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Nondual Highlights Issue #2063 Wednesday, February 23, 2004
The
moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of
grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably
magnificent world in itself.
Henry Miller, posted to SufiMysic
From the Viewpoint of our Higher Selves
all our Lifetimes are lived simultaneously.
For Time as we know it is an Aspect of our Dream.
Karma... or Balancing our Lifetimes
- therefore -
is an Elusive Activity and should be thought about
with the Understanding that Reincarnation
- is only true -
when we look at Lifetimes from Earth's Perspective.
The Higher Self or the Christ we are... we are now. We have
always been this. Our Lifetime-Episodes or our Journeys
are Reflections... Dreams... or Creations
within the Nowness of their/our Infinite Moments.
Higher Selves dream-think-create
a specific Personality they wish to be
and voila
we are the Realities of their Creative Dreams.
Yes... we are Real... for Dreams are Real.
We are Real in Mind or Consciousness
and we think that we are Real in Physical Reality.
Physical Reality however... is the very Reality
that we as Aspects of the One Consciousness create.
We seem to live in Physical Bodies
but we Humans see or experience this Reality
through very craftily created Lenses
the Human Body itself.
There is no Objective Reality.
We have hypnotized ourselves collectively
and we agree on what we think we experience or see.
Our Higher Selves create us in the same sense
as we with our Thoughts create them.
Life is a Reciprocal Relationship
in which all of us are Equal and create each Other.
All of Us are the One Consciousness
that is entertaining itself
by being all Entities simultaneously
within the Realities of its own Dreams.
The Whole of Creation takes place in our Mind.
The entire Universe is this Mind.
Thinking that we live in Bodies on Planet Earth
is a Conclusion made by a hypnotized Aspect
with a Seemingly Separate Consciousness or Mind.
Things... Bodies... and Planets
are Energy Patterns of and in our Mind.
There is only Consciousness... entertaining itself
by having Billions upon Billions of Dreams.
All Dreams are experienced as real
for the Creator or Dreamer thinks that he is awake.
We are this Creator or Dreamer.
Since many Entities or Beings are able to think
and therefore are able to create
the Universe is an Expanding Mind or Consciousness.
It becomes aware of its Creations or Dreams
within the Seemingly Separate Consciousnesses
or Created Entities
that live in all Dimensions of the Universe.
The Creator... the Universe... Consciousness or We
are the very Dreamer and Experiencer
of the Reality we create by our Thoughts or Dreams
that manifest right before our very Eyes.
When all Dreamers awaken the Universe disappears.
At that Moment all Dreamers have evolved
to the Original Source
and the Manifested Universe and its Aspects
have arrived Home.
This might happen regularly in enormous Cycles
that are hard to fathom.
Consciousness or the Creator as Unbroken Wholeness
has its Moments of Manifestations/Dreams
and its Moments of Returning/Awakening to Itself.
We do this again and again.
WE ARE THE LIGHT OF CREATION
- posted to CosmicCookies
The prison of the good
It has been said that the good "sanskaras" can be a
medium for maintaining the limited self. When a person looks upon
himself as good, he is experiencing self-affirmation through
identification with an opposite. It is a continuation of
separative existence in a new form. This new house which the ego
constructs for itself is difficult to dismantle because
self-identification with the good is often more complete than
self-identification with the bad. Identification with the bad is
easier to deal with, because as soon as the bad is recognized its
grip on consciousness is lessened; but to loosen the grip of the
good presents a more difficult problem, since the good carries a
semblance of self-justification.
The ego changes identification with the evil for identification
with the good because the latter gives a greater sense of
expansion. But sooner or later, the aspirant perceives the good
to be no less a limitation. The difficulty concerning evil is not
so much in perceiving what it is, as in dissociation; the
difficulty concerning good is in perceiving that it is a
limitation. This difference arises because animal *sanskaras* are
firmly rooted, owing to ancient origin and long accumulation; but
it is important to note that the good binds as much as the evil.
- from "God to Man and Man to God" by Meher Baba,
posted to SufiMystic
It serves no purpose to worry about the disruptions of daily
life, like another child, who rejoices on building a sand castle,
and cries when it collapses. See how puerile beings rush into
difficulties, like a butterfly, which plunges into the flame of a
lamp, so as to appropriate what they covet, and get rid of what
they hate. It is better to put down the burden, which all these
imaginary attachments bring to bear down upon one."
- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
The burdens we carry are all attempts to get things or avoid
things. If we let them go, all things will be just as they are,
and we will be a heckuva lot lighter. Today, let's just put it
all down. Let the burden go. Cut the strings that bind it to your
back. Whew! There. Doesn't that feel better? ~dharma grandmother
- posted to DailyDharma
The dominating Hindu-philosophy of today is the Advaita-Vedanta;
and Ramana Maharshi is considered the most prominent figure
representing this philosophy.
'A-dvaita' means 'not-two', the 'One without a second'. There is
only One principle, Brahman, essence and substance of all and
everything; diversity is merely appearance. Brahman as the
ultimate nature of man is called Atman, the Self, merely for
convenience's sake; Atman is Brahman. The world too is Brahman;
to see it as the world of diversity is Maya, illusion.
The idea of Maya is the point where the antagonists of
Advaita-Vedanta attack the system as showing inconsistency
against its principle of A-dvaita, Maya being 'second' to account
for diversity, which cannot be included in 'the One!'
Ramana Maharshi supported Sri Sankara and the Advaita-system:
"The tantriks and others of the kind condemn Sri Sankara's
philosopy as Maya-path without understanding him aright. What
does he say?
He says: (1) Brahman is real; (2) The universe is a myth; (3)
Brahman is the universe. He does not stop at the second statement
but continues to supplement it with the third. What does it
signify? The universe is conceived to be apart from Brahman, and
that perception is wrong. The antagonists point to his
illustration of 'the snake in the rope'. In dim light one can
think a coiled rope to be a snake. This is unconditioned
superimposition. After the truth of the rope is known, the
illusion of the snake is removed once and for all.
But they should also take into account the conditioned
superimposition, i.e., 'the water in the mirage'.
"The mirage does not disappear even after we know it to be a
mirage. The vision is there, but the man does not run to it for
water. Sri Sankara must be understood in the light of both these
illustrations. The world is a myth. Even after knowing it, it
continues to appear. It must be known to be Brahman and not
apart." (Ramana)
_____
But these explanations [ see Talks, 315 & Talks, 20 ] do not
make Ramana Maharshi a philosopher. His Great Experience was not
a result of a study of Advaita-philosophy, but the basic event
which enabled him to confirm that great intuition of yore.
He simply states what he sees and that is the same as Sankara and
the ancient Rishis had seen and which everybody will see who
follows his Path up to the end. That behind the appearance of the
forms is the true nature of the world as Brahman. However, all
their explanation and deductions cannot prove their vision, as
long as he who doubts cannot see what they see. And he cannot see
it as long as both of them use different ways of perceiving. No
logical philosophical demonstration can prove what the realized
one sees: That the Self is not only his true nature, but also
that of the world. And he perceives it as distinctly as 'a fruit
on the palm of his hand'.
That was the reason, why Ramana Maharshi used to divert the
conversation as soon as it was convenient, when it had turned to
Maya. Actually the problem, Maya, is no problem at all, being no
obstruction in the Path. When Suka, the son of the sage Vyasa,
realized the Self, he did not believe either himself or his
father, who confirmed his achievement, because he felt that he
had not yet solved the riddle of the world as Maya. Thus his
father sent him to Janaka, the royal sage. King Janaka put him to
several tests, which the youthful Suka passed in the calm and
composed way of a real sage. Accordingly King Janaka confirmed
his Self-realisation. Suka remonstrated: 'But there is still the
problem of Maya ...'
King Janaka smiled. "Drop it!"
The same moment Suka 'saw' that the Truth of the world was the
same as his own Truth.
- Excerpt from, Hunting the 'I'
by Lucy Cornelssen, posted to MillionPaths
I see what you too could see, here and now, but for the wrong
focus of your attention.You give no attention to your self. Your
mind is all with things, people and ideas, never with your self.
Bring your self into focus, become aware of your own existence.
See how you function, watch the motives and results of your
actions. Study the prison you have built around yourself, by
inadvertence.
- Nisargadatta