“I think you’re all enlightened, until you open your mouths.”
~ Shunryu Suzuki

“Our self – luminous, open, empty Awareness – cannot be enlightened. It is already the light that illuminates all experience. Nor can a separate self be enlightened, for when the separate self faces the light of Awareness, it vanishes, just as a shadow does when exposed to the sun.
To be enlightened means to know oneself as Awareness and to know that this Awareness is ever-present and without limit or location.”
~ Rupert Spira

“Being enlightened ironically means realizing that there is no separate entity that can be enlightened or unenlightened.
Looking forward to what you think enlightenment might be at some grand point in the future keeps you from seeing the truth of its presence right now.
We are all born to fly. Instead, we sit on the branches afraid of the leap into the unknown. But the unknown is where enlightenment lives.”
~ Enza Vita

“Enlightenment means waking up to what you truly are: pure being.
Spiritual awakening is a remembering. It is not about transforming ourselves. It is not about changing ourselves. It is a remembering of what we are. At the moment of this remembering, if it is authentic, it’s not viewed as a personal thing. There is really no such thing as a “personal” awakening, because “personal” would imply separation. “Personal” would imply that it is the “me” or the ego that awakens or becomes enlightened. But in a true awakening, it is universal spirit or universal consciousness that wakes up to itself. Rather than the “me” waking up, what we are wakes up from the “me”.
Enlightenment is, in the end, nothing more than the ●natural state of consciousness.”
~ Adyashanti

“The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply ●your natural state of felt oneness with Being.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“Anybody who tells you that he has some way of leading you to spiritual enlightenment is like somebody who picks your pocket and sells you your own watch.”
~ Alan Watts

“What did you think about this morning as soon as you opened your eyes? Were you worried about breakfast? Were you concerned with getting too fat or too thin? Were you concerned over your hair or over another person? Were you thinking about your neighbors trying to hurt you? Or someone cheated you? Or somebody stole something from you ten years ago, you can’t get it out of your mind? What do you think about all day long? ●This is what keeps you from enlightenment.”
~ Robert Adams

“The difference between knowledge and enlightenment is that in the ●former a contrast exists between the knower and the known, whereas in the latter there is no such contrast.”
~ Bruce Lee

“Look where there is ●no difference between the known and the knower, where there is no difference between Self and other, where all differences have ceased to exist. Here you will find enlightenment.”
~ Wu Hsin

“The enlightened being ●sees everything in the world as his own Self.”
~ Shankara

“Enlightenment is ●intimacy with all things.”
~ Dogen Zenji

“Enlightenment is the destruction of the sense of duality, which is a barrier to true love. ●Once individuality is surrendered, there is only total love.”
~ Ramesh Balsekar

“There is only one calamity: ignorance. And there is only one solution: enlightenment.”
~ Sadhguru

“Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment.”
~ Nikola Tesla

The mind likes to keep busy. It will
set up some goal for you, and then it
will try to accomplish it. It will make
these brief bliss states your goal,
and then it will make you work hard
to attain them. And then you will
think that you have accomplished
something good, something
spiritual. This is just postponement.
You are postponing enlightenment
until next year, or your next life.

Papaji

I’m not sure I have EVER met a truly enlightened person who hasn’t gone through some really deep shtuff – usually a number of times. What it feels like to me is I’m being poked, even goaded, to get the hell out of lower level mentation and cast off all dualism. Of course the challenges have to come in ways that I think I can’t handle, or how else could I be alerted? Now when a negative suggestion comes I say “thank you, I’ll dismiss you and the side trip I just took back into the dreaded darkness.” I’ve had some God-awful stuff to face but it’s all become part of my waking up. Love you!

THE ESSENCE OF RIBHU GITA: Verse 30
~Prof. N. R. Krishnamoorthi Aiyer.
The following verses constitute the teachings of Siva to Ribhu, who in turn transmits those teachings to his disciple Nidhaga Rishi.
The treatise goes by the name Ribhu Gita.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sahaja Samadhi

1. Remaining alertly aware and thought-free, with a still mind devoid of differentiation of Self and non-Self even while being engaged in the activities of worldly life, is called the state of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi (the natural state of abidance in the Self when all differentiation has ceased). This is called Akhandakara vritti, the ‘I’ of infinite perfection as contrasted with the ‘I am the body’ notion of those who have not realised the Self. (Ch.18, v.40)

*Sahaja (Sanskrit: सहज sahaja) means spontaneous enlightenment, or “spontaneous union with one’s self.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18.40. If all these do not exist, I am, without nonexistence. I am only Brahman, the goal. This only is the endless sorrow. This, indeed, is the changeless, never-ending joy.
(Translated by Ramamoorthy and Nome)

“It’s so simple. … I could put it down for you in two minutes. Whether you’ll hear it, though, is another matter. That depends on your own heart. So here it is: The world is full of sorrow. The root of sorrow is attachment/desire. The uprooting of sorrow is the dropping of attachment. How does one drop attachment? You only look and see that it is based on a false belief—the belief that, without this, I cannot be happy. That’s false.

The moment you see that belief is false, you’re free. Good luck to you. It may take you one minute, it may take you twenty-five years. But the day you see it, you’re free. You’re free as a bird. You’ll be coming up to give retreats, you’ll be talking to presidents. You’ll be meeting popes. You won’t be fazed one bit. You’re free. You’re completely free. You’ll be making an ass of yourself, and it won’t bother you. You won’t bother to impress anybody.

… You don’t give a tinker’s damn what they think about you and what they say about you. You know what that means? Oh, boy, that’s freedom. You’re not bothered about whether they approve of you or they don’t. It’s all right. You’re happy. You don’t approve? All right, too bad; you move on. You’re happy. But that’s because you’ve discovered that your happiness does not lie in these things. You’ve got to see that for yourself. It’s useless reading a book, useless listening to me. You’ve got to see it.”

~ Anthony de Mello

Thx to Anna Bharati Wysocka

ENLIGHTENMENT vs REINCARNATION

This is a thing I don’t really want to talk about but I’m getting that nudge so here goes. The issue is reincarnation and the reason is to see if we can’t allow ourselves a modicum of good, old-fashioned pressure back into our ever-mellowing search for eternal enlightenment.

Why should we want to allow any kind of pressure into our search? It’s because if you’re searching at all, you’ve bought into third dimensional time and space. Of course we could simply opt for the dimension of pure Spirit but I’m afraid we’ve really not fully awakened to it or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

The shocking truth is when we visit the Realm of the Real, we are most probably less than 1% aware. I’m not liking those odds! But still you say so what, what’s the big rush? Why not enjoy myself and go wherever my feelings lead me?

The above questions betray the fact that you are presently entirely wrapped up in the dream of life in matter and its concomitant wheel that goes nowhere – the wheel of karma.

Reincarnation makes perfect sense if you believe in birth and death: it’s well-documented and perfectly logical – if you believe in birth and death! I fully agree with you – the prospect of coming back to start over and try again as who-knows‐what is most disconcerting!

We need to take those aforementioned “odds” very, very seriously and start making our forever-exit plan! Yes, by all means let’s get the hell out of the third dimension … and I mean for good!

You see, not only can you find great comfort in the fourth dimension (and beyond) but you can stay there, and you can do so now!

Jesus had no difficulty seeing the lame man, the dead girl, the loaves & fishes, raging storms, impenetrable walls. But he also saw spiritual reality right where obstacles appeared to mortals. We can too.

How badly do you want to wake up? If you came to realize you’re less than 1% awake and aware, would you want to give up? Would you still take it as flippantly as you have been? Would you continue hanging onto some of your most cherished grievances?

OR WOULD YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER DISPENSE WITH THAT SELF-APPLAUDING EGO THAT HAS CAUSED YOU SO MUCH PAIN THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES ? TIME IS RUNNING OUT !

DrRobinStarbuck

F E E L I N G . E N L I G H T E N E D . Y E T ?

What happens when you die? That’s quite a leap, but most important as it draws you to the real issue in life: is there anything you can do about it?

The author maintains that there is. The entirely unenlightened masses believe they were born into matter and will pass out of it someday. Such a widespread belief in incarnation begets its sister belief: reincarnation.

Many, many cultures hold that we are fully accountable for all our misdeeds since time was invented although they’d use another term than ‘invented’! To them, taking care of our karma is a fulltime preoccupation.

Then there are those of us who revel in being unborn, ergo, undying. But do we have the slightest inkling what we’re talking about? Do we grasp eternal life at all? Or do we mouth sweet platitudes while inwardly wailing “Help Thou mine unbelief (kjv)”?

One thing is as clear as the nose on my face: eternal life is not for some people and not others.

BUT IT CAN SEEM TO BE SO.

That’s where our enlightenment comes in. If we believe with every fiber of our body that we live, move, and breathe in a material form, it will be so for us. Would you agree with that?

So both schools of thought uphold life before birth and after death. But the notion that when the Grim Reaper visits, we’ll be swept up into a paradisaical sublimity is starting to wear thin. When will I get to the point of what we can do?

Right now. We live out our beliefs, good and bad. But believing is also wearing very, very thin. It behooves us to open our awareness full tilt and allow a deep and abiding foundation to undergird our awakening.

Awakening to what? Eternal life, palpable and absolute: there’s nothing more reliable. That’s curtains for reincarnation and its horrible karma and it puts the kibosh on a dreamy, holier-than-thou meritocracy reuniting in the sky.

WE’RE NOT STRIVING FOR ETERNAL LIFE – THAT’S A GIVEN. WE’RE STRIVING TO TRULY WAKE UP TO IT.

There. That’s it. That’s what needs to be done. By us.

DrRobinStarbuck

WANT ENLIGHTENMENT ?
How badly do you want to experience the unadulterated realm of pure Spirit – permanently?
You know of course you won’t lose your ability to see all you want or need to see in the world any more than Jesus did!
But just how determined are you? Brutal honesty is a prerequisite! Abandoning the ego is a given. Expectation of a newness in life is helpful and an influx of light is a sign.
There’s nothing quite like the experience of enlightenment: it never leaves you where it found you. In fact it never leaves you at all!
If you’re a person who lives too much in the mind, there’s a slight ray of hope for you here. Use your well-trained mind to learn how to meditate without ceasing.
To get started, meditate as often and routinely as you possibly can. Then discover micro-mini meditations (a second or two) happening ALL THE TIME. Don’t hesitate to welcome them with a celebratory gesture. You’ve just arrived.
drrobinstarbuck .com