Supreme Truth

 The following is an extract from conversation between Ashtavakra and King Janaka.
Ashtavakra was a sage in ancient India  and was known to be a very intelligent and spiritually well advanced  who realized self.
 King Janaka was a seeker after the Supreme Truth.
                               _________

Janaka Asked: "Oh Lord, how does one attain to wisdom?

How does liberation happen?
And how is non-attachment attained?"

Ashtavakra replied: "Oh beloved, if you want liberation then renounce the passions as poison, and take forgiveness, innocence, compassion, contentment and truth as nectar. To attain liberation, know yourself as the witnessing consciousness of all these.
If you can seperate yourself from your physical body and rest in consciousness, then this very moment you will be happy, at peace and free of bondage.
Unattached and without form, You are the witness of the whole universe. Know this and be happy.
 Religion and atheism, happiness and misery - all are of the mind, they are not for you. You are not the doer nor the enjoyer. You have always been liberated."
I am the doer," thus has the black serpent of ego bitten you. 
"I am not the doer," drink this divine nectar of trust and be happy.
I am the one pure awareness," thus having burned the forest of your ignorance with this fire of certainty and being beyond sorrow, be happy.

You are that bliss, that ultimate bliss, within which this imaginary world is projected like a snake on a rope.
He who considers himself free is free, and he who considers himself bound is bound.
So awaken in the feeling that you are the unchanging, conscious, non dual soul.
Know that which has form is false, and know the formless as unchangeable and everlasting. From this true understanding one is not born in the world again.
Just as a mirror exists in the image reflected in it, and also exists apart from the reflection. God is within and outside this body.
Just as cloth when analyzed is nothing but thread, this universe when analyzed is nothing but the soul. From the ignorance of the soul this world then appears; from knowing the soul it does not appear. "

Buddha's Teachings

-Practice loving kindness to overcome anger. Loving kindness has the capacity to bring happiness to others without demanding anything in return.

-Practice compassion to overcome cruelty. Compassion has the capacity to remove the suffering of others without expecting anything in return.

-Practice sympathetic joy to overcome hatred. Sympathetic joy arises when one rejoices over the happiness of others and wishes others well-being and success.

-Practice non-attachment to overcome prejudice. Non-attachment is the way of looking at all things openly and equally. This is because that is. Myself and others are not separate.
-Do not reject one thing only to chase after another.

I call these the four immeasurables. Practice them and you will become a refreshing source of vitality and happiness for others.

No man is crushed by misfortune,

unless he has first been deceived by prosperity (Seneca)

Going with the Flow

"In our society, we often use the phrase, “Go with the flow.” Many of us have not given any thought as to what that means. Going with the flow means moving with the flow of events...... moving with the present, and  not fighting against it. The present is also known as “current.”
It is the energy of one event happening after another. By staying connected with the current, we flow with it. With flow, we are no longer resisting the events of our life. We understand that every event that occurs in our life had to happen exactly as it did.


The spiritual person moves with the flow of the present. He doesn’t spend time wishing that this moment were anything different than what it already is. He experiences it, accepts it, and makes a decision about how he will see it. 
He spends no time on how the situation could have been, should have been, or would have been. He accepts now and flows with it."

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Take My Hand

One day Mulla Nasrudin saw a crowd gathered around a pond. A Moslem priest with a huge turban on his head had fallen in the water and was calling for help.
People were leaning over and saying, "Give me your hand Reverend! Give me your hand!" But the priest didn't pay attention to their offer to rescue him. He kept wrestling with the water and shouting for help.
Finally Mulla Nasrudin stepped forward: "Let me handle this." He stretched out his hand toward the priest and shouted at him, "Take my hand!"
The priest grabbed Mulla's hand and was hoisted out of the pond. People, very surprised, asked Mulla for the secret of his strategy.
It is very simple," he replied. "I know this miser wouldn't give anything to anyone. 
So instead of saying 'Give me your hand,' I said, 'take my hand,' and sure enough he took it."