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Hello. We start out with three pieces from Rumi. But first
here's Greg Goode's discovery:
____________________________________________________________________

This is a poem by Jimmy Hurley, a friend of mine in New
York. It's a
dialogue about God. Normally, the inset parts would be in
italics, but
that doesn't show in everyone's e-mail. Enjoy!

Love,

--Greg

=============
GOD IS HERE
=============

God is here!

Yes, we know,
God is everywhere.

Of course,
but you have not
quite gotten this meaning,
GOD "is" "here"!

Yes, yes we understand.
This very place, here, god also is.
God is here and over there god is.
Wherever we go god is there too, right?

NO, NO, NO. Now listen carefully,
I'll put it another way.
Here, is not where god is,
HERE "IS" GOD.
GOD IS "HERE"!

Oh! 'God is here'.

YES! "God Is Here!"

Wow, GOD is here!
Hey, we are here also, so that means
we are all with god here now.

Nooo. We are not all with God.

Wait a minute, you just said
God is here? And if God is here,
and I am here,
then I am here with god.

Not quite! It's true ,"GOD IS HERE".

But, you said I am here, correct?

Yes!

Sooo, everything that "IS HERE"
also has to be God.

Yes!

WOW! You mean I am GOD!!!!

CAREFUL, CAREFUL, CAREFUL.
You are not GOD. GOD "IS" I AM.
The I AM that IS HERE, IS GOD.

Hey, I'm hungry,
let's get something to eat.

Ok.
______________________________________________________________

RUMI (via Melody)

I'm drenched
in the flood
which has yet to come

I'm tied up
in the prison
which has yet to exist

Not having played
the game of chess
I'm already the checkmate

Not having tasted
a single cup of your wine
I'm already drunk

Not having entered
the battlefield
I'm already wounded and slain.

I no longer
know the difference
between image and reality

Like the shadow

I am
and
I am not
_______________________________________________
RUMI (via Gloria Lee)


Bouyancy

Love has taken away my practices
and filled me with poetry.

I tried to keep quietly repeating,
No strength but yours,
but I couldn't.

I had to clap and sing.
I used to be respectable and chaste and stable,
but who can stand in this strong wind
and remember those things?

A mountain keeps an echo deep inside itself.
That's how I hold your voice.

I am scrap wood thrown in your fire,
and quickly reduced to smoke.

I saw you and became empty.
This emptiness more beautiful than existence,
it obliterates existence, and yet when it comes,
existence thrives and creates more existence!

The sky is blue. The world is a blind man
squatting on the road.

But whoever sees your emptiness
sees beyond blue and beyond the blind man.

A great soul hides like Muhammad, or Jesus,
moving through a crowd in a city
where no one knows him.

To praise is to praise
how one surrenders
to the emptiness.

To praise the sun is to praise your own eyes.
Praise, the ocean. What we say, a little ship.

So the sea-journey goes on, and who knows where!
Just to be held by the ocean is the best luck
we could have. It's a total waking up!

Why should we grieve that we've been sleeping?
It doesn't matter how long we've been unconscious.

We're groggy, but let the guilt go.
Feel the motions of tenderness
around you, the bouyancy.
___________________________________________________________
RUMI (via O.H.)

Thanks to TiggerGlo - bounce! bounce! - and Melody Oshe, for
Rumi
quotes. Here is one more to make a Beloved Bouncing Trilogy.

come, beggars
sit with open hands
at the gate
of nothingness

God will bring bread
without the medium
of bread

sweetness
without honey or bee

when past and future
dissolve
there is only you

senseless as a lute
upon the breast of God
__________________________________________________________________

DAN

Praying to Nothing is like a fish in the ocean asking for
water.

On Rumi:
The guitar he plays has no strings; Without touching the
door, he knocks loudly.

********************

How did a nothing so boundless imagine itself inside such a
small box?
How did this nothing forget that it contains galaxies?
_________________________________________________________________

XAN AND DAN

"I am asking you to tell me what it is you truly want for
its own sake.
And if you still imagine that somehow you don't have that,
let me know what you imagine keeps you from it. Let's
examine it and see. Is that obstruction to truth real or is
it part of the webbing, part of the fabric of your
imagination?" --Gangaji

Thanks for sharing this thought, Xan and Gangaji. An
observation here:
Once I start thinking about what I want, or thinking about
what is keeping me from what I want, there is already a
formulated separation assumed.
Once assumed into the structure of one's thought, further
thinking will never overcome it. The assumed 'I' remains
unchanged by gaining new thoughts, it just can now refer to
the thought "there is no obstruction" when this thought is
used for reassurance, relaxation, etc. This is also true
for the thoughts, "there is no 'me'," or, "I will constantly
inquire 'who am I?'".

Can we be aware that we're aware, yet at the same time, know
our awareness without splits, as the simple all-encompassing
truth that it is -- the truth beyond the concepts of
"awareness" and "nonawareness", or "having" or "not having"?

Love, Dan
_________________________________________________________________

JERRY

I remind people that the teachings of Ramana are given in
person in Santa Cruz at S.A.T., by Nome and Russ. We have
heard many good things about them, recently from Cee. The
S.A.T. Temple is an exquisite place. I enjoyed a morning of
pleasant communion there. The web page is
http://www.satramana.org

When in or around Santa Cruz, please make a trip to S.A.T.
and see Nome and Russ. Next time I'm there, I'll go back.
___________________________________________________________________
SHANKAR, WITH GENE POOLE

229-Abide in the 'Waking-Sleep' State of
Awareness-Existence:

Because 'Awareness' exists, 'this one (state)' is not
'sleep', (and)
Because there is 'absence of thoughts', it is not 'even
waking'- Awareness-Existence, Chit-Sat, Vast Form of Shiva
(is this state), Without 'leaving' this 'Chit', 'abide' in
'that'.

Translation of verse 229 in 'Essence of Sadhana' by Sri
Sadhu Om Swamigal.

GENE: Well stated, Shankar!

This is the conceptual point of view that so many people
miss.
I find in relaxing in 'that', that the difference fades,
until 'that' is 'this'.
_________________________________________________________________
CHRISTIANA AND CHUCK

Below are both my and Chuck Hillig's reflections about being
with this man. During this Inner Directions Gathering
weekend, I had the wonderful privilege of spending some fine
time with both Chuck and his lovely friend Dominica. I met
Chuck here on this list, have read his simple yet
challenging book and was delighted to meet his living
soulful eyes and smile.

.o00o.

One of the primary draws for me to this conference was the
chance to again be with Eckhart Tolle. I spent an evening
and some private time with him last November, and
experienced in his presence a deep dropping into stillness.
He embodies and transmits the fullness of mind stopped.

We spoke briefly on Friday night and again I readily knew
the fullness of the present. There were several *alive*
presentations on Saturday. In my work, I meet many
authors. Occasionally, there is a disconnect between the
author's work and their presentation. I experienced none of
that this weekend. Rob Rabbin and Lama Surya Das were
delightfully authentic. Byron Katie gave a powerful
presentation of her "Work".
Adyashanti offered such a clear presentation that one felt
his sharp sword cut through the dross of illusion and
moments of pure essence emerged. Michael Green's reading of
Rumi accompanied by stirring music was a blessed ending to
the gathering.

Yet for me, and for the entire gathering, on Sunday, Eckhart
Tolle touched the deepest tonal note. He received an
immediate standing ovation. It is difficult to articulate
what is so powerful and unique about this man. Much remains
below linguistic sculpting. What I can say is that his
precise use of language to disassemble structure is as
phenomenal, as is his capacity to speak from Presence.

After he spoke, I could not rejoin the assemblage. He had
taken me to a place where no further words were necessary or
desired. I thus missed the presentation by Rabbi Rami
Shapiro.

I went for a long walk along the beach and delighted in the
Sandpiper's play along the shoreline. They were my next
natural teacher as I observed them scurrying in and out of
the tides ebb and flow. I thought... how like we humans..
dancing with Leela. Then suddenly a large wave crashed and
just as the water's edge was about to overtake them, they
immediately took flight on the currents of the wind. A
masterful display of natural awareness segued powerfully
with what I had just witnessed with Eckhart.

~~~~~~ from Chuck Hillig ~~~~~~~~~

When I first saw Eckhart Tolle on Friday and Saturday, I was
struck both by his centeredness and by his all-encompassing
quietude. It almost seemed like he was not fully "in the
world" in the same ways that others were likely to be. I
was particularly impressed by his talk on Sunday morning
because he seemed to be coming from a place deep within the
Heart of Presence. Although he spoke for an hour and forty
five minutes, he used no notes and never appeared to be
searching egoically for words or direction. His
presentation was seamless, clear and, at times, quite
humorous. The 500+ audience was moved enough to give him a
standing ovation at its conclusion.

When I saw him alone on Monday morning, my good friend
Dominica (who has photographed many of the well-known
advaitic teachers in the world today) asked me to dialogue
one-on-one with Eckhart as she took candid photos of him. Up
close, he was very quiet, totally unassuming and almost
painfully shy in his ordinary interactions with both of us.
There was almost a sense of sadness or melancholy about
him. Although he was extremely polite and so very gentle, I
sensed that his energy level was quite low after the long
weekend. In fact, when we hugged goodbye, I actually felt
his body trembling like a young kitten away from its mother.

Because Eckhart's body is very slight and almost
underweight, I suspect that he probably has very limited
physical resources available. As it is with all of us,
Eckhart is being used by Consciousness, but this use seems
to be taking a physical toll on his "vehicle." The
continued success of his marvelous book will only create
more and more demands on his time and energies, and I can
only wish him well. I'm sure that he's unconcerned about
it. And, as it is with all of us, his life is not his own
either.

Bottom line: It is very easy to love this good and gentle
man, and if you ever have a chance to experience him
directly, please don't miss the opportunity.
~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.namastepublishing.com/ (Eckhart's schedule)

NORA

I went to an "intensive" presentation for 3 hours by Eckhart
on saturday March 11 in New York City--i was sorry that time
and money considerations didn't permit me to return on
sunday morning for the second presentation. he was
great--not much i can add to christiana and chuck's
comments-- he's like a gentle little elf--clear and open--
his presentation was indeed seamless and powerfully
moving--better than his book even--i surreptiously took
notes(noone else was doing so) and i am so glad i did
because reading them over takes me into his presence
again--he stayed late and answered questions and then was
available for individual questions, book signings and hugs
___________________________________________________________________
JERRY

How do two spiritual masters go about moving into marriage?
Do they go steady first? Does Gangaji get pinned next? Did
she read The Rules? Do they fight over who they're gonna
invite to the wedding? In other words, how do two
enlightened people come to consider living by the contract
of marriage? It seems so limiting. On the other hand, if
you find yourself spending all your time with another person
anyway, marriage, maybe at some crazy chapel in Vegas, seems
like a cool thing to do.

MARCIA

I have been married twenty-two years. Marriage is God's way
of reminding one that they are not enlightened. :-)

In the middle of the night you can have the most wonderful
time and then wake up in the morning and find he has bad
breath or worse that he snores all night.

When something is going on with one of the kids you get into
to gear and smoothlessly and flawlessly take care of the
situation. And yet a fight ensues if one is in the way of
the other one getting to the sink.

All the theories in the world are but trash compared to one
day in the life of a marriage. This is real work, real
compassion, real irritation blah, blah, blah.

And there are the once or twice or three times in a lifetime
situations. The birth of a child, the death of a parent.
One's mate is always there at those times. They may not be
doing what one might wish they would be doing but they are
there and you know it.
__________________________________________________________________-

MELODY

My last few nights of sleep had been cut short of sleep, so
at midmorning....when the opportunity arose.....I took a
nap. I had a lot I wanted to get done today, so I set the
alarm so I wouldn't sleep more than an hour.

When the alarm rang there was a real struggle in me....part
of me begging to sleep longer... with another part of me
saying, "No...wake up!"

During those nanoseconds .... in the midst of the
struggle.... these thoughts flashed thru me:

Awakening could be easy and natural....if you simply allowed
'sleepfulness' to run it's course.

The suffering and the struggling associated with awakening
happens only when we impose upon ourselves expectations,
conditions....when we put ourselves on a schedule "to be"
somewhere ......and when we are impatient or unaccepting of
where we are.

The Christian "dark night" could be easily avoided if we
chose the course Osho alluded to

[from the snippet I offered the other day] :

"....you can be free of any desire only if you have lived it
completely, entirely.

If something has remained unlived it is going to haunt you"

In this vein, if 'sleep' were allowed to be lived in it's
entirety....
if we would allow ourselves to *embrace* our sleep - with
"totality and intensity" .....

at a specific point 'in time' we would simply open our Eyes.

****

Having let these thoughts sit on me for a while, I can
surely see where for a couple of years now I have been
dancing this very 'struggle'....one part of me begging to
sleep longer, with another part shouting "Wake up!"

What is rather stunning is that it is not the 'God' in me
shouting 'wake up' all these months....but simply my ego.
Yes. I find that really stunning....actually even funny, in
a ridiculous sort of way.

What my Heart says is "Love every moment".
That's all. Nothing more.

For me, the challenge is not to recognize I am not of this
world.....and to be released from this 'wheel of life'.

For me, the challenge is to celebrate life....to love it
completely, however I encounter it.... and to melt into the
dance of It.

Ultimately there is no distinction between the two...I
know. :-)
But until "Ultimately" happens.....the One is seen as Two

and can create tension....a struggling between them.

MATTHEW

to further the analogy of the alarm clock, people do "wake
up" in different ways. Some you have to drag out of bed
after the alarm has gone off for an hour and others just sit
up, bright eyed, ready to greet the day. And this struggle
to awaken is the "problem" itself. The more we struggle to
awaken the harder it becomes to actually awaken.
Awakening never happens by willful effort. It is a quite
natural occurence and the timing of it is out of anyones
hands. You cant push the river as they say, (whoever they
are). So what happens is someone wakes up and they say "I"
did it. HA HA HA. Total delusion. Then the worst part is
they think they woke up because of a certain thing they did
or a certain technique, or approach and try to teach that to
others. More Delusion. Awakening occurs in spite of any
method or approach that is taken, even (perhaps
especially)in spite of "no technique" which of course is
also a technique.Just Practice,Practice, Practice and
remember that enlightenment is out of our hands.

MARCIA

What I see happening is slightly different. I see that we
struggle to awaken and we try some technique or another and
it is the attention that we put into the technique that
reaps the benefit. And then we want to go straight for the
awakened state without having to practice any technique. We
forget the middle step. On occasion we wake up as a sort of
grace but for the most part it doesn't just happen. That is
an illusion. Anything that encourages you to keep your
attention will eventually lead to moments of waking up.

I set myself an aim to read with attention ten pages of a
certain book everyday. I said to myself you can let your
attention wander all the rest of the time but for those ten
pages you will read out loud and not loose your attention.
Try it some time. My personality runs rampant. My favorite
worries, my favorite fantasies, my favorite gripes all want
to surface and have me turn my attention towards them. I
just say no. By the end of the ten pages I am in a
different state altogether.

__________________________________________________________________

JAMES BEAN

Some sayings from Hindu scriptures known as the "Narada
Bhakti Sutras:"

Now, therefore, we shall expound the religion of Divine
Love.

That, truly, is of the nature of supreme Love of God.

And in its own intrinsic nature, Divine Love is nothing less
than the immortal bliss of freedom [Jiva Mukti, liberation
of the soul] itself, which comes unsolicited by the grace of
God and by self-sacrifice.

Gaining that, one realizes his or her perfection and
divinity and becomes thoroughly contented.

Realizing that, one becomes intoxicated and fascinated, as
it were, because one is completely immersed in the enjoyment
of the Bliss of the Atman, the truest and highest self.

Therefore, that highest spiritual realization alone is
worthy of being accepted as the goal by people who are
desirous of permanent release from all bondage.

But that state of Supreme Love and Immortality is made
possible only by giving up the objective reality of the
world as it appears to the ego-centric intellect and senses,
and the consequent renunciation of attachment.

By uninterrupted loving service [seva].

By hearing and singing the glory of the Lord, even while
engaged in the ordinary activities of life.

Primarily, it is got only through the grace of great souls,
or through a slight measure of Divine grace.

But it is extremely difficult to come into contact with a
great soul and to be benefited by his company; the influence
of such a one is subtle, incomprehensible, and unerringly
infallible in its effect.

Nevertheless, it is attainable by the grace of God and
Godmen alone.

***** ***** *****

It is the Lord alone, Who is the repository of all the
blessed qualities, that is to be worshipped always by him
free from all cares and worries, in every aspect of his
life.

Being thus glorified, He, the Lord, manifests Himself and
blesses His devotees with realization.

Only love of the absolute, eternal truth is the greatest;
this love, indeed is the greatest.

Bhakti, or Divine Love, though in itself one only, manifests
itself in the following eleven different forms: (a) Love of
the glorification of the Lord's blessed qualities, (b) Love
of His enchanted beauty, (c) Love of worship, (d) Love of
constant remembrance, (e) Love of service, (f) Love of God
as a friend, (g) Love of Him as a son, (h) Love for Him as
that of a wife for her husband, (i) Love of self-surrender
to Him, (j) Love of complete absorption in Him, (k) Love of
the pain of separation from Him.

Whosoever amongst us believes in this auspicious Gospel of
Narada and has faith in it, becomes a lover of God, and
attains the highest Beatitude and Goal of life.
________________________________________________________________

XAN AND ROGER

my teacher was Harley Swiftdeer Reagan, who was then - mid
80's - located in Pasadena, CA. He is/was quite a powerful
guy, part Cherokee, part Irish, and mostly Texan. :-)

I've also left behind the books/manuals and stuff. There
were seminars for the medicine teachings, including
Chulaqui-quodoshka. Maybe there still are.

love Xan

Looks like he's in Scottsdale Arizona: http://www.dtmms.org/
He sounds like quite a unique & interesting person. I
didn't see any references to sexuality on this site, but I
didn't look at everything.

I laughed when I saw this organization picture:
http://www.dtmms.org/8great.htm

It's a very similar picture to what my friend Edward used:
scroll down to the bottom of www.newu.org to see it. In fact
there might be archetypal similarities between the two
systems.

Marcia must be right: "The best reference is yourself". But
I'm told everything out there is also myself.

Roger

I think I have this figured out finally. :-)

"When everything out there is also myself," I am in that
level of consciousness where I am not myself. Oh dear.
This was clear when I thought it. What I mean is, it is not
personal. If I am myself then it is personal and thus I am
not everything out there. If I am everything including out
there and myself then I am not myself as I ordinarily am
myself.

Anyway the myself who is laying on the floor breathing and
feeling sex energy rise through the chakras is not the
myself that is everything out there.

Phew!!!!

Marcia

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