Friday, January 31, 2025

Questions answered by Hindus



Thich Nhat Hanh

 The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.



The Seth Material channeled by Jane Roberts

 “You must realize that what you are cannot be seen in a mirror. What you see in a mirror is but a dim reflection of your true reality.”



Bashar

 


-Adyashanti

 “Spiritual awakening is a remembering. It is not becoming something that we are not. It is not about transforming ourselves. It is not about changing ourselves. It is a remembering of what we are, as if we’d known it long ago and had simply forgotten.”


The Gate of Forgotten Paths By Breeze




The Upanishads

 


Robert Adams

 


Jiddu Krishnamurti⁠ Meditations 1969⁠

 In the space which thought creates around itself there is no love. This space divides man from man, and in it is all the becoming, the battle of life, the agony and fear. Meditation is the ending of this space, the ending of the me. Then relationship has quite a different meaning, for in that space which is not made by thought, the other does not exist, for you do not exist. Meditation then is not the pursuit of some vision, however sanctified by tradition. Rather it is the endless space where thought cannot enter. To us, the little space made by thought around itself, which is the me, is extremely important, for this is all the mind knows, identifying itself with everything that is in that space. And the fear of not being is born in that space. But in meditation, when this is understood, the mind can enter into a dimension of space where action is inaction. We do not know what love is, for in the space made by thought around itself as the me, love is the conflict of the me and the not-me. This conflict, this torture, is not love. Thought is the very denial of love, and it cannot enter into that space where the me is not. In that space is the benediction which man seeks and cannot find. He seeks it within the frontiers of thought, and thought destroys the ecstasy of this benediction.⁠



Sri Ramana Maharshi

 When there are thoughts,

it is a distraction:

When there are no thoughts,

It is meditation.



The Buddha

 “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”


Rosa Mystica (the Mystic Rose)


ART BY Talon Abraxas


~L. R. Knost

 "Gentleness is not weakness. Just the opposite. Preserving a gentle spirit in a heartless world takes extraordinary courage, determination and resilience. Do not underestimate the power of gentleness because gentleness is strength wrapped in peace, and therein lies the power to change the world."



Thursday, January 30, 2025

Robert Adams

 


mythos.lux.aeterna wrote:

 Monastic communities of yogis have existed in India since the most archaic times and are mentioned often in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. But it was the eighth century philosopher-saint Adi Shankaracharya who founded the first community of militant monks — naked, ash covered ascetics — to defend the Shanatan Dharma, the moral law or natural order of the universe.



Tatvamasi

 

Tatvamasi is a term that is used in Hindu and yoga philosophy usually translated as “I am that” or “Thou art that.” The term comes from the Sanskrit, tat, meaning “that”; tvam, meaning “you”; and asi, meaning “you were.” The interpretation varies among the various yoga and Hindu traditions. Tatvamasi — sometimes spelled tat tvam asi — is one of the Great Utterances or Great Contemplations known as the Mahavakyas, which are found in the ancient Sanskrit texts of the Upanishads.



#maitriupanishad

 There is something beyond our mind which abides in silence. It is the supreme mystery beyond thought. Let one's mind and one's subtle body rest upon that and not rest upon anything else.



Rumi

 


SRI ANANDAMAYI MA

 Words of Ma,

“Your body, which is part of and depending on this illusory world, is, on the other hand, the expression of a hidden inner process. You are yourself the many, appearing in various aspects, forms, and modes. Each one of them exists in fact to fulfill a particular need. Yours is the give and take of the universe, yours the need, and yet you yourself are the fulfillment that hidden inner process is generated by you.



-Sogyal Rinpoche

 Light must come from inside. You cannot ask the darkness to leave; you must turn on the light.



Ribhu Gita (Ch. 7, v.35)

  That Siva must be meditated upon and realised to be the Self by making the restless mind to stay still and alert after it has been adequately restrainted and completely prevented from the pursuit of sense objects, namely, the shadow pictures on the screen of the Self. All shadow pictures removed, what remains is pure Awareness, the spotlessly effulgent screen. Thus, Siva reveals Himself spontaneously as the sole eternal Sat-Chit-Ananda-Self, the very essence of the nature of the worshipper. (Ch. 7, v.35)





Ribhu Gita Ch. 8, v. 1

 The Jivan-Mukta is a person liberated during his life-time who continues to have consciousness of the body and world along with his firm abidance in his Siva-Self. He ever abides in the blissful peace of Sat-Chit- Ananda. He is poised rock firm in the conviction that he is not the body, and that his being is the sole existence, the sole alert-awareness-bliss of Siva-Self Supreme. (Ch. 8, v. 1) 16

 The Jivan-Mukta has his consciousness completely dissolved beyond recognition in his Brahman – Self. Eternally alone in his self, he is ever lost in the enjoyment of the bliss of his Brahman – Self. (Ch. 8, v. 25)



(Shvetashvatara Upanishad, chapter 6

  2. The rule of light (Shvetashvatara Upanishad, chapter 6) It is all very well to say that everything is 'ruled by God' or by some ultimate 'self', but what exactly does that mean? What precisely is this 'God' or 'self', and how does it rule? An answer is very briefly stated in the Isha Upanishad, stanza 8 (the last stanza translated in part 1 above). Here, 'God' or 'self' is described as pure light, unaffected by bodily constraints. From that unbodied light, all objectives are determined. God's rule is, quite simply, the rule of unaffected light. In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, this conception is described a little further. Here, there are many references to 'God': not only as 'Isha' or the 'Lord'; but, more often, as 'deva'. Both Sanskrit words, 'isha' and 'deva', can he translated as 'God'; but their roots are quite different. Where 'Isha' implies 'power' and 'domination', 'deva' implies 'light'.



Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Ashtavakra Gita

 

 The universe is but a thought in Consciousness. In Reality it is nothing. One who sees the true nature of existence and non-existence never ceases to exist. The Self - which is absolute, effortless, timeless, immaculate - is without limits and at no distance from you. You are forever It.



Satpal Singh

 “Anyone who teaches you law of attraction is leading you down a wrong path, because it isn’t higher wisdom. Ultimately, what they are teaching you is the law of attachment, the law of materialism, the law of obsessing over one thing until you get it. First, learn how to manifest peace. Once you learn how to manifest peace, then you won’t need the law of attraction, because you don’t need anything else. The higher wisdom is are you able to manifest within you? Are you able to find a space within you where you no longer need anything else? That is the higher wisdom.”



Gyalwa Godrakpa from the book "Hermit of Go Cliffs: Timeless Instructions of a Tibetan Mystic"

 

Three points ~ Gyalwa Godrakpa Body impermanent like spring mist; Mind insubstantial like empty sky; Thoughts unestablished like breezes in space. Think about these three points over and over.



Eastern Philosopher, Professor Radhakrishnan

 “In his numerous works, especially in The Idealist View of Life and Eastern Religions and Western Thought, the great Eastern Philosopher, Professor Radhakrishnan, advocates the necessity for the revival of the deeply spiritual mystical experience which is the basis of all religions and which is expressed in a pure form in Hinduism. He says: “In spite of all appearances to the contrary, we discernin the present unrest the gradual dawning of a great light, a converging life-endeavour, a growing realisation that there is a secret spirit in which we are all one, and of which humanity is the highest vehicle on earth, and an increasing desire to live out this knowledge and establish a kingdom of spirit on earth.” (Eastern Religions and Western Thought, p. 33). “The different religions have now come together, and if they are not to continue in a state of conflict or competition, they must develop a spirit of comprehension which will break down prejudice and misunderstanding and bind them together as varied expressions of a single truth. Such a spirit characterised the development of Hinduism, which has not been interrupted for nearly fifty centuries.”

― Tirupattur Ramaseshayyer Venkatachala Murti, Central Philosophy of Buddhism: A Study of Madhyamika System



Durante degli Alighieri ( simply called Dante c. 1265–1321)

 “The love of God, unutterable and perfect, flows into the soul the way that light rushes into a transparent object. The more love it finds, the more it gives itself; so that, as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of heaven is. And the more souls who resonate together, the greater the intensity of their love, and, mirror like, each soul reflects the other.”



Tuesday, January 28, 2025

ALAN WATTS

 


(Adi Shankaracharya) Shankara Vivekachudamani; Prahhavananda, 1947, p.131

 

 T eachers and scriptures can stimulate spiritual awareness. But the wise disciple crosses the ocean of ignorance by direct illumination, through the grace of God.Gain experience directly. Realize God for yourself. Know the Self as the one indivisible Being, and become perfect. Free your mind from all distractions and dwell in the consciousness of the Self.
This is the final declaration of the Vedanta: Brahman is all; [It is] this universe and every creature. To be liberated is to live in the continual awareness of Brahman, the undivided Reality.



Osho

 

“Once you have started seeing the beauty of life, ugliness starts disappearing. If you start looking at life with joy, sadness starts disappearing. You cannot have heaven and hell together, you can have only one. It is your choice.”



Peter Matthiessen

 Soon the child’s clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions, and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers.



Sri Chinmoy, Eastern Light For The Western Mind

 ** It is good to be immortal, but it is infinitely better to be divine. Socrates said something quite memorable: “All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are both immortal and divine.”**

If divinity looms large inside immortality, then only can reality be all-embracing, all-sustaining and all-fulfilling.

The outer life is humanity. The inner life is immortality. The life around is reality. The life above is divinity. The life below is obscurity.

When divinity descends into humanity, the soul of humanity becomes hopeful. When divinity descends into immortality, the soul of immortality becomes meaningful. When divinity enters into reality, the soul of reality becomes fruitful. When divinity enters into obscurity, the soul of obscurity becomes prayerful.

God inspires man with His immortal Inspiration. Man realises God with his immortal self-consecration. God meditates on man for his immortal perfection. Man meditates on God for His immortal Manifestation.

To copy others is an act of stupidity. To copy oneself is an act of absurdity. To imitate God is to imitate Immortality. When we imitate God, our life of imagination ends and our life of realisation dawns.

How can we imitate God when we do not know who God is? God is the Man Divine, supremely inspiring there in heaven and supremely sacrificing here on earth.

What is immortality? Immortality is the consciousness divine that eternally grows and endlessly flows. While growing, it reaches God the Transcendental; while flowing, it reaches God the Universal.

The body says, “Life is but pressure.” The vital says, “Life is but pleasure.” The mind says, “Life is the homeland of ideas.” The heart says, “Life is the homeland of ideals.” The soul says, “Life is the homeland of experiences.” God says, “Life is the homeland of immortality.”

Mother Earth symbolises human aspiration. Hence it is a woman in the Upanishads, Maitreyi, who teaches humanity the highest aspiration toward God: “Of what use to me are things that do not make me immortal?”

Let us be inseparably one with Maitreyi and feel that mortality’s binding consciousness is bound to be flooded with the boundless consciousness of Immortality.

Go deep within. Listen to God whisper, “My child, you are good. Therefore I have made you My Infinity’s Heart. My child, you are nice. Therefore I have made you My Eternity’s Breath. My child, you are great. Therefore I have made you My Immortality’s Life.”



The Fasting Path Stephen Harrod Buhner

 Continually trying to look on the bright side interferes with our finding the wisdom that lies in the fruitful darkness. Continually striving upward toward the light means we never grow downward into our own feet, never become firmly rooted on the earth, never explore the darkness within and around us, a darkness without whose existence the light would have no meaning.



Monday, January 27, 2025

Lao Tzu

 Spiritual balance is tai chi. It is the center of things. It is the place where yin and yang meet. In the chakras, it is considered the heart chalkra, anahata.- Frederick Lenz

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu



the Pure Land

 The purpose of rebirth in the Pure Land in the afterlife is not for the self-enjoyment of a blissful state but to become a Buddha and return to the world of suffering to exercise Great Compassion for the enlightenment of all sentient beings.



Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

 


Richard Rohr

 

“The great Mystics tend to recognize that Whoever God is, he or she does not need our protection or perfect understanding. All of our words, dogmas, and rituals are like children playing in a sandbox before infinite Mystery and Wonderment. If anything is true, then it always has been true; and people who sincerely search will touch upon the same truth in every age and culture, while using different language, symbols, and rituals to point us in the same direction. The direction is always toward more love and union–and in ever widening circles.”



Brian Zahnd

 

“I am more and more inclined to listen to the mystics who have encountered the deep mystery that God is love.”





Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

 Give up all working for a future, concentrate totally on the now, be concerned only with your response to every movement of life as it happens.



Rumi

 "There is a soul within the soul. Seek it out. There is a treasure in your mountain. Seek it out. A mystic in motion, if that's what you are, don't seek out there; seek inside."



Hermann Hesse

 “Beauty does not bring happiness

to the one who possesses it, but

to the one who loves and admires it.”



Meister Eckhart

 “When the Soul wants to experience something she throws out an image in front of her and then steps into it.”



Robert Adams

 


Alan Watts

 


Sunday, January 26, 2025

Robert Adams

 

If you want liberation, you have to pay the price. The price is letting go, giving it all up, surrendering. Having perfect faith that all is well. Just realize that everything is in its right place, just the way it is. Don't interpret it. There are no mistakes.





C.G. Jung

 “I find that all my thoughts circle around God like the planets around the sun, and are as irresistibly attracted by Him. I would feel it to be the grossest sin if I were to oppose any resistance to this force.”





Papaji

 


Thich Nhat Hanh

 


Love BY unknown

 The person you love is not the same as they were when you first started loving them and they are not the same as they will be when you die. Love must be adaptive. Love must be smart enough and strong enough to survive constant change. Love must not be rigid.



Hermann Hesse, Siddartha

 

“...for you know that soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than force."