Reflections
There's really nothing
new,
but below are some of my versions
of the same old stuff.
- Swami Jnaneshvara
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I long deeply in my
heart to be able to communicate
that which has been so freely given to me,
but I find myself incapable of doing so.
This is no fancy poetry, just a passionate plea.
If you really want direct experience of the
one absolute reality which has no second,
it is possible. It can be done.
However, if my own experience is any measure,
it takes being willing to stand alone, to go against
virtually every other person in your life,
including not only family, friends, and fellow seekers,
but also almost all of the so-called teachers.
You see, it has been my experience that there
is much talk, but little beyond that.
If you meet one, that is enough.
It can be done; that's about all I can tell you.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading
the articles on this website. Sometime it
all has to be set aside. At one point I gave away
all of the books and owned nothing but the
luggage I carried in my hands. You don't have
to literally give everything away,
but you can no longer own any of it.
Every idea of owning is a delusion that will
be protected by the mind so as to make
it absolutely certain that you will not experience
that beyond, which would reveal the delusion.
It can be done. You can have direct experience
in this lifetime.
How?
In it's simplest form, sit on your butt and don't move.
Om,
Swami Jnaneshvara
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One of my fondest
memories is of
the day Swami Rama said to me simply,
"You are on the path. I will lead you."
He has done what he said he would do,
for which I am truly grateful.
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Judge each day not by
the harvest you reap,
nor by the seeds that you plant,
but by the stillness of your mind in meditation.
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Be quiet when you
scream.
Scream with joy when you are quiet.
Love.
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If one day I say I am a
Buddhist, the next a Christian,
the next a Hindu, the next a Jew, the next a Muslim,
and the next something else, has the "I" actually changed,
or only the opinions of the mind? Who am I?
That cannot be answered with a mere opinion of mind.
It can only be experienced in the stillness and silence
of direct experience, wherein these divisions evaporate.
May all humans one day see that
we all are of the same one source.
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The most important trip
you’ll make in life
is the trip into meditation,
where you go nowhere.
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There is no path, but
only a fool does not follow it.
Alternatively,
There is no path, but
you have to follow it
to discover that there is no path.
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Before you leap over the
fence for the greener grass,
be sure to water the grass on your own side.
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To be a miner of
diamonds,
take care of your picks and shovels.
To be a miner of your spiritual Self,
take care of your body, breath, and mind.
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Love is what is left
when you have let go
of all the things you love.
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The brilliance of the
mind is dimmed by the glow of the Self.
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Truth is not be found in
one end or the other of a polarity,
but in the ground which is underneath them both.
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Pursue Truth with
the intensity of the hare and
the patience of the tortoise.
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One of the finest aids
to making changes in the external world
is to know in stillness the deepest aspect of oneself
where there is no change.
-------
Spiritual life without
teachers or gurus
is like universities without professors,
hospitals without doctors and nurses,
or planes without pilots.
-------
What is more important
than
where we are standing on the path
is the direction we are looking.
-------
For us to be connected
with each other
we must have first become divided.
Neither are really true.
-------
Between an ounce of
practice
and a pound of philosophy,
which would you choose?
-------
May the winter of your
mind be filled
with the spring of the Divine.
-------
Every one of your family
members and friends,
as well as every person you encounter today
is going to die.
Every one of these people, if they live long enough,
will lose everything they own,
including all of those people.
Should we not cultivate at least a modicum
of compassion and kindness for every person
who lives in this situation today?
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The final barrier
between lover
and the Beloved
is love itself.
With love there is two.
Beyond love is One.
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Without resistance there
would be no will power.
With no will power, there is all Power.
-------
You'll never find the
sunken treasure
by wading along the seashore,
however attractive the scenery.
Dive deep into the ocean
of meditation.
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Knowledge has a subject
and an object.
Wisdom has neither.
-------
The mind by which choices
are made,
also divides the universe
so that choices are needed.
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Yoga means union.
Meditation brings union.
Yoga meditation is two words for the same thing.
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Desire without passion
is empty.
Passion without desire is the means to Freedom.
-------
Any sentence that starts
with "I want..."
is a false identity expressing itself.
May your sentences be wise and loving.
-------
The book of knowledge in your hand is
nothing
compared to the book of wisdom in your heart.
-------
What the mind dwells on,
the mind becomes.
I, on the other hand, remain Unchanged.
-------
The soul may come and
go,
from this world to that, and back.
I am the one who neither comes nor goes,
but remains within that body called soul.
-------
Each day is a life to
one who divides.
The child is the next life to one who multiplies.
This and the next life is real life to one who adds.
This life brings death to one who subtracts.
Forget mathematics, and Know the One.
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Actions are the child of
mind.
Mind is the child of desire.
Desire is the child of habit.
Habit is child of the senses.
The senses are the child of actions.
The Self is an orphan.
-------
Vairagya,
non-attachment, means having
equal temperament
whether the light in front of you is green or red.
-------
Study leads to knowing.
When study leads to un-knowing,
it leads to wisdom.
-------
Virtue and vice are both
the product of ignorance,
of ignoring, forgetting Truth.
-------
What's in the hand
is
the stuff of which hands are made.
What's in the mind is
the stuff of which minds are made.
What's in the Self?
-------
To kill time is to waste
your life.
To allow the death of time brings Life.
-------
What to do when you are
discouraged?
Dis- your dis-courage.
To dis- a dis- is zero.
And you are left with courage.
-------
Stress is two forces
moving in opposite directions.
Sit still.
-------
The difference between
strength and vitality
is like the difference between rocks and marbles.
Meditate like a rock and live like a marble.
-------
Surrender your senses
into your own mind,
not into the mind of another person.
Surrender your mind into your own intelligence,
not to a man, woman, or institution.
Surrender your intelligence into pure consciousness,
not to the consciousness of another human.
Surrender everything you think you are into the
pure inner light of guru within,
not a self-proclaimed guru without.
-------
Tune your body, breath,
and mind
solely so they sing
with the choir of the Self.
-------
Day dreaming is
hallucination.
Night dreaming is hallucination.
God dreaming is hallucination.
God being is not, but Is.
-------
Socrates said,
"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."
Too bad that he spoke only of the "I" that is ignorant,
and thus can know only ignorance.
-------
I play, and play, and
play some more.
All of the play brings only more play.
Ask, "Who is the Life that says 'I' play?"
-------
What is the one
world
that contains the many worlds?
-------
Inner harmony is like
the symphony of the musician's fingers,
but what is music?
What is it, really?
To ask that is the only question.
-------
You can watch the way
you walk,
watch the way you talk,
and watch the way of your thought.
But can you watch the way you watch?
-------
Spiritual practice
without non-attachment
is like trying to fly a kite with a chain.
-------
Spiritual practice
reduces the clouds, the veils.
No wonder you
see more,
feel more,
and hurt more.
And, oh yes, laugh more,
and love more.
-------
If you feel better when
someone says,
"You are good," rather than "You are bad,"
Know that there is still an alien inside.
-------
If you don't know what
love is,
fall in love with anything.
Then sort out the differences.
-------
Aversion is like really
sticky glue.
It's just another form of attachment.
-------
If you're afraid of
Truth, keep moving.
-------
Pride is a little sign
that
somebody inside remembers something,
but just doesn't know what.
-------
Want to be a hero?
Surrender!
-------
If life is like a school
house,
play hooky from time to time,
and sit for meditation.
-------
If life is like a school
house,
remember that there are always
new batches of freshmen.
-------
The beauty of searching
for yourself
is that you never find anything that qualifies.
-------
Want to hear a good
joke?
"Swami" means "master" of himself.
Who or what is master of who or what,
when all is One?
-------
Incentive, inspiration,
and creativity
are fancy words for desire.
They're fun, but eventually
only desire for freedom from desire
will bring freedom from desire.
-------
There are countless
other desires,
but only one desire that swallows up the others.
-------
"Spiritual debate" is an
oxymoron.
-------
If perfection is not in
the fantasy of the future,
and happiness not in the memories of the past,
then how can the mental garbage of the present
be so good either?
Oh, mind, let go of all this!
-------
Oh, mind, sing the song
of silence.
-------
Today's instincts are only
the deep impressions of yesterday's attachments.
But even those contain
the impressions of karma
that need to be
experienced
and played out.
-------
Life is filled with pain
and pleasure.
Consciousness is contained in both.
Know That.
-------
The flower and the bird
have worked out their relationship.
So too with the people
of our families and personal worlds.
The mind flits here and there,
bringing pollen to the Inner one.
As the people of our lives
bring what we need for life,
and Growth.
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The words from a tongue
without heart
is like a plane with no pilot.
-------
Anger is like a red flag
at the ocean lifeguard stand.
It's just a sign of rough seas,
nothing more.
Maybe a little caution, so as to not drown.
-------
Consciousness is life,
like the water
that gives the fluff to the rice.
No fluff, no food, no fun.
Be aware. Be awake.
Enjoy your rice.
-------
We may forget the
actions and speech,
but long remember the impressions.
-------
Only when one awakens
can he tell of his dreams.
Be still, and let the dream come,
so it may fade away.
This is the way of freedom from karma
on the path of meditation.
-------
To divide time into
parts is
like building walls and calling it space.
It is only in the mind
that they are divisible.
-------
Failure and success are
sisters
in the family called transition.
-------
When you woke up this
morning,
did you pick up where you left off?
That's called reincarnation.
-------
Pray for what you want.
Work for what you want.
But remember,
you are not the one who wants.
-------
Finding fault with
yourself may be
better than finding fault with others.
Better still to find the deeper ground,
that has no fault lines,
and thus no earthquakes.
-------
Medicine and disease
have formed a perfect marriage,
though dysfunctional.
-------
Perennial mathematics:
One plus one equals two.
Oneness plus Oneness equals Oneness.
-------
Poverty is forgetting
you are the All,
and then
unsuccessfully trying to get it back.
-------
It is a myth
that there
are many paths
up the mountain to Truth.
The truth is,
there is only one path.
The path is called "Up," and
the method is called "Climb."
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When you do not
give,
you cannot give.
When you do give,
you do not give,
because you know
that you cannot.
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Me and mine. Me and
mine. Me and mine.
What silly fun!
-------
Mindlessness is a great
philosophy,
but what do you do when you are hungry?
Somebody, somewhere is a mind,
that's for sure.
But it is not I.
-------
To be idle is yucky.
To be still is divine.
-------
When you bind yourself
to work,
When you bind yourself to play,
When you bind yourself to another,
When you bind yourself to yourself,
you forget your Self,
and the Self of others.
Be an un-binder.
-------
If you hate your work,
leave.
If you hate your hate, leave that too.
-------
True Joy is a chocolate
covered peanut cluster,
buried under a mound of ice cream.
The joy on the surface is nice,
but there's even better stuff to come.
-------
No pain, no gain.
Pain
is necessary on the journey.
B.S.
Joy is eternal, and ever present.
-------
All of the miracles of
life and spirit
are but the playing out of a thousand fantasies
that otherwise seem unattainable.
Seek that which is unattainable
because you can go nowhere to get it.
-------
How can you say,
"I
have found the Truth!"?
Simple, it's just a bunch of words.
Anybody can say them.
Seek to Know, not to say.
-------
If all is One,
what is all this silliness about there being a path?
Be still.
-------
Marriage vow with the
One:
Do you know what Love is?
"I do!"
-------
The love affair with
Mother is like the passion
of pots for clay,
of ornaments for gold, and
of the ocean for water.
-------
Cruelty, greed, and the
like are but
longing for Truth gone awry.
-------
Learning to unlearn
is
the highest form of learning.
-------
Why do we not like
what comes out of both doors of the cow?
Maybe it has to do with "Me"?
A flower likes one door, and
we like the other.
-------
Do unto others
what
makes you both free.
-------
When the harvest is
ready, harvest.
Not that it brings you Truth,
but it's what's there to be done.
Do that
and at the same time,
seek That.
-------
Community property
is
that co-owned by spouses.
The whole of the world
is community property.
We must be married,
you and I.
-------
The battle of life needs
to be fought
not so there is a victory,
but so there is a surrender.
-------
What is mine
is anything
that cannot be
stolen,
broken,
burned,
blown up,
or otherwise
destroyed.
-------
Dig into yourself
so
that you can remove
the "not me" stones.
The hole
will get as big
as the whole universe.
-------
I am no mere battery.
I am electricity!
-------
Purify your mind and
eye
so finely that you can
see a darkened room
with a single flash
from a firefly.
-------
Too much food for
thought
will give you an upset mind.
-------
Trying to see the
Absolute Reality everywhere
is as delicate a task
as trying to see only the screen
while the movie is playing.
-------
Love your neighbor as
yourself.
Love your enemy as if you'd never met.
-------
First is
"I."
Second is "I am."
Third is "I am this, and that."
Fourth is "Who am I?"
Fifth is "I am not this, nor that."
Sixth is "I am that I am."
Seventh is Silence.
-------
If water is not afraid
of water,
and fire is not afraid of fire,
then why should I be afraid of God?
-------
Lethargy and growth are
like
coal and a diamond.
It's just a matter of having
endured a little pressure.
-------
What if a headache
forgot to ache?
-------
Contentment is the field
on which
the game of spiritual life begins.
-------
The senses are like a
reversible coat.
They can go outside to the world,
or inside to the soul.
-------
Remember God, Truth,
Reality, the Divine,
and the rest will be forgotten,
like the sand falling from your sandals.
-------
If you cannot take it
with you,
why not focus on knowing
what you can take with you.
-------
Compassion, affection,
and love
are shown by the
smile in the heart,
not the smile on the face alone.
-------
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This site is devoted
to presenting the ancient Self-Realization path of the Tradition of
the Himalayan masters in simple, understandable and beneficial ways,
while not compromising quality or depth. The goal of our sadhana or
practices is the highest Joy that comes from the Realization in
direct experience of the center of consciousness, the Self, the
Atman or Purusha, which is one and the same with the Absolute
Reality. This Self-Realization comes through Yoga meditation of the
Yoga Sutras, the contemplative insight of Advaita Vedanta, and the
intense devotion of Samaya Sri Vidya Tantra, the three of which
complement one another like fingers on a hand. We employ the
classical approaches of Raja, Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti Yoga, as well
as Hatha, Kriya, Kundalini, Laya, Mantra, Nada, Siddha, and Tantra
Yoga. Meditation, contemplation, mantra and prayer finally converge
into a unified force directed towards the final stage, piercing the
pearl of wisdom called bindu, leading to the Absolute.
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