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Harsha:

The teachings of the Sage of
Arunachala, Ramana Maharishi, who
guided me and
blessed
me in my early youth focus almost
exclusively on the Self-Enquiry
involving
asking the
question "Who Am I" and holding on to
resulting "Awareness" in all
conditions.
He
wrote very little except some poetry and a few selected translations of classic
works
(See the Collected works of Ramana Maharshi). He also addressed questions
pertaining
to Kundalini Shakti and different Samadhis when appropriate. Anyone interested
in this
approach should read conversations with Ramana Maharishi or other books written
about
him. A book that I would recommend is "Talks with Ramana Maharshi" which is a
compilation of conversations recorded by Ramanaananda Sarswati (between
1935-1939).

Carl Jung called Ramana Maharshi "The purest (or the whitest) spot in a white
land."
Many of the greatest Yogis and Spiritual Masters of India (Some of who later
came to
the U.S to teach) went to the sacred Hill of Arunachala to be in the presence
of this
great Sage. I believe Swami Nityananda (Guru of Baba Muktananda) also visited
there as
did Swami Rama, founder of the Himalayan Institute. Swami Yogananda of SRF went
there
to visit and asked questions. Various Holy men and Shankracharyas used to go to
him to
clear their doubts. My teacher in his teen years, used to visit Sri Ramana
Maharishi
as well.

Many people have the mistaken impression that the teaching of the Sage of
Arunachala
is not compatible with Shakti Yoga. Let me say clearly that growing in
awareness of I
AM is not inconsistent with any particular spiritual practice and indeed will
aid in
such practices including those associated with Shakti Yoga. At the same time no
particular spiritual practice is essential if one is earnestly holding on to
the self
awareness. Grace plays the final role and takes the feeling/awareness of I AM
and it
Merges it or Swallows it. That state is beyond expression as language cannot
capture
it, thought being absent, mind having been absorbed, Stillness Alone Remains
without
any ripples. It is simply the Self, the Reality which You Are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"He who instructs an ardent seeker to do this or that
is not a true master. The seeker is already afflicted
by his activities and wants peace and rest. In other
words he wants cessation of his activities. If a
teacher tells him to do something in addition to, or
in place of, his other activities, can that be a help
to the seeker? Activity is creation, Activity is the
destruction of one's inherent happiness. If activity
is advocated the adviser is not a master but a
killer."

Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Thanks Tony for that quote from Ramana Maharshi. I will pass that along to
other lists
with something from
ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

Harsha


26. D: What is this direct experience?

M: Just as one can clearly distinguish the sun from the cloud hiding it, so
also when
one can distinguish the Self from the ego, it is direct experience. This is the
"fruit'' of reflection.

55 - 56 Inasmuch as Brahman is impartite, perfect Wholeness, the witness being
Brahman must also be impartite, perfect Wholeness. Therefore it is established
that
the Self is One unbroken Bliss.

D: What is the 'fruit' of this knowledge?

M: To reject the five sheaths and names and forms of objects as something
inexpressible, only superimposed on the Reality, illusory, to practice that the
substratum, i.e., Brahman of Being-Knowledge-Bliss is the Self and to realise
It as 'I
am Brahman' with the resulting Supreme Bliss of being the Brahman is the
'fruit' of
this knowledge.

Here ends the chapter on Reflection.
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peter wood, at <wood@callnetuk.com> wrote the following:

who are the english guys that hold events and satsangs over
here (U.K.)? can you tell me
peter thanks


If anyone can help Peter, please write him. Thanks. And
perhaps let us know on the list.

Jerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane and Alan at the *Ramana Maharshi Foundation* in London usually are at
the hub of information pertaining to gatherings in the U.K. Here's the
info. They are friends of mine, so please greet them for me!!

53, Broadfield,
Broadhurst Gardens,
London NW6 3BN
Tel. 0171 328 6610

With love,

--Greg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christiana:

Jan Koehoorn (aka Dutch) recently attended a 'satsang' with Tony Parsons
in Amsterdam. Tony lives in England. Here is the link for further info
on book and gatherings.

Tony Parsons; The Open Secret
http://www.theopensecret.com/

Tony Parsons, The Garden House, Sancreed,
PENZANCE, Cornwall, TR20 8QS, UK.
Tel +44 (0)1736 810008
Fax +44 (0)1736 810009


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Petros:
One must beware of developing an "I" that
likes to deal with challenges for their own sake. That's why the best
challenges are the ones that actually force us to lose something or give
up something with nothing in return. I.e., they should humble us.

Dan:
Yes. I find wisdom here. Humility is out of fashion in American
culture, and is wrongly equated with negative self-esteem.
Try to find a humble person running for office, running a
business, or a commercial recommending a humble approach. Humility
has become a radical stance! The present is truly humbling - seen
as it is, it takes everything that was thought to be had, leaving
only no-thing. All somethings for no-thing - a wonderful bargain indeed.
-- Love --


Glo:
Humble is of the same root word for humus, earth..as are human, humane,
humanity, humanitarian, humanize - humanly speaking of being down to earth,
earthy - humus is damp, humid, moist,..and thus humors of the bodily fluids
became temperaments and we humor those persons out of humor with our humor,
especially those prone to speak words for the sheer love of word
associations.
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I've just been reading the dialogue between
Michael and Xan in the NdShighlights of yesterday
and would like to make an observation...

You are in good company here Michael.

When this world has more like Xan...
what a wonderful world... it will be.

....................................

In an earlier post to NdS - Michael wrote:

>A guide can only lead me into the forest and point the way he knows.
>A guide cannot point me the way out.
>That is my process.
>Share with me your journey.
>I will find my own way out.
>Thank You,

...............................

Which spawned this muse...

The guides / 'midwives'... we meet along 'our way'...
can encourage us... with the words they say...
but... they can only point... not lead us back...
to *awareness*... which, we appear to lack.

Our journey 'home'... must be traveled alone...
but, it's sure nice to be able to... 'phone'...
some who have 'walked' along this path before...
who know the perils... and also... 'the score'.

They warn us of... the *delusions of doom*...
and can be beacons... through the murk and gloom...
but we needn't trace another's rote route...
because each 'path'... is mutable... and moot.


( /\ )

sam
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jan wrote:

[snip]......Sooner or later one will (have to)
leave all feelings behind and preferably while remaining
awake. Now how
would that (process) feel and be called?

skye: perhaps something like conscious air or a clear
crystal like existence.

Jan: This is more like a possible description of the "impossible"; awake while
still linked to a body, without being "bothered" with trivialities like
hunger, thirst, tiredness, pain, gravity etc..

skye: Without emotional distortion tremendous energy might flow
through self, energies concerned with existence far more
encompassing than our small portion of the spectrum.
Unpredetermined coils of electromagnetic energy through
which the self travels through it's selves automatically,
reaching out to nourish all systems growing by
transmigration. Condensed essences of selves that are the
giants who are instrumental in the formation of physical
consciousness and the seeding of universes, all of which
exist simultaneously in a point that takes up no space.

Jan: Right, energy is a crucial factor. The construction of biological
conditioning requires energy and so does the factual de-conditioning. But
when deconditioning reaches a certain point, one becomes aware of energy
itself, not just its manifestations.

skye: Like children with building blocks, we are so focussed and
preoccupied with objectifying our physical consciousness
that its like we cannot afford to perceive any reality, but
our own. A few have been able to lay the children's toys
aside, but everyone here is still too bound by intellectual
pride and emotional preferences.

Jan: Giving up these toys "just like that" probably isn't easy. The analogy of a
dog, gnawing at the leg of a chair, giving that up immediately only when a
juicy bone is given. If one is satisfied with one's "state of affairs",
nothing will happen. If one gives up completely (even the desire for
enlightenment), sooner or later one will have a "bright flash". When
satisfied with that, nothing will happen :) For a wise one, "progress" is
possible until feelings are no more (which doesn't mean one can't respond
to feelings of "others").


skye: To me there is no fear of abandonment but rather a fear of
union that obliterates physical consciousness, as i know it.

love
skye
~~~~~~~~~

Jan: The fear is the fear of losing identification. One's real nature has no
reference and that is very frightening. Behavior could be called an
equilibrium between tendencies (to do) and inhibitions (not to do); feeling
both tendencies and inhibitions is a conditioning and it will vanish too;
all one's beliefs, even common sense, will appear as a conditioning, to
reappear "after" as "just" the content of memory, no longer dictating
behavior in any way. With one's physical feelings, it is the same. They
also will appear as a conditioning, reappearing as memory "after", but no
longer dictating behavior as pain is no more. There never was such an event
as "union of Shiva and Shakti"; all these events are but memorable
"milestones" in the process of de-identification. What one can learn from
that, is that de-identification is a reason for joy, not for fear :)

Jan
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You (Phil) and Xan have the quality of stating the obvious succinctly.

Harsha
~~~~~~~~~

Hmmmm. I wonder what he means by that ^,^

xan
~~~~~~~~~

Stating the obvious with few words is a gift that some people like you Xan and
Phil
and others have. I appreciate that simplicity because the Self is the Ultimate
Simplicity. Although voluminous scriptures, books, and commentaries exist and
are
written everyday, they are only meaningful and can only be understood with
reference
to other things. Phil said that Being can subsist without reference to "other"
objects. Indeed, Being is Always Existing without Reference. It is It Self the
Only
Reference. That is the paradox of the Self Nature or Buddha Nature from a mental
perspective. Reality Experiencing It Self has Absolutely no reference point
what so
ever! But the Mind itself is a condition arising out of consciousness and the
perceived identity is a cross-section of an infinite reference points. It is all
wondrous magic!

Harsha
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Larry: One more thought on suspicious gurus. In the field of nonduality
(ultimate truth) it could be said there are two basic approaches: "no
self" and "empty self". All the bad boys, Gurdjieff, Trungpa, Osho, Adi
Da, etc. expounded the path of empty self. All those beyond reproach,
Ramana, Nisargadatta, Poonjaji, etc. expounded the path of no self. In
the classical literature, the Indian empty self proponents, Tilopa,
Naropa, etc. were constantly getting in trouble with kings and
villagers. In Tibet, however, people like Marpa and Milarepa managed to
keep a good reputation. Is this just a fluke, does empty = immoral?


Phil: If an "empty self" is really empty, then "it" is empty of self -- and
thus no self.


Larry: These guys seem to be doing something;
I can't see what; maybe it's just theatre


~ What you can see that they do is theatre.
There is so much more they do that isn't
apparent to ordinary seeing.

xan
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jan: In order to feel anything at all, there has to be the ability to feel. One
feeling or another - this is but a matter of interpretation by the
"hardware". In this respect all feelings are the same; they can only refer
to the mind-body and its vicissitudes. Sooner or later one will (have to)
leave all feelings behind and preferably while remaining awake. Now how
would that (process) feel and be called?


neo: I'll bite. How would it feel and be called?


Dan: Not describable, and thus not an experience, idea, or feeling -
It would be awareness as "unspeakable emptiness - no process".
It would "feel" totally unknown - void of qualities.
It could be called "That with no qualifiers".


Skye: Sounds rather numb and lifeless to me.


Dan: Perhaps so - if taken as a description.
So, we won't take this numb and lifeless group of words
for what is being described. We'll go right into it
where it's "alive" and not describable.


Bruce: That's an understandable
inference, but in my
experience it couldn't
be further from the
truth. Thought infers
this out of fear, mainly
fear of the loss of its
precious "individuality."
No worries, Skye, it'll
be back, new and improved
to boot! After all, one
is hard put find a more
feisty bunch of nominal
individuals than the
famous non-dual sages --
these people kicked some
major butt! :-)



Michael wrote:

Where do the original masters get their teachings?
~~~~~~~~~~

Much occult knowledge is given through the play of the third
eye. 'When you
wish upon a star,' is a third eye song. It became a Walt
Disney trademark. There has been much third eye symbolism in
Disney works. I'd love to know something about Disney's
mystical inclinations. Spielberg, of course, directly
referred to the third eye in E.T. (Third Eye backwards?),
when E.T. touches the boy's forehead and says, "I'll be
right here."

Yes, the third eye. It is a Siddhi supermarket. The
'original master' can be found wheeling his cart down aisle
7: Cat food, Cookies, and Karmic Knowledge.

Jerry

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