Guest guest Posted August 31, 2001 Report Share Posted August 31, 2001 - Kheyala Thursday, August 30, 2001 10:09 PM Re: Re: Real Yoga Dear Jody, Beautiful. Keep talking! This is so nourishing to me. Love, Kheyala P.S. You know why? Because it is saying, "Just be yourself! No matter what you think being spiritual is supposed to look like, just be yourself! No matter what anybody else thinks being spiritual is supposed to look like, just be yourself." What a relief!!!! (I was failing miserably in imitation. Really, I was.) jodyrrr (AT) home (DOT) com Thursday, August 30, 2001 6:41 PM Re: Real Yoga Thanks Kheyala and Bruceji.I have come to understand that expectations about realizationare among the strongest hindrances to its manifestation in a life.Spiritual culture's fascination with hagiography (the idealizationof the lives of the saints) is the primary culprit in this regard.When we are given a story that has been stripped of the mundaneand human while pumped up with the fantastic, we end up with allsorts of ridiculous assumptions about what realization brings toa life.Another source of expectation are the mental images generated by an aspirant's interpretation of spiritual texts. Separately orin combination, these create an impenetrable wall to one's comingto know the truth directly.Unfortunately, spiritual culture is overwhelmingly rife with thiskind of thinking. It's sad to say that most of what passes forspirituality stands squarely in the way of the goal most peopleare seeking./join All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a.Your use of is subject to the /join All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a.Your use of is subject to the Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2001 Report Share Posted August 31, 2001 , "Kheyala" <kheyala@n...> wrote: [snip] > Because it is saying, "Just be yourself! Exactly! We are the Self *as* ourselves, just as we are right now. There is no where to go and no one to be. We're already there. There's nothing to become. By setting up an idea of what we should be, we prevent our being as we are. There are no levels to traverse, and no states to attain. We have the Self right now, each and every one of us. If we were to survey our awareness in this moment, each of us possesses the awareness we seek. It is right there in all of us, closer than our own breath. Where is there to go to find your own breath? Meditation experiences are of no use to us. Getting caught up in the journey and imagining we are getting closer is the greatest danger. There is no "closer" than the Self is to us in each moment of our existence. It can never be any closer than It already is. Instead of searching, we should sit back and watch. Until the Self reveals Itself to us, all we can do is watch. The mind is both the friend and enemy of awareness, but there is no fighting it, and it rebels against attempts to discipline it. So first we must simply watch it. Letting ourselves be as we are, practicing being ourselves at our simplest, we can begin to understand some of the underlying patterns of our existence. However, self effort is recommended by all the sages. If we have a physical guru then we can follow his/her teaching. If we don't then we can listen to the small, still voice within. Practice is something we do until the Self reveals Itself, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't practice. What we shouldn't do is have expectations about what that practice will engender. Practice for the sake of the practice, with no result in mind. Forget about climbing the mountain, there is no realization at the peak. It is with us right now, and those who are truly sincere will find it has fallen right into their lap, when they least expect it, after they have given up the search for it. Throw all speculation away. There is no way that you can know what the Self is like, and all your ideas about it are hindering you. Forget about sainthood, it's not going to happen, and if you expect to be made a saint by your realization, you are keeping it at bay all the more. The Self is waiting to show Itself to us all. It's waiting for us to stop searching and start noticing. Sit back and take a breather. Effort at seeking is wasted. Effort at noticing is a much better pastime when waiting for realization to dawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2001 Report Share Posted August 31, 2001 You are so neat Jody, send us a picture of yourself please. Love, Wim jodyrrr [jodyrrr] Thursday, August 30, 2001 11:42 PM Re: Real Yoga ( P.S.) , "Kheyala" <kheyala@n...> wrote: [snip] > Because it is saying, "Just be yourself! Exactly! We are the Self *as* ourselves, just as we are right now. There is no where to go and no one to be. We're already there. There's nothing to become. By setting up an idea of what we should be, we prevent our being as we are. There are no levels to traverse, and no states to attain. We have the Self right now, each and every one of us. If we were to survey our awareness in this moment, each of us possesses the awareness we seek. It is right there in all of us, closer than our own breath. Where is there to go to find your own breath? Meditation experiences are of no use to us. Getting caught up in the journey and imagining we are getting closer is the greatest danger. There is no "closer" than the Self is to us in each moment of our existence. It can never be any closer than It already is. Instead of searching, we should sit back and watch. Until the Self reveals Itself to us, all we can do is watch. The mind is both the friend and enemy of awareness, but there is no fighting it, and it rebels against attempts to discipline it. So first we must simply watch it. Letting ourselves be as we are, practicing being ourselves at our simplest, we can begin to understand some of the underlying patterns of our existence. However, self effort is recommended by all the sages. If we have a physical guru then we can follow his/her teaching. If we don't then we can listen to the small, still voice within. Practice is something we do until the Self reveals Itself, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't practice. What we shouldn't do is have expectations about what that practice will engender. Practice for the sake of the practice, with no result in mind. Forget about climbing the mountain, there is no realization at the peak. It is with us right now, and those who are truly sincere will find it has fallen right into their lap, when they least expect it, after they have given up the search for it. Throw all speculation away. There is no way that you can know what the Self is like, and all your ideas about it are hindering you. Forget about sainthood, it's not going to happen, and if you expect to be made a saint by your realization, you are keeping it at bay all the more. The Self is waiting to show Itself to us all. It's waiting for us to stop searching and start noticing. Sit back and take a breather. Effort at seeking is wasted. Effort at noticing is a much better pastime when waiting for realization to dawn. /join All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a. Your use of is subject to --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.268 / Virus Database: 140 - Release 8/7/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.268 / Virus Database: 140 - Release 8/7/2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2001 Report Share Posted August 31, 2001 In a message dated 8/31/01 12:42:59 AM Mountain Daylight Time, jodyrrr writes: << Forget about sainthood, it's not going to happen, and if you expect to be made a saint by your realization, you are keeping it at bay all the more. >> Your clarity rings like a golden bell, Jody! Thanks. Yes, realization is NOT about elevation, transformation or spiritualization of the individual personality, except in the sense that I think we become even more ordinary! Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2001 Report Share Posted August 31, 2001 Hi Jody, >There are no levels to traverse, and no >states to attain. Aren't you sometimes mental and sometimes emotional? And sometimes intuitive? Etc., etc., And don't you go to sleep and wake up again? Levels... states of consciousness... >Meditation experiences are of no use to us. Meditation is the lab, the workshop. Whatever you can learn to do in meditation, you can eventually do in the conscious, waking state. But it's much easier to learn something new in meditation, completely away from all distractions. >Instead of searching, we should sit back and watch. Until >the Self reveals Itself to us, all we can do is watch. The mind >is both the friend and enemy of awareness, but there is no >fighting it, and it rebels against attempts to discipline it. >So first we must simply watch it. That's one method. But there are others, and they all work. Love, Dharma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.