The Torn Page

Excerpt:  “We are here to meditate together.  Do we all know what that means?  It is very simple, we tend to make very complex ideas and make it difficult for ourselves.  It is the simple clarification of what is meant by the word ‘I.’ That is all; nothing more difficult than that...  And so a good meditation is when clarity is achieved; that is all.  Don’t think a good meditation means you are seeing lights and you’re in some trance or you have achieved some exalted sublime state.  No.  Clarity on the nature of ‘I’ and you’re done, because when that is clear there’s really no one left to meditate anymore…  Everyone seems to use the word ‘I’ a lot, but do we know what we mean when that word comes out of the mouth or in thought?  Do you know what it means?....  As Sri Ramana says, tiny little word - and because we get it wrong - we don’t know accurately what it means - all the suffering in the world is created by one tiny mistake.  So if you want to end all the suffering in the world, just get clarity on the word ‘I’….”  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, March 01, 2012

Excerpt: “The Self comes under no laws, but is the source of all genuine law. And that law is naturally holocentric because it serves no individual, it plays no favorites. The Self is therefore the source of divine order and it brings about unity, fairness, justice, community. Community is only possible from and as the presence of divine love. No humans can create community – no human egos – they can only distort and pervert the love that is our true legacy, destiny, identity.” Recorded on the afternoon of Monday, February 27, 2012.

Student Question:  You spoke about how the most important thing is to have a desire for realizing the Self.  I found that while I was meditating I really needed to have an image or something that I could focus on so that I could center all of my desire into that and try to realize the self, but I couldn't find anything?

Student Question:  Sometimes when I sit down and start meditating I try to focus on my heartbeat in order to get into a state.  After a while I forget about my heart and start feeling my forehead getting heavy and it feels like my body goes to sleep and then all I can feel is that point on my forehead.  I am wondering what is happening to me and whether it is normal or whether it is some kind of identification with my body and why is it happening if I really want to focus on my heart?

Student Question:  I feel you said once but am not sure, that anxiety and kundalini are the same thing or that anxiety is kundalini trapped and misunderstood or something along those lines?

Student Question:  I keep getting caught up when I ask “who am I”, because the “I” keeps me going in circles?

Student Comment:  I resonate with the idea that images are at the imaginary level--or, rather, I resonated with that idea when I was growing up. It feels like the religious image is kind of a double-edged sword because it can either aid one in devotion or it can be misinterpreted.  I could never relate to people loving the image of the Virgin Mary, for example, but since we have been studying great beings, like Ramakrishna or Padre Pio, who also used the medium of an image to relate to God, I see that it can be used in a completely different way.”

Student Question:  What does the witness, witness?

Student Question:  Can you talk a little bit about friendship in the Kali Yuga sense, and also about what is the most sattvic approach to friendship for people moving into the same path together?

Excerpt:  "Each of us has ESP, because we are ESP…  What we mean here by ESP is Eternal, Silent, Presence.  The Self that we are is always in Eternal, Silent, Presence.  The one Self, and the one Self is the guru - the only guru.  The one Self has been called by many names...  The earliest name known is that of Shiva, but all religions give their own name to the same truth…  For some religions that self is called the Supreme Self and from the perspective of ignorance, that is accurate.  Because all else that portrays itself as a Self is really just an object in consciousness…  So there is only one real Self and that Self is beyond words and thoughts and in an inconceivable silence, and even to say that is to go too far because the self is Nirguna.  Without qualities that can be in any way considered a description of the Self, because the Self is not an object, not a thing, not an appearance, but we can also say that the self has infinite attributes.  The three main ones noted by the Vedas are Sat – Chit – Ananda…." Recorded on the evening of Thursday, February 16, 2012.