The Coming of the Space People
Ramtha a fantastic video about the coming of the Beings from Space
Earth Changes – The Star People
As we are entering a very interesting and critical phase of human and planetary development, which is reflected in the changes now happening to Mother Earth’s form, we will now start to see many of the Sages enter or come forward on the world stage. As fear will automatically be a byproduct and natural response to the current events for numerous people, great discretion is required and the development and heightening of ones personal guidance system is essential in order to discriminate between wisdom and information generated by those with personal agendas. May all beings be happy.
Krishnamurthi and Chogyam Rinpoche Youtube
Here is the first of a five part series of Youtube videos by Krishnamurthi. The next few include Chogyam Rinpoche.
For more interesting Videos Check out Part 2 Krishmamurti
Carlos Castenada Youtube Radio Interview
This is of interest to many people, it is an interview with Carlos Castenada the author of The Teachings of Don Juan and other books. In the interview Carlos talks about his first encounter with Don Juan.
It would be very easy to disregard the material of Castenada because of the usage of psychotropic plants. But anyone who has ever read between the lines of The Journey to Ixtlan and Tales of Power will realize immediately that the agenda behind all of the experiences was to help break down the normal way of thinking. Please note, I am in no way saying that people need to use any substances to break through from limited thought. There are a number of books in the series, if I was to recommend any I would say to read The Journey to Ixtlan followed by the Tales of Power, within these two books is the essence of the teaching.
Journey to Ixtlan
A brilliant book by Carlos Castenada
What is a Real Question?
I love this question. I saw it today on a Social Network and I just had to create a response.
Rumi Sketch
What is Enlightenment? The Endless Quest
I was standing in the sun this morning before I went to work, it’s winter here but it must’ve been about 22 degrees C. I could feel the warmth on my skin and all was very blissful, and then my mind entered and I was thinking, is it vitamin D or A, my chain of thought was broken.
I had been thinking a little bit about the question What Is Enlightenment? I wasn’t in a hurry to answer but eventually, something emerged, and I will try to package in a way that makes sense, so please bear with me.
Enlightenment
The question itself could be a little bit of an issue. I remember Krishnamurthi once saying, Can we ever ask the right question? NOTE: I am not a Krishnamurthi clone either.
What is Enlightenment? As soon as we say “IS” it implies that such a thing exists. We have read oodles of books o the Spirit, some very profound and others that are best suited for the fireplace on a cold winters night. They all seem to have an opinion about Enlightenment, Freedom,Truth or the God thing. Well I’d like start fresh and challenge the lot, not for the sake of an argument but because I am reasonably clear that there is a serious issue with the question.
So I see a problem a big one What IS Enlightenment? As soon as we say IS, it is saying there is something there and the next logical step is to go and find; and what is the thing we are seeking to obtain or achieve and that is Enlightenment, that’s a no-brainer really. The issue for me is, at the very beginning of the quest we are beaten, we are seeking, the sought being Enlightenment and us being the one who wants it, the needy, the lacking, the one that is minus the thing we seek.
Let’s go a little further with this. I’ll throw this in because I think it is relevant ‘Any movement in any direction is a movement away from ourself’, please read that line again and think on it for a moment.
The very question ‘What is Enlightenment?’ Implies lack and when we look at it even harder, it’s easy to see the separation; we are sepearated from Enlightenment. I need to challenge that, not for the forum or an argument but because it is misconception. Underlying us, is the very thing that is sought, the very experience which we are seeking is the very thing that is at our core. If we move towards solving the question, we are defeated because there is no need to take the journey, because we are moving away, out of God space, trying to solve a question which has come from thought. The mind is wanting to know, the mind asks a question, it creates its own self imposed perameters and says ‘ Hey Answer this’, it’s really saying, look I am great, I have the ability to understand what is outside the framework of thought, but I shall pretend to be wise, I shall because I’m pretty shifty, proud and haughty, I can pour the ocean, the whole of it into my little bucket.
So where am I now? Ok , here it is. The question just doesn’t do it for me, the question is a problem to itself and try as you might, you’ll be on the path of Endles Becoming, on the quest like the deer chasing the musk, always seeking the elusive Beloved and moving away from yourself
There is nowhere to go and nothing to do. And that’s what people find so difficult
Be There Now
Peace
Tony
Alan Watts – Conversation With Myself – Zen Mind
Alan Watts has been one of my favorite teachers. I was very happy when I found this youtube on Wiggles and Squares and its relationship to humans and nature. This video is from 1971.
And here is Part 2 Conversations Alan Watts
And Part 3 Conversations Alan Watts
Then Part 4 Convesations Alan Watts
For more Alan Watts check this out Alan Watts Video
Zen Koan Joshu Washes the Bowl
Singing Bowl
ZEN KOAN
A monk told Joshu: `I have just entered the monastery.
Please teach me.’ Joshu asked: `Have you eaten your rice porridge?’
The monk replied: `I have eaten.’
Joshu said: `Then you had better wash your bowl.’
At that moment the monk was enlightened.
It’s always a terrible feeling when you feel like you’ve beren tricked You go to the market, buy something and three hours later you realize what you bought was rubbish and not only that, the rug salesman also short changed you. It wasn’t a magic carpet after all.
Life and God are pretty much the same, it’s not intentional though, it’s just that you put the pieces together of life’s puzzle and thought it was something but then someone walks along and says “Hey silly, you are holding the thing upside down”
What has happened, and it is the greatest trick ever done to mankind, in fact it’s the Divine Comedy, we have mistakenly elevated some things to the holy level and others to the mundane. If you get this, then suddenly you are looking at the puzle the right way up.
Within the heart of all things is the same pulse, vibration, essence…unfortunately, whether you can cope with it or not it is also in those people who you find incredibly annoying, or even those things that you call evil. And in saying this, I am not saying go and do whatever you like because God is present in all things, so it must be ok. With knowledge comes responsibilty, and without the Dharma, the planet would disappear over night.
Who Do You Pray To?
Buddha
Who do you pray to, is that a silly question? It’s a very interesting thing when you’ve let go of the old Gods which you carried around until they were too heavy to carry anymore. Before I get too far, I must clarify that I am not anti-God, anti Christian or anything like that. I just think it’s important to seperate our projection of what we think God is, from the real God. And I don’t think it’s anyone’s job to tell anyone else who or what God is. This is a very personal thing, and if it is to be real, it must be the individuals experience.
So what happens when you get to the point that the old God has been moved aside because it is now impossible to cling to something which was only a fabrication anyway? People told you what God is and you packed all the ideas together and created a picture in the mind. People find themselves in the situation of creating a new version of God, maybe swapping over to Buddha, the beautiful blue skinned Krishna or may even take on a Guru who claims to be the embodiment of God Himself / Herself. Any guru worth their weight in incense is going to tell you, if you are looking for God, go look in the mirror, don’t follow me. At least they’ll do this at some point of the guru /disciple relationship; if they don’t, I’d be packing my packpack immediately, signing out of the ashram and heading to Ganges or somewhere to cleanse myself of their nonsense. Great teachers like Ramana, will always do that, they are not interested in groupies, they are interested in your well being, which is freedom.
Is this clear, people are praying to a projection of what they think God might be? God, give me money, a new car, a new wife, heal my indigestion, make it rain on my neighbours cleanly washed car, please make my son’s football team win the competition and please God, let me win American idol. It gets a bit silly. So we have another dilemma. What to pray for, do we petition God to fulfil our desires? Oh God give me a gorgeous wife….blah blah blah. So what to ask for?
I guess for me, if I had to write prayer it might sound like:
“Dear God who lives in all that is, and lives in me and also in my worst enemy who smells pretty bad, help me extract the beauty within every moment of my life and help me to see the creation around me as part of the giant garment I am part of, allow me to embrace things totally when they come into my life, and let go of things gracefully when it’s time for them to leave. And please tell that cat next door to stop pooing in my garden, as I know you live in all thngs but I’m not quite ready to deal with that aspect of you”.
Prayer doesn’t need to be stuffy, it can be something that makes you smile and tickles your heart.
The Path of Not Doing and Detachment
Detachment is something that we sometimes have a little difficulty with. It is often associated with objects, and people. This is a very Buddhist approach to things. There are other sides to attachment as you would probably realize and I’d like to explore those in this article. You don’t need to agree with me.
Bodhidharma - Courtesy Black Mountain Zen Center
We live in a world where it’s normal to act and then wait for a response or some type of reaction. That’s the way most of us have been shaped… for every action there is a reaction type of stuff, this is logical; being logical is practical but it does not mean it is always wise. We’ve all seen pictures and sketches of wandering sages and Buddhas in Asia, and read poems about mendicants whose homes are beneath stars out in the open. The image portrayed implies a certain amout of freedom and carefreeness, that feeling is something that most people I have met are envious of, not envy in an obsessive, jealous sort of way, more like ‘wouldn’t it be nice if all my problems disappeared and I didn’t worry about anything, I could just cruise through my day’.
The great Avatar Krishna, the Beloved of Radha and the cowherds, spoke lovingly to Arjuna the great warrior when Arjuna realized he had to go into battle against his relatives. Gopala (Krishna) eased Arjuna’s suffering by telling him not to look for the fruit of his actions, to just follow his dharma, do his duty and all would be taken care of. Arjuna was a great warrior and did not wish to go to kill those he had grown up with and loved. Arjuna had slumped into a state of helplessness prior to this, Krishna’s words were the very healing balm he required.
Although the following idea is contrary to our programming, it is worth considering. Here we go:
Not all actions need to be response based. Does that make sense? We can do things without expecting an outcome. This will sound a little odd to some people; most of us want and expect to get something back from what we do or put out. There is a viewpoint that some of the great Lover’s of God have had, I’ll use these people as examples, although I ‘m not suggesting that they are the only ones who live this way. These Lovers do what ever they do as an offering of service and are not interested in the outcome, they take action because it is their impulse from within to do so and do not turn around to measure how successful the response was. By doing this, there is never any suffering if what they attempted has failed in some way. And if what they did was very successful it also doesn’t matter because it is done in a selfless manner. Everything they do is selfless service to the world around them and they do not expect anything in return. Everything gets done, they are the instrument of their chosen God. They are not taking action and then looking up for some reward from heaven. The act itself is complete. Here’s an example: Imagine a musician playing music, being absorbed in it, he experiences it when it is happening, the applause really means nothing, it’s the ecstacy of abandonment into the music which is the thing of real value. When the music is finished, the musician puts the instrument down and goes about his business.
To live in such a detached manner is very freeing. We do not need to sign up with any God, we may come from the perspective that God itself is at the core of our being, it doesn’t matter so much unless you want it to, God or no God is not important here. This approach of not looking for the results of what we do, makes it easier to get through life’s disappointments. Yes we will still feel the joys and sorrows, but we will be free to move on to the next experience without being slowed down by our supposed self professed failures or hindered by our sometimes over inflated sense of brilliance .
In this is the Path of Not Doing, and in future articles I shall explore this a little more.
By The River – It Dropped In When I Asked It To
Yesterday I was inspired to write an article called I Live By The River – Drop In Some Time. It came about because of a childhood joke, and when I was looking for a title about being inspired by the River I was sitting beside, the title just jumped out at me. And today it responded.
Dozer in the River
The Universe has a way of teasing us, and I know for sure that nature is my greatest teacher; and let’s make this clear, I’m not a nature boy who wears organic hemp clothes and talks to trees and wild animals. Today I went back down to the river, I’d been on the computer too long and I started imagining the sensation of the sun streaming down on me and the benefits of Vitamin A or whatever it is.
I sat by the river, I read a book and then I thought, oh what can I learn from this (Japanese bamboo flute and Zen monks bowing). Out of the corner of my eye I saw something, I tried to get it to make sense and I just looked and looked, yes, no, yes, no , no, no, I can’t make sense of what I was looking at.. In fact I didn’t believe what I was in my view, and I jumped on my bike, headed downstream along the road to get a better look until I was parallel with what I couldn’t believe had happened. I had to ask a man who was parked where I stopped whether I was actually seeing what I was seeing. And he said yes, it’s an excavator, and it had dropped into the river when some workers were building a retaining wall on the river bank.
What struck me was I knew what I was looking at but I had to get it reaffirmed by someone else. What was going on was it was outside the normal parameters of experience and I was constantly trying to adjust what I was seeing into what I would normally see. My mind turned it into a number of other objects which included an in water digger, a slope adjuster and numerous other pieces of machinery which I’ve never seen before or have no idea whether they exist or not, but I invented them.
Here’s what I got out of it. We humans have a view of the world. We are given a description when we are young and we build on it, we name everything and put things into boxes. And every now and then, the weird stuff happens, and yes there are numerous odd things going on continuously which we try to fit into a familiar frame of reference, and then we ask others for clarification of our experience. Many people have experienced the unusual, extra-normal, super- natural or the extra natural things such as UFO’s, visions of God’s , angels, entities from beyond and other assorted things. But because they don’t fit with the world we know, we make adjustments in our thinking and say no, it’s not true, it’s impossible, my mind is playing tricks. And the people around us that are also prepared to stay locked into limited thought help deny our extra normal experiences.
My mind played tricks, it tricked me into thinking that I wasn’t seeing what was really there. And this is the nature of the mind, it sabotages our experiences.
Yesterday I said ‘I live by the river – drop in some time’ and the next day, on queue an excavator drops in. Fantastic stuff.
I Live By the River – Drop in Sometime
River
When we were kids we used to say “I Live By the River, Drop in Sometime”, at that time it was a great joke and we’d repeat it over and over again to different people, it maintained quite a long life and always sounded funny at eleven years old. Little did I know how wise the saying was until today when I sat down to write this article.
I went down to the river this afternoon, I needed to get away, mainly from my thoughts; seeing that the ocean is a 24 minutes and 15 seconds drive away, the six minute walk to the river seemed like the solution. The river near where I live is not so large, well at least the part near me; however at other sections it’s quite fast, wide-ish and strangely enough there are about a dozen or so subsiduaries which go by the same name, it must be annoying to tourists but no one around here really cares. So long as the kids have a spot to jump in, people with dinghies have a place to fish and tourists have something to look at and say ‘hey honey, that is just beautiful”, snap, snap.
So I went to the river, I sat there for a while, my back against a wall and the sun shining on me at an angle. I just stared in and emptied my head. It’s one of those rivers you look at and because the current is so slow at times it’s hard to tell which way it’s flowing. And in this I find incredible wisdom. I kept looking, there was a little ripple here and there and no matter how hard I looked I just couldn’t tell the direction of the flow.
Not knowing which way it was going, got me thinking, ‘Ok, which way is it going, how will I find out?’ I realized after sometime that the only way of knowing would be to step into the river. As it is winter and where I live it is very cold, like 68%F, (ok that’s not cold but it is for me) I decided to just leave myself in a state of unknowing. But … and a big BUT, what I started thinking about is the way that we can have opinions about things and they will only be an opinion until we try it for ourselves, after that it becomes a truth. I began thinking about the Dharma, religion, spirituality, philosophy and the way people have opinions, all sorts of ideas about what God is, what is the Truth, how to get to Nirvana, how to be enlightened. And really, they a just opinions until you dive in the river.
Where I’m heading is the need to try something to see if it works. We can stand by the river forever discussing the ebb and flow but unless we are prepared to get our feet wet and enter the river, we’ll never know. The only way to experience the Truth of something is to try it. People look at different techniques and pathways to expand and say ‘it’s crap’ etc , but they are often just standing on the river bank guessing which way the current is going.
I see a great relationship between the river and God…… ‘I live by the river, drop in sometime’, suddenly became one of the most profound things I ever heard.
God 3.0 Upgrade is Really a Down Grade
WARNING: Grab your God, throw it out the window before it suffocates you
We humans have a habit of upgrading, replacing the car, new hairstyle, new clothes, gadgets, mobiles and bigger house or smaller figure. In a lot of cases we don’t even need to upgrade but we do it anyway because that is part of our programming, and we feel temporarily good from the experience, and if we are lucky, we can ride the update wave for a long time if it appeals to our ego.
God, yep God, we often do it with God as well. We start out with the one we are given by our cultural group or family, maybe add a few bits here and there as we go through our life. In other cases we even get a replacement model. Swap Jesus for Buddha, Bahai for Zen, Hindu to Christian and every possible variation of the multiple faiths and philosophies that are scattered across huminaties mental horizons.
I’d like to put forward an idea, it’s a challenge, it’s very threatening to some people but I know from experience it is beneficial. What I propose is that you don’t upgrade your God but you throw Him, Her or It, out of the window. I know that it is difficult and may even sound ridiculous. Human beings are scared, scared of what might happen if they discard God, they might instantly die and burn in hell, never make it to Nirvana or be lost in some other limbo and never be found. But let me clear one thing up, the Pope abolished limbo a year or so ago so we are pretty cool there. Article on Limbo, NOTE: by the way I’m currently looking for my aunt who was supposedly lost in limbo, has not been seen since 1963.
What happens is we cling to our Gods until a better model comes along, but I don’t think God needs to be upgraded or replaced, I think God needs to be drop kicked out the door for good. Don’t get me wrong, I have not said that God doesn’t exist, quite the opposite view I would take, but I’d never give the game away so early (even though I just did). There is a need for us, if we are going to explore what God is or isn’t, to connect with whatever God is, we need to have a clean slate, to wipe everything away and have no preconceived idea what God is. This takes an incredible amount of honesty and courage. There’s a great similarity with music here, if we have a lot of noise going on, it would be hard to create a beautiful piece of music because all the noise is going to get in the way. And this is the same with that three letter word which leads to incredible disagreements amongst people, “my God is bigger and fatter than yours and yours is ugly”, sort of stuff .
What people worry about is that if they discard God, that they would be untrue to God, that they would suddenly be an atheist or maybe their whole world will collapse. People feel safe when they believe in something because they can pull it out of their pocket and use it when they are in strife.
So I challenge you to throw your second hand God out of the window and start fresh. Explore what God is or isn’t. The people that I have met who have taken this approach and have been wise enough to question open heartedly their programmed belief systems, have all benefited. They have ended up having a greater understanding of the Faith they came from and all the other faiths which are full of wisdom but have the potential to imprison them.
Oh and do yourself a favor, get rid of the devil as well
Select God > Right Click > Delete
I’ve Looked at Clouds From Both Sides Now
Cloud Image Courtesy of The Matter Network
I was watching the movement of clouds, it reminded me of something that I consider an important thing to understand. Often clouds and dreamers go together, but when we look at clouds there is great wisdom in such a simple thing.
The nature of clouds is transience, they move across the endless blue, neither clinging to anything; when we look at them we know they won’t be around too long, they’ll change their shape and gently be on their way. We don’t know where they are going, they just somehow disintegrate or rain on the washing on the clothes line which is almost dry or on the car that has just had a makeover.
There is great similarity between our thoughts and clouds. This comparison can at times help us to move through periods of our life which seem stressful. Stress comes from our thoughts, we lock into something and then let the thought bash us around until our hair almost changes color, or we have endless sleepness nights trying to cope with the information which takes forefront in our consciousness and overrides everything else. Events happen, yes they can be painful and disturbing, but the real disaster starts when the mind grabs hold of the situation and attacks it like a dog with a bone.
So what good are clouds when it comes to our problems? Ok, let’s look at this.
We at our core have an empty mind, this does not mean that it is lifeless, dumb or inactive, it is what some might call the Buddha Mind, an ocean of consciousness which is full of wisdom and an assortment of other untapped potential. The God thing, Buddha or whatever you’d like to name it, is not somewhere else, it is right where we are. Our Empty Mind is like the sky, although we can’t see what’s out there, it is full to the brim of endless possibilities.
What happens is we allow thoughts, which are like clouds, to completely fill the space in our mind. Using the analogy of a cloud, if we try and hold it, we won’t be very successful, we’ll lose every time. The same with thoughts, if we cling to them, it hurts. By observing the thoughts and allowing them to be there for a given amount of time, not trying to chase them away but just watching them, it is possible for them to complete their life cycle. If we cling to the thoughts and constantly try and wrestle with them or chase them away, we’ll fail every time. This is why so many are totally unsuccessful with meditation, they are trying to control the movement of thoughts, instead of letting things pass by naturally.
The world around us is our greatest teacher
My Zen Teacher Wore Long White Socks and Bermuda Shorts
When I was in my teens, almost an incarnation or so ago, I had a preconceived idea about what spiritualty was, what enlightenment might be and worse still, what a teacher of the Dharma / Spirit would probably look like. As the Universe has a knack of mocking the crap out of us, I was fortunate enough at about twenty years old, to be in the path of what ever it is that administers humour on those aspiring to great spiritual heights, those ones that feel that Nirvana is for the elite few and are no doubt the chosen ones with unparalleled wisdom that will make them glow like lime green luminious paint in a blackened room or a bunch of sparklers in the dark at a birthday party. Humility is an odd thing, and when it wants to smack you around the ears to knock a little sense into you, it always finds a very clever way of doing it.
I had read about the Masters of the East, the liberated ones and to expect one to have a nice glowing face, be radiating peace and bliss, and have a very cool dress sense is not too far fetched.
Zen to me was the ultimate in cool, a three letter word starting with a rarely used letter, wise old Japanese dudes playing pranks on students, giving riddles that tied up their brains for months on end, sparkling eyes that held a secret, the very secret we wanted. It was of no great surprise to me when someone entered my life who did not resemble my preconceived idea of a great spiritual teacher, well at least in hindsight (and that’s always a little too late). At first I was in shock, but then when my mind settled, I realized that I had created yet another concept of a false saviour and that very shining one needed to be leap frogged. I had grown up with Jesus, loved Him dearly and as I moved towards the East, I’d picked up a Mystical hero or two and expected them to do for me what I eventually had to do for myself, and that was save myself from my worst enemy, none other than me.
If you dig around the Bhuddist and New Age circles you’ll see there are numerous things that try and pass themselves off as Zen. Serious looking guys with dust whisks, bald headed pious looking people with kimonos, gardens that are so perfect that they would win magazine awards….most of this has very little to do with Zen and more to do with ritual and being monks. Dharma bums with beards and then there are those that play with Koans and turn them into nonsense.
Zen is about transformation ( I’ve just been speared by Basho and co and banished forever for uttering such a thing). There are many koans that point us to leap frog over the mind and its absurd meaningless questioning , here’s one:
No Water No Moon
When the nun Chiyono studied Zen under Bukko of Engaku she was unable to attain the fruits of meditation for a long time.
At last one moonlit night she was carrying water in an old pail bound with bamboo. The bamboo broke and the bottom fell out of the pail, and at that moment Chiyono was set free!
In commemoration, she wrote a poem:
In this way and that I tried to save the old pail
Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break
Until at last the bottom fell out.
No more water in the pail!
No more moon in the water!
Many seekers of truth, those genuine aspirants would spend days pondering the above. It would hurt so much to unriddle this doorway to freedom, one day they’d think they have it and the next there would be doubt, the unravelling of this would persist day and night, loss of sleep, deep hours of meditation. But all the seeking and questioning to resolve it is ultimately futile. The understanding of this is not a mental resolve, it is a complete transformation of self. What we are seeking is outside the framework of thought. There are many responses to a Zen Koan, there is no one single correct answer, the Koan requires us to give of ourselves totally. Once this is done, any answer will be the correct one. No blinding lights, no pool of lotus flowers. The end of the search is the beginning of life.
Your God is Second Hand
When we are young, people give us a description of the world. Until then, it just is, something doing something, unnamed, unlabelled, no specific meaning; just life existing in the same way that a garden goes about its business everyday unperturbed by humanities thoughts.
God ?
Depending on our cultural roots, we are given a God or in some cases none at all, those around us tell us in words and by their actions what God is to them, the meaning of life, how to live according to God’s rules, how to go through the motions every day until we run out of days and maybe we’ll be acceptable to God and hopefully have enough points on the board to achieve a version of eternal life or after life happiness which fits in with the philosophy we were given. As we travel through our days we encounter others that will add to our foundation beliefs and these things become a part of us.
But hold on a minute, what if the original information was wrong? I’m not saying that it is wrong, I’m saying that it may be wrong. The issue with this is we spend our life living with a second hand belief system which has major flaws. There is enough information available today to suggest that there have been changes to the scriptures of many faiths. And not only this, often the interpretations are questionable.
In some faiths we are told we are wretched, we are sinners, women tempted man and all sort of things which completely undervalue the human Spirit. We are born in purity, we always have been and it is a crime against humanity to say that we are anything less than pure Spirit. The belief that we are lesser is at the core of all problems and is what allows us to give away our power to false religions, spiritual teachers, organisations and cults. The issue is all these things place themselves between God ( which is at our core) and our human personailty.
So what would it be like to discard all of our beliefs, would we disintegrate, would we burn in hell, would we be betraying our religious culture which we grew up with? If we look at the great religious teachers both past and present, what we see are prototypes of how to live a beautiful life with minimal suffering and deep seated joy. The great teachers are not here for us to bow to and exalt, all of them have existed to say follow me, don’t worship me; quite simply ‘this worked for me, here is a working model, give it a try’. We can stay in the prison house of false gods forever, give our power away to an illusionary philosophy or we can start on a journey to question every thing we have ever been told.
God needs to be experienced and is not just an idea which is passed on by others that keeps us imprisoned.
The Loving Mind is the Buddha Mind
Each of us has at times experienced the feeling of being lesser than what we really are, some of us live constantly in that state.
Image Courtesy of Buddha Net
Let me explain: When we are born, we are the expression of purity, the Empty Mind uncluttered by opinions of others, unprogrammed, total perfection and indifferent to the floating thoughts that pass through our young minds. As time goes on we process information, take on ideas and we are educated (supposedly) by the world around us and those we encounter; we respond to it and from this we form a sense of who we think we are. What happens to us as time goes on is we start to believe what others tell us, the ads on television, what we see in magazines and we begin to crave things; a big house, more money, more toys, more beauty and a whole gammut of things, in other cases there is a desire to be more Spiritual. From here, we start to feel that if we don’t get the things that we crave that we must be lacking in some way, that we are inperfect, that we are lesser than those that have achieved or obtained those things which we value.
So let’s take a step back here and look at this whole scenario from another perspective. This view point I call looking at our world through the Loving Mind. When we view the world through the Loving Mind, we are much more gentle on ourselves. And what I’m alluding to is not the absence of desire as many of the supposed Guru’s would talk about. I’m confident that to find greater peace within ourselves, there is a need to put into a sensible perspective, the things that we value, to keep them in their place and not let them kick us around mentally. To desire a house, a boat, more money is not unreasonable BUT to feel less if we don’t have those things, or to feel we are more if we do get them, is a serious concern because if we don’t achieve what we want we are always going to feel lesser, and desire has an endless unquenchable thirst. Everything comes and goes, what we value in one moment, we may not even want at another stage of life. What often happens is when we are faced with tragedy, the death of a loved one or when we are standing at the edge staring at our own mortality (and immortality) , things come to the surface and what we value is seen in an instant, we are laid bare and all else seems to lose its shine.
What I think is worth considering is not what we have or don’t have, but how we think about those things. Are we measuring our worth by what we have or are lacking. The little mind is always going to suffer, it will always focus on lack, or on how important we would be if we gain what we wanted…. but desire is endless and there’ll always be one more thing to acquire. The Loving Mind, is not based in lack, it says we are complete, when we gain things, there is gratitude, and when it is time for things to go, we let them go with grace and dignity, there is no clinging.
Where there is no clinging or attachment, there is freedom, there is the Loving Mind, there is Buddha Mind and there lies God.
Gayatri Mantra Youtube Audio Recording
The Gayatri Mantra is an Age old Mantra in Sanskrit which has been handed down through time. It is used for protection and also to keep the wandering mind in check. There are numereous versions, however the original would have been built on three notes.
This version is palatable and powerful. Thankyou to the original posters of this Youtube for making it available.
Wikipedia Gayatri Mantra
Kirpal Singh Youtube – Sound Current
Throughout time there have been a number of great teachers of the Sound Current, the Audible Life Stream. In our time, one such teacher was Kirpal Singh.
This youtube video is a short dedication to the great Master of Shabd.
For information about Kirpal Singh, go to Kirpal Singh there are a number of free downloadable books
Bede Griffiths on Non Dualism and Love
Father Bede Griffiths was an extraordinary human. He based himself in the South of India and although he was from a Christian background he embraced all faiths and did some wonderful work. In this video he talks about an awakening which came about after a near death experience, unconditional love.
To visit the Bede Griffiths Website go to Bede Griffiths Org
