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Nondual Highlights Issue #2147 Wednesday, May 18, 2005
The
fundamental delusion of humanity is
to suppose that I am here and you are out
there.
- Yasutani Roshi, posted to AlongTheWay
In the beginning, there was Existence alone -
One only, without a second.
It, the One, thought to itself:
"Let Me be many, let Me grow forth."
Thus, out of Itself, it projected the universe,
and having projected the universe out of Itself,
It entered into every being.
All that is has its self in It alone.
Of all things It is the subtle essence.
It is the truth. It is the Self.
And you are That.
- excerpt from Chandogya Upanishad,
posted to MillionPaths
Q: How can I attain Self- realization?
A: Realization is nothing to be gained afresh; it is already
there. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought `I have
not realized'. Stillness or peace is realization. There is no
moment when the Self is not. So long as there is doubt or the
feeling of non-realization, the attempt should be made to rid
oneself of these thoughts. They are due to the identification of
the Self with the not-Self. When the not-Self disappears, the
Self alone remains. To make room, it is enough that objects be
removed. Room is not brought in from elsewhere.
- Ramana Maharshi from Be As You Are,
posted to MillionPaths
What we commonly think of as constituting the "I" is an
idea which changes from year to year. This is the personal
"I." But what we feel most intimately as being always
present in all these different ideas of the "I," that
is, the sense of being, of existence, never changes at all. It is
this which is our true enduring "I."
- Paul Brunton, from The Ego / From Birth to
Rebirth: Volume 6, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
A baby pigeon stands on the edge of a nest all day.
Then he hears a whistle, Come to me.
How could he not fly toward that?
Wings tear through the body's robe when
a letter arrives that says,
"You've flapped and fluttered against limits
long enough.
You've been a bird without wings
in a house without doors or windows.
Compassion builds a door.
Restlessness cuts a key.
Ask. Step off into air like a baby pigeon.
Strut proudly into sunlight,
not looking back.
Take sips of this pure wine being poured.
Don't mind that you've been given a dirty cup."
- Rumi, version by Coleman Barks, These
Branching Moments, Copper Beech Press, 1988,
posted to Sunlight