Hey everyone, I just wanted to take an opportunity to tell you directly about my new book, "Becoming All Light: the non-dual heart of christianity" - available on May 1st 2024.
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The Kunjed Gyalpo is considered a fundamental tantra of Dzogchen, a teaching that according to tradition has been transmitted for over two thousand years from teacher to disciple.
Its aim is to awaken each individual to his or her true nature: the primordial state of enlightenment, which can be compared to a mirror on whose surface the multiplicity of the phenomena of existence is reflected. Introducing this knowledge is the teacher's task, while understanding it deeply and integrating it into one's existence is the disciple's task.
Only when this has been accomplished do the traditional texts becoming living words, precious pointers along the timeless journey towards that which you have not left even for a moment.
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Guru Ramana Vachana Mala is a concise but powerful text that accurately summarizes the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. It further clarifies areas of the teaching that may be a bit hazy for the seeker of wisdom by summarizing the essential Vedanta teachings.
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Along with Vicharasangraham (Self-Enquiry), Nan Yar (Who am I?) constitutes the first set of instructions in the Master Ramana Maharshi's own words. These two are the only prose pieces among Bhagavan’s Works. They clearly set forth the central teaching that the direct path to liberation is Self-enquiry.
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This text by Adi Śankara makes vividly clear the idea of the distinction between oneself and one's body, mind, etc., which, when rightly comprehended under the benevolent guidance of a Teacher, a person of Knowledge, will perfectly convince one that one is not other than the Unlimited Bliss untouched by hunger and thirst, grief and delusion, old age, and death, the only real Existence, the Goal of all human beings to be realized in life.
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The Dṛg-Dṛśya-Viveka contains 46 verses performing an inquiry into the distinction between the "seer" (Dṛg) and the "seen" (Dṛśya), an overview of samadhi, centering on savikalpa and nirvikalpa, and the identity of Self and the Absolute.
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The Vijñānabhairava Tantra is a compendium of spiritual prompts to enter a state of complete absorption in the Absolute, while yet remaining with the power of creativity and fecundity. If any text could be synonymous with Methods of Contemplation, it's this one.
In the text, the primordial Goddess Bhairavi asks Bhairava, who is none other than her very Self - how to untangle the myriad of paths and admonitions of the tantras.
He responds by giving pointed instructions to winnow away the extroversion of the mind: complex ones, simple ones, ones you might already do.
The point being -
Reality itself is the door to Reality.
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In the spiritual process of recognition, because what we recognize is none other than our very Self, we re-cognize what we already have always known. We remember that we remember. A cosmic amnesia lifts, an obscuration is lifted, an ethereal fog drifts away, and there takes place a penetrating shift in our perception of ourselves and of the cosmos. This shift, which radically restructures our self-experience, is more than just memory, however. It is the immanent flowering of consciousness which blooms a fresh and liberating bouquet of fullness in which reality is seen as it truly is, and always has been.
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The Flight of the Garuda explores the essence of the Buddhist path of Dzogchen or the Great Perfection, revealing insights into the nature of mind, the illusory nature of existence, and the methods for transcending suffering.
The teachings are imbued with profound compassion and offer practical guidance for cultivating awareness, developing wisdom, and transforming one's perception of the world.
The text weaves together a rich tapestry of allegorical stories, metaphors, and teachings, all centered around the metaphor of the Garuda—a mythological bird known for its ability to soar fearlessly through the sky.
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The Song of the Goddess is a text dear to my heart.
Combining the piercing lucidity of Advaita Vedanta, with the Goddess centered devotion of the Śakta tantra traditions, the Devī Gita expounds on the nature of Brahman in a style reminiscent of the greater known Bhagavad Gita.
"The knot of the heart is itself untied when that Self is seen."
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Soundarya Lahari, or the Waves of Bliss is a poetic text of worship to the primordial Śakti or Goddess of the power of consciousness. Attributed to Adi Śankara, the towering giant of Advaita Vedanta, the text describes in vivid theological detail the nature of this supreme Goddess.
Contesting authorship aside, how could a proponent of uncompromising non-duality compose a devotional work like this? If reality is not-two, who is to be worshipped? And who is there to worship it?
This is only a question that can be answered from the perspective of the jivanmukta, the free while living. Before enlightenment, duality ensnares us in the mires of suffering.
But after liberation, duality conceived for the sake of love is even more sublime than non-duality.
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The Ashtavakra Gita is what is referred to as a nididhyāsana text in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta.
After hearing the truth from the mouth of a living teacher, and meditating on it by reading introductory texts and removing doubts, the seeker of liberation then rests in the experiential realization they have gained through continual and effortless meditation.
Texts like this one facilitate that meditation by providing prompts for sinking deeply into the ocean of contemplation that is our own self-knowledge.
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Vivekachudamani, or the Crest Jewel of Discrimination, is what is referred to as a prakārana text. Meant to be a workbook for the diligent student of the yoga of Knowledge, it acts as a bridge between the guru and shishya.
This bridge is what enables the longing of the student for freedom and the devotion of the free to compassion to meet in the beautiful dance of being and becoming.
This dance itself leads to the end of all doubt.
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Aparokshanubhuti means the Direct Knowledge of the Self.
As opposed to paroksha, or indirect knowledge, aparoksha jñana is the self-revealing nature of the Self.
You know, the one you always and already have.
But through this riff on yogic practices, Adi Śankara (the attributed writer) leads us through the true meaning of the self-liberation of our nature - beyond cause and effect.
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The Yoga Vasishta is an epic text comprising of the discourse between the wise Vasishta (known as one of the first sages of Vedanta) and the prince Rama.
In this section, Vasishta instructs on the nature of the root of suffering as ignorance of the true nature of Reality. This ignorance itself is the cause of the appearance of the world as the source of our joy, and of our misery.
But when inattention is withdrawn from that which never arises, attention is held in that which has never subsided.
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It is said that if one could only study one Upanishad, it should be the Mandukya.
Even though it is the shortest of all, it contains the most concentrated essence of the Upanishads. If one truly hears, truly understands, and truly meditates on that which is contained in this one text - a fit student can be freed from suffering completely.
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The Upanishads comprise the knowledge portion of the Vedas, the oldest extant religious texts on earth. As such, they represent the richest distillation of the larger corpus.
The word Upanishad itself can be roughly approximated to mean "sitting near the truth" - evoking an image of listening to the oral transmission of teachings at the feet of a person of steady wisdom. And Isha is a term here used not liturgically, but philosophically: having a dual meaning of both Lord, and Self.
These texts are meant to rouse us from slumber and into the wakeful radiance of what's really going on here. To recognize "The Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self." and allowing sorrow itself to melt away.
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Hello, and welcome to Methods of Contemplation.
In the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, the Buddha lets us in on a secret:
Life, as most of us live it - sucks.
Or put more eloquently, the nature of existence is inextricably intertwined with suffering. Really, he's not telling us something we don't already know. But he does tell us how to get out of it.
And the first step, is to take refuge.
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Plotinus is a figure much ignored outside the halls of academic philosophy, but was integral to the birth of non-dual wisdom in the West. In a western framework, he elucidates the core philosophy underlying Neoplatonism, a school that deeply informed early Christianity, and that has much in common with Paramadvaita.
In this passage, Plotinus perfectly threads together the beads of action, will, and knowledge into a telos for the direct intimacy of contemplation. He describes the essential unity of the perceptual triad of knower, knowing, and known - a realization that reflects consummate bliss.
In his words, "Everything is Contemplation."
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A Course in Miracles is a channeled text of non-dual wisdom that adopts the Christian lexicon to instruct all seekers of wisdom in the way of forgiveness.
In seeing every being as completely innocent, and thereby solidifying our own forgiveness.
For this lesson, the focus is concerning the ability of the Holy Spirit to reciprocate the small gift of our own self surrender to bestow on us healing, wholeness, forgiveness, and creativity.
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