Quotes on Awakening

"Divine happiness, even the tiniest particle of a grain of it, never leaves one again; and when one attains to the essence of things and finds one's Self-this is supreme happiness. When it is found, nothing else remains to be found; the sense of want will not awaken anymore, and the heart's torment will be stilled forever. Do not be satisfied with fragmentary happiness, which is invariably interrupted by shocks and blows of fate; but become complete, and having attained to perfection, be YOURSELF." Anandamayi Ma

"A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in boat. A spiritual aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him." - Ramakrishna

"When you know that you are eternal you can play your true role in time. When you know you are divine you can become completely human. When you know you are one with God you are free to become absolutely yourself." - Mother Meera

"Desire nothing except desirelessness. Hope for nothing except to rise above all hopes.
Want nothing and you will have everything." -Meher Baba

"Fill your hearts with love and gratitude. Life gives us what we need and not necessarily what we want. It follows its own wisdom, which is often incomprehensible to our gross minds. We should learn to accept situations in life. This attitude of acceptance is the secret to happiness." - Mata Amritanandamayi

"The question 'Who am I?' is not really meant to get an answer, the question 'Who am I?' is meant to dissolve the questioner." - Ramana Maharshi

"In the land of "I know," there is always competitiveness, jealousy, pretence, pride and arrogance. It is an aggressive realm - the realm of the ego. I say refuse citizenship. In the land of "I dont know," the inhabitants move without conflict and are naturally quiet, happy and peaceful. The wise stay here." - Mooji

"Instead of searching for what you do not have, find out what it is that you have never lost." - Nisargadatta

"When you are willing to stop looking for something in thought, you find everything in silence." - Gangaji

"When I look inside and see that I'm nothing, that's wisdom. When I look outside and see that I'm everything, that's love. And between these two, my life turns." - Nisargadatta

"If you seek reality you must set yourself free of all backgrounds, of all cultures, of all patterns of thinking and feeling. Even the idea of being man or woman, or even human should be discarded. The ocean of life contains all, not only humans. So, first of all abandon all self-identification, stop thinking of yourself as such-and-such or so-and-so, this or that. Abandon all self-concern, worry not about your welfare, material or spiritual, abandon every desire, gross or subtle, stop thinking of achievement of any kind. You are complete here and now, you need absolutely nothing." - Nisargadatta

Sitting With Sensei

Breaking the Spell

Student - I am sick and tired these politicians that are supposed to be running my country! I finally realized that they're all pretty much the same. I used to think that the liberals were more enlightened, then I switched to the conservatives, but quickly became disenchanted with them. Both factions are beholden to wealthy special interests in banking, big tech, energy, military industrial complex......and the corruption is off the charts! Insider trading, bribery, blackmail, murder! I've done the research and it's disgusting what's going on......
Sensei - Ok, ok, I hear you. Yes, a lot of what you say is true, but you are the government! They're supposed to be working for you, so vote with your voice, your ballot, your actions, your money your attitude, your Reiki, every day! But let's take a deeper look at this..... you thought that the liberals were more enlightened, then became disenchanted and switched to the conservatives, only to be let down by them, so now your viewpoint is that they're all the same. You're angry, frustrated and disappointed because you think that "They're ALL THE SAME!".......
Student - Why have you raised your voice at me Sensei? You just like, pretty much yelled at me!
Sensei - I'm not attacking you so don't take it personally. I'm trying to break the spell that you're under; the "They're all the same" spell! You say they're not enlightened, they're all the same, but "They're all the same" is not an enlightened viewpoint. You've made a sweeping generalization. You've taken your big broad mental paint brush, dipped it in a bucket of paint, and in one sweeping stroke of the brush, you've condemned every one of them. You've painted them all the same color, canceled their culture, which is actually very interesting and colorful. If you would just cool off a bit and think about it, I'm sure you could make a long list of great statesmen and women, diplomats, soldiers etc......but no, in your mind, there are no unique individuals. Do I need to remind that variety is the name of the game in this universe? You look but you don't see!
Student - But......but......well, yeah I guess some of them are at least trying to be decent.....
Sensei - Yes of course they are, but let's take this out of the realm of politics and into the realm of spirituality. "They're all the same" is a virus that we all suffer from. It divides and separates us. We are all just human beings with mind, body and spirit, yet we constantly label each other. "They're all the same" is always a lie, yet the dualistic tendency of the mind keeps us trapped in opposites - good / bad, black / white, hot / cold.......and by the way, I personally have never seen one single white person in my whole life, have you? If you ever saw a person with snow white skin, you would think what the hell is wrong with this guy! Is that a Halloween costume?
Student - You're funny Sensei! (belly laughing). You're preaching to the choir....... I totally get it. I'm not prejudiced and have always endeavored to see the divine in everyone and everything.
Sensei - Thank you! (jolly wide eyed smile). I know you know better than to write off every politician as evil. But I have to admit, when you said they're all the same, you pushed one of my biggest buttons. "They're all the same" is at the top of my pet peeves list! I grew up in a family that was very judgmental, and when I began to wake up and found my first spiritual teacher, he drove me crazy by berating me every time I judged a person, a group or even myself. I was cynical, self righteous and had low self esteem. It took me a long time to realize that I was putting other people down because it gave me a false sense of superiority. I thought I was a tough guy......angry, edgy, hip, rebellious......I cursed a lot......fuck this, fuck that, piece of shit, goddamn mother fucking piece of shit....
Student Sensei!! I can't imagine you talking like that......(laughing)
Sensei - Yes, that was me! Everything came to a head one day when I was really angry because I had gotten in a fight with my girlfriend and she had broken up with me. In my mind it was very simple. I was right and she was wrong, therefore she was bad. I was really upset, but my usual rage-aholic behavior had begun to break down at that time in my life, and underneath it was a deeply wounded inner child. I knew I needed help but I had alienated all my friends and family and had just lost my girlfriend. The only person I could lean on was my teacher. I told him what happened but I was desperately blaming her, ranting, justifying......then suddenly he stood up, grabbed me and shouted "STOP IT!! YOU ARE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!", a statement which on the surface made no sense. But at that moment it was as if a huge brick wall around my heart came crashing down. I was sobbing uncontrollably! He comforted me......
Student - Wow thanks so much for sharing this! I had no idea.....you never talked about that time in your life......that must have been a major turning point for you!
Sensei- Yes it was. I was not a bad person. I knew I was smart and talented. I had had some success in life. Like everyone else, I had good days and bad days. I could be kind......but I was angry and frustrated because every time my life started to get really good, and it seemed like my dreams were coming true, something bad would happen to screw it up. I didn't realize how I was sabotaging myself! That breakthrough was pivotal because it revived my inner child. It broke the black magic spell! After that, I began to be able to feel deep compassion for myself and others. My talents gradually blossomed to a whole new level. The funny thing was that my teacher had been playing the "You are that" trick on me for a long time and it really irritated me. Every time I would project my shadow on a person or group, he would say "You are that!". I was very political at that time in my life and one day I was going off on a U.S. president who in my mind, was no better than Hitler. He shouted "YOU ARE HIM!!" at me and I lost it. I threw a punch at his face. I should have known better. My teacher was a world class martial arts instructor! My fist never came close to his face and within a fraction of a second I was on the floor and my teacher was laughing hysterically!!
Student - Haha!! You mean you were studying martial arts with this guy?
Sensei - Yes, and he was my first spiritual teacher.
Student - Right, ok, yes, I know all about the spiritual aspect of martial arts. I never studied them but I love the great martial arts movies.....The Seven Samurai, Drunken Master, Enter The Dragon,
Fist Of Legend, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.....
Sensei - Yes, I've seen them all! I learned a lot about life from that teacher. He really understood chi and all his students had to read the Tao Te Ching. We would meditate for 15 minutes in every class!
Student - You were very fortunate to have found that teacher. He must've seen a lot of himself in you......the way he took you under his wing.....
Sensei - Yes, he was a fantastic father figure for me. My birth father was an angry, abusive alcoholic who beat my mother. I drank for a while in my teens but I had vowed to never end up like my father. When I started practicing martial arts, I gave up smoking and drinking. I wanted to be like my teacher - clean, clear, vibrant.....and the guy was in his 70's! Nobody could touch him. He could fend off any attack from his most advanced students. What amazed me was how effortless, graceful and spontaneous he was. When asked how he did it, he would say "I love my opponent and become one with them". This sounded ridiculous to me at first, then I began to understand it conceptually, but I couldn't feel it in my heart until after he broke down my heart wall. I didn't fully understand this until years later, but it happened after the fight with my girlfriend because I had been projecting my feminine shadow on her. When he shouted "YOU ARE YOUR GIRLFRIEND" it energetically gave me permission to embody my suppressed feminine side. It was a deeply cathartic soul retrieval! To make a long story short, I became interested in healing after that and found a new teacher. He was a Reiki Master and after he initiated me.......well for now, I'll just say this - I realized that my ego is not my amigo! The rest is history as they say.
Student - Ahh, now it all makes sense! You vowed to never end up like your father but you almost did. You were dumping on your girlfriend....... Wow, I'll bet your martial arts moves became more fluid and effortless after that - that's the feminine kickin' in!
Sensei - Yes, martial arts are like any other art form. The passive and active / Yin and Yang must complement and balance each other. I'll leave you with this - The goal is to find that perfect point of equilibrium, that eye of the needle between the extremes, and pass through it into the land of peace and freedom. The key to liberation is to recapitulate inward, to go back before the bifurcation into opposites and gender, back into our original source state of unity in the One Heart. This may seem like a hopelessly lofty and altruistic task, yet it is our true natural state, and it takes much more effort to maintain separation from it than to let go back home into it. Let's meditate in the One Heart!
Student - Thank you Sensei!! Yes, let's let go back into the One Heart!