Returning to the Self

“The first thought to appear is the 'I'-thought. It rises in the Heart

and, in a split second, travels to the brain, identifies with the body and the

senses, and then sees the world around it as a real world.

Follow the quest 'Who am I?'. Follow the 'I' back to its source. When the 'I'

goes back to its source and identifies with the Self instead of with the

senses, there is eternal peace and bliss. To do this you have to get rid of all

thoughts. The first of all thoughts is the 'I'-thought. Give up all other

thoughts and catch hold of the 'I'-thought. The Self will then embrace that 'I'

and devour it.”

-Lakshmana Swamy, 1925-2021

Learn more about self-inquiry here.

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What is a Concept?

 

Questioner: What is a concept? 

Jean Klein: A concept is a thought, and a thought is a word; a word is a sound, and a sound is a pulsation. What comes before the pulsation? Stillness. Therefore a concept is nothing but an objectifying of stillness. In reality all that appears is an expression of stillness. So in the moment of unity with expression, there is only stillness.

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Bonus Quote

“When you breath in, it is a receiving. When you breath out, it is an offering.”

-Jean Klein

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Bhakti (Devotion) and Jnana (Knowledge)

“To long for happiness is Bhakti (devotion). To long for the Self is Jnana (knowledge). It is Jnana to know that the Master is within you, but to commune with Him is Bhakti. When the love of God or Self is manifest, it is Bhakti; when it is in secret it is Jnana. Jnana and Bhakti are like two sweets made out of the same sugar. You can choose whichever you like. Giving up ‘mine’ is Bhakti; giving up ‘I’ is Jnana. The former gives up all his possessions; the latter gives up the very possessor himself.” 

-Ramana Maharshi

True Freedom

“Never say, "O Lord, I am a miserable sinner." Who will help you? You are the help of the universe. What in this universe can help you? What can prevail over you? You are the God of the universe; where can you seek for help? Never help came from anywhere but from yourself. In your ignorance, every prayer that you made and that was answered, you thought was answered by some Being, but you answered the prayer yourself unknowingly. The help came from yourself, and you fondly imagined that someone was sending help to you. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm, you have built a cocoon around yourself. Who will save you? Burst your own cocoon and come out as a beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth.” 

― Swami Vivekananda 

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Non-Identification

"Let thoughts and feelings have their home in you, but don’t make your home in them."

-Rupert Spira

The Root of Emotional Pain

 

                                                                

"Another aspect of the emotional pain that is an intrinsic part of the egoic mind is a deep-seated sense of lack or incompleteness, of not being whole. In some people, this is conscious, in others unconscious. If it is conscious, it manifests as the unsettling and constant feeling of not being worthy or good enough. If it is unconscious, it will only be felt indirectly as an intense craving, wanting and needing. In either case, people will often enter into a compulsive pursuit of ego-gratification and things to identify with in order to fill this hole they feel within. So they strive after possessions, money, success, power, recognition, or a special relationship, basically so that they can feel better about themselves, feel more complete. But even when they attain all these things, they soon find that the hole is still there, that it is bottomless. Then they are really in trouble, because they cannot delude themselves anymore. Well, they can and do, but it gets more difficult.

"As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease; you cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief intervals when you obtained what you wanted, when a craving has just been fulfilled. Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. It needs to be both defended and fed constantly. The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.

"Do you find this frightening? Or is it a relief to know this? All of these things you will have to relinquish sooner or later. Perhaps you find it as yet hard to believe, and I am certainly not asking you to believe that your identity cannot be found in any of those things. You will know the truth of it for yourself. You will know it at the latest when you feel death approaching. Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to “die before you die” — and find that there is no death."

-Eckhart Tolle

Nature - a Window to God

 

"Forests! Forests! Forests! Dense and all-inspiring forests! Captivating forests with different trees, plants and creepers decked like chariots with myriads of fully blossomed flowers! Even with the utmost care, the gardens in our cities and towns do not have flowers of such variety and in such abundance as seen in these divine forests, so enchanting with countless blossoms of different varieties of white and red roses etc. How can I describe the trees and creepers of the Himalayas, I who am so totally ignorant of forests? Though I knew nothing of the names and qualities, I walked, enjoying their total beauty… The mountains and forests and trees – the oceans with their playful waves – all of them are bubbles on this ocean of Bliss. Ha ha! In all things we see this Sacchidananda. In the midst of the peaceful Himalayas, as well as in the noisy cities, we see this Paramatman."

-Swami Tapovan Maharaj  

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Viveka: How to Live in the World

“Live in the world like an ant. The world contains a mixture of Truth and untruth, sugar and sand. Be an ant and take the sugar.

“Again, the world is a mixture of milk and water, the bliss of God-Consciousness and the pleasure of sense enjoyment. Be a swan and drink the milk, leaving the water aside.

“Live in the world like a waterfowl. The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its  skin is always bright and shiny.

“The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make believe. Discard the make-believe and take the Truth.”

-Sri Ramakrishna

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Mithya

 "However strong or beautiful this body may be, its culmination is in those three pounds of ashes. And still people are so attached to it. Glory be to God."

-Sarada Devi

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Real Peace

“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.”

-St. Teresa of Avila

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Real Surrender

 “The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.” 

― Mīrābāī

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All One

 

• “Whether you worship Christ, Krishna, Kali or Allah, you actually worship the one Light that is also in you, since It pervades all things.”

-Anandamayi Ma

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Jai Hind: Helping India

India is the birthplace of yoga, and those of us who benefit from it understand this connection and feel the pain of those who suffering from the current, deadly wave of COVID-19.  There are many ways we can help, including:

-Operation Shanti in Mysore was started by ashtanga students to help street children, and currently serves local children and street moms. The group "Envisions... A world in which the poor are given the opportunity to reach their full potential in life."  Now, they are partnering with Wasatch Ayurveda & Yoga  to help provide Covid relief to those who live in Mysore, India and are being severely affected by thesecond, deadly wave of Covid-19. The money raised goes  directly to trusted people in Mysore via Operation Shanti, and dispersed to individuals they know are suffering now for lack of food and basics. Learn more about Covid Aid for Mysore and donate here.

The  Yoga Alliance also has a couple of recommendations:

American India Foundation, working on health facility, frontline health worker, and community-centered interventions in India.

Global Giving, helping on-the-ground nonprofits  treat COVID-19 patients and more.

Real Joy

 

There is no fire like passion, No crime like hatred,

No sorrow like separation, No sickness like hunger,

And no joy like the joy of freedom.*

--Lord Buddha, the Dhammapada

*from craving

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The Importance of Tapas

 

"Without discipline in spiritual pursuits, the central nervous system doesn't have a chance to adjust and grow with the increased demand. It would be like putting a high voltage into a small bulb—it is bound to explode."

-Swami Radha, author of Time to be Holy

Ram Namavi

 

Happy Ram Namavi -- Lord Ram's Birthday!

Here are some free/inexpensive resources for you:

MS Subbalakshmi singing the Nama Ramayana

Vedanta – River of Wisdom podcast  on the Ramayana

Ramayana read by Ram Dass (an engaging adaptation)

Ramayana by Kamala Subramaniam (condensed print version)

Sita Sings the Blues (feminist animated film)

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The Road to Peace

"In truth, to attain to interior peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the Sages."

-Swami Brahmananda

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The Purpose of Yoga

“That is the purpose of yoga – to transcend, as did the saints, the limits of the ‘gross’ physical self and achieve Self-realization through releasing the subtle self.”

 

-Yogi Gupta (Swami Kailashananda), Yoga and Long Life

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Both Bondage and Liberation Occur in the Mind: The Self is Ever-Free

 

अस्तीति प्रत्ययो यश्च यश्च नास्तीति वस्तुनि । 

बुद्धेरेव गुणावेतौ न तु नित्यस्य वस्तुनः ॥ ५७२ ॥ 

astīti pratyayo yaśca yaśca nāstīti vastuni | 
buddhereva guṇāvetau na tu nityasya vastunaḥ || 572 || 

572. The idea that bondage exists, and the idea that it does not, are, with reference to the Reality, both attributes of the Buddhi merely, and never belong to the Eternal Reality, Brahman.

-Adi Shankaracharya, Vivekachudamani (verse 572)

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How to "Be"

 “By injuring another you injure your own self. By serving another you serve your own self. Love all. Serve all. Hate none. Insult none. Injure none, in thought, word or deed.”

 

-Swami Sivananda