Click here to go to the next issue

Patchouli

Issue #1116 Wednesday June 26 2002
Home: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Editor: Jerry Katz

"It seemed like one smiling smile, one adorable
adoration, one gracious and adorable charity,
everlasting safety, refreshing afternoon, roses,
infinite brilliant immaterial golden ash, the Golden
Age." --Jack Kerouac, from The Scripture of Golden
Eternity

DAVID OLLER
from Alice's Restaurant

Patchouly :)

I was talking to Mark Ambrose last night after I ordered
a Kilo of Iron Free patchouly from Rosanne. I'm still
checking out some samples Marge Clark sent me and I'm
sure I'm going to get one of those too! I just don't
know which yet.

As I was going through all my oils with Mark, especially
the patchouly, but also some Attars, Ruh Khus, and
Sandalwoods (Mysore 1993) and Tamil (About three or
four years old) I started thinking I was a lunatic!

Why do I have all this patchouly?

What is this obsession I have with Patchouly.

From Kilos of Guru Balsam free, Iron free, Dark Indian,
1993 Dark Indian, etc. etc. I even have a small bottle
that is 1960's vintage.

None of it for sale!

My son's both hate patchouly, but some day they are
going to inhereit the largest private collection I know
of.

Is there some divine force at work here, or perhaps some
psychological glich (ala Jack Nicholson-As Good as it
Gets)

I quess we all have our quirks :)

David

DAMAR

My best Patchouly memory occured in Indonesia. I was
buzzing past a field on my moped when all of a
sudden...wham... I was smacked by a hot cloud of the
dirtiest, most wonderful patchouly scent ever. I
figured my olfactory memory was being tweeked (along
with all my other senses..part of the culture shock I
suppose) and kept moving on Hours later, on the way
back, it nailed me again...a hot wave of Patchouly
scent riding on the coastal breeze...catching me like a
net in the very same place... Years later I returned
there and sure enough the same heavenly Patchouly scent
caught me...after further investigation I found out that
huge field of Patchouly plants were being cultivated
there....and immense field. The neat part about that is
how the field, in the right conditions, smelled exactly
how I would like Patchouly to smell. Like dirt. Fine,
aromatic dirt. I love Patchouly too, folks!

Another favorite I can't seem to escape it Patchouly and
Vetiver. A heavenly combo (in the right proportions) if
ever there was one.

Aloha, Damar

ANYA

Patchouli plants are available in some nurseries this
time of year, or by mail order. A member of the mint
family, they grow like wildfire, and can reach 4' x 4'
by the end of summer. They need semi shade and lots of
water. The scent gets released gently by a breeze or a
little sun, and sometimes, when the air is very still,
the scent 'hangs'.

You can grow it in a pot, or put it in the ground. In
the fall, you can either take cuttings (roots very
easily) or pot it up and bring it indoors.

I eat the crispy leaves in an Asian salad, with enoki
mushrooms, lettuce, water chestnuts and a sesame
oil/rice vinegar dressing.

I know logees.com has the plants, if you interested,
call around to local nurseries that stock lots of herb
plants, they'll probably have some or can order them for
you.

Then, you can have your own, growing, dirt-scented
perfume/incense plant -- it is lovely and light growing
naturally, the deeper scent comes upon fermentation of
the leaves and distillation.

CRYSTAL

Picture it: hippie times, 1968, strong acid, patchouli
fumes hang heavy in the air,

hi perfumers,
these days are still with us. when i sell
some of my blends at the music fairs and festivals all
summer and autumn quite a few people young and old buy
the single essence of patchouli. some folks are just
reminiscing but quite a few are still living that
lifestyle. i have seen some crazy and funny things
happen (ie. people come up, buy a bottle of patchouli
and immediately open it and start dabbing their
underarms : ) nothing left to do but smile, smile,
smile. i usually sell a bunch of lavender and tea tree
also, just for the record. happy blending,

ANASTASIA

I wear it instead of deoderant and I smell sooooo good!
always!

I was at the local little store here.."hickville" and I
walked in and they all stared, one reason was because I
have hippified clothes on (only because they are left
over from the "old" days) and big hair and the stank of
patchouli..they just stared.. then finally the woman
behind the desk says.."what is that delicious perfume
you are wearing??" "oh, it is just a patchouli creme I
made." "Oh, please bring me some! will you please?" I
did.. It is odd, you would think these people arround
here would not apreaciate patchouli but they love it..I
get asked all the time.."what are you wearing?

Patchouly~patchouli!
That's what!
Anastasia

___________________________________________________________________

MAZIE LANE
from Adyashantigroup

The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
by Jack Kerouac

You are the golden eternity because there is
no me and no you, only one golden eternity.

This world is the movie of what everything is,
it is one movie, made of the same stuff
throughout, belonging to nobody, which is what
everything is.

Sociability is a big smile, and a big smile is
nothing but teeth. Rest and be kind.

The words "atoms of dust" and "the great
universes" are only words. The idea that they
imply is only an idea. The belief that we live here
in this existence, divided into various beings,
passing food in and out of ourselves, and casting off
husks of bodies one after another with no cessation
and no definite or particular discrimination, is
only an idea. The seat of our Immortal Intelligence
can be seen in that beating light between the eyes
the Wisdom Eye of the ancients: we know what
we're doing: we're not disturbed: because
we're like the golden eternity pretending at
playing the magic cardgame and making believe
it's real, it's a big dream, a joyous ecstasy of
words and ideas and flesh, an ethereal flower
unfolding and folding back, a movie, an
exuberant bunch of lines bounding emptiness,
the womb of Avalokitesvara, a vast secret
silence, springtime in the Void, happy young
gods talking and drinking on a cloud. Our
32,000 chillicosms bear all the marks of
excellence. Blind milky light fills our night;
and the morning is a crystal.

When you've understood this scripture, throw it
away. If you cant understand this scripture,
throw it away. I insist on your freedom.

Kindness and sympathy, understanding and
encouragement, these give: they are better
than just presents and gifts: no reason in the
world why not. Anyhow, be nice. Remember
the golden eternity is yourself. "If someone will
simply practice kindness," said Gotama to
Subhuti, "he will soon attain highest perfect
wisdom." Then he added: "Kindness after all
is only a word and it should be done on the spot
without thought of kindness." By practicing
kindness all over with everyone you will soon
come into the holy trance, definite distinctions
of personalities will become what they really
mysteriously are, our common and eternal blissstuff,
the pureness of everything forever, the great bright
essence of mind, even and one thing everywhere the
holy eternal milky love, the white light everywhere
everything, emptybliss, svaha, shining, ready, and
awake, the compassion in the sound of silence, the
swarming myriad trillionaire you are.

Cats yawn because they realize
that there's nothing to do.

This world has no marks, signs or evidence of
existence, nor the noises in it, like accident
of wind or voices or heehawing animals,
yet listen closely the eternal hush of silence
goes on and on throughout all this, and has been
going on, and will go on and on. This is because
the world is nothing but a dream and is just thought
of and the everlasting eternity pays no attention
to it. At night under the moon, or in a quiet
room, hush now, the secret music of the Unborn
goes on and on, beyond conception, awake beyond
existence. Properly speaking, awake is not really
awake because the golden eternity never went to
sleep: you can tell by the constant sound of
Silence which cuts through this world like a
magic diamond through the trick of your not
realizing that your mind caused the world.

I was smelling flowers in the yard, and when
I stood up I took a deep breath and the blood all
rushed to my brain and I woke up dead on my
back in the grass. I had apparently fainted,
or died, for about sixty seconds. My neighbor
saw me but he thought I had just suddenly
thrown myself on the grass to enjoy the sun.
During that timeless moment of unconsciousness
I saw the golden eternity. I saw heaven. In it
nothing had ever happened, the events of a
million years ago were just as phantom and
ungraspable as the events of now or of a million
years from now, or the events of the next ten
minutes. It was perfect, the golden solitude, the
golden emptiness, Something-Or-Other, something
surely humbly. There was a rapturous ring of
silence abiding perfectly. There was no question
of being alive or not being alive, of likes and
dislikes, of near or far, no question of giving
or gratitude, no question of mercy or judgment,
or of suffering or its opposite or anything.
It was the womb itself, aloneness, alaya vijnana
the universal store, the Great Free Treasure, the
Great Victory, infinite completion, the joyful
mysterious essence of Arrangement. It seemed
like one smiling smile, one adorable adoration,
one gracious and adorable charity, everlasting
safety, refreshing afternoon, roses, infinite
brilliant immaterial golden ash, the Golden Age.
The "golden" came from the sun in my eyelids,
and the "eternity" from my sudden instant
realization as I woke up that I had just
been where it all came from and where it
was all returning, the everlasting So, and
so never coming or going; therefore I call it
the golden eternity but you can call it anything
you want. As I regained consciousness I felt so sorry
I had a body and a mind suddenly realizing I
didnt even have a body and a mind and nothing
had ever happened and everything is alright
forever and forever and forever, O thank you
thank you thank you.

...

Did I create that sky? Yes, for if it was
anything other than a conception in my mind
I wouldn't have said "Sky" - That is why I am the
golden eternity. There are not two of us here,
reader and writer, but one, one golden eternity,
One-Which-It-Is, That-Which-Everything-Is.

The awakened Buddha to show the way, the
chosen Messiah to die in the degradation
of sentience, is the golden eternity. One that
is what is, the golden eternity, or God, or,
Tathagata - the name. The Named One.
The human God. Sentient Godhood.
Animate Divine. The Deified One.
The Verified One. The free One.
The Liberator. The Still one.
The Settled One. The Established One.
Golden Eternity. All is Well.
The Empty One. The Ready One.

The Quitter. The Sitter.
The justified One. The Happy One.

That sky, if it was anything other than an
illusion of my mortal mind I wouldn't have said
"that sky." Thus I made that sky, I am the
golden eternity. I am Mortal Golden Eternity.

I am the golden eternity in mortal animate form.

Strictly speaking, there is no me, because all is
emptiness. I am empty, I am non-existent.
All is bliss.

This truth law has no more reality than the world.

You are the golden eternity because there is
no me and no you, only one golden eternity.

The Realizer. Entertain no imaginations whatever,
for the thing is a no-thing. knowing this then
is Human Godhood.

This world is the movie of what everything is,
it is one movie, made of the same stuff
throughout, belonging to nobody, which is what
everything is.

If it were not all the golden eternity we
wouldn't be here. Because we are here we
can't help being pure. To tell man to be pure on
account of the punishing angel that punishes the
bad and the rewarding angel that rewards the good
would be like telling the water "Be Wet" - Never
the less, all things depend on supreme reality,
which is already established as the record of
Karma-earned fate.

God is not outside us but is just us, the
living and the dead, the never-lived and
never-died. That we should learn it only now, is
supreme reality, it was written a long time ago
in the archives of universal mind, it is already
done, there's no more to do.

This is the knowledge that sees the golden
eternity in all things, which is us, you,
me, and which is no longer us, you, me.......

_______________________________________________________________

R.K.SHANKAR
from the I Am list

Dear All

As I have been practising Self-Inquiry, some new
insights from actual experience are coming in. May be,
these things will help others. Or, some others already
know this. In which case, they can communicate. And,
that will reinforce each other's experience and faith.
The true purpose of one's being in a satsang.

As I practise Self-Enquiry, I find that suddenly there
is an out and down rush of ego from within. And, that
the consciousness becomes too externalised,
automatically arresting the Self-Inquiry and bringing in
world-inquiry(!).

In fact, once a devotee asked thus to Sri Bhagawan,
'Should we do Self-Enquiry always?' And, promptly Sri
Bhagawan replied, 'If we do not perform Self-Enquiry,
world-enquiry will automatically creep in. So, why not
persist in Self-Enquiry itself?'

This is, of course, good. As Sri Bhagawan has stated in
an answer to a question raised by our great Sri Siva
Prakasam Pillai and recorded in the small booklet titled
'Who am I?' Sri Bhagawan states that only if the enemy
soldiers (of thoughts, whatever these may be) come from
within the fort one by one, we can kill them by
Self-inquiry and gain entry into and occupy the fort (of
the Self)

However, this out and down rush of the ego occurs so
swiftly. And, it seems to occur in increasing degrees
of horizontal projection and downward fall. First there
is this increase of the width of the ego dragging and
pinning the attention on the 'other'. And then, there is
this increase in the depth of the reach of the ego,
dragging and pinning the attention on the 'grosser'.
Finally, the ego has struck the heel as is stated in
Genesis(!) of the Old Testament

Now, it is our turn to strike its hood, again, as stated
in Genesis(!) of the Old Testament, through
Self-Enquiry as suggested by Sri Bhagawan.


Sri Bhagawan has stated that this Self-Enquiry is to be
done in 3 steps.

1 'For whom is this thought?' (not verbally, but
inwardly) This is to turn the attention from the
other.

2 Then, there will be the response from within 'For me'.

3 Then, we have enquire 'Who am I'? (not verbally, but
inwardly)

My difficulty was that once by the sudden out and down
rush of the ego, my consciouness becomes too heavily
externalized in thickness and depth, it becomes too
difficult to commence the enquiry by the 1st step 'For
whom is this thought?'

However, it suddenly struck me that I have to both lift
up and compact the ego. That is, shrink it both
horizontally and vertically. So, I started uttering the
words 'lift up' a couple of times. Without really
knowing what could be the result. This, compacted the
ego so quickly that the ability to enquire 'For whom is
this thought' was handed back to me, as it were. So, the
thought about vertical lifting up brings about the
horizontal compaction, surprisingly enough

And then, upon successfully commencing the Self-Enquiry
with the thought 'For whom is this thought', the
vertical lifting up occurs. So, the thought about
horizontal compaction, brings about the lifting up of
the ego, less surprising this time though(!) And also
the awareness or the response that 'For me is this
thought' or 'I am the thinker' powerfully returns at
this stage.

Now, we can hold the attention lightly over the tip of
the compacted and lifted ego, and continue the attention
as to 'Who I am'. Thus, completing one cycle of the
process of Self-Enquiry through the mind.

Then, as Saint Sri Sadhu Aum has observed, this
self-attention automatically slackens. We can leave the
process for a couple of minutes. Chanting the Name
'Arunachala Siva'. Now, we are not chanting the Name of
God in vain, as the Old Testament warns us not to.

Then, we can recommence the process of Self-inquiry.

Yours in Sri Bhagawan
RK Shankar