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."

Beginners mind doesn't know what force is;

Beginners mind doesn't know what needs to be chosen;
Beginners mind doesn't know what beauty is;
Beginners mind doesn't know what it is to understand;
Beginners mind doesn't know what certainty is;
Beginners mind doesn't know about making a judgement;
Beginners mind doesn't know about violence;
Beginners mind doesn't know there are opinions;
Beginners mind doesn't know you are there;
Beginners mind doesn't know about suffering;
Beginners mind doesn't know about pride;
Beginners mind doesn't know what illusions are;
Beginners mind doesn't know what's important;
Beginners mind doesn't know what knowing is;


by Gary Merrill

If you wouldn't impale a dog in the mouth, why do it to a fish?

WWW.FishingHurts.com

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

If it were not for our conception of weights and measures,
we would stand in awe of the firefly as we do before the sun.

~Kahlil Gibran.

Boundless

Like the wind searching,
lifting feathers round
the sparrow's neck,
lifting leaves in a wave
across the bean field,
I find no place
where I can say,
here my being ends.

By Colin Oliver (1946 - )

Liberation . . .

is only being rid of the idea that there is anyone who needs liberation.

~Ramesh Balsekar

Experiencing U nion

I said Oh no! Help me! And that Oh no! became
a rope let down in my well. I've climbed out to
stand here in the sun. One moment I was at the
bottom of a dank, fearful narrowness, and the
next, I am not contained by the universe. If every
tip of every hair on me could speak, I still couldn't
say my gratitude. In the middle of these streets
and gardens, I stand and say and say again, and
it's all I say, I wish everyone could know what
I know.


'The Essential Rumi'
Coleman Barks/John Moyne

What the Living Do

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days,
some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won't work but smells dangerous,
and the crusty dishes have piled up

waiting for the plumber I still haven't called.
This is the everyday we spoke of.
It's winter again: the sky's a deep headstrong blue,
and the sunlight pours through

the open living room windows because the heat's on too high in here,
and I can't turn it off.
For weeks now, driving,
or dropping a bag of groceries in the street the bag breaking,

I've been thinking: This is what the living do.
And yesterday, hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk,
spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,

I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush:
This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold.
What you called that yearning.

What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass.
We wantwhoever to call or not call,
a letter, a kiss -- we want more and more and then more of it.

But there are moments, walking,
when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store,
and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep

for my own blowing hair, chapped face,
and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless:

I am living, I remember you.

~ Marie Howe ~

"Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up"

Imagine yourself as a child lying on your back, gazing up
into a cloudless sky, and blowing soap bubbles through a
plastic ring. As a bubble drifts up into the sky, you watch
it rise, and this brings your attention to the sky. While
you are looking at the bubble, it pops, and you keep
your attention right where the bubble had been. Your
awareness now lies in empty space.

-B. Alan Wallace,

Nature As A Minded Entity

"There is a great insight which our culture is deliberately
designed to suppress, distort, and ignore: that Nature is
a minded entity; that Nature is not simply the random
flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields; that Nature
is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we
inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of
intelligence, a kind of mind."
—Terence McKenna, http://www.deoxy.org/mckenna.htm

I have learned to love you late,

Beauty at once so ancient and so new!
I have learned to love you late!
You were within me,
and I was in the world outside myself.
~Augustine

Everything and Nothing in One Breath

Consciousness is not an object, so you cannot say it is something. And yet it is not nothing. Nothing is void; it has no attributes, no qualities. Consciousness is empty of any thing, and yet there is something endlessly compelling in that emptiness. When you contemplate consciousness, you discover a mysterious sense of knowing that is both knowing nothing and knowing everything at once. Whatever you are becoming cognizant of, its nature seems to be everything—fullness, completeness. The emptiness is full. That's why the emptiness is compelling, because it is full of the knowing of some mysterious everything that is not a thing. It's everything; it's nothing—you can go on forever: everything, nothing, nothing, everything, always meaning the same thing. If you could say everything and nothing in one breath, perhaps you could capture the paradoxical nature of consciousness.

Andrew Cohen

Advaita

When you have calmed the furies of the mind
Forgotten greed and all ambitions snare:
When you have banished all intruding thought
And scotched the Ego lurking in its lair;
When you have come to nothing and seek nought
But less than nothing - in your earthly quest,
You will be ALL at last - and more than nothing,
For nothing will be more than all the rest.

~Robert Goslin

Hokusai says Look carefully.

He says pay attention, notice
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.

He says Look Forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more who you really are.

He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself
as long as it's interesting.

He says keep doing what you love.

He says keep praying.

He says every one of us is a child,
every one of us is ancient,
every one of us has a body.

He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find a way
to live with fear.

He says everything is alive -
shells, buildings, people, fish,
mountains, trees. Wood is alive.
Water is alive.

Everything has its own life.

Everything lives inside us.

He says live with the world inside you.

He says it doesn't matter if you draw,
or write books. It doesn't matter
if you saw wood, or catch fish.

It doesn't matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your verandah
or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.
It matters that you care.

It matters that you feel.

It matters that you notice.

It matters that life lives through you.

Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
are life living through you.
Peace is life living through you.

He says don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.

Look, feel, let life take you by the hand.

Let life live through you.

Hokusai Says
~ by Roger Keyes

A Gradual Awakening

(excerpt)
There is little you can do about what arises in the mind.
What arises is karmically conditioned by what has gone
before. There is nothing that need be done about any
object as it arises. There is only something we can do
about how we respond to that object. How we respond
creates the next moment, and conditions how that same
object will be related to in the future.

The sooner we notice the arising of moods and thoughts
and realize they are Just karmic fruits of the past, the
easier they can be let go. There's no need to reinforce
these states by reaction, to become as Trungpa Rinpoche
says, "negative in the negative." When negative, unwhole-
some states arise, don't hit at them with a hammer. Don't
get angry at yourself for being angry which only creates
more karma. We can learn to respond in a skillful manner
that allows compassionate recognition of our conditioning
to pull us out again and again. Then we can begin to under-
stand why we will find ourselves angry, jealous, selfish,
greedy so many more times. And how many more times we
are going to find ourselves without such unwholesome
tendencies, and think "Ah, I'm done with them at last."
And how that greed for being "done with them at last"
will create the next state of mind. How letting go of it
all is really the only way.
~Steven Levine

Birthday Wish

Those who desire to understand,
who are looking to find that which is
eternal, without beginning and end,
will walk together with greater intensity
will be a danger to everything which is
unessential, to unrealities, to shadows.
They will concentrate,
they will become the flame,
because they understand.

~Jiddhu Krishnamurti

The Three Greats For A Birth Anniversary

By being constantly and effortlessly aware of life without
thinking about it, this awareness soon continues to function
even when there are thoughts floating through the mind
just as clouds floating through the sky leave no change in
the space.

No action or process, the basis of which is duration, could
possibly bring about a suspension in its own temporal
functioning. Awakening is an instantaneous break in the
succession of duration which can only come about through
an intuitive apprehension of immediate timelessness.

~Ramesh S. Balsekar

Secret of secrets

If you could get rid
of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets
Would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the
Mirror of your perception.
~Rumi

I Am This

"Were I very rich, what difference would it make? I am what I am.
What else can I be? I am neither rich nor poor,
I am myself."
~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Those who desire to understand,

who are looking to find that which is eternal,
without beginning and end,
will walk together with greater intensity
will be a danger to everything which is unessential,
to unrealities, to shadows.
They will concentrate,
they will become the flame,
because they understand.

~Jiddhu Krishnamurti

"Mind is interested in what happens, while awareness
is interested in the mind itself. The child is after the
toy, but the mother watches the child, not the toy."
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj