Where are you between two thoughts

The Teaching of Shri Atmananda Krishna Menon
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HOW TO RECONCILE THE SPIRITUAL AND WORLDLY ASPECTS OF ONE’S LIFE?
Atmananda Krishna Menon


The world is examined and proved to be non-existent, through your own experiences:
1. By comparing impartially the dream  and waking state experiences, and finding
them to be exactly similar.

2. By proving that the objective world has no existence, independently of the subject
‘I’ or Consciousness.

You understand this fact, and accept it completely and unreservedly. Think about it
more intensely, until it descends into your heart, becoming experience itself. Then
you become what you mean by ‘jivan-mukta’, and all your problems automatically
cease.

To an ordinary man, life  constitutes actions, perceptions, thoughts and feelings –
one of these alone being experienced at  any given time. In other words, you stand
detached from all activities, excepting the one in which you seem engaged at the
given time.

To this list of four categories (actions, perceptions, thoughts and feelings), the
spiritual man adds just one more, which  indeed is the most important one: ‘Consciousness’. This last one is doubly important; because, over and above its importance
as a separate entity, it shines in and through the four categories already mentioned.
You are simply asked to direct to the consciousness aspect the attention legitimately
due to it. This is all.

When you are engaged in thought, you are  not engaged in action, perception or
feeling. When engaged in action, you are not engaged in thought, feeling or perception. So also, when you are engaged in knowing, you cannot be engaged in any other
kind of activity.

The presence and recognition of subjective Consciousness, your real centre, is the
one thing needed to make your life possible and connected. Make it so, by knowing
that knowing principle to be your real centre. You never go outside it, and you can
never leave it, even if you will. This does not deny or negate your worldly life, as is
ordinarily supposed, but makes it richer, firmer, truer and more successful.
To have deep peace and not to be disturbed from it, even for a moment, is the ardent desire of everyone. For this, you have necessarily to be at a centre which does

not change. That is the real ‘I’-principle or Consciousness. To be it and to establish
oneself there is the end and aim of life. This alone makes real life possible.
30 th  December 1950

 HOW CAN AN ORDINARY MAN ATTAIN RENUNCIATION? (29)
When you are engaged in any action, thought or other activity, all the world except
for that one activity is dead, so far as you are concerned. This can really be called
vairagya or detachment. Therefore, you are  always in perfect dispassion, and that
again in the most natural and effortless manner. Notes_Spiritual_Discourses.pdf


Stages of Realization

The direct path mentions three stages along the path of realization. At each stage, the interest is placed on something more subtle, and what was seen as real and inherent to a lower stage is seen as nothing but the play of a higher stage.

• At Stage 1, everything seems like it exists independently, and consciousness seems as though it comes from the head and flows out through the senses into the objective world.

• At Stage 2, the activities (AKA superimpositions) of Stage 1 are seen to be appearances in impersonal, non-localized consciousness, which reveals them in the light of awareness.

• At Stage 3, even the subtle superimposition of “revealing” or“illuminating” falls away, and consciousness shines in its own glory.

This is a capsule summary of how the direct path examines the world to see that it is nothing other than the self.

From the Witness to Pure Consciousness

 When the witness is very stable, it begins to open or dissolve into global,loving lightness of pure consciousness, which is without any gaps orseparation anywhere. This happens through time, or when one looks intothe witness the same way that one looked into objects at the beginning of the investigation.The witness has become stable when:

• Witnessing doesn’t seem like a mental state
• Witnessing doesn’t seem as though it needs practice or vigilanc
• Witnessing doesn’t seem as though it’s reversible or able to be "lost"
• Witnessing no longer seems like it is happening “here” as opposed to"there"
• It no longer feels as though there are objects that exist outside of awareness
• You no longer wonder whether awareness should allows one personto see all of another person’s thoughts
• The witness no longer seems personal
• There no longer seem to be unseen arisings

At this point, there is no presumption of a person. There is no separate“one” that arisings appear to. There is no felt authorship, doership orreceivership. There is no personalization or experience of separation.Experience is sweet, open and loving – the source of the arisings is awareness and love, and the arisings themselves are sweet because their source is sweet. Even pain is open, loving and sweet. Its nature is not pain, but awareness. One can no longer "be" a person (indeed, one never was a person . One has recognized one’s self as awareness.But there is still a very subtle dualistic structure to the witness. Sweet, but dualistic nevertheless. The dualistic structure consists of:

• A subject/object distinction, i.e., a distinction between awareness and the arisings in awareness
• A multiplicity, a distinction between arisings themselves

Both of these distinctions go together; they need each other. And inquiry into the either one of them will dissolve them both.The investigation at this level is very subtle, but the basic insight is the same as it is everywhere. There is no experience of objects outside of awareness. There is no phenomenon that organizes or structures awareness; if there were such a phenomenon, then it would be just the same as any other phenomenon has been discovered to be: just another arising in awareness. This was what was realized with color, sound, the body, seeing and hearing, memory, will, intention and causality

Greg-Goode-Teachings-of-Sri-Atmananda-and-the-Direct-Path

The Buddha's instruction for Bahiya

Bāhiya, saw the Blessed One going for alms in Sāvatthī — serene & inspiring serene confidence, calming, his senses at peace, his mind at peace, having attained the utmost tranquility & poise, tamed, guarded, his senses restrained, a Great One (nāga). Seeing him, he approached the Blessed One and, on reaching him, threw himself down, with his head at the Blessed One's feet, and said, "Teach me the Dhamma, O Blessed One! Teach me the Dhamma, O One-Well-Gone, that will be for my long-term welfare & bliss."

When this was said, the Blessed One said to him, "This is not the time, Bāhiya. We have entered the town for alms."

A second time, Bāhiya said to the Blessed One, "But it is hard to know for sure what dangers there may be for the Blessed One's life, or what dangers there may be for mine. Teach me the Dhamma, O Blessed One! Teach me the Dhamma, O One-Well-Gone, that will be for my long-term welfare & bliss."

A second time, the Blessed One said to him, "This is not the time, Bāhiya. We have entered the town for alms."

A third time, Bāhiya said to the Blessed One, "But it is hard to know for sure what dangers there may be for the Blessed One's life, or what dangers there may be for mine. Teach me the Dhamma, O Blessed One! Teach me the Dhamma, O One-Well-Gone, that will be for my long-term welfare & bliss."

"Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress."[2]

1 - In reference to the seen, there will be only seen.

1 - There is no self seeing. Just images

2 - In reference to the heard, only the heard.

2 - There is no self hearing. Just sounds

3 - In reference to sensations, only the sensed.

3 - There is no self sensing. Just sensations.

4 - In reference to cognition, only the cognition.

4 - There is no self observing/percepting. Just observation

There is thinking, no thinker

There is hearing, no hearer

There is seeing, no seer

In thinking, just thoughts

In hearing, just sounds

In seeing, just forms, shapes and colors.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.1.10.than.html

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7658#p121417

http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-anatta-emptiness-and-spontaneous.html

Concentration - Swami Vivekananda

2. Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrittis).

A good deal of explanation is necessary here. We have to understand what Chitta is, and what the Vrittis are. I have eyes. Eyes do not see. Take away the brain centre which is in the head, the eyes will still be there, the retinae complete, as also the pictures of objects on them and yet the eyes will not see. So the eyes are only a secondary instrument, not the organ of vision. The organ of vision is in a nerve centre of the brain. The two eyes will not be sufficient. Sometimes a man is asleep with his eyes open. The light is there and the picture is there, but a third thing is necessary — the mind must be joined to the organ. The eye is the external instrument; we need also the brain centre and the agency of the mind. Carriages roll down a street, and you do not hear them. Why? Because your mind has not attached itself to the organ of hearing. First, there is the instrument, then there is the organ, and third, the mind attached to these two. The mind takes the impression farther in, and presents it to the determinative faculty — Buddhi — which reacts. Along with this reaction flashes the idea of egoism. Then this mixture of action and reaction is presented to the Purusha, the real Soul, who perceives an object in this mixture. The organs (Indriyas), together with the mind (Manas), the determinative faculty (Buddhi), and egoism (Ahamkāra), form the group called the Antahkarana (the internal instrument). They are but various processes in the mind-stuff, called Chitta.

The waves of thought in the Chitta are called Vrittis (literally "whirlpool"). What is thought? Thought is a force, as is gravitation or repulsion. From the infinite storehouse of force in nature, the instrument called Chitta takes hold of some, absorbs it and sends it out as thought. Force is supplied to us through food, and out of that food the body obtains the power of motion etc. Others, the finer forces, it throws out in what we call thought. So we see that the mind is not intelligent; yet it appears to be intelligent. Why? Because the intelligent soul is behind it. You are the only sentient being; mind is only the instrument through which you catch the external world. Take this book; as a book it does not exist outside, what exists outside is unknown and unknowable. The unknowable furnishes the suggestion that gives a blow to the mind, and the mind gives out the reaction in the form of a book, in the same manner as when a stone is thrown into the water, the water is thrown against it in the form of waves. The real universe is the occasion of the reaction of the mind. A book form, or an elephant form, or a man form, is not outside; all that we know is our mental reaction from the outer suggestion. "Matter is the permanent possibility of sensations," said John Stuart Mill. It is only the suggestion that is outside.

Take an oyster for example. You know how pearls are made. A parasite gets inside the shell and causes irritation, and the oyster throws a sort of enamelling round it, and this makes the pearl. The universe of experience is our own enamel, so to say, and the real universe is the parasite serving as nucleus. The ordinary man will never understand it, because when he tries to do so, he throws out an enamel, and sees only his own enamel. 

Now we understand what is meant by these Vrittis. The real man is behind the mind; the mind is the instrument in his hands; it is his intelligence that is percolating through the mind. It is only when you stand behind the mind that it becomes intelligent. When man gives it up, it falls to pieces and is nothing. Thus you understand what is meant by Chitta. It is the mind-stuff, and Vrittis are the waves and ripples rising in it when external causes impinge on it. These Vrittis are our universe.

The bottom of a lake we cannot see, because its surface is covered with ripples. It is only possible for us to catch a glimpse of the bottom, when the ripples have subsided, and the water is calm. If the water is muddy or is agitated all the time, the bottom will not be seen. If it is clear, and there are no waves, we shall see the bottom. The bottom of the lake is our own true Self; the lake is the Chitta and the waves the Vrittis.

Again, the mind is in three states, one of which is darkness, called Tamas, found in brutes and idiots; it only acts to injure. No other idea comes into that state of mind. Then there is the active state of mind, Rajas, whose chief motives are power and enjoyment. "I will be powerful and rule others." Then there is the state called Sattva, serenity, calmness, in which the waves cease, and the water of the mind-lake becomes clear. It is not inactive, but rather intensely active. It is the greatest manifestation of power to be calm. It is easy to be active. Let the reins go, and the horses will run away with you. Anyone can do that, but he who can stop the plunging horses is the strong man. Which requires the greater strength, letting go or restraining? The calm man is not the man who is dull. You must not mistake Sattva for dullness or laziness. The calm man is the one who has control over the mind waves. Activity is the manifestation of inferior strength, calmness, of the superior.

The Chitta is always trying to get back to its natural pure state, but the organs draw it out. To restrain it, to check this outward tendency, and to start it on the return journey to the essence of intelligence is the first step in Yoga, because only in this way can the Chitta get into its proper course.

Although the Chitta is in every animal, from the lowest to the highest, it is only in the human form that we find it as the intellect. Until the mind-stuff can take the form of intellect it is not possible for it to return through all these steps, and liberate the soul. Immediate salvation is impossible for the cow or the dog, although they have mind, because their Chitta cannot as yet take that form which we call intellect.

The Chitta manifests itself in the following forms — scattering, darkening, gathering, one-pointed, and concentrated. The scattering form is activity. Its tendency is to manifest in the form of pleasure or of pain. The darkening form is dullness which tends to injury. The commentator says, the third form is natural to the Devas, the angels, and the first and second to the demons. The gathering form is when it struggles to centre itself. The one-pointed form is when it tries to concentrate, and the concentrated form is what brings us to Samādhi.

The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda

RajaYoga - vivekananda

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/12759444/1575024733/name/Patanjali-Yoga-Sutra-Swami-Vivekananda.pdf

Three methods for Instant Enlightenment

Ashtavakra Gita (known also as Ashtavakra Samhita) is a unique treatise on the Non-dualistic (Advaita) philosophy which guarantees to transport a seeker instantaneously by a direct path from time to eternity, from the relative to the Absolute and from bondage to liberation (MUKTI). There is no pre-requisite, no rituals no control of breath (Pranayama) or thoughts, no Japa or chanting of sacred syllables and not even any meditation or contemplation. It is all an effortless quantum flight to the ultimate goal (MOKSHA).

Scriptures prohibit voluntary instructions or any information or advice unless specifically requested for. The first chapter starts with Janaka questioning Ashtavakra as to how to get Self-knowledge, liberation (Mukti) and dispassion (Vairagya). By liberation is meant the dissolution of our relationship with the phenomenal world resulting in the cessation of all miseries and being established in our natural state of Existence, Consciousness and Absolute Bliss (Satchidananda). Ashtavakra gives such a forceful and direct instruction in barely twenty stanzas that King Janaka immediately becomes spiritually illuminated and starts describing his own experience.

According to Ashtavakra, one could get instant liberation and bliss if only one were to separate oneself from the body and remain effortlessly resting in pure Consciousness.

A basic conviction or knowledge that I am not the body but the pure consciousness is an essential sine qua non in most of the spiritual paths including "Self Enquiry' as propounded by Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. Lord Krishna also starts his sermon in the Bhagavad Gita more or less in the same strain explaining how the body is different from the Self, the former being subject to birth and death while the Self remains eternal and immortal. The very first step on this path is to understand clearly that the Self is all consciousness, always liberated, an uninvolved witness of all events and happenings, all pervasive and perfect like a "Super Conductor' and it has nothing to do with the body at all.2 It is only due to an inexplicable delusion that the world is superimposed on it and it looks as if it is bound and subject to all miseries including that of birth and death. One should abandon the idea of identification with this body-mindcomplex and remain as a sheer witness to all events and goings-on, divorcing oneself from the mental imaginations of joy and sorrow and without judging them as good or bad, right or wrong, pleasant or unpleasant etc. It will be a choiceless perception.

The relationship between the body and the Self is as between an electric bulb and electricity. Electricity is different from the bulb and both have opposite characteristics. The bulb has a date of manufacture and may fuse or get broken one day while the electric energy is neither born nor can be destroyed. As the main attachment to the body is due to the attraction of the senses to various worldly objects, Ashtavakra exhorts Janaka to avoid all objects of senses as if they are deadly poison. (1-2) The second process after separating oneself is to rest in Consciousness. Consciousness is the capacity to know that "I am' or "I Exist'. This knowledge of "I am' is a direct knowledge which comes to us directly without passing through the medium of our senses like the eye, ear etc. It is an intuitive knowledge while the knowledge of the presence of other objects and persons in the world is a conditioned knowledge filtered and modified through the senses, mind and memory. The senses are unreliable instruments as proved by the sighting of a mirage in a desert. The fact that "I AM' is an incontrovertible direct Knowledge which requires no other proof. Remaining quietly in that ""am-ness'' or ""is-ness'', remaining as pure existence without any further qualification, is remaining in pure Consciouness ({M{V {dlmå` {Vð{g). Do not entertain any projected ideas that I am a woman, I am seventy years old, I am an Engineer, I am a father, I am an Englishman etc. Remain as "I AM' and do not repeat in the mind like a Mantra "I AM'. Simply "BE'.

Nisarga Datt Maharaj of ""I AM THAT'' fame has claimed that he got his enlightenment in less than three years through the only sadhana of remaining in "I AM'. Ashtavakra claims that enlightenment can be instantaneous (AYwZ¡d). This is the quantum flight from body consciousness to the eternal Existence. There are no processes, stages, auxiliary means or anything else involved. One should be careful not to meditate or think as "I AM' but to simply remain in that fact of one's Existence. One should not also associate himself with any extensions of existence, for instance "I am a Brahmin, I am a monk' etc.3 A newly born child, say an hour old, has no vocabulary or knowledge of the external world. Its only instinctive understanding in which it rests will be ""Ah, I am''. Be like that child. A new born child having no vocabulary cannot think. It is only aware that it is alive ("IT IS'). It just remains in that feeling of "I AM' and is happy. In the same way one should not have any thought including "I AM', but remain in that awareness of "AM-NESS' (Being). All miseries, stress, anxiety, tension etc., stem from our identification with the body. Delinking oneself from the body-sense and remaining in pure existence is a relaxed, peaceful and an effortless state. If we start remaining in such a state even for 3 to 4 hours a day, we shall certainly have self-realisation.

The second explosive Moksha-capsule which is far more potent than the previous one is ""You just remain in the conviction that you are liberated and free and you will be liberated. On the contrary if you consider yourself as a bound and limited being, you will continue to be bound.'' It is as simple as that. ""As you think, so you become.'' You have been conditioned and hypnotised into thinking that you are the body subject to various limitations including that of birth, death, old age and bodily afflictions. The process of de-hypnotising lies in considering oneself as consciousness and thus remain ever-liberated. This is logical and scientific. It is not enough to have an intellectual conviction that ""I am the ATMAN and ever liberated.'' The conviction should come from inside, from the entire being, with every cell in the body being, permeated with the knowledge ""I AM EVER LIBERATED.''

It is not a question of externally affirming that I am liberated but continuing to be involved in the world, choosing the pleasant and favourable and rejecting the unpleasant, favouring some and hating some others etc. We have to behave in actual life as the liberated self, free, unconcerned and uninvolved, choiceless and desireless. Those, who dare not go all the way, may try it even for half a day once a month or so. When you try to remain in that state, you will be bereft of all result-oriented actions, still, calm and subject to no reaction even if the heavens were to fall. You will not react to any news, good or bad, will not advise or instruct any body in connection with any worldly affairs, nor attend to or make any telephone calls however emergent they may be and will not keep a cell-phone by your side. You will not bother even if the President or Prime Minister of a country were to visit you.

Even if we may not rank with Janaka, by repeatedly hearing the Ashtavakra Gita, understanding would dawn one day. There cannot be an easier technique than Ashtavakra's.

The third method is elimination of "I'. The ego is the "I' sense which identifies itself with the body-mind-complex. This impostor of an "I' is sustained solely because we always consider ourselves as the doers of various actions and as the ones who experience the fruits of such good or bad actions resulting in joy or sorrow. Righteousness and sin, pleasure and pain are all imaginations of the mind and are not real5. Actually, there is no individual personality at all as all actions including breathing, thinking, eating, talking, walking, etc. are done by the Totality (i.e. the allpervasive cosmic Consciousness using each human body as an instrument). So we are not the doers at all. The Consciousness, after assuming a body, has forgotten its integral link with the Totality and instead indentifies itself with the body with all its limitations. So a false "I' is created which thinks I am breathing, I think, I eat, I talk, I walk, etc. The moment you cease to consider yourself to be the doer or enjoyer, you will recognise yourself to be ever liberated.

A story from Yoga Vasishta (another classic) is very relevent here. A demon called Sambara was causing a lot of misery to the gods of Swarga (heaven) and the latter also equally reciprocated it. Ultimately, Sambara created three robots-like demons programmed to go fearlessly and demolish the army of the gods. As these robots were not afraid of death, the gods became panicky and approached Brahma, the creator. Brahma told them ""These robots, newly created, have no conditioning of fear. They have no ego of their own and simply follow the programme. For some time, you fight with them and run away. By going on doing like this, this experience will begin to leave impressions and when they see that they are able to strike terror among you and make you flee, slowly their ego will begin to grow and impressions of fear will be built up. Then, when once the ego and fear are built up, even a child can knock them down''. The gods followed this advice and became victorious.

So long as one considers onself as the doer, the actions being motivated by vasanas/ desires bind one by forging a chain of birth and death in order to reap the fruits of actions good or bad as the case may be. When once one gets out of the notion of doership, being impervious to desires and by considering any action done by one as emanating from the Totality and as being done by the respective senses, oneself remaining as the witness consciousness, one will no longer be bound by one's actions.

Asthavakra, however, stresses as an elaboration of the first technique that by simply remaining in the firm conviction that ""I am the Pure conciousness'', you become freed from all miseries and established in happiness. Instead of remaining as the one immutable consciousness, unattached, actionless and pure, when one tries to meditate on it as ""I am the Brahman'' etc. it constitutes the main bondage6. (I-15)

According to a story current in some spiritual circles, King Janaka was once sitting all alone on the banks of the Ganges and loudly chanting ""Ah§ ~«÷mpñ_'' (I am the Brahman). The sage Ashtavakra who happened to come to that place began shouting repeatedly standing before Janaka ""This staff is mine, This Kamandalu (a vessel containing water) is mine''. King Janaka, who was irritated, left the place and went to another corner for his Japa. Ashtavakra followed the king and continued shouting as before. Janaka could not tolerate this any longer. He called Ashtavakra and told him ""Oh! great sage, nobody is disputing the fact that the staff and Kamandalu are yours. They are yours. Where is the need for you to shout and proclaim it?'' Ashtavakra laughingly countered - ""My dear Janaka, will this not apply to you also? you are Brahman and nobody can dispute it. Why then are you shouting ""I am Brahman?'' Just BE.  

Notes on Three methods 

1. Effortless resting in pure Consciousness like a new born child.
2. Conviction that you are ever liberated and free. Let the mind do its monkey business.
3. Elimination of clinging to the ego self, doer ship and enjoyer ship. Everything is done by gunas, not the ego. You are the eternal witness.

Janaka gives three methods for remaining established in the Self, appropriate respectively to
(1) those who believe in duality (Dvaita) that the Self or God is absolutely different from the world, both of which are real

In this case one should remain unaffected considering oneself as a vast and infinite ocean on which the ship of the universe wanders hither and thither driven by the winds of the mind.

(2) those  who believe in qualified non-dualism (Visishtadvaita) that though God and the world are both real, both are made of the same substance as reality i.e., the world is an Amsa (part) of God

In this case one should consider oneself as the infinite ocean on which the waves of the world arise and disappear without causing any loss or gain to the ocean itself.

(3) those who believe in Non-dualism (Advaita) that Self or God is the only reality and the world is but a false superimposition on the former due to ignorance.

In this case one should consider oneself as the infinite rippleless ocean where the world has been superimposed by imagination (just like the delusion of a serpent superimposed on a rope at dark).

The essence of all spiritual practice or Sadhana is ""DO NOT REACT'' to dualities like pleasure or pain, praise or censure, life or death, like or dislike, heat or cold, success or failure, good or bad, love or hate etc. Here Janaka has given some tips as to how to reach this stage, in respect of three different types of Sadhakas. (Chapter VIII-1,2 & 3)

Quantum Leap Into The Absolute.pdf by vedavita

Instant Self-Awareness(Talks on Ashtavakra Gita).pdf by vedavita

ഈ വിശ്വം ഒരു സുദീര്‍ഘസ്വപ്നമത്രേ - യോഗവാസിഷ്ഠം

ദീർഘസ്വപ്നമിദം വിശ്വം വിദ്വയഹന്താദിസംയുതം
അത്രാന്യേ സ്വപ്നപുരുഷാ യഥാ സത്യാസ്തഥാ ശൃണു. (3/42/8)
യോഗവാസിഷ്ഠം നിത്യപാരായണം

സരസ്വതി തുടര്‍ന്നു: അപക്വമതിയായ ഒരാള്‍ , ഈ കാണപ്പെടുന്ന ലോകം യഥാര്‍ത്ഥ്യം തന്നെയെന്നുറച്ചു വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നുവെങ്കില്‍ അത്‌ അങ്ങിനെ തന്നെ തുടരുന്നു. ഭൂതപിശാചുക്കൾ തന്നെ പിന്തുടര്‍ന്നുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു എന്നുകരുതുന്ന കുട്ടിയുടെ അവസ്ഥയാണത്‌. ഒരാള്‍ തന്റെ കൈവളയുടെ ഭംഗിയില്‍ സമാകൃഷ്ടനായാല്‍ അതിന്റെ മൂല്യം സ്വര്‍ണ്ണമാണെന്നു കാണാതെപോവുന്നു. കൊട്ടാരങ്ങളുടേയും, നഗരങ്ങളുടേയും ആനകളുടേയും പകിട്ടിലും പ്രൌഢിയിലും മതിമറന്നയാള്‍ അവയുടെ എല്ലാം അടിസ്ഥാനതത്വമായ അനന്താവബോധത്തെ തിരിച്ചറിയുന്നില്ല.

"ഈ വിശ്വം ഒരു സുദീര്‍ഘസ്വപ്നമത്രേ. അഹംകാരവും 'മറ്റുള്ളവര്‍ ' എന്ന ഭാവവും, എല്ലാം സ്വപ്നവസ്തുക്കള്‍ എന്നപോലെ അയാഥാര്‍ഥ്യമാണ്‌." ഒരേയൊരുണ്മ അനന്താവബോധം മാത്രം. അത്‌ സര്‍വ്വവ്യാപിയും നിര്‍മ്മലവും, പ്രശാന്തവും, സര്‍വ്വശക്തിമാനുമാകുന്നു. അതിന്റെ ശരീരം 'അറിയപ്പെടവുന്ന' ഒരു 'പദാര്‍ത്ഥ'മല്ല. അതു ശുദ്ധപ്രജ്ഞയാകുന്നു. ബോധം, എവിടെ എങ്ങിനെ  പ്രകടമാവുന്നുവോ അതെല്ലാം ബോധം തന്നെ. അടിസ്ഥാനം ശാശ്വതവും സത്യവുമായതിനാല്‍ അതിനെ കാരണമാക്കി പ്രകടമാവുന്നതിനെല്ലാം യാഥാര്‍ഥ്യഭാവം സഹജമായും ഉണ്ടെങ്കിലും സത്തായിട്ടുള്ളത്‌ ആ അടിസ്ഥാനം മാത്രം. ഈ വിശ്വപ്രപഞ്ചവും അതിലുള്ളതെല്ലാം ഒരു നീണ്ട സ്വപ്നമാണ്‌. അങ്ങെനിക്ക്‌ സത്തായിതോന്നുന്നു. അങ്ങേയ്ക്കു ഞാനും ഉണ്മയാണ്‌. നമുക്ക്‌ മറ്റുള്ളവരും സത്യമാണ്‌. ഈ ആപേക്ഷിക യഥാര്‍ഥ്യം സ്വപ്നവസ്തുക്കളെപ്പോലെയാണ്‌. അയാഥാർത്ഥ്യം.

രാമന്‍ ചോദിച്ചു: മഹാത്മന്‍, ഒരാള്‍ സ്വപ്നത്തില്‍ ദര്‍ശിക്കുന്ന നഗരം യഥാര്‍ഥത്തില്‍ ഉള്ളതാണെങ്കില്‍ അതൊരു നഗരമായിത്തന്നെ തുടരുന്നു എന്നല്ലേ അങ്ങുദ്ദേശിച്ചത്‌?

വസിഷ്ഠന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു: ശരിയാണ്‌ രാമ: സ്വപ്നനഗരം എന്നത്‌ അനന്താവബോധത്തിന്റെ അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിലുള്ളതാകയാല്‍ സ്വപ്നവസ്തുക്കള്‍ സത്യമാണെന്നു പ്രത്യക്ഷത്തില്‍ തോന്നുന്നു. എന്നാല്‍ ഉണര്‍ന്നിരിക്കുന്ന അവസ്ഥയും സ്വപ്നാവസ്ഥയും തമ്മില്‍ യാതൊരു വ്യത്യാസവും ഇല്ല. കാരണം, ഒരാളുടെ യാഥാര്‍ഥ്യം മറ്റൊരാള്‍ക്ക്‌ അങ്ങിനെയാവണമെന്നില്ല. അതുകൊണ്ട്‌ ഈ രണ്ടവസ്ഥകളും ഒരുപോലെയാണ്‌. അതുകൊണ്ട്‌ സ്വപ്നാവസ്ഥയും ജാഗ്രതവസ്ഥയും അയാഥാര്‍ഥമാണ്‌. അനന്താവബോധത്തിന്റെ  അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിലാണ്‌ അവയെല്ലാം ആരോപിതമാകുന്നത്‌. ഇത്രയും കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ രാജാവിനെ ഉദ്ബോധിപ്പിച്ച്‌ അനുഗ്രഹിച്ചശേഷം സരസ്വതീ ദേവി പറഞ്ഞു: താങ്കള്‍ക്ക്‌ എല്ലാവിധ ഐശ്വരങ്ങളും തുണയാകട്ടെ. കാണേണ്ടതെല്ലാം അങ്ങു കണ്ടുകഴിഞ്ഞു. ഞങ്ങൾ മടങ്ങിപ്പോവട്ടെ.

വിദുരഥന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു: ദേവീ, ഞാനുടനേതന്നെ ഇവിടെനിന്നും പുറപ്പെടുകയായി. ഒരു സ്വപ്നത്തില്‍ നിന്നും മറ്റൊരു നിദ്രയിലേയ്ക്ക്‌. എന്റെ മന്ത്രിമാരേയും കന്യകയായ എന്റെ മകളേയും കൂടെ കൊണ്ടുപോവാന്‍ അനുമതി നല്‍കിയാലും. ദേവി അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ആഗ്രഹം നിറവേറ്റി.

http://yogavasishtamnithyaparayanam.blogspot.ca/2012/06/069-069.html

This universe is but a long dream.

The ego-sense and also the fancy that there are others, are as real as dream-objects.
The sole reality is the infinite consciousness which is omnipresent, pure, tranquil, omnipotent, and whose very body and being is absolute consciousness (therefore not an object, not knowable): wherever this consciousness manifests in whatever manner, it is that.
Hence when the seer fancies seeing a human being, a human bein g happens there.
Because the substratum (the infinite consciousness) is real, all that is based on it acquires reality, though the reality is of the substratum alone.

This universe and all beings in it are but a long dream.

To me you are real, and to you I am real; even so the others are real to you or to me.
And, this relative reality is like the reality of the dream-objects.

Rama asked: Holy one, in the case of a city which appeared in one's dream, it continues to be if it is a real city: is this what you imply in your teaching?

Vasistha replied: You are right, O Rama.
Since the dream of a city etc., is based on the real substratum of infinite consciousness, these dream-objects appear to be real.

But, then there is no real difference between the waking state of consciousness and the dream state.

What is real in the one is unreal in the other - hence, both these states are essentially of the same nature.

Therefore, the objects of the waking or the dreaming consciousness are equally unreal, except for the infinite consciousness on which they are all superimposed.

http://www.venkatesaya.com/

Meditation Quotes from the Masters

“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"When meditation is mastered,
the mind is unwavering,
like the flame of a lamp in a windless place."
~ Krishna

‎"The mental suffering you create is always some form of non-acceptance,
 some form of unconscious resistance to what is.
On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement.
 The intensity of the suffering depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment."
~Eckhart Tolle

"There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires,
But to be without desires is more pleasurable still."
~ Arya Nagarjuna ‎

"Understand the suffering of worldly existence.
Abandon its causes of ignorance and selfishness.
Practice the path of meditation and compassion.
Awaken from suffering within Great Peace."
~Shakyamuni Buddha

"If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present."
~Lao Tzu

"To be free from bondage the wise person must practise discrimination between One-Self and the ego-self.
By that alone you will become full of joy, recognising Self as Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss."
~ Adi Shankara  ‎

"Integrated meditation practice is like a healthy diet
which is indispensable for maintaining your vitality and resistance to disease.
Likewise, a balanced meditative practice in the course of a socially engaged way of life
heightens your psychological immune system, so that you are less vulnerable to mental imbalances of all kinds."
~Alan Wallace

"Learn to live without self concern.
For this you must know your own true being as indomitable, fearless and ever victorious.
Once you know with absolute certainty that nothing can trouble you but your own imagination,
you come to disregard your desires and fears, concepts and ideas, and live by truth alone."
~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“All that is necessary to awaken to yourself as the radiant emptiness of spirit
 is to stop seeking something more or better or different,
and to turn your attention inward to the awake silence that you are.”
~Adyashanti

"When one past thought has ceased and a future thought has not yet risen,
in that gap, in between, isn’t there a consciousness of the present moment;
 fresh, virgin, unaltered by even a hair’s breadth of a concept, a luminous, naked awareness?
Well, that's what naturally peaceful awareness is. "
~ Sogyal Rinpoche

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‎"The ultimate way of Being lies beyond all contradictory pairs of opposites
with which our two dimensional thinking mind operates.
As soon as we are successful in silencing the restless activity of the thinking mind
and give a chance to intuition, the pure all embracing spirit in us will manifest effortlessly."
~Lama Anagarika Govinda

"If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go.
When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look.
Truth is all there is.
It’s like when you learned how to read, you can then read anywhere you go."
~ Ajahn Chah

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn't try to convince others.
Because one is content with oneself, one doesn't need others' approval.
Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts them.”
~Lao Tzu

"Sometimes, simply by sitting, the soul collects wisdom."
~Zen proverb

"There is more to life than simply increasing its speed."
~Mahatma Gandhi

"Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free.
 Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.
This is the ultimate."
~Chuang Tzu

"To meditate means to realize inwardly the imperturbability of the Essence of Mind.
The reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. Those who are able to keep their mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstances, have attained Inner Peace."
~Hui neng

"The appearances of the world are not the problem,
 it's clinging to them that causes suffering"
~Tilopa

"If you are unable to find the truth right where you are,
where else do you expect to find it?"
~ Dogen

"Within yourself is a stillness, a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself."
~Herman Hess

"This is the real secret of life ~
to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now.
And instead of calling it work, realize it is play."
~ Alan Watts

"Put your heart, mind, intellect, and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success"
~ Swami Sivananda

 “Life is this simple:
we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time.
 This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true. ”
~ Thomas Merton

 "In meditation, silently and serenely, all words are transcended.
 In Illumination, all things appear as is.
Silence is the ceasing of ego-grasping.  Illumination is the functioning of the wonder of wisdom.
The unity of these two is awakening to Buddha Nature."
~Sheng Yen

"If you are willing to experience anything directly and immediately, whether good or bad, joyous or hateful,
you will recognize that what you are running from does not exist,
and what you are running toward is already here."
~ Gangaji

  "There is an intuitive knowing within us that we are eternal
but this gets covered over with the noise we create while identifying with the impermanent."
~ Mooji

"Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control."
~ Jack Kornfield

"Meditation is for you to realise that the deepest nature of your existence is beyond thoughts and emotions,
that it is incredibly vast and interconnected with all other beings."
~ Tenzin Palmo

"Enlightened understanding is not knowledge about the universe,
but the living experience of the nature of the universe."
~ Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

"The secret, or innermost, level of wisdom is pure intuition, clarity, lucidity, innate wakefulness, presence, and recognition of reality. This transcendental wisdom is within all of us,
it just needs to be discovered and developed, unfolded and actualized."
~ Lama Surya Das

"I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom.
It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes,
deep inside yourself, you’ll feel good no matter what."
~Jiddu Krishnamurti

“Meditation in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s being,
and it points the way from bondage to freedom.”
~ DT Suzuki

"Wisdom leads to unity, but ignorance to separation.
So long as God seems to be outside and far away, there is ignorance.
But when God is realised within, that is true knowledge."
~Sri Ramakrishna

"Since pure awareness of nowness is real Enlightenment,
in openness and contentment I found the Truth in my heart.
By simply relaxing in this uncontrived, open, and natural state,
we obtain the quality of effortless freedom of whatever arises."
~Dudjom Rinpoche

"Caught in the self-centered dream, only suffering;
holding to self-centered thoughts, exactly the dream;
each moment, life as it is, the only teacher;
being just this moment, compassion’s way."
~Charlotte Joko Beck

"Do not try to become anything.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
When you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing."
~ Ajahn Chah

"Have good trust in yourself,
not in the One that you think you should be,
but in the One that you are."
~Taizan Maezumi

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‎"Remember the clear light,
the pure clear white light from which everything in the universe comes,
to which everything in the universe returns; the original nature of your own mind.
The natural state of the universe unmanifest.
Let go into the clear light, trust it, merge with it.
It is your own true nature, it is home."
~Padmasambhava

“The Buddha said that all conscious beings possess an enlightened nature.
Because of that, we have this natural purity, peacefulness and power.
We can rest the mind naturally because we are already in possession of these qualities.
If one can rest the mind naturally, that’s the best meditation."
~Mingyur Rinpoche

"The ultimate meditation is: surrender to reality.
The more you fight, the more you are in conflict with it, the more you will be a loser.
In deep surrender, the ego disappears.
And when the ego is not there, for the first time you become aware of that which has always been there."
~Osho ‎

"At its core, meditation is about touching the spiritual essence that exists within us all.
Our spiritual essence is not something that we create through meditation it's already there,
deep within, behind all the barriers, patiently waiting for us to recognize it."
~Aaron Hoopes ‎

"True mindfulness is the awareness that everything you encounter
is a vigorous expression of the same living universe as you."
~ Brad Warner ‎

"The basic nature of all conscious beings is 'self-existing wakefulness'.
Self-existing meaning spontaneous or without effort and wakefulness meaning natural awareness.
To ignore our basic nature, is to wander in fear and confusion,
to directly realise our essential nature is to be Enlightened."
~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

‎"An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment.
This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything is perfectly managed by it.
Conclusively realise that what is unborn and illuminating is truly awakened and without effort,
rest naturally as the Unborn Mind.
Resting in this way, you are a living Buddha."
~ Bankei

‎"Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness,
in Pure Consciousness without objectification,
knowing without thinking, merging the finite into infinity"
~Swami Sivananda

"The four difficulties of sudden Awakening;
So close you can't see it.
So deep you can't fathom it.
So simple you can't believe it.
So good you can't accept it."
~Tibetan Buddhist proverb .

“We live in illusion and the appearance of things.
There is a reality. We are that reality.
When you understand this, you see that you are nothing,
and being nothing, you are everything.
That is all.”
~ Kalu Rinpoche ‎

"The Great Way of Meditation is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
When clininging and rejection are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised.
 Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the Truth then hold no opinions for or against anything."
~Seng Ts'an‎"

We should cast aside all childish games that fetter and exhaust body, speech and mind.
 Stretching out in inconceivable nonaction, in the unstructured matrix, the actuality of emptiness,
where the natural perfection of reality lies, we should gaze at the uncontrived sameness of every experience,
all conditioning and ambition resolved with finality.”
~ Longchenpa

"Awareness is the greatest alchemy there is.
Just go on becoming more and more aware
 you will find your life changing for the better in every possible dimension.
It will bring great fulfilment"
~Osho

“When you meditate the glory of the Divine shines forth.
You realize then that all along there was something tremendous within you and you did not know it.”
~Paramahansa Yogananda

‎"Each season has its own beauty.
To practice meditation is to open the mind so that all of them may be enjoyed.
When each season comes we should enjoy it;
& when it goes, we should let it go and open our mind to the next season."
~ Thich Thien-An

‎"Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind.
 By letting go of even the thought ‘I,’ and 'me' what is left?
There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there.
No separation anywhere.
Pure awareness.
Neither this, nor that.
Just clarity and being.”
~ Ram Dass

“The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions
and to all people, experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and blockages,
so that one never withdraws or centralizes into oneself.”
~Chogyam Trungpa

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.
 In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”
~ Shunryu Suzuki ‎

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"If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.
Awakening appears when you stop wanting anything."
~Ajahn Sumedho

‎"Thoughts are impediments to seeing your deepest nature.
 Don't give rise to any thought, and discover who you are.
That ocean of eternal peace is you.
What is the difficulty that we suffer from?
It is that we seek peace elsewhere and do not experience that we are peace incarnate itself."
~PapaJi

"The natural purity of our mind is of no use to us if we are not aware of it,
and if we do not integrate it with our moving mind.
If we realize our innate purity, but only integrate with it from time to time, we are not totally awakened.
 Being in total integration all the time is final realization"
~Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

‎"Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we’re not doing anything.
Otherwise, we’re always doing something, we’re always thinking something, we’re always occupied.
We get lost in millions of obsessions and fixations.
But by meditating—by not doing anything--
all these fixations are revealed and our obsessions will naturally undo themselves like a snake uncoiling itself."
~Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

"He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment."
~ Meister Eckhart

"The affairs of the world will go on forever, do not delay the practice of meditation.
Once you have met with the profound instructions from a meditation master,
 with single pointed determination, set about realizing the Truth."
~Milarepa

‎"Judge nothing, you will be happy.
Forgive everything, you will be happier.
Love everything, you will be happiest."
~ Sri Chinmoy

‎"Happiness is your True Nature.
Within you is Unimaginable Beauty.
Your True Self is Bright and Shining this Moment.
Through the clear Realization of the Truth,
your Real Self will come shining through."
~ Robert Adams

“What we are looking for is what is looking.”
~ St Francis of Assisi

"Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
~ Rumi

"People are scared to empty their minds
fearing that they will be engulfed by the void.
What they don’t realize is that
their own mind is the void."
~ Huang Po

"An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad."
~ Bodhidharma

"Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
~ Lao Tzu

"God dwells in you, as you, and you don't have to 'do' anything to be God-realized or Self-realized,
 it is already your true and natural state.
Just drop all seeking, turn your attention inward,
and sacrifice your ego mind to the One Self radiating in the Heart of your very being.
For this to be your own presently lived experience,
Self-Inquiry Meditation is a direct and immediate way."
~Ramana Maharshi

‎"Even after the Truth has been realised, there remains that strong, obstinate impression that one is still an ego - the agent and experiencer. This has to be carefully removed by living in a state of constant identification with the supreme non-dual Self. Full Awakening is the eventual ceasing of all the mental impressions of being an ego."
~Adi Shankara

“Just go into the room, sit in the centre of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit.
You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable.
Your only job is to stay in your seat.
You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come.”
~Ajahn Chah

‎"During meditation a silent mind is very important, but 'silent' does not mean closed,
the silent mind is an alert awakened mind; a mind seeking the very nature of reality.
 Also, the joy of silent wisdom comes from your own mind and is always there.
Constantly wherever you go, you can experience the joyful wisdom energy of the silent mind."
~Lama Yeshe

"You are not merely the body; you are 100% Pure Being. But you must find this out for yourself.
It must become your own discovery, happening in your innermost being."
~Mooji

"The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
~ Atisha

"Wisdom leads to unity, but ignorance to separation. So long as God seems to be outside and far away, there is ignorance. But when God is realised within, that is true knowledge."
~Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

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