RASHMI
what is true surrender? surrender is just another
concept, maybe it just happens....
JAN B.
Relatives are concepts too: they don't exist apart from
your perceptions, live only as perceptions, which just
happen, without any evidence that the show is over when
the mind-body happens to cease functioning.
JODY
True surrender is a total approach to life. It's a
practice, not a concept, at least when it's engaged
properly.
While there may be subtle distinctions between surrender
and making choices, the bottom line is that one
abdicates their power as an individual and allows the
universe at large to direct one's existence.
It's always that way anyway, but the one who surrenders
finds themselves swimming with the current of life
instead of fighting against it.
JAMES TRAVERSE
To Jody: Well said! It's a practice not a concept.
There is no way to 'make' Peace. Peace is The Way. Peace
is the Ultimate Discipline.
DAN
If I make a choice, that is the universe acting through
me as if making a choice.
There is nothing to surrender to, or to fight against.
There is only the universe acting.
And the universe is acting by not-acting.
Choice and non-choice aren't really opposites.
RASHMI
Is it something like this? I know that I don't know and
so what? What do I need to know this moment? This
happens for a period of time and then I'm back in the
trap yearning......
SU GANDOLF
Yes! This is how it is...
Back and forth And so what?
What Do I Need
To Know This Moment
This Happens...
And you said it, rashmi
JODY
My question is, what are you yearning for. Are you truly
yearning for realization, or are you yearning to be
happy and do you believe that realization will bring
happiness.
Realization is no escape from anything toward anything.
It's a simple recognition of who you are. It's
astonishingly ordinary given we pile so many hopes,
dreams and expectations on to it.
It will release you from the bondage of exclusive
attachment to the one who is unhappy, and that certainly
helps. However, it won't change the conditions of your
life right away, and the "one" who is unhappy will still
be unhappy even though you will know such a one doesn't
really exist.
JAMES
You asked, 'Is it something like ...'
In addition to what others have already said... I feel
that it is like learning to drive a car.
First there is the intellectual understanding, thinking
- conceptual;
Second there is the application of this understanding,
where you get a 'feel' for the process - intuitive;
And then the flowering of the understanding is when it
is Living Understanding or when you are no longer
thinking about driving the car although you know the
rules of the road etc... AND you are not trying to feel
the gas pedal, the gear shift or the steering wheel etc.
and yet there is feeling ....YOU are simply not
involved in any of this - you have 'let go', relaxed.
The full establishment is when you are completely absent
(you are the abesence of your absence, which is the
absence of being involved with thinking and feeling) -
you are not engaged in thinking and/or feeling and yet
these things occur as necessary in the situation.
In this way life flows 'through' you rather than coming
'from' you. 'You' are empty of your 'self' and
OneFullness is there naturally.
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JAN SULTAN
Gems from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's Conversations
"When effort is needed, effort will appear. When
effortlessness becomes essential, it will assert itself.
You need not push life about. Just flow with it and
give yourself completely to the task of the present
moment, which is the dying now to the now. For living
is dying. Without death life cannot be."
from: ANetofJewels
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GENE POOLE
A letter written for a dear friend... in part
[...]
I would remind you that PK Dick has probably already
done most of the research... his conclusions are
embedded in his stories, esp the VALIS trilogy. He
asserts that we are experiencing a dynamic 'see-saw', as
the universe re-calibrates itself more and more finely;
and he shows how those who are sensitive suffer, while
those less sensitive simply die.
Our 'Host' is undergoing perturbations; and we are
rattled about in His guts. His evolution takes him by
surprise, and he shares with us the fruits of his
discoveries, sweet or bitter.
As He learns to move gracefully with his own changes, so
we must also not only adapt, but take each significance
as a literal step to a higher dimension of Being; the
alternative is too terrible to contemplate.
Being abiding, allows the stream of time to carry away
the detritus of redundant identity; we timeless, the
river flows around, but not through us. Like a rocky
island, we have the time to watch the river, to learn
its stories, and to see that those whose preferences
differ from what the river offers, are washed away with
all identity which differs from the essential nature of
our Host.
On a more mundane level, it is good to see that we are
embedded in a system which is fully interactive with
each person; the universe tailors the reality of each
person, and that person ultimately is responsible for
the universe which is apparent to that person. There
seems to be no external universe, aside from the
infrastructure which enables this whole thing; and it is
that infrastructure, which is pursued by all of the
ancient ways of esoteric study.
The Host (parent) system 'must' produce spawn (us) and
we are 'meant to be' something akin to stabilizing
gyroscopes; each of us is the living remedy, for the
imbalances which necessitated our birth. The meaning of
the life of a person, is to overcome the tendencies
which are responsible for his birth. In this way, does
our Host adapt to His own difficulties; and that is why
we have a space for identity. It is His identity which
would occupy that space; the first tendency we must
overcome, to avoid birth, is that of harbouring a
specious identity, one produced simply by the additive
memories of events since incarnation.
The existence of the universe is a signal of the success
of this system; each person commands the resources
necessary to contribute to the overall stability of our
Host. The order implicate in the system, can be seen as
either the goal of the system, or the means of the
system, or both; in any case, the 'rewards' available
are intense affirmations 'from our Host' that we are on
the right track.
One factor of our existence as humans, is that the
system for experiencing 'rewards' is built-in, and may
be triggered biochemically. Physical practices and
drugs, certain 'meditative' techniques, etc, are known
to trigger 'reward' experiences, and if a behaviour is
discovered (drug use or sex/orgasm, for instance) which
imparts 'reward', there is the possibility of radical
disconnect from the actual Host system of dynamic
feedback. The inevitable consequence for such disconnect
is 'punishment'; this is experienced as 'anhedonia'
(depression) or, in extreme cases, as madness; 'those
whom the gods wish to destroy, first they make mad'.
The individual who is 'identity-bound', captive of
idiosyncratic identity, will not know that the
possibilities which are seen, are a tiny fraction of
those actually available; thus, on his way, such a one
will act again and again in a programmed way, having
little choice in any matter. Patterned behaviour of this
sort will of course elicit 'feedback' from the Host
system, designed to reveal the vastness of the realm of
possibilities. It is this hidden realm, which is sought
by those bound by identity, for they suffer in
proportion to the exclusion of Host identity.
Nonetheless, all of these factors are taken into
consideration; time has provided the means for our Host
to learn, and so there is no possibility which is not
accounted for already. We exist in a field of
possibility which is (generally) wider than the ability
of any person to grasp; and so, surprise is a constant
factor for us. As much as we strive for predictability,
constancy, and stability, we do not know 'how' to
achieve those conditions... aside from surrender to
Abiding as way of Being.
A person cannot surrender to a fictitious host; our Host
is 'unknown', so our surrender must be to the unknown.
This equates to admitting that we do not know, as the
means of surrender.
As we look around, looking for the unknown, it may be
that we can comprehend that the unknown is not located
in a place, but is pervasive; that is, not seeing
anything we do not know, we must affirm that our
ignorance is pervasive, to the extent that we exist in a
field of ignorance, which outclasses any knowing; and
knowing this, we must then, immediately surrender it.
At this point, as above, it occurs that there is a
slowing or even stoppage of accumulating identity;
events are experienced impersonally, from that point,
and identity is clearly seen as redundant, if not
dangerously inhibitive to continued existence. As time
now passes (the flowing river) the space of identity,
rather than filling, empties; and as this space grows,
so also may grow our ability to host our Host.
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GLORIA LEE
Mevlana said: Come out of the circle of time and into
the circle of Love.
We came whirling
out of nothingness
scattering stars like dust.
The stars made a circle
and in the middle
we dance.
The wheel of heaven circles God like a mill
If you grab a spoke
it will tear your hand off.
Turning and turning
it sunders
all attachment.
Were that wheel not in love
it would cry
Enough! How long this turning?
every atom turns bewildered
Beggars circle tables
dogs circle carrion
the lover circles his own heart.
Ashamed,
I circle shame.
A ruined water wheel
whichever way I turn
is the river
If that rusty old sky
creaks to a stop
still, still I turn
And it is only God
circling Himself.
In the music, we find silence; in the movement,
we find stillness.
Sheikh Abdul Azziz was born and educated in the UK and
he is a murid of the Naqshbandi Sufi Master, Hadrat
Sheikh Abdullah Sirr Dan al Jamal. Under his Sheikh’s
direction, and with the permission of Rumi’s descendant,
Hazreti Jelaluddin Celebi, Sheikh Abdul Aziz was guided
to the Mevlevi tradition. He had been teaching the
Mevlevi Sufi path in Melbourne for over ten years.
http://www.sufismjournal.org/history/historywhirlingd.html
(link originally posted by Jan Sultan 12/01 audio
Prayer (Besmele) by Ruhi Su
http://www.stanford.edu/~percin/Bektashi.html
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JAN SULTAN
"What I've learned from all this is what a delicate game
it is to work with intense pain. Like all the
experiences of an incarnation, pain has to be
experienced fully by the Ego in order to be an effective
learning experience for the Soul, but plunging in like
that locks you into the pain. The only solution is to
be on two planes at once: you have to enter the pain
fully, and yet be in the Soul level at the same time.
That's fierce? You feel the full intensity of the pain,
and at the same time you transcend it by being in the
Witness state. Pain demands that you establish yourself
simultaneously in Ego and Soul. What an incredible
teacher it is."
From: Still Here by Ram Dass
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MICHAEL READ
back in the day 1971-1974 or thereabouts
guru maharaji was a big deal in the east meets west
spiritual migration biz.
man we threw some lavish parties!
huge stages
food
drink
crowds
singing
waving about of arms
and lots of pranaming!
whooooie did we have fun!
and this pudgy little kid and his
holy family got stinking rich
then there was a big schism
and scandal
in his most holy family
seems his big brother
was supposed to be the next
lord of the universe
not the gm
so his momma took big bro's side
and bb split off and set up shop
on his own
and of course had lots of followers
too and got real rich
but only over in india
but that's cool too.
today there are still
some who follow
the gm
who now no longer proclaims
he is the lord of the universe
and will most certainly
save the world
i wonder do they
still kiss
his holy feet?
it was fun for a while
and i did learn to meditate
but man what a trip
michael