't get a vote.
Haven't you noticed?

~ Byron Katie.

~adithya comming

"While the mind is centered in the body,

and consciousness is centered
in the mind, awareness is free.
The body has its urges and mind its
pains and pleasures. Awareness
is unattached and unshaken. It is
lucid, silent, peaceful, alert and
unafraid, without desire and fear.
Meditate on it as your true being
and try to be it in your daily
life, and you shall realize it in its
fullness."