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The Exquisite State of EnlightenmentPosted on June 10, 2014

Earth School Phase Four:

The Exquisite State of Enlightenment

An excerpt from Ramgiri’s forthcoming book “HeartSourcing: Finding Our Way to Love and

Liberation”

Learn more about Ramgiri’s book here!

All rights reserved.

Enlightenment is a state of Oneness, of absolute simplicity. This makes it impossible for

the mind to grasp, for our thinking is not made to comprehend the One but the many in

duality and opposition. We have glimpses of oneness and they make us hunger for more.

The danger is that after glimpses of this sublime experience the ego grabs hold of them and

we think we know. All the conflicting theologies of the world have been created this way and

have led us astray. There are as many ways to describe higher states of awareness as there

are beings describing them. Words and concepts can never fully express the great mystery

of enlightenment because the highest experience is embedded in absolute silence. No

description can ever capture the truth, as the authors of the Upanishads knew when they

wrote, “Neti, neti” –it’s not this, and it’s not that. And so, out of my limited experience I will

attempt to share with you what little I understand. May it shed some light on your way.

We live with a very constricted sense of self to which we are deeply accustomed. Our normal

way is to identify with our thoughts, emotions, behavior and the physical body. We are

imprisoned by ignorance of our true identity. The sign of that is our suffering. Then one day

there is a shift and suddenly a much vaster perception opens up. We discover that what we

are is not an ego inside a body, but the vast field of consciousness within which the ego, the

body as well as all of creation appear. This consciousness is forever free, clear and limitless.

Where we have previously identified with a small individual wave, now we come to realize

that we are the cosmic ocean itself. Where our identity seemed locked into this mortal body,

now we realize that what we are is not at all limited to this temporary form. We are not the

body, mind and emotions we call “I”, but pure consciousness, immortal, unlimited and

blissful.

I remember many moments of this: unexpectedly awareness expands and finds itself vast

and unlimited, without center and end, blissful, void and free of all fear. Within this vastness

the body and individual self appear. This vastness is the taste of Brahman, the eternal,

unchanging, infinite reality. It is both immanent throughout this creation and it transcends it.

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In it appear all matter, energy, time, space and existence. It is the matrix in which all

creation arises. This vastness conceives, projects and observes this small temporary I, which

continues for a while until it dissolves. It is lovely, this manifestation of who we are in the

world, but what we really are, the unlimited Self, is such a much greater truth, such a state

of profound freedom from fear and from pain, such a complete expression of love. The

immensity we are is never caught up in the dream of the world it creates; it is not the

dream, nor the one caught in the dream, but the dreamer. And it is more even than that.

This experience brings a sublime state of freedom. It is enlightenment. It is immortality. It is

our graduation from Earth School into Self-realization. With no confusion or obstacle left, you

have become the manifestation of grace, wisdom and love in this world. After many times of

awakening and forgetting again, you have come to the realization that you are what you

have been seeking. You are free. You have come to the end of the path.

An ancient Indian text, the Ashtavakra Gita expresses it this way:

You are the endless sea

In whom all the worlds like waves

Naturally rise and fall…

You and the world are one.

In this realization you no longer live for yourself, but for and through all the people you

touch. You live in Oneness with everyone and everything. You are unmoving within the

constant movement of life, peaceful and clear. You are in harmony and your heart radiates

your joy into the world. You have arrived here and now, where you have always been and

you are fully awake to this moment just as it is. This alone is true happiness. It is unshakable

and unending. Your identity is no longer a separate and limited ego housed in a bag of skin,

but the boundless field of awareness in which all creation, including your body, appears and

disappears. Nothing can harm you. You remain in this world by choice out of compassionate

love for all beings. You have become the light of the world. You have now become a teacher

in Earth School. You have awakened to your true Self.

We live in a great time, full of promise and difficulties, when darkness is giving way to new

light, a time of turmoil when humanity is coming out of the stage of materialism to reach a

higher awareness. We are witnessing the dawning of an age of more compassion and

wisdom. Our world will not change overnight. Much of the change will be difficult and hard

won. But inevitably a new consciousness is emerging. We can see this in the appearance of

new teachers, methods, and skills, and as an intuitive knowing inside our hearts. We are

guided internally. We are creating spiritual community in countless forms. New awareness is

awakening everywhere. And while we may tend to get overwhelmed at times by the troubles

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and cares of this world, we can remember the prophetic words of the great sage Ramana

Maharshi: “Let Him who created this world see to its maintenance. Meanwhile find out who

you are.”

Although we see all around us how the old consciousness is desperately trying to stay in

control, it cannot succeed. When a higher principle comes into being, power resides in the

new life being born, even though it may not seem that way when you’re feeling the labor

pains or when the new life is still fragile and young. For us as individuals, as well as for the

collective, birthing and raising a new consciousness pushes us to our limits. This is scary, but

it teaches us to question not our capacities but our limits. And it shows us that the

immensity we are safely brings this new life into being.

It is not that the world is coming to an end, but layers of the old fear-dominated

consciousness are being shed like the worn-out skin of a snake. It is an immense birthing

process with contractions that can be fierce when the shadow contents emerge in their last

big fury before they dissolve. We may fall back time and again into the fears and terrors of

our past conditioning, only to awaken again each time as the phoenix of consciousness rises

from its own ashes. This process of forgetting and remembering, of surrender, death, rebirth

and renewal can be dramatic, but it is always guided from a higher source and is therefore

completely safe. Any fear we experience is like the fear in a dream. It feels so real at the

time, but once we awaken we realize that all the while we have been completely safe. When

we do slip into old mind-sets, it helps to remember that the relief and the peace we seek are

already fully present in us and it is there we can find them. Knowing this we can consciously

open to the astounding reality of what is being born—our own intrinsic freedom and love.

The Path to the MountainsPosted on November 6, 2014

>> The following is an except taken from Ramgiri’s book “HeartSourcing:Finding Our Way

to Love and Liberation”, released Sept. 2014…

Our quest leads not only to the end of time, the NOW of the mind, but also to the end of

space, the HERE of the heart. To be present in both is the gift of all gifts. It is possible for us

to open our heart in the Now so completely that we are in love with all things. It is possible

for us to see the divine presence everywhere, even in darkness and intense pain, our own

and that of others. Then—and not before—our journey is done. There is a path to that place.

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How do we reach this great goal of enlightenment—of living in the Now and in unconditional

love? It is simple and inevitable. Time reasserts itself in the timelessness of the first hilltop

and we take the first step.

And down we go into the valley ahead. Oh no! We want to stay high; we love it up here in

the pristine air of the hills, in the pure Here and Now, in clear view of the goal, not bothered

by the inconveniences and problems of life. But to overcome our troubles for good, we must

meet them with skill so they clear the way for us to proceed. Many have tried to steer clear

of the dark valleys, but we cannot avoid ourselves for very long. Once we have the goal of

spiritual liberation, our obstacles become the pathway to our freedom.

The first purpose of sadhana, spiritual practice, is to cultivate the ability to live in the

present moment. We experience the Now countless times; gradually these experiences

become deeper and more lasting. The second goal, which is not separate from the first, is to

love. This is how we build sadhana shakti, the power generated by spiritual practice, which

culminates when the soul force fully realizes its identity with the Absolute Self and no longer

falls into confusion. But until we live in this absolute oneness, we are still in training. As long

as our heart still closes, there is a path.

On this path it is not life itself, but our stressful reactions to life that disrupt the pristine

quality of the Now and plunge us into a valley. External things are what we get upset about,

but what upsets us are our stressful thoughts and the way we become entangled in negative

emotional habits. People and situations do not have the power to make us suffer, no matter

how challenging they may be. All suffering arises within us. We cannot change the world,

but we can change the way we react to the world. This is the key to freedom.

How Not to Fall Back Into SufferingPosted on November 3, 2014

When we have a powerful awakening experience it creates ripples, like a rock thrown into a

pond. I’ve experienced this ripple effect since going into the heart so deeply last Sunday,

with the feisty old pain body throwing at me whatever it could come up with to get me to fall

unconscious and suffer. I notice that the darker emotions that emerged this week have not

had the power to swallow me up, except for moments so I could learn. It seems that the

intuition I had holds true: that going deep into the heart can create such permanent change.

Yesterday evening this became most obvious. I entered a very light expansive state, an

elation and peace in which I sensed the fruit of what I had experienced. The experiment

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seems to be working: Let the heart-sun shine strongly enough on the puddles of negative

emotions and thoughts and they will dry up.

That makes me think of devotion, the systematic cultivation of unconditional love and the

deep gratitude for any moment of life. And especially I am grateful to you for being

interested enough in my ramblings so I can hear myself explain these things to you and to

me, for I am learning this as we go along.

Again I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. It will make this experience even

fuller for all of us. We are all waking up together.

The Liberating Power of the Heart EssencePosted on October 23, 2014

This past week it has become increasingly clear to me that we have direct access to the

pure essence of the heart. It is a feeling, a sensation we can become aware of by stilling the

mind and directing our awareness to the heart center (in the middle of the chest).

People use different words to describe the feeling, but I have so far not found anyone who

was unable to sense it after looking/sensing/listening for it deeply and with concentrated

attention. Some are aware of frequent interference by thoughts and the usual mental noise,

but even so the essence could be felt clearly in moments.

Because of the importance of this awareness of the heart essence it strikes me that all of

humanity has not known to tap into this source – forever. And that is of course exactly what

is the matter with us: we have become lost in the mind and its fears and it is time now to

break this hypnotic spell cast by our stressful thoughts and emotions. We have believed that

we need these thoughts and emotions to be safe in a world we have perceived as unsafe,

and nothing could be further from the truth.

In reality it is our perception of danger, based on our case of mistaken identity (“I am this

body and I have to protect it, etc”) that creates the danger. The perception becomes the

reality in which we flounder until we have the presence of mind to see through our mental

self-entrapment. This spell can be broken by repeated and eventually continuous focus on

the heart essence. I call it “Drinking from the Heart.”

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Ramana Maharshi said: “When the mind gets absorbed in the heart, the ego ‘I’, which is the

center of the multitude of thoughts, vanishes…” 

It seems Freedom cannot be described more clearly. We are all capable of allowing the mind

to get absorbed in the heart.

Stillness in ActionPosted on October 8, 2014

There is formal meditation and stillness in action. Meditation is a core skill; if we make it a

daily habit, it will soon be a constant source of rejuvenation and peace. Before long we won’t

want to miss even a single day of our practice. But to practice stillness, one doesn’t

necessarily have to sit still. Stillness comes from clear and peaceful awareness, not simply

from lack of movement. Most people experience moments of stillness in action when they

are doing some activity they love. When our actions come from the heart, everything we do

is part of our spiritual practice.

One of my favorite ways to experience stillness in action is through sculpting. As my fingers

work with the clay, my thoughts take a vacation. In this type of activity, the thinking mind

would merely get in the way. There is a deeper intelligence that runs the show very well. I

see and feel in my sculptures what is being birthed in myself—a sense of order, beauty,

warmth, and insight, reality experienced with a clear and untroubled mind. When I sculpt

images of Indian deities—the elephant-headed Ganesha, the majestic grandeur of Shiva, the

warm presence of the Divine Mother—these deities come alive for me. They are symbols of

the enlightened mind, of deep wisdom, of the ways the human soul has expressed the

mystery of divine love.

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As the sculptures come to life in my hands, I feel blessed by the life they are giving me. All

action can be like this. Making a sculpture is not different from doing the dishes, driving a

car, sorting through papers, discussing a project, or turning a screwdriver. We are always

creative. To the extent we are present in the here and now, we live in the great peace that

gives birth to all action, even while performing everyday chores. Stillness helps us to be

aware.

When we attune ourselves to stillness, we can get in touch with the heart.

Once we can sense stillness in what we love, we can learn to love whatever we do. We can

find stillness while jogging, working, cooking, or cleaning. We can remember to enjoy

stillness in the middle of a conversation, when waiting in line, or while paying our bills. Just

like space, stillness is always present. It means to stay centered in that silent space in the

heart. Maintaining an awareness of stillness is an act of devotion in which everything we do

becomes sacred.

As we cultivate an awareness of stillness, the old unconscious ties to our suffering loosen

and the pain body dissolves. Stillness means to become more self-aware. Stillness is peace.

What would happen to our habitual dramas if stillness permeated our mind? Who would we

be if we were internally peaceful and present during our normal activities? Do we really

function better when we are driven by worries and wants, deadlines and commitments, or

when we act out of the clarity that comes from inner peace? The answers are obvious, but to

overcome the mind’s unconscious addiction to turmoil, intellectual insight alone is not

enough. It has to become gut-level realization. Practicing stillness can take us there.

Stillness is everywhere; we can sense it if we take the time to tune in. It makes our old

negative habits transparent and they will cease to control us as much. As we pass through a

valley, moments of stillness can remind us of the peace and harmony of past peak

experiences. They will be more than a memory; we will feel them again as they encourage

and strengthen us and put us back in touch with who we really are.

 

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.

They’re in each other all along.

- Rumi

THAT Which Can Truly Fulfill YouPosted on October 16, 2013

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You are made to fall in love, because in your innermost core that’s what you are: pure,

unconditional love.

We are all made to fall in love and we do. We fall in love with humans and with divine beings

– and while the essence of love is the same, the outcome is usually quite different.

Human love tends to get entangled with attachment and need. As soon as it does, we lose

the pristine purity of the moment, the breathless awakening to the brilliant wonder of our

innermost Heart. Then personality habits take over and personalities don’t love, they want

stuff.

That’s a downgrade of our experience; we lose the moment and inadvertently plant the

seeds of disappointments, rejection and pain. After a while we are afraid to open. We build

walls of protection around our heart and they become our prison. Love, the way you know it,

too often turns into a frustrating struggle. How can you get it right?

Sacred Love

The great scripture of India, the Ramayana, advises us: “Take all the strings of your desires

and wind them together into a rope. Then, with that rope, tie yourself to the feet of the

Lord.”

These are potent instructions for divine love, and they guide us to the secret how this divine

love can transform our human love. Instead of giving up your desires, find THAT which can

truly fulfill you. The Lord, in whatever form, is the one Source of true love. The place to find

Him or Her is within our own Heart.

There is the Source of the love that will never abandon you.

If you have a relationship with a divine beloved, with Jesus, Krishna, the Goddess, a guru or

enlightened sage, then you already know the taste of the sweet nectar of your own Heart. If

not, then HeartSourcing can open you to that love.

As potent and wonderful as devotion to an external form is, in the end we must find the

beloved in us. Perhaps one morning you get up and are shocked to see the one you’ve been

waiting for, looking at you right from your bathroom mirror.

How could you have missed it?

It’s easy, just listen to your usual morning mantras: “Oh, those wrinkles! Not so young

anymore! Life is a struggle. I made too many mistakes. Perhaps I don’t deserve real love.

And enlightenment? That’s too much to ask for.” Those morning conversations, half

conscious, but filled with a sense of less, a quiet sort of giving up. Like a barbed wire fence

such beliefs keep us out of our Heart.

But beyond the pain and the disappointments, there is still – and always – that brilliant lover,

that enchanting beloved, in the sacred core of our soul, beckoning. It is our true Self in the

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Cave of the Heart, what we really are, non-dual and blissful, not just loving something,

but love itself.

You may have forgotten it for quite a while. But once remembered, this vibrant and

vivacious love will be as ready for you as it ever was.

This is HeartSourcing Yoga, the path to enlightenment through the love of the Self. It

makes use of the secret of secrets: that in your center you are always whole. From here,

from the deepest core of your being, from the presence of the divine in you, this love can

nurture and heal your wounded self.

It eliminates fear of love. It quiets the mind. It infuses your entire being with an irresistible,

brilliant love that begins to radiate from you effortlessly. It is immensely attractive. But it

doesn’t come cheap. The price for this happiness is your negative mind. It will cost you your

emotional pain, all the hurts and fears you hold on to. You have to surrender your habits of

self-sabotage. It will cost you your struggle.

Are you willing to pay?

If you are, begin to focus the mind in your innermost core. Install it there with the help of a

mantra. See in the center of your chest a brilliant light, an effortlessly radiant sun that

shines its light and warmth into all the parts of your being. Receive it deeply, until you can

feel it in every cell of your body, until it dissolves the places of emotional pain, until it

illuminates your entire mind.

This is the genuine taste of the Heart. It is the river tasting the sea, realizing that its true

nature is none other than ocean.

The Four Types of SilencePosted on August 14, 2012

Our thoughts are almost continuously restless. This is the nature of the thinking mind. It is

seeking, restlessly, for relief from its self-created tensions, for its essential enlightenment,

for the peace of the heart. This seeking is in itself a sign of our coming awakening.

Behind the stream of thoughts, our inborn intuitive intelligence, the higher mind, is waiting

to be discovered. It is consciousness of pristine clarity, able to discern what is true and what

is false, and ultimately able to recognize its own enlightenment.

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This higher mind is pure and ever undisturbed. Its nature is peace. Through

dailysadhana (spiritual practice), the judging, worrying, suffering mind becomes transparent

to its own wisdom, its essential enlightened nature.

Clarity of mind is like the vast sky, limitless and unobstructed. Clouds of thoughts and

stressful emotions drift through at times, but the sky doesn’t mind. To enjoy this pristine

nature of mind, we can cultivate four successive stages of silence.

1. Silence of Speech

The first silence is control of speech. It comes from the effort to restrain angry, hurtful, and

insulting speech as well as from the wisdom of knowing when to speak and when it is better

to stay silent.

It is about restraining the impulse to let our thoughts run out through the mouth; it’s about

being aware of the impact of your words on others and the cultivation of kindness in speech.

Consciously containing speech, and perhaps practicing silence (mauna) on certain days, is a

potent practice of managing energy. It can make us aware of just how turbulent our thinking

is, and control it. It has been said that “silence is golden,” because of the immense value or

inner awareness.

2. Silence of the Senses

The second type of silence is withdrawal of the senses. Known as pratyahara in yogic

language, you may experience it as a distinct sensation during meditation. At first your mind

is busy with its worldly concerns, but you sit still, not feeding its outward movement. After a

while there is a distinct shift when the mind lets go of its outer focus and turns inward. It

feels peaceful and self-contained.

Withdrawal of the senses can come in less noticeable ways and allow you to be more

present and self-aware. It naturally happens every time you go to sleep.

Developing the Silence of the Senses is essential for overcoming the distractive tendency of

the mind.

3. Statue-like Silence

The third type of silence is known as statue-like silence. It comes in deeper states of

absorption, when you temporarily abandon all effort of concentration in meditation, when

the mind becomes still and you exist for a while in the still space between thoughts.

Deeply rejuvenating, inspiring and relaxing, these moments of profound inner stillness are a

taste of the lower levels of samadhi (super-consciousness). They are direct insights into

increasing levels of freedom, deeply nurturing and profound. They are however only

temporary; you return again to the outwardly focused and often distracted mind.

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Effort is required to experience any of these three states of silence, because in all of them

the outward-moving force of the mind is being restrained. Like stepping-stones into

increasing levels of peace, they lead us eventually beyond all effort into:

4. The Silence of Sleepless Sleep

This is the silence of the intuitive intelligence of the Self, the vast ocean of consciousness,

recognizing itself in all things. It is the mind of oneness and unlimited, divine bliss.

This sublime state is natural, spontaneous, and completely effortless. It is the “peace that

passes all understanding.” It comes as we develop the realization of the unreality of all

passing phenomena, and with the intuitive insight into the reality of the soul.

When the mind is filled with impressions of the profound meditation of the Self, the desires

and aversions of the ego are gradually replaced by pure thought-waves. The ego becomes

transparent and the mind clear.

Through this process, a yogi experiences the boundless freedom of the inner Self. He does

not depend on anything external for his happiness. He is no longer conditioned by outer

events and circumstances. He is like someone who awakens and is no longer upset by the

contents of his dream.

While normal sleep gives us a moment of freedom from the mind and its problems, the

sleepless sleep permanently transcends all worries of the mind. Great clarity and peace

replace the tensions of “I” and of “mine.” Even while awake and active, such a sage is ever

immersed in his peace.

When this silence attains its fullness, it is known as turya, the state beyond waking, dream

and deep sleep. In this state the yogi’s consciousness has shifted from identity with the

body-bound ego to oneness with the vast ocean of Self. The entire world, along with our

body and personality, is a small wave on the surface of this limitless ocean. It is ever

undisturbed by the movement of the waves on the surface. It is unchangeable and immortal.

The supreme Silence of Sleepless Sleep arises in a state of super-consciousness that needs

no external support, but can embrace all things with absolute love and compassion. This

state of peace is the true home of all souls.

 

Drinking from the Heart!

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Posted on October 19, 2011

…an Excerpt taken from Ram Giri’s forthcoming book:

” Practicing HeartSourcing is beneficial anytime, anywhere. This is not just because it feels

good, but because it is a direct way to access the gifts of the Self, theinner guru,

the Supreme Reality. The good feelings you enjoy with HeartSourcing are an emanation of

the bliss of God and they will guide you toward liberation, the Source of real happiness.

The aim of HeartSourcing is to have an open heart in all your activities in order to come

closer to the Self and eventually merge with it. The more you are able to feel the heart

nectar, the more it will attract you. It is the most delicious and enticing sensation and you

can give yourself to it completely because it is completely safe. The first benefit is that you

feel good in the moment, but it does much more than that. With practice, your ego will

become more subtle as it identifies increasingly with love, which dissolves the heavy burden

of the pain body. Whatever challenge you encounter, see it as an opportunity to taste the

sweetness of the heart-essence. The place of stress in the body IS the invitation to the heart

to pour its healing essence into it. Anything painful, therefore, becomes simply another

occasion to experience the inner union of Lover and Beloved.

The more your mind dwells in the heart, the more grace you receive. HeartSourcing is a

delightful path because you begin immediately to taste the fruit of your efforts, and its

blessings follow you through all stages of your journey.

You can practice at any moment. Focus on your heart while washing the dishes, while

waiting at a red light, while speaking with someone, while working, playing, or resting. Do it

in the middle of an argument or when you are sick or in pain. Moment by moment, make

your life come alive with your love. And remember to use The Work and Open

Attention to help you quickly remove the obstructions that keep you a prisoner of

conditioned existence. Use them to peel away the causes of suffering layer by layer.

Whether you know it or not, you are always tithing your time and effort either to the Self or

to your ego. At any moment, you strengthen one or the other. By doing nothing and simply

continuing to live as a conditioned, ego-driven mind, you call suffering into your life,

because the essence of ego is suffering. The love of the Self is the most powerful medicine

to prevent such a waste of potential.

Inevitably the pain body will interfere with your attempts to become free; it will try to make

you forget your skills when you need them most. But if you have cultivated a steady habit of

practice and have the support of spiritual friends, your chances are much better that you will

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remember to meet life in the most skillful way. In this way you can make sure that the next

valley will be as short and as shallow as possible.”

The Wisdom of VasisthaPosted on July 29, 2010

One of the greatest books of the wisdom literature of this planet is the yet little known

“Vasistha’s Yoga.” The following is a quote from it regarding self-inquiry and the Heart:

If one has achieved even a little bit of control over the mind by self-enquiry, such

a person has attained the fruit of his life. For that self-enquiry will expand his

heart.

This of course is exactly what we are doing with the Skills for Awakening. Vasistha

continues:

When such enquiry is preceded by dispassion [or: detachment] and has attained stability by

practice, all the noble qualities resort to it naturally. Ignorance and its retinue do not bother

one who is fully established in self-enquiry and who sees what is, without distortion. When

he has found his foothold in the spiritual ground, he is not overcome by the robbers known

as sense-pleasures.

Practicing self-inquiry with The Work gives you that stability. You can first observe it by

noticing how you react less to situations and people that used to upset you. You become

calmer, more peaceful and in control of yourself. This is a control without force, a natural

peacefulness and mastery. This is true knowledge. It frees us from the constant

distractedness of the undisciplined mind that is craving for and running after sense

pleasures. Notice that there is nothing wrong with pleasures; it is the desire for them that

throws you off balance. In true peace you can enjoy whatever comes, may it be labeled

‘good’ or ‘bad’. This is dispassion, the foundation of lasting peace. In that peace the Heart

can be wide open.

The Best Kept Secret in the WorldPosted on April 27, 2010

How does it start? Some day you have an experience and your world shifts. Suddenly – or

gradually – you come to realize that Spirit is true, that there is a dimension of grace you can

enter. At that moment God steps out of a book and becomes a real presence for you (even

though you may not relate to a God, which is fine.)

The result is: You have entered spiritual life.

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This experience can be a moment of deep inner peace, of being fully alive in the here and

now; it may be an experience of emotional harmony or a great opening of the Heart. These

are the kinds of decisive experiences after which your life may never be quite the same.

Then we go on a journey. We lose the experience and want it again. A yearning has been

awakened. What can we do?

We learn about spiritual practice. We sit still for hours, turn our bodies into pretzels, make

pilgrimages to teachers or shrines and especially read lots of books. It is all good.

And where do we end up when we finally arrive where we are going?

We end up once more in deep inner peace, being fully alive in the here and now; we feel

again that emotional harmony or that great opening of the Heart.

We return to where we began, in grace, in the breath-taking presence of Being or God.

Inside ourselves. In the core.

We end up where it all began – wiser, much more solid, our mind peaceful, our Heart

vibrant, big and alive.

The journey is a cycle from you to you, from now to now. You get lost in the middle, even

while trying to find yourself. You want to shorten the time it takes to get back to what you

are seeking. You are confusing yourself by your seeking.

There are 10,000 things to do while trying to get back to that place of pure grace. Most go in

circles. Which are the few that take you straight back to yourself? Which ones dissolve the

internal tensions that keep you in internal exile from grace? Which ones can nurture you so

deeply you get the stamina to face your own demons – and not in 10 life times, but now?

This journey is not a walk in the park, you may have noticed. It is the greatest adventure bar

none open to human beings.

On this road you will have to face any terror your mind can dream up and overcome every

habitual pain and confusion.

And the payoff is eternal life. No cheap goal by anyone’s standards.

So again the question: what can take you there? What can give you the access to the pure

essence of this highest goal?

Perhaps not surprisingly it is the pursuit of the experiences that began it all. The

experiences you will be established in when you have arrived, when you have crossed the

ocean of confusion and pain to the other shore of divine bliss.

The essential practices are to step directly into the Promised Land. To stop the 10,000

distractions – and yes, even those that are labeled ‘spiritual practice’ – and enter the Heart,

which in its unlimited richness is always waiting for you to come home.

Always waiting. Still waiting. YOU are in there, still waiting.

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And I know, so many will read these words and not understand. So let me say it again:

Your Heart is available to you this moment. It is as far from you as the Now. It is the central

core of space, as the Now is the core of time. The core contains everything. Why not return

to that core in you now?

Oh no, so many say, “I have to continue my sadhana, my spiritual practice” and they wind

their legs around their ears and sit their bottoms flat and read the 20th book that tells them

the same thing they cannot hear: It’s inside you now!

So go there! But you can’t. Your thoughts and emotions get in the way. You follow them

rather than your hidden instinct that says “Stop it all. Stop. Listen to what he is saying. Let it

come in. Maybe there is something to this…”

There are 3 skills you need: Clear the mind quickly and effectively. Bring your confused

emotions to harmony. And drink from your Heart the Essence of love that you are secretly

aching to feel.

It is the best kept secret in the world. It is secret because we keep it secret from ourselves.

We have become lost in a trance state. Somehow we can say the words and believe them;

“It’s all inside.” And still we don’t look. Still we don’t become still enough to feel the

ravishing Heart Essence. Still we are lost.

I sit with people and I see myself in them, the way I was: tense, the body shifting, the mind

not at rest. There is no space for peace to get in. There is no rest in pure love.

Not yet.

But if you want it, stop. Stop now. Make a huge foolish decision to love yourself absolutely! It

makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.

Your Guide to Using the Skills for AwakeningPosted on November 17, 2009

Open Heart – Peaceful Mind

Your Guide to Using the Skills for Awakening

Overcoming the causes of your suffering is of greatest importance. Your health and well

being, your peace of mind, your happiness and family harmony rise and fall with it – and so

does your ability to perform your best at work and in your private life. If you don’t address it

skillfully, your suffering will not only cost you enormously, it will also not go away.

So l et’s make something that can appear extremely complex very very simple.

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What’s so complex and can be very confusing is how to fulfill the human desire to be free of

pain and gain a lasting and deep state of happiness. This is the basic impulse in all beings

toward liberation. This is why you are listening to this recording. Reaching this greatest of all

goals appears so difficult and complex because the ways we are unfree and conflicted

appear limitless. But they are not.

Here is how it becomes uncomplicated and simple:

At the core of our being lies the Spiritual Heart. All the happiness, peace and unconditional

love that is possible is already there, in each human Heart. The Heart is already and always

enlightened, and when it opens we have increasing access to this unlimited well of grace.

The inner reality of our Heart contains dimensions upon dimensions of universal, divine love,

without end. To live fully out of this Heart is full enlightenment.

But our Hearts are closed much of the time. They are burdened and often we do not have

access to this well of grace. When we look at what burdens the Heart we can point to many

things: pain from the past, disappointed hopes, fear of the future, all the things we wanted

and didn’t get, and all we had to contend with that we did not want. All this inner turmoil

creates confusion, the forgetfulness of what we truly are, of our free and divine nature.

And here, again, is how it gets simple:

What burdens the Heart are stressful thoughts and emotions. That’s all; there is nothing

else.

Like an oppressive crust, stressful thoughts and emotions cover the Heart much of the time

and refuse us entry into this most sacred space within us. If we free ourselves of these

stressful thoughts and emotions, the mind will become peaceful and clear and our feelings

will come into balance and harmony. This is what the Skills for Awakening do. Then we will

have access to the grace waiting for us in the Heart.

We can then fill ourselves from the well of unconditional love, and, deeply nurtured like this,

the desire to share this love will naturally arise in us. So the blessings will spread and we will

take part in the miracle of love: that as we give it away we get more. This is the root of

universal abundance for there is never a scarcity of love in the Heart. What is limited is only

our present access to it.

So we have work to do; if we want to experience the enlightenment of the Heart – Jesus

called it the Kingdom of God – we must free ourselves of stressful thoughts and emotions.

This can now be done systematically and more quickly than ever before. The time is right.

The human race is in the middle of a quantum leap into a new, heart-centered

consciousness. There is no time to waste; our very survival on this Earth depends on this

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transformation – on your transformation. That is why we are given the Skills, to accomplish

quickly what used to take a long time.

Here are the details on the three primary Skills for Awakening.

The Heart

HeartSourcing allows us to drink from the well of unlimited love right now. If you can

become still enough and focus inward into the Heart Cave, you can feel a subtle sensation. It

is the flow of Heart Essence. It is the water of life. It may flow like a trickle at first, a few

drops at a time. But with practice you can open this well until the trickle becomes a stream

and the stream a great river.

If a river of love flows from your Heart, the aspects of your life that have looked like a desert

will green, will come to life. Your desert will become a garden with many flowers, a paradise

that nurtures you and anyone you come in contact with. The Heart has such power.

The Emotions

To allow the waters of life to flow we must get free of the burdens of stressful emotions. We

have not understood our feelings. We have chased after the good ones and tried to escape

from or repress the bad ones, we have indulged and complained. It hasn’t worked. When we

treat our emotions poorly they always come back.

So now we do the exact opposite. With Open Attention we open to our feelings and we pay

close attention. This allows stressful emotions to dissolve and with them the patterns of fear,

discontent and confusion we have suffered again and again. Open Attention – or Presence,

as it is also known – dissolves the pain body, our patterns of stressful emotions.

And the Thoughts

We need to learn to see through our stressful thoughts and beliefs so they lose their binding

and blinding effect on our consciousness. Imagine if you could be completely at peace with

your mind. That is what The Work of Byron Katie can do for you. Through a simple

sequence of 4 questions and a process called Turn-arounds you can see through the mind

itself and discover the liberating truth which has been hidden from you. This truth will set

you free.

We are neither our stressful thoughts nor our emotions. We are the liberating force in the

Heart. We have fallen into a trance of no longer recognizing the light and the love we carry

in us. It is time now to awaken. This awakening is not left to chance: you can systematically

pursue it. As you clear away the debris of limiting thoughts and emotions, the grace inherent

in the core of your being will arise and transform your world.

Of course we learn and practice one Skill at a time. So where should you start?

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Again this is simple. If you’re drawn to experiencing the bliss of the Heart, begin with

HeartSourcing. If you are under the spell of stressful emotional states, Open Attention might

be the place to start. And if you suffer from conflicts and stressful thoughts and beliefs, The

Work may be where to begin.

You will find out if one or the other of the Skills is working best for you. Then go with that

one. Your preference may change over time. You can combine the Skills any way you like

and use them with other methods or skills. Use what is most helpful to you. Trust your inner

guidance. If you listen to the voice of the Heart it will guide you correctly.

What is most important is to have a clear and strong yearning for freedom and then act on

it. The forces of confusion and suffering are strong. The darkness may be very deep. But it

cannot survive the awakening of the light. When the Light of the Heart awakens, the

darkness is already gone.

………………………

What you can do next:

You can subscribe to any of the free offerings on our website, choose any of our recordings

on how to apply the Skills for Awakening to a particular challenge, or get the study courses

on HeartSourcing, Open Attention or The Work. Beyond that there are many other ways we

offer support.

And then I invite you to practice. Practicing is the key. Knowing the Skills will do next to

nothing for you. Practicing them can do everything.

Thank you for your time. I hope to meet you in a state of ever increasing freedom and love.

………………

The Goal of this Practice

To see through stressful thoughts and beliefs

So they self-liberate.

To feel through stressful emotions and body sensations

So they self-liberate.

To experience the true nature of mind –

Peace and emptiness.

To experience the true nature of Heart –

Unconditional divine love.

To drink from the well of the Heart, now and forever

And share the love with all beings.

Unconditional divine love can be self-arising

Or come though the vehicle of transmission.

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Great masters of divine love act like a magnifying glass,

Focusing universal love into our personal lives

The Place of Ultimate RefugePosted on September 17, 2010

Life is full of pain sometimes, where do we turn to find some relief?

Look at your fear, depression, anxiety, worry. They are all about the past and the future, are

they not?

Now bring your attention to the present moment. Not ‘sort of,’ but really come into the now.

Get focused on the breath. Feel it streaming in and out. Then go even closer. Let the mind

become very still and pay close attention to every smallest part of each breath. Then, when

your attention is truly focused in the Now, look around you. Are you safe right now? Can you

handle this moment?

Now where is your pain? Can you find it?

It can’t exist in the Now. Since all pain and fear are about past or future, when you take

those away you take away the breeding ground of suffering. In the Now you are free and you

have found relief from your suffering.

Practice that again and again and even the strongest suffering will weaken and eventually

melt away.

Heart Opening PoemPosted on November 23, 2009

Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening,

Kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night.

If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water,

I would have asked to be born a fish in this life.

If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts,

Then surely the saints would have been monkeys when they came from the womb!

If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves,

Then the goats would surely go to the Holy One before us!

If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way,

I would have adored a granite mountain years ago.

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Mirabai says: The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.