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And there was some point as a professor at Stanford and Harvard when I experienced being caught in some kind of a meaningless game in which the students were exquisite at playing the role of students and the faculty were exquisite at playing the role of faculty. I would get up and say what I had read in books and they’d all write it down and give it back as answers on exams but nothing was happening.
Then the next type of experience that people would frequently report was an interpersonal shift of figure and ground, where they would look at another person and see the way in which the other person was similar, rather than different from themselves. And it was as if the whole western mind-training of individual differences had been made background instead of figure, so that you’d look at another human being and say, “Here we are.” You’d see differences more as clothing, rather than as core stuff. This was a profound perceptual experience for many people.
“Did I ever tell you about the time that Tim and I . . .” And he’d say, “Don’t think about the past. Just be here now.” Silence. And I’d say, “How long do you think we’re going to be on this trip?” And he’d say, “Don’t think about the future. Just be here now.” I’d say, “You know, I really feel crumby, my hips are hurting . . .” “Emotions are like waves. Watch them disappear in the distance on the vast calm ocean.”
And suddenly I realized that he knew everything that was going on in my head, all the time, and that he still loved me. Because who we are is behind all that.
“If a pickpocket meets a saint, he sees only his pockets.”
Surrender What are you giving up?—a hollow little trip that’s good for another 40 years at best. youre giving it up for: Eternal Union with Pure Energy & Pure Light Because: surrender means You no longer die It’s as simple as that that’s what it means. Because: You that lives and dies is you ego And fear of death only comes through the brittleness of the ego Total total Surrender surrender There’s no more you, no more life and death Yeah I’m going to die wow! dig that! I’m going to live wow! dig that! garbage wow! New blossoms on the tree wow! Patterns of energy
And you realize that every moment you are a full statement of your being, and you’re sending out vibrations that are affecting everything around you, which in turn is affecting everything that comes back.
And the fact of the matter is: As you go out on the astral plane you see more & more & the final thing you see in the world of form before you go into the formless & into total unity you see the world of Yin & Yang And the world of Yin & Yang is another astral plane & it’s one of the highest planes in the world of form but it’s still duality It is still polarization There is God there is man there is good there is evil Yes no Pleasure pain loss gain The world most everybody is living in most of the time Page 30 The only way out of that is to take the poles of every set of opposites and see the
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The first one concerns the fact that life always has in it the element of unfulfillment: call it suffering Birth Old Age Sickness not getting what You want getting what you don’t want even Getting what you want in this physical world Is going to be suffering because: You’re going to lose it! It’s always in time ! Anything that is in time is going to pass away.
Anything in time it’s going to pass because Time passes
You meet another person & there are qualities in that personality which of- fend you & there are qualities which attract you— some qualities seduce you — some qualities repel you — some qu- alities sexually excite you — some qual- ities revolt you — some qualities interest you— some qualities fascinate you— some qualities bore you. It’s only when you can see through all that veil . . . through all your own desires. . . . . . Beyond sita walking in the path that you can see beyond all that To where the other being is you will do that when you’ve gone inside to see where you are — beyond the
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THE WAY BHAKTI WORKS You Just Love UNTIL You and the Beloved become One
Can I assume the probabilities are he only tunes in every time I have a positive thought? And then I come before him and now I’m freaked because I know he knows it all; and I walk in, and he looks at me with total Love And I think: How can he do it? This guy must be nuts! He’s loving this corrupt . . . why isn’t he . . . ? You see the predicament I was in? And then! What I understood was: He was loving that in me which was behind my personality and behind my body. Not: “I really love ram dass” It wasn’t interpersonal love It wasn’t possessive love It wasn’t needful love It was the fact that He
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how can you relate to something which is already you & everything you’ve ever related to or could relate to . . . .. . .
Return to the Roots You live out your karma. The best I can tell you about karma is: If you are Pure spirit You are not matter!. . . . . .you are that Eternal Spirit. . . Well: If each of us is that very old being . . And not this young body, or this body that is going through this life. . . Why don’t we Remember? Why don’t we remember it all?? Why can’t we read the entire Akashic Record?? • Because of our attachments to the physical plane of reality. . . • Because of the power of our identification with our own body-senses and thoughts.
“He who clings to the void and neglects compassion does not reach the highest stage. But he who practices only compassion does not gain release from the toils of existence. He however who is strong in the practice of both remains neither in Samsara nor in Nirvana. He neither remains in the void nor in the world.”
The final place that the game leads to is: Where you live consciously in all of it which is in nothing you are eternal you have finished perishing there is no fear of death because there is no death it’s just a transformation an illusion and yet, seeing all that, you still chop wood and carry water. You still do your thing. You flow in harmony with the universe. You are beyond morality and yet your actions are totally moral because that’s the harmony of the universe. You see that to do anything with attachment. With desire . . . with anger..greed..lust . . . fear.. is only creating more karma,
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Closing your left nostril, breathe three deep breaths out of your right nostril. Visualize the air being ejected as dark red and consider it to be all of your bodily diseases and attachments. 2. Close your right nostril. Now breathe out three deep breaths through your left nostril. Visualize the air being ejected as a blue-grey and consider it to be all your mental obstacles and anger. 3. Now breathe out three deep breaths through your mouth. Visualize this air as purple and consider it as the sloth that impedes your progress . . . the inertia . . . breathe it out. 4. Now visualize that from
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The Four Bodhisattva Vows (say three times) 1. I resolve to become enlightened for the sake of all living beings. 2. I will cut the roots of all delusive passions. 3. I will penetrate the farthest gate of Dharma. 4. I will realize the supreme way of Buddha.
As long as any desire pulls or pushes you, you are like a flame which flickers in the winds. But as you come to your center, as you break the identification with desire, you become calm, like a candle in a niche where no wind comes.
“Everywhere I look I see only my own desires.”—Hari
Desires blind us to the objective reality
Daily renewed sense yearnings sap your inner peace;
BLBL
“To reconnect consciousness with the unconscious, to make consciousness symbolical is to reconnect words with silence; to let the silence in. If consciousness is all words and no silence, the unconscious remains unconscious.”—N.O.
‘Good speech is silver, but silence is pure gold.’
BLBL
Meditate for a few minutes before lying down to go to sleep.
Clear your mind. If you work with mantra, it is good to repeat your mantra and let all else fall away.
the mind dissolves into the Infinite.’
BLBL
The major obstacle at every stage of the path of enlightenment is our own thoughts. Thoughts keep us separate. Even the thought of Unity is far different from Unity. And the thoughts keep coming; each one making its bid for our attention and identification. Are all thoughts part of the illusion? Yes. Are some thoughts better than others? Just diving into the water is aided by a spring board, and crossing the great ocean is aided by a raft, so certain thoughts are useful along the way. At the final moment, of course, even these thoughts must be transcended.
What are the steps of the process of calming the mind? Think of a lake in whose depths lies hidden what you seek. You try to see down into the lake, but you can’t because the surface is covered with waves going in all directions . . . choppy water . . . thoughts coming from all directions . . . from your senses, from your memory . . . habits of thought learned unconsciously, running off mechanically . . . the causes of which are too subtle for your analytic mind to grasp.
mind? Think of a lake in whose depths lies hidden what you seek. You try to see down into the lake, but you can’t because the surface is covered with waves going in all directions . . . choppy water . . . thoughts coming from all dire...
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Now, create an artificial wave . . . consciously add a new component . . . choose a single thought . . . and consciously set about making that thought dominant . . . so that a continuous sequence of even waves all coming from one direction overrides all the choppy water, as an ocean wave absorbs all the eddying waters at the shoreline. Now each wave is that same thought over and over again . . . no other thought can capture your attention which remains fixed upon the single thought.
To break your identification with your own thoughts is to achieve inner freedom.
You can make up other mantras for other daily acts to bring to consciousness your center so that you break the identification with an ego who is performing the act.
The story of the Ramayana tells of the life of Ram. He is pictured as the perfect son, husband, brother, father, king—that is, a perfect karma yogi. He represents living daily life as an act of worship.
He is a beautiful dark being of great light, love and compassion, wisdom and power—in perfect harmony. Ram is the essence of who you are when you realize your true Self (the Atman). (2) Consider Ram as a Spiritual Being. He is another statement of Eternal Perfection reflected in the form of a human being. He is pure light, love, energy, compassion, wisdom, power. Like the sun, he emits light and warmth and life force. He is as Real at this moment as you have faith to allow him to be.
Get in the habit of coming out of sleep into mantra. (9) Get in the habit of having every strong emotion—positive or negative—serve as a reminder to bring you back to your mantra.
Solids are pran in a grosser form; light, in a finer form. The finest form of pran, the tiniest quantum of energy, is the Universe . . . the highest plane of form (as opposed to formless), from which all other planes are derived, is the Clear White Light: a homogeneous light field which includes everything. Every quantum of energy is interchangeable with every other one, and there is continuous change: continuous transformation of energy from one form to another. Thus everything in the universe is interrelated.
At the level at which there is only pure pran, a number of labels are interchangeable. This plane could also be called pure light or pure consciousness as well as pure pran. The implications of this are far reaching. For it means that the universe is consciousness. It follows that when you have succeeded in fully breaking the identification with your body, senses, and thoughts, then you merge into pure consciousness—Universal Consciousness. What you thought was “your” consciousness turns out to be only a part of a Consciousness caught in the illusion of separateness.
Until the final state of Sat Chit Ananda, an individual keeps his separate identity. And this separate “being” is a conduit through which energy passes. This separate entity is able to receive pran at a vibration similar to the plane at which there is still attachment. Thus, if you are attached to your body, you receive pran in the grossest form, that is, through food, water, and air. Some of this pran is expended in gross muscle activity and reproduction, while another part of the pran is transformed into a finer form which is usable as thought, feelings, or, in the highest form, as the
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All of your habits of reaction are based on your usual input of energy. As you feed in more energy, it is like feeding in a 220 current into a home that is wired for 110. Unless the electrical fixtures in the home are suitably adapted, you will burn out all the appliances. You might try to “carry on business as usual” . . . only with greater intensity and duration . . . physical activity, sexual activity, talking, etc. . . . but you soon find that these channels are not adequate.
