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Group: NDhighlights Message: 4679 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-08-14
Subject: #4679 - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
#4679 - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
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Jody noted the following article on Guruphiliac:
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The Authentic Guru-Disciple Tradition in Hinduism – A Discussion by Dr. Madhu P. Godsay

byВ RISHIKAВ onВ  AUGUST 13, 2012

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Here's an excerpt:
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This lack of a business-type relationship between the student and guru is essential. The student should never put his trust and devotion in a teacher who requests anything, either money, possessions, or anything physical. Once the student has found such a desire-less, non-self-serving teacher, only then can the student have confidence in the teacherÂ’s capability and show respect for his knowledge. This relationship must remain pure for the entire duration of the relationship.

It is very important that this relationship remains pure. The student should be seeking nothing else but knowledge, and the guru should be taking nothing from the student. The student’s “surrender” to a guru should be based on the secure knowledge that he or she is not being taken advantage of or exploited by the guru.

WhatÂ’s more, itÂ’s important to understand that the studentÂ’s trust and devotion are not supposed to be based on blind faith or an expectation of miracles from the guru. Trust in the guru is supposed to be verifiable. In other words, there must be clear proof that the teacher actually possesses spiritual knowledge and is capable of imparting it. Without veracity, a person posing as a guru can say or do anything.

There are various famous pairs ofВ guru-shishyaВ in Hindu scriptures. In theВ Upanishads, one finds many philosophical dialogues between teachers and students. For instance, in the Mundakopanishad, the creator teaches his son Atharva, and Atharva teaches his disciple Angiva, and so on and so forth. Another famous scriptural pair is Lord Krishna and his disciple Arjuna in theВ Bhagavad Gita. In modern India, various saints such as Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Dayananad, etc., have imparted knowledge to hundreds of their disciples.

In India, Hindu children learn that their mothers and fathers are their first gurus. Then other gurus follow throughout their lives, including a spiritual guru. The highest guru is the one who teaches and gives the experience of “tat twam asi,” meaning, “You are Bhrahman (God).” Guru Dattatreya was once asked by King Yadhu the secret of his happiness and the name of his guru. He said atman (self) is my guru, yet I learned wisdom from nature.

Gurus can be roughly divided into two main classes:

  1. BhaktiВ (devotion) tradition, which is related to loving a form of god.
  2. GyanВ (knowledge) tradition, which is related to impersonal devotion.

TheВ bhaktiВ form of theВ guru-shishyaВ relationship generally incorporates:

  • Devotion to the guru as a divine figure.
  • The belief that such a guru will eventually impartВ moksha, peace, or divine power to theshishya.
  • The belief that theВ shishya,В with strong devotion and preparedness, will gain the merit.

The danger in theВ bhaktiВ tradition lies in the choice of a guru. There is real danger that ignorance and blind faith can mislead aВ shishyaВ from what he or she is really seeking. In theВ gyan-based relationship, there is less danger of deceit, because the student does not worship the guru as God.

Some learned and God-realized people, like J. Krishnamurti and Lahiri Mahasaya, refused to allow their followers to organize any kind of organization or sampraday around them. Their relationship was strictly based on the exchange of knowledge. The guruÂ’s only goal is to help theshishya accomplish his or her spiritual advancement via his or her own ability to look within from a healthy, unattached perspective.

In the annals of guru-shishya tradition there are various types of sampradayas (organizations). There are the demonic types—like the Bernie-Maddox-type, which prey on peopleÂ’s innocence, beliefs, and gullibility. This is what we witnessed with the Barsana Dham episode, and its fake “gurus,” who were clearly only interested in exploiting people.

However, despite the people with ulterior motives acting as gurus, having wrong intentions, and no true knowledge to impart, the tradition of the teacher-student relationship in spiritual advancement has endured over thousands of years—and will continue to endure long into the future. With so many calling themselves “guru” today, it is more important today than ever before for every student seeking a guru to hold that guru up to the standards that have endured through the ages: true knowledge, right motivation, and pure intentions

Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Peace, Peace, Peace.

~ ~ ~

Read the full article here:
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4660 From: Mark Date: 2012-07-23
Subject: #4660 - Saturday/Sunday, July 21/22, 2012

Archived issues of the NDHighlights are available online: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Nonduality Highlights Issue #4660, Saturday/Sunday, July 21/22, 2012




Giving even one's last meal If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift. But because beings do not know, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they eat without having given. The stain of miserliness overcomes their minds.

- The Buddha, from the: Itivuttaka: The Buddha's Sayings posted to DailyDharma



One day your heart
will take you to your lover.
One day your soul
will carry you to the Beloved.
Don't get lost in your pain,
know that one day
your pain will become your cure.

- Rumi translated by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi, Rumi: Hidden Music, posted to AlongTheWay



Compassion arises when one realizes the suffering, the unsatisfactoriness that exists within oneself. Only then can one feel with another person. Otherwise one is still under the delusion that everything is all right with oneself, that it's only other people who are having a bad time. If one sees clearly within oneself all the unsatisfactory states that arise constantly in quick succession - the likes and dislikes, the regrets and the resentments, the fears and the worries, the tensions - then one knows that everyone is subject to the same. Then when someone else is having a difficult time one can feel with that person, because one knows about one's own problems.

- Ayya Khema, from Being Nobody Going Nowhere, posted to DailyDharma



You may forget with whom you laughed, but you will never forget with whom you wept

- Khalil Gibran

With all who weep today at senseless suffering, we join.
With all who comfort today, we share compassion.
With all who reel today with unimagined loss, we hold.
There are no divisions at times of great sorrow.
The whole can only love.

- dg, posted recently to DailyDharma



Words, heard or read, will only create images in your mind, but you are not a mental image. You are the power of perception and action, behind and beyond the image.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj, posted to ANetofJewels



The most living moment comes when
those who love each other meet each

other's eyes and in what flows
between them then. to see your face

in a crowd of others, or alone on a
frightening street, I weep for that.

Our tears improve the earth. The
time you scolded me, your gratitude,

your laughing, always your qualities
increase the soul. Seeing you is a

wine that does not muddle or numb.
We sit inside the cypress shadow

where amazement and clear thought
twine their slow growth into us.

- Rumi, from The Soul of Rumi, posted to DailyDharma
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4661 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-07-24
Subject: #4661 - Monday, July 23, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4661 -В Monday, July 23, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
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In fact, ultimate truth does not even need words or explanation.
That is because this whole world is already truth. Just see. Just
hear. Just smell. From moment to moment, the universe is always
giving us a very wonderful Dharma speech about the nature of
truth. The sky is blue. The trees are green. Salt tastes salty;
sugar is sweet. When you see, when you hear, when you smell,
when you taste, when you touch, when you think - everything,
just-like-this, is the truth.
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~Seung Sahn
The Compass of Zen p.253
via Tony Cartledge
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photo by Alan Larus
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Sayings by Fred LaMotte
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Above all, develop the virtue of PERSISTENCE. With
persistence, you will achieve all the things that... oh never mind.
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Hey, it's OK to be passionate about an issue and take a stand.
Really, it doesn't mean you're a bigot, or a failed non-dualist.
It means you are alive.
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A monk remains in the unbounded. A warrior, while inwardly at
rest in the unbounded, makes bold choices to act in the world of
boundaries. There is no conflict.
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В 
It's so boring when everyone agrees. It's so boring when
everyone argues. Agree to love, then frolic in differences.
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"Love bears me away where there is no longer any shore." ~Al-Hallaj

A lover cries out, but not with words.
So prayer is an inner music
that does not speak GodÂ’s name.
Love and prayer keep night's secret
like the ocean of stars,
yet the hollow of the spine cannot contain it.
What gushes out is a language of sighs and glances,
sometimes through the heart, sometimes the crown.
Haven't you felt some breath hovering over you,
longing to anoint the soft spot that used to be there?
This language is known only to those
who let the waves have their way with them.
Waves of what? Waves of whose reflection
in the waters of abysmal delight?
Friend, if you're still crying, "help!"
You haven't finished drowning.
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В 
via Fred LaMotte
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Liberation is our very nature.В  We are that.В 
The very fact that we wish for liberation
shows that freedom from all bondage is our
real nature.В  It is not to be freshly acquired.
All that is necessary is to get rid of the false
notion that we are bound.В  When we achieve
that, there will be no desire or thought of any
sort.В  So long as one desires liberation, so
long, you may take it, one is in bondage.
В В В В В В В В В В В В В В В В В В В 
~Sri Ramana Maharshi
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via Along The Way
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In Gita 10:32 Krishna says, "I am the beginning and the end."
In Revelations 22:13 Jesus says, "I am the beginning and the end."

Are they the same voice, the same Am speaking through different faces?

You also say I Am.

Who is Christ, who is Krishna, if not the soul of your soul,
the heart of your heart, the silent Am who witnesses your I,
just as the still unfathomable ocean rests inside each wave?
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~Fred LaMotte
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Group: NDhighlights Message: 4662 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-07-25
Subject: #4662 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz

#4662 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/

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from http://www.anamchara.com/2012/07/23/nonduality-in-the-bible-and-us/

Nonduality in the Bible Â… and us

A reader writes:

I love reading your articles but am new to the terminology. What is “non-dualism” and is it compatible with Biblical truth? Also, why did non-dualism get marginalised?

Great questions, both of them, and both point back to Richard Rohr, one of the most dynamic contemplative teachers alive today. Rohr calls Jesus the first nondual religious teacher in the west, and also speaks of how nondual wisdom teachings have been lost in the west since the late middle ages (I would cut us a bit more slack than that and say itÂ’s been lost since the Reformation, but I think the argument could also be made that it was the Papal condemnation of Meister EckhartÂ’s teachings in 1329 that pushed it to the side).

FIrst, regarding the Bible. The point to keep in mind is that nonduality is not a proposition to be taught (or refuted), rather it is a dimension of consciousness that may be experienced but is not easily described. So it’s like looking for a subatomic particle that you can’t see directly — all you can see is the evidence that points to its existence. Thankfully, evidence for nonduality is in the Bible. Let me quote a few verses to give you an idea:

If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. (Psalm 139:8)

This is an important starting point for the search for nonduality in the Bible, since it begins not with humankind, but with God. This verse, in essence, reminds us that God is everywhere, even in “Sheol,” the realm of the dead (which, interestingly, is translated as hell in the King James Bible). God is omnipresent: God is everywhere: even in life, even in death. Even in heaven, even in hell. Indeed, many mystics (for example, Isaac of Syria) proclaim that the fires of hell are actually the fires of GodÂ’s love, which is experienced as “hellish” by those who reject such love. ItÂ’s a beautiful way of seeing eternity that deconstructs the punitive idea of God tormenting the damned in the lake of fire: when we die, we all spend eternity immersed in the love of God; it is up to us whether we experience that love as radiant light or as burning flame. Put another way: God is nondual (God loves all people equally), but it is us humans who filter the love of God dualistically, dividing ourselves into  the worthy “sheep” and the reprobate “goats.”

Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is single, your whole body is full of light; but if it is hurtful, your body is full of darkness. (Luke 11:34)

Luke 11:34 is one of those verses (like Psalm 65:1) that gets mistranslated when rendered into English, probably because many Biblical scholars simply don’t get the koan-like contemplative meaning of the original text. So, while the Greek of Luke 11:34 clearly points to the eyes as “single” or “hurtful,” you’ll see translations rendering these words as “healthy,” “clear,” “good,” “unclouded” or (my favorite) “sound” (if your eyes are sound, do your ears need to be clear?). But by seeing this verse as referring to “healthy” versus “unhealthy,” such translations unwittingly reinforce the very dualism that Jesus is subtly attacking here.

The “single” eye is the eye that sees nondually. ItÂ’s what Julian of Norwich called “the fullness of joy” — the eye that beholds God in all. This is a mind bender, for naturally people who yearn for God tend to be discerning folks who reject sin, eschew evil, stand opposed to racism, sexism, abuse, violence, addiction, so on and so forth. But if we believe God is present everywhere — even in hell (Psalm 139:8), then isnÂ’t it our job, as contemplatives, to behold God who is everywhere, even present in the face of human evil, of suffering, of hatred and addiction and abuse? This is not to say God condones or causes such things: only that God is present. Learning to see GodÂ’s presence (to behold God in all) becomes a necessary step in the journey of transformation, of bringing light into the darkness. We human beings can try to alleviate the suffering in our world because we know God is present in all things. As Richard Rohr puts it, “everything belongs.” Which is not the same thing as “anything goes”! Nonduality is not an excuse for inaction in the face of injustice or suffering: it is human nature to change things, because the cosmos itself is always changing. We get hungry; we look for food. We get tired; we seek rest. We get lonely; we reach out to connect with others. Likewise, when we encounter evil or sin, we work for healing and positive transformation. But nonduality reminds us that God is present in all things.

В You have heard that it was said, Г‚вЂ˜You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.Â’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

Jesus himself speaking here; one of the most difficult teachings in the Gospel (one that our nation has pretty much collectively ignored since September 11, 2001). How can we love our enemies? Isn’t it natural to hate one’s enemies? Well, it may be “natural,” but it is also indicative of a dualistic mind that divides the world into “good” (what benefits me) and “evil” (what harms me). Jesus calls us to see the world from God’s perspective. When you stand on the north pole, every direction is south. When you see the cosmos like God sees it, from God’s point of view, everything you look at is imperfect — so you task is to love it all, just like God loves it. God loves the cosmos nondually. God doesn’t love Desmond Tutu better than Bernard Madoff. God didn’t play favorites between Mother Teresa and, say, Osama Bin Laden. God loves them all, totally, completely, fully, nondually. Of course, from our human vantage point, it is easy to see how Mother Teresa alleviated suffering whereas Osama Bin Laden created it, so naturally we honor Mother Teresa as a saint and revile Bin Laden as a terrorist. But God, who is perfect (nondual) loves all alike.

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

What is Paul saying here? Of course Jews remained Jews and Greeks remained Greeks; there is no evidence of mass liberation of slaves in Christian society, and guys and gals remained, well, guys and gals. Nonduality does not erase differences; rather, it transcends them, by inviting us into that God-vantage-point, where we can “behold God in all” and learn to love all, the way God loves all. In the love of God, human-level distinctions like nationality, gender, or socioeconomic status simply lose their grip on us. They donÂ’t go away, but they lose their harmful potency — at least, as long as we remain vigilant in our unity with the mind of Christ.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5)

Г‚вЂ˜For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?Â’ But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:16)

What does it mean to “have the mind of Christ”? When Paul instructs us to “let this mind be in you,” he goes on to sing about Christ, though equal with God, taking on humility and self-emptying (kenosis) to embrace humanity — even including a violent, undignified death by crucifixion. Paul seems to be saying, “If Christ, who is God, can take on the worst experience of being human, shouldnÂ’t we do the same?” The key is “the mind of Christ,” which I believe is the mind of nondual consciousness. When we embrace the “everything belongs” mind in which we see all things with the eyes of God, loving with the heart of God, beholding God in all, we are empowered to bring Christ to all things: good and evil, happy and suffering, healthy and sick, virtuous and sinful. We bring the mind of Christ to all aspects of our life: to the “good” stuff to affirm it, and to the “evil” or “bad” stuff to heal or transform it. The mind of Christ is related to the Greek word metanoia which gets translated into English as “repent” but which, if you parse out the Greek, has a meaning closer to “change your mind” or even “go beyond your mind” (meta: beyond; noia: mind). In other words, go beyond the dualistic mind which judges and condemns, into the “beyond-normal-human” mind of Christ, the consciousness of nonduality, of Divine Love. That is the gate to holiness, the pathway to truly believing the Good News, and becoming a force for healing and transformation in a world that so desperately needs it.

On to your second question: Why did this get marginalized? Like I said above, I blame the Reformation (although that’s not to say “It’s the Protestant’s fault” or “It’s the Catholic’s fault”). The Reformation basically hardwired dualistic thinking into the Christian mind, at least in the west, since we defined ourselves so fully in opposition to “those other guys” Being Catholic meant “I’m not Protestant” and being Protestant meant “I’m not Catholic.” Furthermore, the Reformation undermined the power and authority of personal experience on both sides of the fight: Catholics taught that authority resided in the Church; Protestants insisted that authority resided in the Bible, and so on either side of the fight, the authority of personal experience (including the experience of nonduality) fell under a cloud of suspicion. Of course, Christian mysticism has long held that the authority of personal experience needs to be tested and tempered by the wisdom of the tradition (Bible) and community (Church), so nonduality does not reject Biblical or ecclesial authority! But, alas, I’m afraid that both Protestants and Catholics did, in fact, reject any recognition of experiential authority. I know that I, growing up as a Protestant in Virginia in the 1970s, was taught to mistrust my own experience. I suspect Catholics have had similar mind-trips foisted on them.

Fortunately, nonduality never totally disappeared from the Christian community, even after being marginalized: there have been mystics and contemplatives in every generation. And even before the Reformation, it was largely contained within monasteries. So I think we can give thanks to God that we live in an exciting time, when more and more Christians of all denominations and all walks of life are sensing a call to embrace the mind of Christ — to go beyond the ordinary mind of dualistic thinking and seeing — and to truly find the joy that comes from beholding God in all, and beholding all things with the loving eye of God.
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4663 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-07-26
Subject: #4663 - Thursday, July 26, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz

#4663 - Thursday, July 27, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/

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Hi Jerry,

The item below appeared today at 3quarksdaily. Thought you might find it interesting.В  ~eric.


Ministers In Charge Of Individuals

we have no parents no children no flesh-and-blood
loves we have no homes we have god
we havenÂ’t got him in the sky and not in the depths not
in stones we have no prophets we have no teachers
we have no permitted books no forbidden
books we have god we donÂ’t love him
we donÂ’t hate him we arenÂ’t friendly with him
we have nothing but “I” nothing but self
we are the ministers of individuals

by Benjamin Shvili

from Shiray ha tie-ar hagadol
publisher: Schocken, Tel Aviv, 1999
translation: Lisa Katz, 2012

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from Dutch Treat, by Zil Chezero

“If your book was about realization, the title would be You are not what you are,” says
the man, grinning and still looking at me with the same friendliness as before. Unmoved
kindness, I find myself thinking. I didnÂ’t know that was possible. But still his answer
makes no sense to me. “I don’t understand,” I blurt, trying desperately to get a grip on
his answers. YouÂ’re not what you are? How, whatÂ…?

“Of course you don’t understand,” he replies, “because if you could, it wouldn’t be
about realization. But can you follow it?” Now I am totally lost, and when I hear myself
answer "Yes," it feels like I have just lost my last ally -still being looked at by those
unmoved friendly eyes.

For an instant there is silence: while I can hear the murmuring sounds around me, this
noise seems to be drawn into a bottomless pit and IÂ’m sucked into it too. IÂ’m here, but IÂ’m
also gone. What is happening?

Just as this question comes to my mind, the man says: “Now you are what you are
again.” “Yes,” I hear myself stammer. “But a moment ago, you were not,” he adds –
upon which the pit opens up again.

“You are capable of wavering,” I hear him say. “That is the beginning of bliss and all
you can ever still wish for. After this the wish might still be there, but just like a shimmer
in the background. You have disappeared to nurture it. While youÂ’re simply here, you are
not. You might be able to understand there is something like realization, but thatÂ’s always
looking back, even at that seeming moment. During you can only follow.”

The eyes don’t let go of me. “This you follow,” the voice observes. “But you will never
understand. Not this. You might understand all the images and conceptions clinging to it,
claiming theyÂ’re Г‚вЂ˜itÂ’, but not this. This is what you are.”

“What are you doing?” I manage to ask. “Nothing. You did something. You followed.”
The man puts down his book and again IÂ’m caught by the friendliest placidity IÂ’ve ever
seen. “Enlightenment can be the effect of realization. Even more so, where realization is
a fact, enlightenment by definition is the manifest effect. But the other way around,
enlightenment and realization donÂ’t necessarily have anything to do with each other.
Again I am able to follow totally what he is saying, and this time I can understand him
too. For some reason this in fact makes my hunger to know more win out: “Sorry for
asking, but are you a guru, are you realized yourself?”

“Nobody is realized,” the man says. “You may call me Zil Chezero. And I don’t work as
a guru.”

http://nonduality.com/dutchtreat.htm


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Group: NDhighlights Message: 4664 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-07-28
Subject: #4664 - Friday, July 27, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4664 -В Friday, July 27, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
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В 
When you realize you are the infinite, everything is already
expressing your nature -- everything you see, everything you
feel, every person you meet.
~ Adyashanti
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В 
Q: Why do people worship you so much?
В 
Sri Sri: It is up to them. If they see God in me, it is their
choice. I see God in them too. Wherever you begin, don't stop
there - worship everybody, honour everything. Today, there is
violence in the world because we have not taught people how to
honour each other. Honour life, wherever it is - in the dog,
donkey or cow. Society needs to flourish in love, worship is
inevitable.
В 
В 
В 
No Sense of Difference
by Ramana Maharshi
В 
D.: Does one who has realized the Self lose the sense of Г‚вЂ˜IÂ’?
В 
R.: Absolutely.
В 
D.: Then there is not difference between yourself and myself,
that man over there, my servant. Are all the same?
В 
R.: All are the same, including those monkeys.
В 
D.: But the monkeys are not people. Are they not different?
В 
R.: They are exactly the same as people. All are the same in One
Consciousness.
В 
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В 
В 
В 
Eagle Poem
В 
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can't see, can't hear
Can't know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren't always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River.В  Circles in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon, within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.
В 
В 
~ Joy Harjo
В 
(How We Become Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001)
В 
Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/Eagle_Poem.html
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Group: NDhighlights Message: 4665 From: Mark Date: 2012-07-29
Subject: #4665 - Saturday, July 28, 2012

Archived issues of the NDHighlights are available online: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Nonduality Highlights Issue #4665, Saturday, July 28, 2012




The unexpected is bound to happen, while the anticipated may never come.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj, posted to ANetofJewels



We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.

- Joseph Campbell, posted to The_Now2



Returning is the motion of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
The ten thousand things are born of being.
Being is born of not being.

- Lao-tzu from Tao Te Ching, translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, posted to AlongTheWay



What is wrong in letting go the illusion of personal control and personal responsibility? Both are in the mind only. Of course, as long as you imagine yourself to be in control, you should also imagine yourself to be responsible. One implies the other.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj from I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, posted to AlongTheWay



The New Rule

Its the old rule that drunks have to argue
and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad. He falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds something shining,
worth more than any amount of money or power.

Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing,
falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks. Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.

Here's the new rule: break the wineglass,
and fall toward the glassblower's breath.

Rumi, Ghazal 1861, from the Diwan-e Shams,, version by Coleman Barks, posted to Sunlight



Say "yes" to life - and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

- Eckhart Tolle, posted to The_Now2
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4666 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-07-31
Subject: #4666 - Monday, July 30, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4666 -В Monday, July 30, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
В 
В 
It does not make any difference what you 'believe'.
What matters is what you are.

~ Robert Adams
В 
В 
photo by Alan Larus
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В 
You are the Self, here and now. Leave the mind alone,
stand aware and unconcerned and you will realize that
to stand alert but detached, watching events come and go,
is an aspect of your real nature.
В 
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
В 
via Along The Way
В 
В 
34,000 monks at Wat Phra Dhammakaya, a Buddhist temple in Thailand.
В 
Photo Credit: Luke Duggleby
В 
В 
The serene life is not subject to emotional crisis. It has clearly
worked out, in the hours of contemplation, its wise attitude
towards life and men so that no situation that arises can sweep it
off its feet.
В 
~ Paul Brunton
В 
via Along The Way
В 
В 
All situations can be used to deepen our understanding and the
sense of magic and beauty in our experience.

~ Jack Kornfield
В 
В 
Words can never convey the beauty of a tree; to understand it,
you must see it with your own eyes. Language cannot capture the
melody of a song; to understand it, you must hear it with your
own ears. So it is with the Tao: the only way to understand it is
to directly experience it. The subtle truth of the universe is
unsayable and unthinkable. Therefore the highest teachings are
wordless. My own words are not the medicine, but a
prescription; not the destination, but a map to help you reach it.
When you get there, quiet your mind and close your mouth. Don't
analyze the Tao. Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly,
with your whole harmonious being.
В 
~ Hua Hu Ching, Lao Tzu
В 
via Christopher Hebard on Facebook
В 
В 
photo by Alan Larus
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4668 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-08-03
Subject: #4667 - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4667 -В Thursday, August 2, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/В 
В 
В 
В 
Wherever you go you will find your teacher,
As long as you have the eyes to see
And the ears to hear.
В 
~ Shunryu Suzuki
В 
В 
"It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act. There are
two aspects to action. One is to overcome the distortions and
afflictions of your own mind, that is, in terms of calming and
eventually dispelling anger. This is action out of compassion. The
other is more social, more public. When something needs to be
done in the world to rectify the wrongs, if one is really
concerned with benefitting others, one needs to be engaged,
involved. "
В 
~ His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
В 
From the book, 'Ocean of Wisdom,' published by Clear Light.
via Daily Dharma
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
"The dark place isnÂ’t inherently there. If, with conscious
compassionate awareness, we closely examine what we experience
as the dark place, thereÂ’s nothing there. Fear and avoidance keep
the 'dark place within' intact. If you had a motorcycle, and you
took it apart and spread its components around on the garage
floor, would there be one particular component that was the
essence of motorcycle and could not sensibly be called anything
else? No. Motorcycle is a word we give to an assemblage of
parts. The same is true of fear, anger, sadnessÂ…
В 
The apparent 'separateness' and 'realness' of things does not
bear up under scrutiny. All who have confronted that apparent
'dark place' have lived to tell about it. And every step on any
true spiritual path is best taken with kindness and compassion
for oneself. When we can approach any difficulty with an
attitude of 'compassion no matter what,' we might as well stay
right where we are because there is no better place."
В 
~ Cheri Huber from an email class on Nothing is Wrong With You
В 
via Daily Dharma

В 
В 
Our fear, our anger are not our enemies; they are us. We have to
treat our fear, our anger in a most non-violent way, the most
non-dualistic way, like we are treating our own baby.
В 
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
В 
В 
"Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be
welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis;
because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The
mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart
and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would
have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing
should be treated more carefully than anything else. In
mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and
teapot are all sacred."
В 
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
В 
В 
В 
"A human being is like a television set with millions of channels....
We cannot let just one channel dominate us. We have the seed
of everything in us, and we have to recover our own
sovereignty."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh
В 
В 
Excellent talk on anger, despair and activism.
Ram Dass interviews Thich Nhat Hanh at the State of the
World forum, September 1995
В 
В 
"Live your daily life in such a way that understanding and
compassion can be shared with as many people around you as
possible. Cultivating peace is not a matter of days; it should be
cultivated generation after generation. Your children and your
grandchildren will be your continuation as practitioners of
peace. The question is not how much you can do; the question is
whether you are doing your best. If you are doing your best
then you are in the Pure Land of the Buddha, in the Kingdom of
God.
В 
You donÂ’t have to worry anymore."
В 
~ Thich Nhat HanhВ 
via Tao & Zen on Facebook
В 
В 
photo by Alan Larus
В 
В 
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4669 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-08-03
Subject: #4669 - Friday, August 3, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
#4669 - Friday, August 3, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
В 
The Nonduality Highlights -В http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/
В 
В 
В 
В 

THE NONDUALITY & YOGA CONFERENCE 2012

“Nonduality: The Ever Present Frontier”

October 12-14, 2012

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Nonduality & Yoga ConferenceВ is locally inspired and sourced. It is not conducted under the auspices of any specific tradition, practice, or academic approach, yet it is welcoming to all.

The primary organizers areВ James Traverse and Jerry Katz. James is a well-known local Yoga teacher who has been serving up nondual versions of Yoga for over 25 years.

The main purpose of the Nonduality & Yoga ConferenceВ is to experientially inform you about what nonduality isВ and how it could be applied to the practice and teaching of Yoga.

Attendees will have ample opportunity toВ experience the nondual state. Yoga practitioners and teachers will learn by experience how they could incorporate the teaching of nonduality into their practice and classes.

If your primary interest is nonduality itself — if, for example, you are in the midst of an adventure in realizing your true self — there will be several presentations on nonduality, along with discussion opportunities and plenty of time for socialization with people of like mind.

Everyone will have a chance to express her- or himself during aВ World CafeВ which will be held once each day.

The Nonduality & Yoga ConferenceВ is an opportunity to meet people of like mind, to hear about the teaching of nonduality from local and world renowned teachers and educators, and to stretch your understanding and experience of Yoga into consciousness of the nondual.

Presenters, program, and registration info at http://nonduality.net

Encouragement: I would like to encourage people to start nonduality meetup groups and eventually conferences, retreats,В or gatherings. Start your meetup group at http://meetup.com. I know there's a tendency to feel you have to have a well known teacher or sage present, or their videos, but it's not necessary. There are plenty of people right where you live who can contribute in surprising ways to such a group. But you won't hear that from any nonduality teacher. So take nonduality back! And please, leave the videos of teachers at home. Just talk with the people in your community and find out about each other. You'll see there are far more than fifty shades of nonduality.
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4670 From: Mark Date: 2012-08-04
Subject: #4670 - Saturday, August 4, 2012
Archived issues of the NDHighlights are available online: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Nonduality Highlights Issue #4670, Saturday, August 4, 2012




HSIN HSIN MING - Verses on the Faith Mind by The 3rd Zen Patriarch, Sengstau

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect like vast space when nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things.

Live neither in the entanglements of outer things nor in inner feelings of emptiness.

Be serene in the oneness of things and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity your very effort fills you with activity.

As long as you remain in one extreme or the other you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single Way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial.

To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality.

The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth.

Stop talking and thinking, and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

To return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.

At the moment of inner enlightenment there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.

The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of our ignorance.

Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.

Do not remain in the dualistic state -- avoid such pursuits carefully.

If there is even a trace of this and that, of right and wrong, the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.

Although all dualities come from the One, do not be attached even to this One.

When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when such a thing can no longer offend, it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist.

When thought objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes, as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.

Things are objects because of the subject (mind); the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).

Understand the relativity of these two and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.

In this emptiness the two are indistinguishable and each contains in itself the whole world.

If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited views are fearful and irresolute; the faster they hurry, the slower they go, and clinging (attachment) cannot be limited; even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray.

Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither coming nor going.

Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness.

What benefits can be derived from distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.

Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true Enlightenment.

The wise man strives to no goals but the foolish man fetters himself.

There is one Dharma, not many; distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.

To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind is the greatest of all mistakes.

Rest and unrest derive from illusion; with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking.

All dualities come from ignorant inference. They are like dreams or flowers in air: foolish to try to grasp them

. Gain and loss, right and wrong: such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.

If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will naturally cease.

If the mind makes no discriminations, the ten thousand things are as they are, of single essence.

To understand the mystery of this One-essence is to be released from all entanglements.

When all things are seen equally the timeless Self-essence is reached.

No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, both movement and rest disappear.

When such dualities cease to exist Oneness itself cannot exist.

To this ultimate finality no law or description applies.

For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases.

Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible.

With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.

All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind's power.

Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value.

In this world of suchness there is neither self nor other-than-self.

To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubt arises, 'Not two.'

In this 'not two' nothing is separate, nothing is excluded.

No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth.

And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes.

Infinitely large and infinitely small; no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen.

So too with Being and Non-Being.

Don't waste time with doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction.

To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.

To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with trusting mind.

Words!

The Way is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.



Group: NDhighlights Message: 4671 From: Mark Date: 2012-08-06
Subject: #4671 - Sunday, August 5, 2012

Archived issues of the NDHighlights are available online: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Nonduality Highlights Issue #4671, Sunday, August 5, 2012




By usurping the impersonal subjectivity of the one Absolute subject as that of an individual person, the human being commits the original sin and therefore comes under bondage. As soon as this mistaken identity is realized and the true identity as the one formless and eternal subject or witness is established, the bondage disappears and there is enlightenment.

- Ramesh Balsekar, posted to ANetofJewels



A sociology professor once told me that he believed in magic. I thought this is interesting, a sociologist expressing a belief in fairies...

No, he said, the biggest magic of all is language itself. He then talked about the "Thomas Effect": "if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences". This professor knew what he was talking about. He was under the spell of spelling. He used to get irate over spelling mistakes in my essays!

Words are like spells. They hypnotize and mesmerize language-users into believing that language "describes"/mirrors a pre-existent non-linguistic reality but actually words write this "reality." Words do not describe; they inscribe what they purport to describe.

In Zen, it is said that we tie ourselves up in knots without any rope. The "knots" are all conceptual; that is, they are made of nothing but words. The only apparent obstacle to peace and happiness, it would seem, is the "mind." The good news is that it doesn't actually exist. The bad news is that we're convinced that it does!

Whatever, never mind the "mind," look for it:

Looking for the mind is like looking for wine in an empty wine bottle!

- Brother Beatnik, posted to allspirit



Eckhart: Most people are not aware that they have a voice in their head that they predominantly identify with. It is primarily an unhappy voice. It is essential to understand that the sense of self that comes from the voice in the head is a conceptual one derived from the past--it is a conditioning. It is always a breakthrough to step out of identification with the stream of thinking. It is an aware presence, like waking up - thus the term "awakening". Waking up out of the stream of thinking is a completely new dimension of consciousness. You can recognize the voice in your head as beliefs, memories, etc. and know that it is not YOU. Who you are cannot be defined through mental knowing. In essence, you and the present moment are One. You are the consciousness out of which everything comes. Essentially, you are the conscious aware space.

Oprah: Did it blow your mind to awaken?

Eckhart: Yes, but I didn't understand it. I was just in a state of deep inner peace. I understood three years later, when I was talking to a Zen monk. He explained that it was going beyond thinking, and the repetitive thinking was gone.

Oprah: Isn't to think human?

Eckhart: Yes. It can be powerful and wonderful. It only becomes an affliction when one is totally identified with thinking and the "story of me". When you realize "I am the awareness behind the thinking", you are no longer possessed by the thinking mind. It becomes a tool but not a "self". That spacious aware presence in a relationship is the greatest gift you can give a person. Can you listen in a simple state of alertness--as a presence rather than as a person? Then there's no judgment or definition. No mental labels. Many people love pets, and they are the only area where they realize that they can communicate and relate to another being because that being is not judging them. It gives them a sense of freedom. An animal is in a state prior to thinking. Humans can move beyond thinking. Both are awareness.

Oprah: How can you live in that space?

Eckhart: First acknowledge and be grateful for glimpses of that space. Then you can invite space by bringing in more present moment awareness. Bring more presence into your life with the simple things--washing hands, making coffee, waiting--be there as the still, alert presence. Bring as many spaces into life as possible. Take one half a minute to pause and become present to the moment throughout the day. On one level, no one can argue with time - the past and future. Time is something we cannot do without. It dominates the surface level of reality. People look at time to eventually give them what they need. There are two ways of being unhappy - getting what you want, and not getting what you want. When you are always expecting something in the next moment it means you are never fully in this one. Many people identify their sense of self with problems. Often I say, "What problem do you have at THIS moment?" Sometimes people will wake up for a moment. You might have a challenge but it is not a problem without time and repetitive mind activity. You always have to admit that right now there is no problem.

Oprah: Do you live this way all the time?

Eckhart: Yes. I'm always in the now. Occasionally anger arises and passes through quickly. You can't argue with what is or you suffer.

Oprah: Does it leave you passionless to live in the moment?

Eckhart: You are more passionately alive when you are living in the present moment. Complaining and resisting is denying the present moment.

Oprah: How do you plan for the future?

Eckhart: Enjoy your planning for the future. Are you losing yourself in the future or using time and future on a practical level? When you say, "At some point in the future I will finally be happy", that is a projection that causes unhappiness. Psychological time is continual obsession with the past and the future.

Oprah: Do you feel that you are straddling both worlds?

Eckhart: Yes. There is a balance between dealing with things that require time and thinking, but not being trapped by it. There is a deeper dimension inside you that is outside that stream of thinking.

- Conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle, posted to The_Now2



If you're wise, be foolish.
If you can see, squint.

Though you can hear, sit
dumb as an old rock.

Whatever anyone says,
listen and agree.

This is a friendly practice,
and it leads to some truth.

- Lalla, from Naked Song - Versions by Coleman Barks, posted to AlongTheWay





My worst habit is I get so tired of winter
I become a torture to those I'm with.

If you're not here, nothing grows.
I lack clarity. My words
tangle and knot up.

How to cure bad water? Send it back to the river.
How to cure bad habits? Send me back to you.

When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools,
dig a way out through the bottom
to the ocean. There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard
they can't hope.

The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.

Look as long as you can at the friend you love,
no matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back to you.

- Rumi Ghazal 1073, version by Coleman Barks, from The Essential Rum, posted to Sunlight
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4672 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-08-07
Subject: #4672 - Monday, August 6, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4672 -В Monday, August 6, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
В 
В 
В 
A.R.T. - Artistic Realization Technologies
The A.R.T. method helps those with physical and developmental
disabilities directly express their personal artistic visions.
В 
Mission
A.R.T.Â’s mission is to provide techniques that give direct creative
expression to those who lack use of their limbs -- even those with
“locked-in syndrome” who can communicate only through eye signals or
assistive devices.
A.R.T. creates innovative tools and technologies. Our breakthrough
approach brings perfect individual control of creative processes to a
population that cannot walk, few can talk, and none have the articulate
use of their hands.
В 
В 
How is it possible for the A.R.T. artists to have such power?
В 
Imagine yourself no longer dashing about, no deadlines, no
errands, no bills to pay. Imagine yourself able to sit perfectly
still. Able to remain silent. Able to have the time to really look,
listen, absorb and think. Imagine what an hour of perfect, fully
awake, stillness and silence would allow your mind to take in.
В 
Now try to imagine yourself in this kind of 'ascetic' state', for
a whole day. For a week. For a month. For a year. For ten years.
Can you imagine this? Can you imagine how different your inner
life would be?
В 
If the fuel of serious artists is: stillness, is silence... the A.R.T.
artists have more fuel than the average person. Far more.
В 
В 
В 
В 
(age 6)
В 
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
В 
В 
В 
"It's like this. This kid who is quadriplegic, nonverbal rolls into the
room. We've never met him, he's never met us. He's never done any art.
I don't think he really ever went to school. And here he is. We find out
his signal for yes and no then tell him, in this flat serious professional
tone, how the A.R.T. techniques work. One of the staff leans in to speak,
quietly suggesting, Г‚вЂ˜I don't believe he understands anything you're
saying.Â’ I think but do not say, Г‚вЂ˜We'll see about that.Â’ What good is it to
presume this young guy won't understand? How will we know until we let
him show us he does?
В 
Г‚вЂ˜Do you want to try it?Â’ we ask the young man we just met. He signals
yes. He directs the exact size of the canvas. He locks into the directing
the blending of his colors. He looks over all the brushes and all the
other application tool options and picks one out. The way this young guy
was spoken to by staff you'd think he was incapable of making any
decisions on his own, and here he is locked into all these exacting
choices. He's fixed on each move. And out comes this seriously kick-ass
painting. Seriously kick ass. I mean gallery level. I mean you could hang
it in a museum and no pro painter would poo-poo it, not at all. They
wouldn't be able to because it's that good. His first painting. No art
teacher. No one guiding him. No art history. No nothing. Just him and
the materials, him in charge of it all. In charge, totally, probably for
the first time in his life.
В 
So he didn't mess around. He had all this power inside him and it just
came out. You wouldn't see the power if you just measured him by his
physical appearance. But of course Art doesn't come from the body... it
comes from the spirit. And the immobile body can hide the spirit, but
it's there.
В 
The piece was far better than most of the stuff you'd see in a fancy
art school. Much better. It was a real painting. Very direct, no fru-fru.
It had power. It was clean.
[...]
В 
I don't know if anyone else has worked with so many nonverbal
quadriplegics living lives where they have so, so little creative
decision-making power. The vast majority, almost all of them turn out
paintings better than you see in art schools.
В 
People find this hard to accept. Why? Because they don't know what
Art is or where it comes from. They think art comes from these rarified
egotistical genius types. They have this clichГѓВ© idea about what an artist
is. They get all wrapped up in the romanticized version of the artist
with their beret, the years of drawing from the model, the slow arduous
process of struggling, tortured, to the realization of their 'vision'.
В 
Seriously good art doesn't need any of this. All it needs to be is good.
And to be good it needs to ring true. And to ring true it has to come
straight from the best part of you.
В 
В 
This is what the A.R.T. artists do. It's in them, trapped, and when they
see they have the chance to get it out? They throw themselves into it.
В 
Because most of them haven't been taught the conformist methods of
making a house, a sun, a stick figure, a this and a that kids are taught to
do, the A.R.T. artists start from the highest point of pure abstraction.
В 
Like the A.R.T. artist Eric Corbin told someone who asked him what it
was like for him to have finished such a powerful, beautiful new
painting, he told her, "Even Tim doesn't know how we live in the paint."
В 
Live in the paint. They aren't painting a picture. They aren't making a
decoration. They are living in the paint. Sailing with its movement.
Expanding with its color. This is what real artists do.
В 
One moment we have this young guy operating day after day, year after
year at the lowest rung of Life's ladder, and the next he's operating up
at the very top. He's not handicapped; he has excellent, exceptional
powers.
В 
В 
Thanks to Greg Allen Morgoglione for linking to this website.
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4673 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-08-07
Subject: #4673 - Tuesday, August 7, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
#4673 - Tuesday, August 7, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
Prior to the late 90s, the term nonduality was encoded as "metaphysics," "Universal Law," "Secret (Teachings, Doctrine, Key, etc.)" "Philosophy," "Mysticism," "Higher Consciousness," and other terms with which everybody's familiar. There was also a Christian tone and referenceВ within these teachings since most readers were immersed in Christianity. Mystical Christianity was the bridge leading to Eastern teachings, and still is, although nowadays bridges are built to nonduality directly. The latterВ are often bridges to nowhere, rather than to a land orВ tradition somewhat different from Christianity, such as Buddhism or Taoism.
В 
Manly P. Hall wrote books in the 1940s and referred to nonduality as the Law, realization, mysticism, terms for which the public already had a sense or feel. Yet, as you'll see, his writings are pure nonduality. He stood alongside his contemporary Paul Brunton as far as contributing both nondual and literary value to the metaphysical scene of the times.
В 
I'm currently reading Hall'sВ  Self-Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization, first published in 1942. You may purchase a pdf copy here
В 
В 
The following article tells a little about Hall and introduces an excerpt from the book under discussion. It is followed by excerpts I've selected myself and typed out.
В 
В 
В 
Manly P. Hall on Self-Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization
В 
by Robert Wilkinson
В 
Today's offering is from Manly P. Hall, one of the most remarkable men of the 20th century. A prodigious writer on too many subjects to list here, he was a master astrologer, philosopher, artist-sculptor and spiritual disciple of the best of both Eastern and Western Wisdom traditions. Among his outstanding works are "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" and "Man - Grand Symbol of the Mysteries," along with such profound subjects as "Buddhism and Psychotherapy," "The Lost Keys of Freemasonry," "The Mystical Christ," "Twelve World Teachers," "The Secret Destiny of America," and today's text, "Self-Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization," which offers us a glimpse at a natural way of being our Highest Self.
В 
He founded the Philosophical Research Society, and as it is said in one publication, "Manly P. Hall has always emphasized the practical aspects of philosophy and religion as they apply to daily living. He restates for modern man those spiritual and ethical doctrines which have given to humanity its noblest ideals and most adequate codes of conduct.... Mr. Hall has steadfastly sought recognition of the belief that world civilization can be perfected only when human beings meet on a common ground of intelligence, cooperation, and worthy purpose."
В 
Here's just one gem from "Self-Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization," a book I have wholeheartedly recommended to spiritual seekers for decades. If you want a solid guide to a greater realization of how you can grow into your Higher Self, this work is outstanding, regardless of your background. It is non-dogmatic, and its wisdom is profound, timeless, and universal. From the work:
В 
"Growth is natural to man. No one thinks of a flower trying to bloom, or of a tree trying to grow. The blossoming of the flower is a manifestation of universal law flowing through the plant; it is the will of the Infinite made manifest in the finite. Illumination is the blossoming of the soul in man; it is just as natural, simple, and inevitable as the flowering of the rose. The wise man does not try to be wise; wisdom is as natural to him as folly is common to ordinary mortals. Man does not have to try to be himself.
В 
"Effort is evidence of inconsistency in the individual. Most religious organizations impose strict rules and regulations upon their members. These rules and regulations consist principally of "thou shalt nots," the purpose being to force man into a state of grace by inhibiting and limiting him. Any individual who tries to crush out with brute force of will the vices within himself, achieves only inhibition and neurosis.
В 
"When through realization we come to understand the divine energy that causes us to exist and grow, we cease to impede its natural flow in and through ourselves. When through realization we become aware of this divine virtue within ourselves, our inner nature is enlightened, with the result that our outer nature inevitably is transmuted.
В 
"Metaphysical disciplines should not be directed toward material ends. The true mystic does not meditate or concentrate in an effort to attract to himself the things of the material world; nor does he attempt to find in meditation an escape from the responsibilities or problems of his objective life. This does not mean, however, that metaphysical disciplines produce no physical result. When a man puts his inner life in order, through meditation and realization, the result is a happier and better physical existence.
В 
"If you can be taught the philosophical life, that is, the effortless way to grow, you will have been established in the foundations of wisdom. If this book can reveal in some way through the insufficient medium of words the wordless truth that being wise is the most simple and natural state of the evolved man, a great and permanent good will be yours.
В 
"The Chinese goddess, Kuan Yin, the "Lady of Mercy," is depicted robed in flowing garments which are, to the Buddhist mind, symbolical of the cosmic pattern of life. Existence is really a patterned flowing toward the real; a motion in space; a flowing of all life toward wisdom and truth.
В 
"Metaphysical disciplines are not to be regarded as competitive exercises in which one vies with another in the magnitude of his imaginings, or yearns toward some metaphysical aristocracy. All metaphysical exercises worthy of the name are an unfolding of self into the light of virtue, beauty, and wisdom."
В 
So as things fracture, transmute, and recombine in this Autumn of radical change, remember to breathe, love, and flow naturally toward your wisdom. It alone is real; all else is part of the passing parade of thoughts and perceptions.
В 
В 
В 
В 
Self-Unfoldment By Disciplines of Realization is built around twelve "Realizations." Here are some excerpts from them:
В 
"The Wisdom Religion teaches us that while in personality we are many, in principle we are one."
В 
"To attempt to live beyond what we know is dangerous. Not to live up to what we know, is equally perilous."
В 
"Do not permit yourself the extravagance of any useless expenditure of energy. Adjust to unexpected conditions. Let the expected and the unexpected be accepted with equal placidity."
В 
"In all your comings and goings, in your joys and sorrows, in your gains and losses, find the Law." (The Law is another term for Truth, Reality, the Absolute, the unchanging reality, nonduality or not-two-ness.)
В 
"Listen for the Law." ... "Let the mind be still; let the desires be silent; let the body be relaxed; let all the senses and impulses be hushed -- and thus Listen. In moments of stress, when problems threaten, when all life seems out of key -- Listen."
В 
"Learn to recognize all ideas as essentially formless, but perceptible inwardly as manifestations of the Law."
В 
"Of all the fables in all the world, we ourselves are the most fantastic."
В 
"There is no hurry, for there is no time. There is no delay. There is only a timeless mystery waiting for liberation -- waiting and yet not waiting, for here waiting has no reference to time."
В 
"Appreciation demands nothing but the right to be silent and a little humble in the presence of a great good or a great beauty."
В 
"As realization extends throughout the departments of life the simple act of picking up something will become symbolic of all motions. First it will be beautified; a grace and harmony will be conferred upon action, and gradually coarse action will practically cease, all action being performed within realization."
В 
"Realization is the conscious understanding of the unity of life, and of the unity of the living Self with the deathless Cause which abides in the innermost parts of the world."
В 
You may purchase a pdf copy here
В 
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4674 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-08-08
Subject: #4674 - Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
#4674 - Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
Beginning

Hi... This blog is an idea I've had for awhile, and for whatever reason, today is the day I'm watching myself start at the 'Beginning'. I'm not sure what will transpire here, however the intention is simply to share my journey of awakening (if I can be so bold to presume I'm waking up!) with honesty and clarity, and perhaps you might like to share a little of yours in response.

a little about me:
В 
I live in Byron Bay, Australia where I reside in a little cabin at the back of 170 acres, with great landlords (just over the hill) and some 40 head of cattle for company. It's a very quiet existence and I spend a lot of time at home. Why? I have no idea. I don't remember planning my life like this, and yet I have always yearned for space, quiet and lots of free time. I've worked in the corporate world and had my own small businesses;В  travelled around the world, been married for a nano second, and am still out to lunch on the relationship status. I suppose my primary relationship is with moir. Parenthood didn't occur, so it seems I've been given a lifetime of 'time' to ponder, wonder, inquire, create and explore myself through religion, new ageism, cults, spirituality, creativity, and in more recent years, non-dualism and awareness teachings. I live an ordinary life, with its normal ups and downs, and yet I have to acknowledge it is incredibly blessed. I have good health, good friends, a roof over my head, organic food on the table, clothes on my back, a reliable car, and am debt free. I've discovered I need very little in life to be comfortable and happy, and yet again and again I feel the pull to know... 'Who am I, without the 'I'?'.В  My name is Melinda. I look forward to sharing the journey. M x
В 
В 

В 
Awakening Clarity has published a long wisdom poem by Rupert Spira, which has never before seen print.В  This is an excerpt.В  The full poem can be reached here:
В 
В 
В 
В 

I Am
В 

by
В 
В 
В 

Rupert Spira
В 
В 
В 

I am
В 
I have no words to express Myself but all words express only Me
В 
I have no meaning but impart meaning to all that is perceived
В 
I am without beginning and end but all things begin and end in Me
В 
I have no name but am called by all names
В 
I have no form but all form indicates Me
В 
I have no origin but am the origin of all things
В 
I am without division but all divisions exist in Me
В 
I exist by Myself
В 
В 
В 

I am the longing in sadness and the longed for in all longing
В 
I am the expecting and the expected in all expectation
В 
I am the restlessness of the restless
В 
I am the peace of the peaceful
В 
I am happiness
В 
В 
В 

I cannot be contemplated but am the object of all contemplation
В 
I am imperceivable yet you perceive only Me
В 
I am full but have nothing
В 
I am empty but contain all
В 
I give away everything but am never diminished
В 
I receive all but never expand
В 
I am everyoneÂ’s lover
В 
I shine
В 
В 
В 
I speak but am silent
В 
I move but am motionless
В 
I see but cannot be seen
В 
I hear but cannot be heard
В 
I taste but cannot be tasted
В 
I smell but cannot be smelt
В 
I touch but cannot be touched
В 
I smile
В 
В 
В 

Whatever appears appears in Me but I never appear
В 
I am the silence in music and the music in silence
В 
I am concealed in the world but reveal the world
В 
I am the womb and the tomb of all that exists
В 
I offer and contain in one gesture like an open bowl
В 
I give Myself unconditionally to all things
В 
I receive all things without choice
В 
I am empty
В 
В 
В 

I am the knowing in all that is known
В 
I am the experiencing in all that is experienced
В 
I am the allowing of all seeming things
В 
I am pure sensitivity, openess and availability
В 
I am the sun in the moon
В 
I am the friendship of friends
В 
I am knowing and unknowing
В 
I am dark in the day and bright at night
В 
I am luminous
В 
read the rest here:
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4675 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-08-10
Subject: #4675 - Thursday, August 9, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4675 -В Thursday, August 9, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/В 
В 
В 
Let attention go to manifestation,
just know that manifestation is Brahman.
Let there be creations and destructions.
All is Brahman and you are beyond even
That always.
В 
~ Papaji
В 
"The Truth Is"
via Along The Way
В 
В 
В 
so sings bluebells, so sings lark;
В 
shining spark
В 
edge of ages, edge of seen
edge of ever all has been
В 

edge of life, edge of death
edge of crust, dusty dust
В 
edge of strife, edge of breath
time and ashes, cold stiff stark
В 
edge of knowing and the doubt
В 

let me let me
jump
В 

let
the Heart leap out
В 
~ Alan Larus
В 
В 
Psalm 121
В 
I look deep into my heart,
to the core where wisdom arises.
Wisdom comes from the Unnamable
В 
and unifies heaven and earth.
В 
The Unnamable is always with you,
shining from the depths of your heart.
Her peace will keep you untroubled
even in the greatest pain.
В 
When you find her present within you,
you find truth at every moment.
В 
She will guard you from all wrongdoing;
She will guide your feet on her path.
She will temper your youth with patience;
She will crown your old age with fulfillment.
В 
And dying, you will leave your body
as effortlessly as a sigh.
В 
~ A Book of Psalms,
translated and adapted by Stephen Mitchell
В 
via Kia Pierce
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4676 From: Jerry Katz Date: 2012-08-10
Subject: #4676 - Friday, August 10, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
#4676 - Friday, August 10, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
Here are a few things going on and a blog post I wrote on Local Nonduality.
В 
В 
В 
В 
Advaita Academy
В 
presents
В 
Live Webcast
Talk on Nondual Wisdom of Vedanta
В 
by
Babaji Bob Kindler
В 
On Sunday August 12th between 2:30 and 5:30pm HAST
(Please note that there will be a 20 minute break at 4:00pm)
В 
At Hawaii, Big Island
В 
Click here to tune in via Livestream:
В 
В 
Click here to tune in via facebook:
В 
В 
В 
В 
В 
Greetings,

I just want to let readers know that my latest web site, www.mindfulness-meditation-techniques.com, is looking for contributors. I am looking for original poetry, favorite quotations, inspirational stories, favorite meditation techniques, articles about meditation and the like. Also comments are most welcome. Explore the site and you will find that each page offers an opportunity to contribute. Please visit and help make this endeavor worthwhile by your interaction.

Namaste,

Janaka

В 
В 
This is something I posted in my blog at http://nonduality.org
В 

LocalВ Nonduality, by Jerry Katz

August 9, 2012

The Local Movement is associated with being a consumer of locally grown food, products, and services. Like all movements, it is a fresh way of looking at the world. It can be applied to anything.

The Local Movement can mean connecting with teachers, guides, and friends. Does it seem strange to anyone to suggest that we can find friends locally? Not if you spend a lot of time in the online world where no doubt you do have one or two close friends youÂ’ve never met and probably never will.

While it is obvious that friends can be found locally, itÂ’s not so obvious that sharers of the teachings of nonduality can be found locally. Yet it can be done.

If you are aware of nonduality, chances are there are others in your community who also are. Maybe they donÂ’t talk about it. Maybe theyÂ’re not occupying the same online spaces as you are. But they are in your city or town.

YouÂ’d be amazed.

My suggestion, if you want to connect, is to put out some ads inviting people to a nonduality meeting. You wonÂ’t get a lot of people. Maybe two or three.

YouÂ’ll get a few more if you set up a Meetup through meetup.com, but it costs a few bucks to be hosted by meetup.com. The full price is $72 every 6 months. Your first year is half price.

Our Nova Scotia meetup site is atВ nonduality.ca.

When you do meet, keep the videos of famous teachers at home. Talk with each other. You may want to come up with a theme and a quote from a famous teacher, but you donÂ’t need more than that to get started.

Have the confidence to eschew affiliation. It doesnÂ’t have to be an Eckhart Tolle group or anything like that. Just people.

This is local nonduality. Water and feed it and give it some sun and let it grow in whatever way it will.

Good luck.

В 
В 
В 
Hi, I have few Little Booklets about Rammana Maharshi for sale on Ebay - they include a lot of non dual teachings, including some articles by Douglas Harding.

Please pass to anyone who might be interested!

Many thanks,

Ed

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120965645222?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1414
В 
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4677 From: Mark Date: 2012-08-13
Subject: #4677 - Saturday/Sunday, August 11/12, 2012

Archived issues of the NDHighlights are available online: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm

Nonduality Highlights Issue #4677, Saturday/Sunday, August 11/12, 2012




Cup and Ocean

These forms we seem to be are cups floating in an ocean
of living consciousness.

They fill and sink without leaving an arc of bubbles or
any good-bye spray. What we

are is that ocean, too near to see, though we swim in it
and drink it in. Don't

be a cup with a dry rim, or someone who rides all night
and never knows the horse

beneath his thighs, the surging that carries him along.

- Rumi, version by Coleman Barks from The Soul of Rumi, posted to AlongTheWay

Empty Boat

Some huge work goes on growing. How
could one person's words matter? Where

you walk, heads pop from the ground. What
is one seed head compared to yours? On

my death day I'll know the answer. I have
cleared this house, so that your work can,

when it comes, fill every room. I slide
like an empty boat pulled over water.

- Rumi, Ghazal 622, version by Coleman Barks from The Soul of Rumi, posted to Sunlight



By plucking her petals, you do not
gather the beauty of the flower.

Clouds come floating into my life,
no longer to carry rain or usher storm,
but to add colour to my sunset sky.

Death is not extinguishing the light;
it is only putting out the lamp
because the dawn has come.

Do not say, 'It is morning,'
and dismiss it with a name of yesterday.
See it for the first time
as a newborn child that has no name.

Don't limit a child to your own learning,
for he was born in another time.

Emancipation from the bondage of the soil
is no freedom for the tree.

Every child comes with the message
that God is not yet discouraged of man.

Every difficulty slurred over
will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on.

Everything comes to us that belongs to us
if we create the capacity to receive it.

Faith is the bird that feels the light
when the dawn is still dark.

From the solemn gloom of the temple
children run out to sit in the dust,
God watches them play and forgets the priest.

I have become my own version of an optimist.
If I can't make it through one door,
I'll go through another door - or I'll make a door.
Something terrific will come
no matter how dark the present.

- Rabindranath Tagore, posted to The_Now2



The moon has come back out,
the other moon, that was never above us,
or seen in dreams, the moon that brings fire
and pours wine, the host that cooks us
to tenderness.

Our eyes look at the prepared sight
and say, Well done. Bravo!

Then we remember the ocean
and leap out of our personalities into that.
Try to find us!

The sun goes down,
with a line of clouds running to catch up.

- Rumi, Ghazal 310. version by Coleman Barks from These Branching Moments, posted to Sunlight
Group: NDhighlights Message: 4678 From: Gloria Lee Date: 2012-08-13
Subject: #4678 - Monday, August 13, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee

#4678 -В Monday, August 13, 2012 - Editor: Gloria Lee
В 
В 
В 
Do not ask me where I am going,
as I travel in this limitless world,
where every step I take is my home.
В 
~ Dogen
В 
В 
В 
The touch of an infinite mystery
passes over the trivial and the familiar,
making it break out into ineffable musicÂ…
В 
The trees, the stars,
and the blue hills ache with a meaning
which can never be uttered in words.
В 
—Rabindranath Tagore
В 
photo by Alan Larus
В 
В 
В 
В 
So may we in this life trust
to those elements we have yet to see
or imagine, and look for the true
shape of our own self, by forming it well
to the great intangibles about us.
В 
-- David Whyte
В 
В 
В 
Make peace with the universe.
Take joy in it.
It will turn to gold.
Resurrection will be now.
Every moment
В 
a new beauty.
В 
~ Rumi
В 
Alan Larus
В 
В 
В 
В 

Thanks to Amrita Nadi of Daily Dharma


#4679 - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
 
 
 
 
 
Jody noted the following article on Guruphiliac:
 

The Authentic Guru-Disciple Tradition in Hinduism – A Discussion by Dr. Madhu P. Godsay

by RISHIKA on  AUGUST 13, 2012

 
 
Here's an excerpt:
 

This lack of a business-type relationship between the student and guru is essential. The student should never put his trust and devotion in a teacher who requests anything, either money, possessions, or anything physical. Once the student has found such a desire-less, non-self-serving teacher, only then can the student have confidence in the teacherÂ’s capability and show respect for his knowledge. This relationship must remain pure for the entire duration of the relationship.

It is very important that this relationship remains pure. The student should be seeking nothing else but knowledge, and the guru should be taking nothing from the student. The student’s “surrender” to a guru should be based on the secure knowledge that he or she is not being taken advantage of or exploited by the guru.

WhatÂ’s more, itÂ’s important to understand that the studentÂ’s trust and devotion are not supposed to be based on blind faith or an expectation of miracles from the guru. Trust in the guru is supposed to be verifiable. In other words, there must be clear proof that the teacher actually possesses spiritual knowledge and is capable of imparting it. Without veracity, a person posing as a guru can say or do anything.

There are various famous pairs of guru-shishya in Hindu scriptures. In the Upanishads, one finds many philosophical dialogues between teachers and students. For instance, in the Mundakopanishad, the creator teaches his son Atharva, and Atharva teaches his disciple Angiva, and so on and so forth. Another famous scriptural pair is Lord Krishna and his disciple Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. In modern India, various saints such as Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Dayananad, etc., have imparted knowledge to hundreds of their disciples.

In India, Hindu children learn that their mothers and fathers are their first gurus. Then other gurus follow throughout their lives, including a spiritual guru. The highest guru is the one who teaches and gives the experience of “tat twam asi,” meaning, “You are Bhrahman (God).” Guru Dattatreya was once asked by King Yadhu the secret of his happiness and the name of his guru. He said atman (self) is my guru, yet I learned wisdom from nature.

Gurus can be roughly divided into two main classes:

  1. Bhakti (devotion) tradition, which is related to loving a form of god.
  2. Gyan (knowledge) tradition, which is related to impersonal devotion.

The bhakti form of the guru-shishya relationship generally incorporates:

  • Devotion to the guru as a divine figure.
  • The belief that such a guru will eventually impart moksha, peace, or divine power to theshishya.
  • The belief that the shishya, with strong devotion and preparedness, will gain the merit.

The danger in the bhakti tradition lies in the choice of a guru. There is real danger that ignorance and blind faith can mislead a shishya from what he or she is really seeking. In the gyan-based relationship, there is less danger of deceit, because the student does not worship the guru as God.

Some learned and God-realized people, like J. Krishnamurti and Lahiri Mahasaya, refused to allow their followers to organize any kind of organization or sampraday around them. Their relationship was strictly based on the exchange of knowledge. The guruÂ’s only goal is to help theshishya accomplish his or her spiritual advancement via his or her own ability to look within from a healthy, unattached perspective.

In the annals of guru-shishya tradition there are various types of sampradayas (organizations). There are the demonic types—like the Bernie-Maddox-type, which prey on peopleÂ’s innocence, beliefs, and gullibility. This is what we witnessed with the Barsana Dham episode, and its fake “gurus,” who were clearly only interested in exploiting people.

However, despite the people with ulterior motives acting as gurus, having wrong intentions, and no true knowledge to impart, the tradition of the teacher-student relationship in spiritual advancement has endured over thousands of years—and will continue to endure long into the future. With so many calling themselves “guru” today, it is more important today than ever before for every student seeking a guru to hold that guru up to the standards that have endured through the ages: true knowledge, right motivation, and pure intentions

Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Peace, Peace, Peace.

~ ~ ~

Read the full article here:

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