Gregory of Nyssa

"That we may merge into the deep and dazzling darkness, vanish into it, dissolve in it forever in an unbelievable bliss beyond imagination, for absolute nothingness represents absolute bliss."

Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Use your mind. Remember. Observe. You are not different from others. Most of their experiences are valid for you too. Think clearly and deeply, go into the structure of your desires and their ramifications. They are a most important part of your mental and emotional make-up and powerfully affect your actions. Remember, you cannot abandon what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself."

Jac O'Keeffe

"Do not decide that stillness or an experience of peace is enough. There is no experience that can give you anything other than experience. Reject all such tricks that the mind presents. In sinking into that which is prior and beyond all thoughts, all states of mind, all experiences, resting in the beingness that sees but cannot be seen, it is revealed that beyond the shadow of a doubt mind itself does not exist. Mind is only a concept."

Amir Mourad

"Whatever dividing lines you may find - they are all shadows of the intellect. The most fundamental blind spot in human consciousness is the failure to recognize that all of your ideas about reality are none other than projections of your own mind. And this too - is another shadow of the intellect - but as long as we are communicating through language, we have to be dragged into this ridiculous business. Drop your attachments in being for or against and discover what is left."

Namkai Norbu, p. 68 The Crystal and the Way of Light

  This is the open secret, which all can discover for themselves. We live our lives, as it were "inside out," projecting the existence of an "I" as separate from an external world which we try to manipulate to gain satisfaction. But as long as one remains in the dualistic state, one's experience has always underlying it a sense of loss, of fear, of anxiety, and dissatisfaction. When, on the other hand, one goes beyond the dualistic level, anything is possible.

By Michael James

This exhortation that Christ makes to us not to look here or there but to see that the kingdom of God is within ourself, is the essence of the spiritual practice taught by Sri Ramana and all other true sages. We should give up attending to anything outside ourself, and should instead turn our attention inwards to see the reality that exists within us.

We see the reality that exists within us. The kingdom of God is not a place but a state – our natural state of pure self-conscious being. When we see it within ourself by turning our attention towards the innermost core of our being, we enter into it and become one with it. This is the state of being born again as the spirit – the state of mystical union with God that all Christian contemplatives seek to attain.

In this state called the ‘kingdom of God’, the pure consciousness ‘I am’, which is the spirit or true form of God, exists and shines alone in all the splendour and glory of its undivided oneness and unlimited wholeness. The teachings of Sri Ramana thus throw a fresh light upon the spiritual teachings contained in the Bible. In the same manner, they also throw fresh light upon the spiritual teachings of all other religions

Ulladhu Narpadhu’, benedictory verse 1 Sri Ramana

“...Since the Reality (‘I’) exists within, beyond thought, who can and how to meditate upon that Reality, which is called the Heart? To abide in the Heart as It is (that is, without thought) is truly meditating (upon It) I Thus should you know."

All quotes are by Thomas Merton

 

In a world of noise, confusion and conflict it is necessary that there be places of silence, inner discipline and peace. In such places love can blossom.

In Silence God ceases to be an object and becomes an experience.

Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn't already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.

Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant Source.

Bhagavad Gita, chapter four, verses 1 to 3.)

 

“Reason does not contradict, but fulfils. No Sage has ever come to contradict”. Jesus Christ meant the very same thing when He said, “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Sermon on the Mount)

Atmavidya Kirtanam', verse 2

"The thought ‘I am this body of flesh and blood’ is the one thread on which are strung the various other thoughts. Therefore if we turn inwards, ‘Where is this I?', all thoughts [including the ‘I'- thought] will come to an end and Self-knowledge will then spontaneously shine forth within the cave (the heart) as ‘I-I'