Wisdom of the Masters

Ganga Maa is a contemporary Advaita teacher based in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, where she gives regular satsang at Hridaya Kshetram. Her teaching is rooted in the non-dual Self-enquiry tradition of Sri Ramana Maharshi and the sacred presence of Arunachala. Amma does not regard herself as a guru, nor those who attend her satsangs as her disciples; instead, she points to Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi and the one Supreme Self as the true teacher. Her satsangs emphasise direct Self-knowledge, surrender and the recognition of the Self as the ever-present reality. Her teachings have been collected in books including Silent Presence and Jnana Ganga (edited by David Godman).You can purchase the book from David's site here:https://www.davidgodman.org/book/silent-presence-satsang-with-ganga-maa-vol-1/

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These pointers from the Master, Longchen Rabjam, have been compiled for meditation/contemplation and point to the natural state of the mind - free from contrivance, beyond all characterization, and inconceivable.Passages have been drawn from the texts, 'Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind' (Padmakara translation) and Natural Perfection: Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen (Dowman translation).Longchenpa (Longchen Rabjam, 1308–1364) was one of the greatest philosophers and meditators of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and the most influential systematizer of Dzogchen (Great Perfection) teachings. A prolific scholar and contemplative, he synthesized centuries of esoteric instruction into a coherent vision of mind, reality, and liberation that remains central to Dzogchen practice today.

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Selected passages read from the text Gravity and Grace - specifically from the chapters on 'The Self' and 'Decreation'.Simone Weil (1909–1943) was a French philosopher, mystic and spiritual writer whose short life was devoted to the search for truth and God. Although born into a secular Jewish family, she was profoundly drawn to Christianity and experienced several deep mystical encounters with Christ.Her spiritual writings explore attention, prayer, suffering, grace, compassion and the surrender of the ego. She called this radical self-emptying 'decreation' — the relinquishment of the self so that divine love might enter.Weil never formally entered the Catholic Church, but remained deeply influenced by Christ and the Christian mystical tradition. She died in England in 1943, aged only thirty-four, leaving behind writings that have become highly regarded for their spiritual depth and originality.________________________________🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.🔆 Thank you to everyone who has written to inquire about offering a donation or gift to support this channel. You are welcome to do so, and all offerings will go towards supporting monastic requisites and overheads at Viveka Hermitage.There are two options to donate using this email address: [email protected] with PayPalor using this link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage Alternatively, donations can also be made via 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐄 - please contact us on the email above for account details., or use this direct link if you have a WISE account: ⁠https://wise.com/pay/me/margarets448⁠

Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882 –1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. He initially came to the West as a representative of several traditions of classical Indian music, and established an order of Sufism (the Sufi Order) in London in 1914. By the time of his death in 1927, centers had been established throughout Europe and North America, and multiple volumes of his teachings had been published.Inayat Khan's teaching emphasized the oneness of God (tawhid) and the underlying harmony of the revelations communicated by the prophets of all the world's great religions. His discourses treated such varied subjects as religion, art, music, ethics, philosophy, psychology, and health and healing.

Music: Uppbeat Licensed Music

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This meditation guides you to rest and relax the mind and body, not through force or coercion, but simply by recognising the ever present state of the mind in it natural awareness. Rediscovering our inherent, natural peace within the mind is key to learning how to rest into our meditation practice where "practice" becomes effortless. One can then practice easefully anywhere with eyes open when moving through the world.

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Ādittapariyāya Sutta, popularly known as "The Fire Sermon", is the third major discourse delivered by the Buddha. Spoken on top of the Gayasisa Hill to a gathering of 1,000 newly converted ascetics, the sermon provides a psychologically acute formula for breaking free from worldly attachments.This reading is an amalgam of translations including those of Bhikkhu Bodhi, Bhante Sujato, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu and Ayya Jitindriya.

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The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣhad is one of the later and shortest of the principal Upaniṣads, consisting of just twelve remarkably dense verses. It belongs to the Atharvaveda and is traditionally attributed to no single author, emerging from the ancient contemplative tradition of India.Though brief, it became one of the most influential texts of Advaita Vedānta. Its central teaching explores the four dimensions of consciousness — waking, dreaming, deep sleep and Turīya, the “Fourth,” which transcends and underlies them all. Through the symbolism of OM, the Upaniṣad points toward that which is beyond all changing states of experience.Through remarkably concise and penetrating verses, the Upaniṣhad points beyond the mind, beyond experience and beyond every concept of who we believe ourselves to be. What remains when waking, dreaming and deep sleep are understood as passing appearances? What is that which knows them all?The answer cannot be grasped merely as an idea. The Māṇḍūkya invites us to turn inward and discover directly the silent awareness that is present before, during and beyond every changing experience.Music: Divine Om Chant

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Max Picard (1888–1965) was a Swiss-German philosopher, physician, and mystic whose profound vision and work speaks with extraordinary force to our increasingly noisy and distracted age —yet whose voice seems more necessary now than ever.

Born in Schopfheim, Germany, near the Swiss border, to Jewish parents, Picard trained as a physician before abandoning medicine in 1918. Increasingly disenchanted with the mechanistic direction of modern science, he turned away from clinical life and withdrew to the quiet landscapes of southern Switzerland, settling in Caslano and neighbouring villages, where he devoted himself to contemplative writing and exploring silence, solitude, presence, and the sacred power of the human word. In 1939, Picard converted to Roman Catholicism from the Judaism of his youth.

A deeply original thinker, his life and work were marked by an uncompromising simplicity and inwardness. He deliberately avoided academic institutions, intellectual fashion, and public prominence, yet maintained friendships and correspondence with some of the most perceptive minds of the twentieth century, including Hermann Hesse, Gabriel Marcel, Gaston Bachelard, and Rainer Maria Rilke.

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Selected teachings from Chuang Tzu excerpted from 'The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu' - translated by Burton Watson. Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) c. 369–286 BCE was one of ancient China’s greatest Daoist sages. Living during the turbulent Warring States period, he rejected worldly ambition and chose a life of simplicity, freedom and contemplation. His teachings are filled with brilliant paradoxes, humour and stories that challenge our deepest assumptions about reality, identity and the self.His timeless work, the Zhuangzi, points toward a life of effortless harmony with the Dao—and freedom from the limitations of the thinking mind. His teaching invites us to let go of fixed ideas, surrender our struggle with life, and awaken to the freedom of simply being.

Music: Swami Madhuram (Time for Peace) - with thanks to Swami for his beautiful gifting of music for this channel.https://insighttimer.com/swamimadhuram

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This is a guided Dzogchen meditation pointing to recognising the natural state of the enlightened mind, free from conceptual proliferation, and practising to rest in it. The instructions are based on various teachings and pointers from Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) and taken from numerous texts.

Dzogchen (often translated as "Great Perfection") is a contemplative tradition primarily associated with the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, though it is also found in the Bön tradition. In essence, Dzogchen teaches that our fundamental nature is already complete, pure, and awake. The aim is not to create enlightenment through effort, but to directly recognize this ever-present awareness and become familiar with abiding in it.

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