"The greatest warrior keeps his awareness on the point.

What is the point?  Consciousness..."

~ Manorama

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us "the universe," a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest---a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

~ Albert Einstein

"Look how everything in the

subjective and object universe,

rises and falls into the great collapsing OM.

But the real You is beyond these phases

In the cave of the heart,

You remain ever the Bindu...the stable point."

~ Manorama

"It’s not the individual that has consciousness, but consciousness that has assumed innumerable forms (in all beings).

We are that light."

~ Manorama

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Excerpt From "I AM THAT"

The self based on memory is momentary. But such self demands unbroken continuity behind it. You know from experience that there are gaps when your self is forgotten. What brings it back to life? What wakes you up in the morning? There must be some constant factor bridging the gaps in consciousness. If you watch carefully, you will find that even your daily consciousness is in flashes, with gaps intervening all the time. What is in the gaps? What can there be but your real being, that is timeless? Mind and mindlessness are one to it.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

"I AM THAT" - page 333

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point,

there the dance is,

but neither arrest nor movement.

And do not call it fixity,

where past and future are gathered.

Neither movement from nor towards,

neither ascent nor decline.

except for the point,

the still point,

there would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.

And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

The inner freedom from the practical desire,

the release from action and suffering,

release from the inner and the outer compulsion,

yet surrounded by a grace of sense,

a white light still and moving,

Erhebung without motion,

concentration without elimination,

both a new world and the old made explicit,

understood in the completion of its partial ecstasy,

The resolution of its partial horror.

Yet the enchainment of past and future

Woven in the weakness of the changing body,

Protects mankind from heaven and damnation

Which flesh cannot endure.

Time past and time future

Allow but a little consciousness.

To be conscious is not to be in time

But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,

the moment in the arbour where the rain beat,

the moment in the draughty church at smokefall

be remembered; involved with past and future.

Only through time time is conquered.

T.S. Eliot

Excerpt from T.S. Eliots Burnt Norton - The  Four Quartets (II)

Read entire poem here:  http://www.ubriaco.com/fq.html

“No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.”

~ Albert Einstein

The Hidden Force

Remember that the Hidden Power within us pulls the strings; there is the guiding force, there is the life, there, one might say, is the man himself.  Never think of yourself as a mere body with its various appendages; the body is like the ax of a carpenter: dare we think that the ax is the carpenter himself?  Without this Inner Cause, which dictates both action and inaction, the body is of no more use than the weaver’s shuttle without a weaver, the writer’s pen without a writer, or the coachman’s whip without a horse and carriage.

Honor the highest thing in the Universe; it is the power on which all things depend; it is the light by which all of life is guided.  Honor the highest within yourself; for it, too, is the power on which all things depend, and the light by which all life is guided.

Dig within.  Within is the well-spring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.

~ Marcus Aurelius

From: The Inner Treasure

An Introduction to the World’s Sacred and Mystical Writings

By Jonathan Star

“What if enlightenment is the unified field where there is no separation?”

~ Manorama

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Consciousness and the Absolute

Questioner:  This consciousness is like a screen, am I am the screen.

Maharaj:  Understand what I say without concepts; you are adding new concepts.  Now go to zero concepts.  There are many spiritual seekers whose aim is to acquire sufficient merit to reach a certain place, such as Heaven or Vikuntha.  I have no aims except to find out.  I was not aware of my awareness, and suddenly I became conscious that I am.  Where and how did this consciousness arise in me?  That was my inquiry, going back to that state when the presence of phenomena was not there.  That is, original knowledge of the original Self.  So, I went back, tracing this original Self, and I reached a stage where I wanted to know what my state was before this consciousness arose. That is the destination which I have reached.  Brahman, Isvara, God, all these are names given to the consciousness when it is conscious of itself.   If you have properly understood this knowledge, what will be your position at the moment of so-called death?   It will be watching what is happening.  This consciousness gradually loses everything, and ultimately consciousness in no longer conscious of itself.  That state cannot be described.  It is called Parabrahman, the Supreme Absolute, but that is only a name for communication purposes.

This line of enquiry started when I noticed that from the moment one wakes up until one falls asleep, one is very busy doing something or other.  What is it that compels us to do these things?  Because of what does this go on?  Then I came to the conclusion that it is my beingness, the fact that I am conscious of existing, which is working throughout the day.  That was how my enquiry started.

In the body the indwelling principle is the consciousness.  Abiding in the consciousness, it became all manifestation.  Now transcendence of the consciousness has also occurred.  With the appearance of consciousness, the Absolute knows it is, “I Am”.  This is the experience.  There are other experiences now, in this time factor, but experiences are gradually dropping off, including this primary experience “I Am”.  It is only the consciousness that is going to disappear, the Absolute is always there.

What a fall!  The perfect state, caught up in these experiences, and trying to derive certain benefits out of the experiences.

Questioner:  Is it spontaneous?

Maharaj:  Yes.  Whatever experiences were happening in this field of knowingness, the Ultimate principle got caught up in that.  It accepted some experience as itself.  Accepting experiences as the truth, it gets more and more involved.

The Final Talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” pgs 23-25

December 18, 1980

"Eh," Ajahn Chah would peer at me when I was

having a hard time, "caught in some state again?"

In the forest monastery we were constantly being

directed both to look at consciousness itself and

to precisely name the states that rose to fill it

throughout the day: frightened, bored, relaxed,

confused, resentful, calm, frustrated, and so forth.

Ajahn Chah would sometimes ask us out loud about

our states so that we could acknowledge them more

clearly. To a recently divorced monk from Bangkok

he chided, "Is there sadness? Anger? Self-pity?

Hey, these are natural. Look at them all." And to

a confused English monk he laughed, "Can you see

what is happening? There is distraction, confusion,

being in a muddle. They're only mind states, you

know. Come on. Do you believe your mind states?

Are you trapped by them?You'll suffer for sure."

Once we became more skilled at noticing, he would

up the ante. He would deliberately make things

difficult and watch what happened. In the hottest

season, he would send us out barefoot to collect

alms food on a ten-mile round trip, and smile at

us when we came back to see if we were frustrated

or discouraged. He'd have us sit up all night

long for endless teachings, without any break,

and check in on us cheerfully at four in the

morning. When we got annoyed, he'd ask, "Are you

angry?Whose fault is that?"

In popular Western culture we are taught that the

way to achieve happiness is to change our external

environment to fit our wishes. But this strategy

doesn't work. In every life, pleasure and pain,

gain and loss, praise and blame keep showing up,

no matter how hard we struggle to have only pleasure,

gain, and praise. Buddhist psychology offers a

different approach to happiness, teaching that

states of consciousness are far more crucial than

outer circumstances.

~ Jack Kornfield

Excerpt from 'The Wise Heart'

“All items of knowledge, containing images and ideas, are a subtle part of matter.  Knowledge-stuff is illumined by the Principle of Consciousness.  As dust particles shine in light and indicate the path of light although the real nature of light is unknown, so each particle of knowledge-stuff carries its own manifestation and awakening in the light of Consciousness.  Figuratively speaking, it is manifestation of the Principle of Consciousness.”  

~ Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

From: The Textbook of Yoga Psychology ( pg – 37)

Copyright 1997 -  Baba Bhagavandas Publications Trust

“Meditation is refinement of knowledge-stuff and mind stuff.  Revelation and awakening do not apply to Self but to blind and unconscious knowledge-stuff and mind stuff which are the subtlest part of matter.”

~ Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

From: The Textbook of Yoga Psychology ( pg– 38)

Copyright 1997 -  Baba Bhagavandas Publications Trust

"Hidden in all living beings, the Self remains unknown. Seers, however, see it through their subtle and penetrating intelligence."

~ Upanishad

Song of the Soul

I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,

I cannot be heard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight ever

caught:

In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky -

Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air,

No elements have molded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:

I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution -

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;

No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:

Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,

Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:

I am neither food nor eating, nor yet the eater am I -

Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no misgivings of death, no chasms of race divide me,

No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:

I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend -

Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,

I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:

Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound -

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.

~Song of the Soul, by Shankaracharya

"The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me,

apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love."

~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Consciousness of one's body and of objects of the external universe make us know that subject and object are here but that at the same time there is a great part of our existence and of the external universe of which we are not conscious at all."

~ Textbook of Yoga Psychology, Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

‎

"Having realized that I am with, and yet beyond the world, I became free from all desire and fear. I did not reason out that I should be free, I found myself free, unexpectedly, without the least effort. This freedom from desire and fear remained with me since then. Another thing I noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious."

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Eventually everything connects."

~ Charles Eames

“You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor space. You are the witness of those five elements as Consciousness. Understanding this is liberation.” (3)

“If you detach yourself from the identification with the body and remain relaxed in and as Consciousness, you will, this very moment, be happy, at peace, free from bondage.” (4)

Ashtavakra Gita verses 3 & 4

Translation: Balsekar, Ramesh S. (2011-11-02). Duet of One: The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue (p. 16).  . Kindle Edition.

“You” are not the physical organism but Consciousness which works not as someone in charge of the operations of the physical organism but merely as the witness of the operations.  You have wrongly identified yourself as the individual, as the doer of all actions that take place through the physical organism, and thereby unnecessarily assume the responsibility for the actions which take place, and thus assume the bondage from which you are seeking liberation.

Balsekar, Ramesh S. (2011-11-02). Duet of One: The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue (p. 17).  . Kindle Edition.

The state of being disidentified from the body is the state of witnessing (when the individual “me” is not present). And this state of detached witnessing is indeed the state of liberation. This is what the Self-realized guru means when he says that when you remain relaxed in Consciousness (without identification with the body), the state of liberation is sudden and immediate.

Commentary on Verse 4 of the Ashtavakra Gita

Balsekar, Ramesh S. (2011-11-02). Duet of One: The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue (p. 18).  . Kindle Edition.