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Nonduality Highlights: Issue #3402, Sunday, January 4, 209, Editor: Mark
In the beginning when there was no earth, no heaven, there was no
other plane of existence than eternal awareness which may be
called a silent, inactive state of life, or unawakened
intelligence that men have idealized as God, the only Being.
Within it, there awakened of its own nature the awareness of its
own existence, unlimited by knowledge of form and space.
- from the Teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, selected &
arranged by Hazrat Pir Vilayat Khan, posted to SufiMystic
The sage, the wise man, has the basic working and living attitude
of respectful trust towards nature and human nature, despite
wars, revolutions, starvations, floods, rising crime and all
manner of horrors. He is not concerned with the notion of
original sin, nor does he have the feeling that existence
(samsara) is itself a disaster. His basic understanding has the
premise that if you cannot trust nature and other people, you
cannot trust yourself; if you cannot trust yourself, how can you
trust your mistrust of yourself? In other words, without this
underlying trust, the faith in the functioning of Totality, the
whole system of nature, you are simply paralyzed. Ultimately, of
course, it is not really a matter of you on the one hand,
trusting nature on the other; it is really a matter of realizing
that we and nature are one and the same process, and not separate
entities.
- Ramesh Balsekar, posted to ANetofJewels
When you stand with your back to the sun, your shadow is before
you; but when you turn and face the sun, then your shadow falls
behind you.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Plato wrote that we live in a shadow world, where we confuse the
shadow of ourselves with reality. This is the Nafs, the false
ego, which stands in the light before God, causing, so to speak,
a spiritual eclipse.... The Nafs turns us from the One to the
many, enticing us with the things of this world. Then man
attaches himself to one thing after another, which brings, at
best, momentary satisfaction. Through his spiritual practices the
Sufi learns to chain the Nafs, to perceive that it is only a
shadow of reality; and finding the sun of truth within his being,
looking upon it, one is no longer aware of the shadow.
Then the Nafs is not destroyed, but harnessed. The whole of man's
being is attuned to God and everything within him serves God.
This is the work of allon the path of illumination, of whatever
school they may be. There is no other obstacle than this false
self, and there is no better means of controlling it than by
meditation and by practicing the presence of Allah.
The whole idea of life is to live freely; to look through space
freely, having nothing to hide or conceal; allowing the light of
truth to shine from within and the light of the sun without;
light all around, no shadow of any kind hindering the light which
is the soul of every being.
- posted to SufiMystic
This is what should be done
by one who is skilled in goodness,
and who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
contented and easily satisfied,
unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
that the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
may all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
the great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
the seen and the unseen,
those living near and far away,
those born and to-be-born,
may all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
her child, her only child
so with a boundless heart
should one cherish all living beings:
radiating kindness over the entire world
spreading upwards to the skies,
and downwards to the depths;
outwards and unbounded,
freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down,
free from drowsiness,
one should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
by not holding to fixed views,
the pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
being freed from all sense desires,
is not born again into this world.
- The Buddha's Words on Kindness (Metta Sutta), posted to
The_Now2
From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things
and makes us aware that we are nothing - but the light is all.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson