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Happy Birthday Jerry Katz!!!

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JAMES BEAN sent this;
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SUFI POEMS FROM "IN SEARCH OF HAFIZ -- 109 POEMS FROM THE DIWAN," A. J.
ALSTON, PUBLISHED BY SHANTI SADAN, LONDON http://www.shantisadan.com

O my Beloved, I am your lover
And know that you know it,
For you know what has never been seen
And read what has never been written.
What can the fault-finder know
Of the relation of lover and beloved?
The blind cannot see what is manifest,
What to say of hidden secrets.

* * * * * *

Formerly You bestowed more care on your
lovers,
And your tenderness for me
Was known throughout the world.
You will remember those nights of conversation.
As sweet lips which spoke of the secrets of love
And the circles of lovers.
My gaze was fixed
On the arch of the eyebrow of the Beloved
Long before the building
Of the green roof and azure arch of the sky.
The sacred covenant of my love
Has lasted from the dawn of time
And will persist till the end of eternity.
It was natural that the shadow of the Beloved
Should fall on the lover,
For I longed for Him and He felt love for me.

--- HAFIZ

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Hello everyone,

Recently I became curious as to what the world record is in holding the
breath. Also, is anyone familiar with any experiments on yogis to test their
breathing, brain waves, heart beat, etc. I recall Swami Rama did some
experiments at the Menninger Institute in the early 1970s. If you are aware
of a website/book addressing these issues, please post.

Thanks
Harsha

hluthar@bryant.edu

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TIM GERSCHMEZ and MIGUEL ANGEL CARRASCO discussing something Nisargadatta said;


Tim : <(...) Pondering these things only takes one
further from discovery. It is
useless. Experience life second-hand through
Nisargadatta, or
experience it first-hand.>

I think you are too drastic here, Tim. Why the
alternative either... or... ? Why not both? Hearing
Nisargadatta's words, and pondering on them, is meant
to be a guidance, a help, not a substitute for the real
thing. His was not a theoretical doctrine. He was
always urging his listeners to investigate, to see for
themselves.

Tim : "The real danger is to *expect* the experience of
"The Supreme" to
be "unbelievably hard and solid." Apologies to the
Gods...
Nisargadatta was a fool to voice such descriptions."

Again, I don't quite understand your reaction.
Nisargadatta's descriptions are nothing but a prompt to
make us investigate, to personally compare the
dreamlike nature of the world with the solitidy of
Reality. He was eminently practical. He never delivered
speeches nor gave lectures, he just answered questions
giving hints, practical clues as to how to distinguish
the false from the real. He was very much against
amassing knowledges, against cultivating one's mind.

Some excerpts:

General knowledge develops the mind, no doubt. But if
you are going to spend your life in amassing knowledge,
you build a wall round yourself. To go beyond the mind,
a well-furnished mind is not needed. (50)

Mere knowledge is not enough; the knower must be known.
The pandits and yogis may know many things, but of what
use is mere knowledge when the self is not known? It
will be certainly misused. Without the knowledge of the
knower there can be no peace. (301)

Abandon false ideas, that is all. There is no need of
true ideas. There aren't any. (360)

You must unlearn everything. God is the end of all
desire and knowledge. (336)

Now I know nothing, for all knowledge is in dream only
and not valid. I know myself and I find no life nor
death in me, only pure being, not being this or that,
but just being. (261)

I think you're being unjust calling him a fool.
Some people warn against following only one teacher,
while others warn against dispersion and digging many
holes. I prefer the latter. For me Nisargadatta is the
clearest guru I've ever known, and but for him I would
still be drifting from practice to practice with no
clear goal in sight.

Miguel-Angel

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DAVE PAWLAK and MATTHEW FILES, ego, remembrance;

> I've suggested that your ego gets in the
> way, that doesn't mean you are pompous
> and egotistical, it's just a thing that
> happens. It turns one into a slave. It makes
> one need to defend, attack, it closes the eyes
> and ears.
--------------------------------------------------

Ego doesn't get in the way, it is in the way, always.I'm not sure i
read this right but it seems to say that ego is in the way sometimes,
and sometimes not. Nice concept but i would say that ego is "in the
way" 99.99% of the time.(kind of like ivory soap).Ego is not in the
way only when we feel the need to attack or defend. Ego is in the way
when we are walking down the steet on a sunny day smelling the
flowers.We are slaves to ego with every breath we take. Then when we
get realized we become a slave of god. hahaha, no freedom ever, the
great cosmic joke.
..............matthew
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I like this matthew, but the ego can die here on Earth. Perhaps it becomes
less and less important by degrees. The sweet smell of flowers has an
easy connection to the source, if one gets to the point of seeing through
the ego to the wonder of its origin. But slowly, you recognize that origin
in other things not so comfortable. I didn't see fall coming this year.
Some cronic spine problems I have, have never felt so good (or is it not
been so obvious). And a slave I am, and I'm not looking back.

An important point is, yes, it gets into everything, but that's not reason
to accept it, nor to fear the great cosmic joke.

Thanks for the perspective
dave


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MICHAEL READ sent this;


A friend just sent me this.

Enjoy it - or not - as you will. :-))))

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TA - Thinkers Anonymous
It started out innocently enough. I began to think
at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably
though, one thought led to another, and soon
I was more than just a social thinker I began
to think alone - "to relax," I told myself - but I
knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and
more important to me, and finally I was thinking
all the time. I began to think on the job. I knew
that thinking and employment don't mix, but I
couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at
lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka.
I would return to the office dizzied and confused,
asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"
Things weren't going so great at home either. One
evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife
about the meaning of life. She spent that night at
her mother's. I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker.
One day the boss called me in. He said, " I like you,
and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become
a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll
have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss.
"Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..." "I know you've
been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But,
Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she
said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college
professors, and college professors don't make any
money, so if you keep on thinking we won't have any
money!" "That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently,
and she began to cry. I'd had enough. "I'm going to
the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed
for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared
into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors...
they didn't open. The library was closed. As I sank to
the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering
for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy
thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably
recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers
Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today:
a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At
each meeting we watch a non educational video; last
week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about
how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have
my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just
seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped
thinking.
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HAHAHAH and HOHOHO!

Peace - I think - Michael

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XAN sent this;

There is flame within all beings of the world connecting
them to the creator, preserver and redeemer. Through
this flame we talk, see, smell, hear and touch. Through
this flame all activities are performed by men, animals,
birds, plants and rocks.

To know this is knowledge. Try to know it by any means
suitable to you: Yoga, Bhakti or Inquiry. So these are
the ways available to every being. Whatever suits you
is the right way and to know this is knowledge, freedom,
wisdom, and enlightenment. How to seek it, how to find
it which is very intimately near to you, nearer than your
own breath?

Just have knowledge of it and that’s all. You don’t need
any effort because it is within you. You do not have to
go anywhere because it is available in this very moment,
here and now. When you rid yourself of all efforts, thoughts, concepts,
notion, intention and ideation-you will see it. You
will not only see it but you will be it. You are it and it is you.

So when you are very serious, very honest you will see
that it has been always there, within you, calling you, but
who pays attention! Therefore the world is suffering.

-Papaji
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