Krishna saw his own self — as the Infinite — In the throng of lovely gopis. They experienced in Krishna, O wonder, Their own self — but as the Absolute. And when, in play, he stole their veils, He wished to see himself in Truth's naked ray. Âtmâ and Mâyâ: light and mirror. God is Love and He loves His image. ~ Frithjof Schuon Playful Reflection In searching for an online version …
Advaita Vedanta
Practice Notes: The Transitivity Train
Among the great sayings (mahavakyas) of the Upanishads—central to the teaching of Advaita Vedanta—we have this one from the Chandogya Upanishad, spoken in a second-person voice, something a teacher might say to a student as a pointing-out instruction: Tat tvam asi. The English translation of this saying is That thou art or Thou art That. And its basic assertion is that Thou—i.e. Atman, your …
Practice Notes: Appetite, Irritation, Ratios
Mood I very much appreciate philosophy--and often find myself with an appetite for such texts, via eastern and western authors alike. But every now and again I'll shift into a mood in which pretty much all I can bear to read are the Ashtavakra and Avadhuta Gitas: the most direct pointing to nondual reality. In such a mood, even Longchenpa--whom I adore--feels a bit too flowery. My appetite is for …
[Read more...] about Practice Notes: Appetite, Irritation, Ratios
Practice Notes: Throwing Shade
Collections I guess it’s not unusual for kids to have collections. When I was growing up, there are three that I recall. The strangest – during my high school years – was beer cans. I didn’t drink beer – have never really liked it, then or now – but somehow ended up collecting beer cans, lining them up on shelves in my bedroom. Go figure. Several years before that, it was stamps: hundreds if …
Booster Engines & Causeless Happiness
The Skillful Use Of Desire In Spiritual Practice For any moment of our existence, there is, on the one hand, the “content”—the specifics of what is arising in our conceptual and perceptual fields—and, on the other hand, our awareness of that content. In Indian mythology, these dual aspects of human experience are described by way of a metaphor. The human bodymind is likened to a tree, within …
The Tenth Man
There’s a lovely story – known as the parable of the tenth man – used to illustrate our propensity to overlook what’s most obvious. The inimitable Wei Wu Wei has even used it as the title of one of his books: The Tenth Man. The tale is typically attributed to the Upanishads, though I’ve yet to find a specific citation, so perhaps this part of it is apocryphal? In any case, for those who aren’t …