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9/30/01 Sunday

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JAN SULTAN
Quiet & Silence - Nisargadatta

When you are not in a hurry and the mind is free from anxieties, it becomes
quiet and in the silence something may be heard which is ordinarily too
fine and subtle for perception. The mind must be open and quiet to see. You
need not worry about your worries. Just be. Do not try to be quiet; do not
make "being quiet" into a task to be performed. Don't be restless about
"being quiet", miserable about "being happy". Just be aware that you are,
and remain aware. Don't say "Yes, I am. What next?" There is no "next" in
"I am". It is a timeless state. (508)
When you sit quiet and watch yourself, all kinds of things may come to the
surface. Do nothing about them, don't react to them; as they have come so
will they go, by themselves. All that matters is mindfulness, total
awareness of oneself, or rather of one's mind.
(219)
Silence is the main factor. In peace and silence you grow. (375)
In peace and silence, the skin of the "I" dissolves and the inner and the
outer become one. (483)
Keep quiet, undisturbed, and the wisdom and the power will come on their
own. You need not hanker. Wait in silence of the heart and mind. It is very
easy to be quiet, but willingness is rare. (494)
To go beyond the mind, you must be silent and quiet. Peace and silence,
silence and peace - this is the way beyond. Stop asking questions. (450)
To go beyond, you need alert immobility, quiet attention. (217)
These moments of inner quiet will burn out all obstacles without fail.
Don't doubt its efficacy. Try it. (217)
Whatever you may have to do, watch your mind. Also you must have moments of
complete inner peace and quiet, when your mind is absolutely still. If you
miss it, you miss the entire thing. If you do not, the silence of the mind
will dissolve and absorb all else. (215)
Keep quiet. Do your work in the world, but inwardly keep quiet. Then all
will come to you. Do not rely on your work for realization. It may profit
others, but not you. Your hope lies in keeping silent in your mind and
quiet in your heart. Realized people are very quiet. (402)


GARY MERRILL


We assume we know what is true. Politicians tell us what is true, religious
leaders, scientists, economists, but what is the basis of truth? Isn't there
always a belief, an assumption at some point? It is obviously in the
interest of those in power to proclaim to have truth. If there was
consciousness of the belief nature of our knowing it might be difficult to
fight.

The structure of our language also gives the impression of truth eg 'This is
true' is to make something 'true' by making it equal to something else. But
what is the something else equal to? We have a little metaphysical word 'is'
that lets us think we know truth when we might just be believing.

Gary


JAN SULTAN
An interview with David Godman, on realization.org

From then on I stopped caring about money. In the period that I was worrying about money, all I did was
spend. When I stopped caring, complete strangers would come up to me and give me money. Whenever I
needed money, money just appeared out of nowhere.

When I volunteered to look after Lakshmana Swamy's land in the late 80s, I had about $20 to my name.
Somebody in Canada whom I had spoken to for about ten minutes two years before got out of bed and
suddenly felt that he should give me some money. He sent me $1,000, which was enough to get the garden
going. I lived like that for years. When you work for Gurus, God pays the bills. That's my experience
anyway.

An Interview with David Godman | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5


http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0097a.htm

ERIC ASHFORD



Nothing comes between sky. Nothing can divide it. Not night
nor day or anything within it. There is nothing between the
seen and the unseen, for there is no such thing as false sky.
The nature of emptiness is that it can be filled infinitely with
its own reality. Reality is self-fulfilling.

Mind is its own reality, being nothing but infinite potential
for self-fulfillment. Knowing this, there is nothing between
the mind and it creations. Resistance to space is the only
illusion. The false coin. Then what are these resisting
illusions? They are both a contradiction and a contraction.
A density that does not resonate with the space of itself. We
may mistake this for a limitation, a wall, but really it is a
depression of unfulfilment. To open our sky consciousness is
to give more space to creation. We manifest space not
things.

When a healer looks at the body, he looks at the space the
body fills, and seeks out the resistance to its fulfillment. He
knows that all disease is a contraction of space. There is a
resistance to well-being. The laying on of his hands is a
similitude for his transmission of space and light, to that
which is temporarily closed. He opens.

The soul to, is a space that is both bud and blossom. Being
both temporal and eternal, it is both closed and open at
once. Within it, the latent possibility of You, is both
perfectly fulfilled and transiently becoming. When we lay a
conscious hand upon it- it flowers. Its desire is self
fulfillment.

To fulfill ourselves is to ask. To pray. Prayer is the great
opening. All conscious realms of being were prayed into
existence, refusing to be fulfilled with anything but God.
They have doubted the false coin, and so have learned that
nothing can be depleted within them. They are the
expansion of prayer, fulfilling its own intent. Love.

Seeing nothing between this and that, their sky worlds are
as clear now, as they have always been. Seeing no difference
between space and form, they become the prayer of the
universe in whatever dimension of reality they choose.

The great healing then, is not to spend a false coin, but to
open it of itself, that it be fulfilled of itself. It can still be
used as currency, once the treasury of its light is revealed.
Manifestation is apparent desire. What appears is equal to
the content of love given to it. A desire that is a Yes to all
potential, is our prayer for God.

I see you
in the sight that love sees me.
Hey good looking one,
you are the image of Jesus.
Are we brother or sister
or are we just our Love?



Love

eric.


GLORIA LEE


THE SAME SUNTAN

Burn
Every address for
God.

Any
Beloved
Who has just one color of hair,
One gender, one race,

The same suntan all the time,
One rule book,

Trust me when I say,

That man is not even
Half a god

And will only
Cause you

Grief.

(“The Gift” – versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
picture by Joseph Riley

GENE POOLE

NDS


"God: Everything, Everywhere... All The Time."


This was spontaneously contributed by a good friend, the other day.

I found it delightful.

This lead me on a journey of thought:


If God is real, God is Reality ItSelf.

If God is Reality ItSelf, consciousness is God.


==Gene Poole==


HARSHA

You are very deep Bob. I would also love to hear from a Sufi mystics of
today telling us about God being everywhere and God being love.

There are many intellects of remarkable depth who can analyze any situation
or statement into its particular elements. Depth helps until one falls into
the abyss. Then nothing helps because the floor and the ceiling seem the
same. We all may as well put on our superman costumes and shout up up and
away! Melody earlier pulled the rug from underneath Thich's offer to help.
Good for you Melody. I see you seeking beyond superficiality. I doubt if
Thich or anyone else has any clue at all about what to do. Pope Paul has
said that he is praying with all his might that there should be peace in the
world. So am I.

God bless everyone.

Love to all
Harsha


MELODY



I hear this, Harsha. To be honest, though, I
sometimes wonder if I'm the only one on earth
NOT praying for peace.

How can one be 'for' something, without simultaneously
' giving life to ' ....energizing..... its opposite?

Lately I've been rather dumbstruck be seeing
how desires (and all seeking) is, ultimately, driven by
the desire to "feel good".

I have seen where even my desire to 'expand consciousness'

.....to make the unconscious conscious....is rooted in
the desire to avoid being hurt, or hurting others.

And yet, what happens? In my unrelenting campaign
*against* unconsciousness and *for* increased
awareness ,

I have made enemies. Some of them on this list! Some
of whom react so strongly *against* my efforts, they
warn other listowners about me - hoping to protect others
from my 'abuses'.

Round and round the mulberry bush. Crazy, ain't it?
What we seek to avoid, we meet.

No, Harsha. I'm not praying *for* anything right now.

Rather, I'm allowing my self to feel like shit, without
trying to escape that feeling.

Melody


JERRY KATZ
Chuck sends this excerpt from his new book.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

WISDOM in the ROUND An excerpt from…Seeds for the
Soul By Chuck Hillig copyright Ó 2001

Do you think that you could ever write something
that would be the perfect ex-pression of the
greatest wisdom….the very quintessential core of
Reality, itself? Then, in that same description,
could you also include the most practical way of
living out your day-to-day existence in the light
of such an awesome Truth?

One more condition: Could you then limit your
summary of these profound teachings…both spiritual
and psychological…to only 18 words?

That's right: only 18 simple words!

Give up? Well, relax because someone else has
already done it for you. In fact, you already know
these 18 words because they've been a part of your
Amer-ican heritage since you were very young.

Remember some of the campfire songs that you used
to sing as a "round?" One of the old classics was
"Row, row, row your boat." Well, I contend that
this simple little ditty describes not only the
ultimate Truth of the Universe, but also that it
gives very practical advice about how to live your
life out in the face of that Reality.

For those of you raised on Mars, the words to this
little song go like this: "Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily,
merrily, Life is but a dream."

In the very first line, the song implies that
you're making some kind of journey over water in
"…your boat." Most importantly, however, the line
begins by repeat-ing the very same action word
(row, row, row…) three times…reminding you that, on
this journey, you'll need to be expending energy,
persistence and on-going effort.

In the second line, however, the song implies that
you also shouldn't be "pushing the river." Instead,
it suggests that you should be performing all of
this rowing activity very "gently." Not with anger
or resistance or by using brute force, but "gently"
which means, (according to the dictionary), with
ease, grace and with both "courtesy and kindness."

The second part of the line reminds you that, while
you're gently rowing along, your boat is still
headed in a particular direction….specifically
downstream. It doesn't suggest that you could go
against the current or even across it. Instead, the
line implies that, inexorably, (and, like it or
not) your boat is still going "…down the stream."
And, since it's carrying you along some
pre-determined route, (the streambed, itself),
there's no reason to struggle against where it's
taking you. So, the first two lines of the song
suggest that you need to make an on-going effort on
your own behalf ("row, row, row") but, on the other
hand, you also need to be willing to surrender to
the whole inevitability of the process.

The third line is the key: it tells you not only
how you should perform all of this "rowing," but
what you should be feeling in your heart while
you're doing it. The song suggests, quite frankly,
that you should be "merry"…that is, happy and
joyous. Not only does it say "merrily" once, but,
for greater emphasis (and to make sure that you
really get the point), this same word is repeated
four different times. In exhorting you to be
"merry" as you're rowing "gently down the stream,"
the song implies that your attitude and behavior
should be "full of fun and laughter," (the
dictionary definition), festive and even
celebratory.

The big punch line, of course, comes in the last
five words: "Life is but a dream." At the end, it
seems, none of it has ever been "real." There never
was either a real boat or a real passenger. There
wasn't any water and there wasn't any actual
journeying down a stream to some final destination.
This last line plainly suggests, instead, that all
of it…boat, passenger, water and the journey…has
only been Maya…the Great Illusion.

Amazingly, this same core Truth about the illusory
nature of the universe has also been spoken of for
centuries by the cross-cultural Perennial
philosophy.

Isn't it absolutely incredible that such profound
wisdom could be successfully distilled into only 18
simple words, and that it's cleverly disguised now
as a simple little ditty that's sung with friends
around a campfire?

And isn't it ironic that it took me only 722 words
to remind you about it!

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Chuck Hillig is the author of Enlightenment for
Beginners, The Way IT Is and The Magic King. The
above excerpt is from Seeds for the Soul which will
be published by Black Dot Publications in 2002.
http://www.blackdotpubs.com

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