"Jiddu Krishnamurti once asked during a talk I attended in Madras, India, in 1983, “Do you want to know

my secret for living without conflict?” He paused, and the crowd nudged closer in anticipation. He
continued, “I do not mind what happens.”"

Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with
leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.

“…I trusted my Guru. What he told me to do, I did. He told me to concentrate on ‘I am’ — I did.
He told me that I am beyond all perceivables and conceivables — I believed. I gave him my
heart and soul, my entire attention and the whole of my spare time (I had to work to keep my
family alive). As a result of faith and earnest application, I realised my self (swarupa) within
three years.”

– Nisargadatta Maharaj

Do realize that it is not you who moves from dream to dream, but the dreams flow before you
and you are the immutable witness. No happening affects your real being -- this is the absolute
truth.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

The Self is the immanent manifest spirit;

don't give it any form, don't condition it in the body form. Once the Self gives up the body,
what is the significance of the body?

~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Q: Swami kept mauna [silence] for at least a year in the 1940s. In those days it must have been
very peaceful and quiet here.
Nowadays the area is filled with the noise of loudspeakers, buses, trucks, radios, etc. I feel that I
would also like to keep mauna for some time. But is there any point in keeping silent when there
is so much noise around?

AS: Mauna means inner silence, not outer silence. If there are a lot of noises and disturbances
outside, we should take them as manifestations of God. If we take the attitude that they are
disturbances, we are resisting ‘what is’. This will only create anxiety within us. If we see all that
is as divine, nothing will ever disturb us.

You should not make judgments about the world. You are thinking, ’A quiet environment is
good; a noisy one is bad’. If you have thoughts like these, you will inevitably get caught up in
the workings of the mind. There is nothing wrong with the world or with the environment you
live in.
The only defects are in the mind which is looking at the world. If you change the outlook of the
mind, the world automatically changes. Alternatively, you can give your whole mind to God.

The saint Jnanasambandhar said. There is a way that we can

live happily in this miserable world. That way is to give our minds to God.'

Bhagavan said: 'Surrender your mind to God and see all forms as God. Have impartial love
towards all beings. One who lives like this, he alone can be happy.'

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p. 318

CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY

Q: What are the passions?

M: They are the same force that is used in meditation, but diverted into other channels.

The news of a devotee's marriage was conveyed to the Maharshi.

Q: Why has he done this? Surely it is a step back?

M: (Laughing.)Why should marriage interfere with his spiritual progress? Unless bodily wants
— such as hunger, thirst, and evacuation — are satisfied, meditation cannot progress.The results
of vichara, meditation, are will-power, developed concentration, control of passions, indifference
to worldly objects, virtue, and equality to all.

Q: Isn't brahmacharya (continence) necessary?

M: Brahmacharya means 'living in Brahman'.

It has no connection with celibacy as is commonly understood. A real brahmachari finds bliss in
Brahman, the same as Self.

Q: But isn't celibacy a requirement for yoga?

M: Yes, it is. It is one of many aids to realization.

Q: Isn't brahmacharya essential? Can a married person realize the Self?

M: Certainly! Married or unmarried, a person can realize the Self because it is here and now. It is
only a matter of the fitness of the mind. Have there not been people living with their spouse and
family yet attaining realization?

Tidak akan pernah ada ‘bukti’ tentang Kebenaran, Realitas…kecuali ‘menjadi’ Kebenaran, Realitas itu
sendiri….
If you truly want to repent, just sit in silent meditation and see the perfect reality within, for all
manners of error merely arise in erroneous thought, and like the morning due before the rising
sun, can perfectly be eliminated through the benevolent light and wisdom.

Om, shanti, shanti, peace.

When we meditate like this, it's for the purpose of emptying the mind. The mind is like a garbage
can. It's full of preconceived ideas, thoughts, concepts, not only from this life but from previous
lives. There's a lot of stuff in that mind. In truth there is no mind, but as long as you're expressing
concepts, ideas, opinions, then we will talk of a mind.

As you sit in silent meditation and you watch your thoughts, observe how they come and they
go. Observe the kind of thoughts that come to you. We do not try to change them. We do not
repeat affirmations. You merely watch the thoughts and they leave of their own accord.

- Robert Adams, There is no Birth

Let the world alone.

Trying to overcome the world is a mistake.
Not trying to overcome the world is also a mistake.

Trying to become realized is a mistake.

Not trying to become realized is a mistake.

You are to be your Self but do not try

to comprehend what the Self is.
You are to be free but do not try
to comprehend what freedom is.
You are to be happy but do not try to
figure out what happiness is.
You are to become peaceful but do not
try to comprehend peace.

You are to be.

Not this and not that.
Just be.

There is nothing to become.

There is no thing to achieve.

There is no sadhana that is better

than any other sadhana.
There is absolutely nothing
you have to do.
When you catch a hold of what I'm saying
your mind becomes perfectly still,
and ultimately disappears.

Robert Adams

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Planting seed

Pay no attention (Thoughts). Don't fight them. Just do nothing about them, let them be, whatever
they are. Your very fighting them gives them life. Just disregard. Look through. Remember to
remember: 'whatever happens -- happens because I am'. All reminds you that you are. Take full
advantage of the fact that to experience you must be.

You need not stop thinking. Just cease being interested. It is disinterestedness that liberates.
Don't hold on, that is all. The world is made of rings. The hooks are all yours. Make straight your
hooks and nothing can hold you. Give up your addictions. There is nothing else to give up. Stop
your routine of acquisitiveness, your habit of looking for results and the freedom of the universe
is yours. Be effortless.

When the mind is in its natural state, it reverts to silence spontaneously after every experience or,
rather, every experience happens against the background of silence.

Now, what you have learnt here becomes the seed. You may forget it -- apparently. But it will
live and in due season sprout and grow and bring forth flowers and fruits. All will happen by
itself. You need not do anything, only don't prevent it.

Robert Adams
“Silence of the Heart”
Pages 101-104

I Am is the first name of God. When you want to think of God, you think of I Am with your
respiration. I Am is the first name of God. Close your eyes and try. Inhale and say, “I.” Exhale
and say, “Am.” Doesn’t that make you feel good? Just by saying I Am to yourself, it lifts you up.
So the thing to do is this: Whenever you have a problem, I don’t care what it is, I don’t care how
serious you think it is, whether it’s worldly or personal, wherever it came from, the secret is to
forget yourself. For the moment, forget about the problem for as long as you can, and do the I
Am meditation. If your mind wanders, bring it back again, and do the I Am meditation.

When I explain this to some people they say, Robert, but you tell us we have to get rid of our
minds. We have to annihilate the mind, not think with it. This is true. This is the highest truth.
But most people cannot do this. Remember Advaita Vedanta is really for mature souls, people
who have practiced sadhana in previous lives. It’s like going to school. Self-inquiry, Advaita
Vedanta, is like the university of spiritual life. You cannot fool yourself.
There are so many people who try to practice Self-inquiry and they give it up. Then I tell them to
surrender, surrender completely. That’s the other way. Again this becomes difficult. They try it
for a while and they always revert back to themselves, your personal self. So, I give them the I
Am meditation.

Everybody can do that. When nothing seems to work, go back to the I Am. It’s really powerful.
Do not take it as simple. I can guarantee you this: if you practice I Am for one day, all of your
troubles will be transcended. You will feel happiness like you have never felt before. You will
feel a peace that you never even knew existed.

As you keep practicing the I Am, your thoughts will become less and less. Your personal self
will go into the background and you will feel an inner bliss. You will begin to feel that it no
longer matters what I’m going through. It makes no difference, because it is God that is going
through this, not me. And God has no problems. You automatically become happy, just by using
the I Am meditation.

In the Bhagavad Gita it says, “Out of a million people, one searches for God. And out of a
million people who search, one finds Him. It’s sort of difficult. That’s how it appears. But, if you
begin to use I Am as a meditation and you allow the I Am to go deeper and deeper, your bodily
consciousness will disappear, and the I Am will take over.

If you want to mix Self-inquiry, Atma Vichara, with I Am, that’s permissible. You can use them
both together. I’ll explain how. Say you’re using the I Am meditation. In between, thoughts keep
popping up. Whether they’re good thoughts or bad thoughts makes no difference, but thoughts
keep interfering. You can now inquire “To whom come these thoughts?” Just observe and watch.

When your mind becomes silent again, you go back to the I Am meditation with your respiration.
When thoughts come again you inquire, “To whom do they come?” As you progress in this
method, you complete the question. “The thoughts come to me. What is the source of me? Who
am I? What is the source of I?”

You begin to feel and see that the “I” that seems to have the problem is not you. You begin to
feel “I” have a problem. “I” am sick. “I” am angry. “I” have no peace of mind. And you begin to
laugh. For the realization tells you, “I” has all these things, I don’t. “I” is the culprit. “I” appears
to want this and need that. So it is with wants, desires and self-aggrandizement. All of this
belongs to the “I.” Who is this I? Where does it come from? If the “I” isn’t really me, then who
am I? And you keep still.

Now you may go back to the I Am with respiration. You inhale and you say I. You exhale and
say Am. As you progress this way, you’re going to find out something interesting happens to
your life. You’re going to find there’s more space between I Am. It will happen by itself. You
will inhale and you will say I, and all of a sudden, nothing will come out of that. Then you will
exhale with Am. You will inhale again and say I. Remember you’re not putting this on, you’re
not making this happen. It’s happening all by itself and the space between I Am is the fourth
dimension of consciousness. After waking, sleeping, dreaming. It is the state of the Jnani. It is
your freedom. It is Pure Awareness. And when you keep practicing, “Who am I?” alternating
with both of them, there will be a greater space before you say, “Who am I?” again.

That space is bliss. You’ll feel something you’ve never felt before. An inner joy. An inner
delight. You will just know that the whole universe is the Self, and I Am That. As the months
progress, the words become less and less. You may start off with I Am, and then you will be in
the Silence. You will not say another word. You will just experience the Silence. That Silence is
Nirvana, Emptiness. It is no thing. It is the nothing I was talking about. You will just sit in the
Silence.

ONE FORM OF EGO

M: The ego is described as having three bodies, the gross, the subtle and the causal, but that is
only for the purposes of analytical exposition. If the method of enquiry were to depend on the
ego’s form, you may take it that any enquiry would become altogether impossible, because the
forms the ego may assume are legion. Therefore, for purposes of jnana vichara, you have to
proceed on the basis that the ego has but one form, namely that of aham-vritti.

D: But it may prove inadequate for realizing jnana.

M: Self-enquiry by following the clue of aham-vritti is just like the dog tracing its master by his
scent. The master may be at some distant, unknown place, but that does not at all stand in the
way of the dog tracing him. The master’s scent is an infallible clue for the animal, and nothing
else, such as the dress he wears, or his build and stature etc., counts. The dog holds on to that
scent undistractedly while searching for him, and finally it succeeds in tracing him.

- Maharshi’s Gospel, Aham and Aham-Vritti 87

“To go beyond samsara and nirvana, we will need

the two wings of emptiness and compassion.
From now on, let us use these two wings
to fly fearlessly into the sky of the life to come.”

~ H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

YOUR SENSES DECEIVE YOU

People ask me strange questions. It's strange to me but not to them I guess. For instance someone
asked me this week,

"How come all the great Sages died of disease, not all of them but some of them, like Ramana
died of cancer, Nisargadatta died of cancer, Jesus was hung on the cross?" And the question was,
"If these people are so great, why did they suffer so?"

And I can only laugh when I hear a question like this.

The answer is who sees the suffering? For whom is there suffering?
This is why in my predicament, people say I've got Parkinson’s disease. And they try to help me
with remedies and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing because I see perfection.
Perfection is all there is, oneness, ultimate reality, there is nothing else.

But you say, "But I see these people suffering, do my eyes deceive me?" And then I answer,
"The sky is blue," when someone takes me outside and say, "Robert, look at the beautiful blue
sky," so I agree, but I know in reality there is no sky and there is no blue! It just doesn’t exist!
It’s an optical illusion – a mirage in the desert – there appears to be an oasis with water but when
you get closer there is only sand. It's the same thing. Your eyes deceive you, your senses deceive
you, things are not like they appear.

All is well and everything is unfolding as it should. There are no mistakes. No mistakes have
been made, no mistakes are being made, and no mistakes will ever be made. Everything is
perfect just the way it is. Consequently when you see a condition, before you judge you have to
ask yourself, "Who sees that condition? For whom is that condition?"

- Robert Adams, transcript 3

Mara:
“Oleh siapakah makhluk ini diciptakan?
Di manakah pencipta makhluk ini?
Di manakah makhluk ini muncul?
Di manakah makhluk ini lenyap?”

Bhikkhuni Vajira:
“Mengapa sekarang engkau menganggap ada ‘makhluk’?
Māra, apakah itu adalah pandangan spekulatifmu?
Ini bukan lain hanyalah timbunan bentukan-bentukan:
Tidak ada makhluk di sini.

“Bagaikan, dengan merangkai bagian demi bagian,

Kata ‘kereta’ digunakan,
Demikian pula, ketika kelompok-kelompok unsur kehidupan muncul,
Ada konvensi ‘makhluk’.

“Itu hanyalah penderitaan yang menjelma,

Penderitaan yang berlangsung dan lenyap.
Bukan lain hanyalah penderitaan yang muncul,
Bukan lain hanyalah penderitaan yang lenyap.”

Will I awaken in this life? Will I become free in this life or do I have to go on playing games like
everybody else, making believe, when will I awaken?" And it's very funny to me. My answer is
never! You'll never awaken!
It's like the water in the mirage asking,
"When will I become real water?
How long do I have to be a mirage?
When will I become the real water?"
Of course it will never become the real water.
For the mirage can never become anything but a mirage."

“He alone sees truly

who sees the Lord the same in every creature...
seeing the same Lord everywhere,
he does not harm himself or others.”

~Bhagavad Gita

Even when the consciousness goes, you

prevail - you always are - as the Absolute.
All this knowledge has dawned on me, I am
not that knowledge. The knowledge "I Am"
and all its manifestations, are understood.
In that understanding, I am not That.

~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Remember again, your body came to this earth because of karma. And it's going to go through
whatever is has to go through. But you've got absolutely nothing to do with that because you are
not your body. But if you think about it you spoil it. Subsequently, allow your body to do
whatever it came here to do. Do not interfere. Do not fight. Simply observe. Do not react. You
will be okay. You've got to watch yourself because most of the time inner feelings are really
habit energy from past lives. Most people believe their inner feelings. Most of the time it's a
bunch of nonsense, because to whom comes the inner voice? To the mind. Yes. It's all part of
astral planes, mental planes, causal planes. It all has to do with your body. So you have to ask
yourself, "To whom does the inner voice come?"It would in the mental plane. When we're
speaking of the mental plane we speak of distinguishing between instinct and intuition. They're
both the same. When we're talking about this path we realize that intuition, as well as instinct
comes to the ego. It is the ego that feels these things. The Self is omnipresent. There's no room
for anything else. It's emptiness, nirvana, the unborn.Your body will go on living anyway. It'll
take care of itself. And all those thoughts come from the ego. But do not concern yourself with
what you should eat, what you should wear, or where you should go. There is something within
you that guides you. It'll direct you when you become still, when you make the mind quiescent,
quiet, calm. You will then be guided to know what to do. It is true that some people use their
intuition and accomplish great things. But how long does it last before it attracts misery to it? As
long as you're living in the world of cause and effect, the world of duality, for every good there's
a bad, for every bad there's a good. For every up there's a down. Don't be fooled. You use your
intuition, you hear voices, and they guide you and tell you to do this, and you become successful.
And you think you did something good.Nothing is superior to the Self. Be your Self, abide in
your Self and you'll never go wrong. But when you hear voices it comes out of your mind.
You're trapped. The mind is very powerful.

~Robert Adams ~

TEACHINGS OF SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, SPIRITUAL SON OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

Q: "Maharaj, in spite of all my efforts, my mind is still restless. How can I curb it?"

“Practice japa and meditation regularly. Do not miss even one day. The mind is like a spoiled
child -always restless.
Try repeatedly to steady it by fixing it on the Chosen Ideal, and at last you will become absorbed
in Him.

If you continue your practice for two or three years, you will begin to feel an unspeakable joy
and the mind will become steady. In the beginning the practice of japa and meditation seems dry.
It is like taking bitter medicine.

You must forcibly pour the thought of God into your mind,
then as you persist, you will be flooded with joy.
What a tremendous ordeal a student goes through in order to pass his examination. To realize
God is a far easier task! Call on him sincerely with a tranquil heart…”

Open. Empty.
What comes, goes.
Open. Empty.

Natal bukanlah
waktu atau perayaan,
tetapi keadaan pikiran.

Untuk menghargai
kedamaian dan kebaikan, untuk
dilimpahi dalam kemurahan hati,

dan Ibadah sesungguhnya adalah

saling menghormati perbedaan karena
perbedaan itu adalah anugrah bukan pilihan.

.•☆*´¨`☽
( ☆* SELAMAT NATAL~★
´`★.¸¸¸. •°´♡ ¸.★*´♡
Semoga Natal membawa Damai,
sukacita, pengharapan, dan berkah
yang berkelimpahan menyertai keluarga.

"There is nothing I can give you which you have not got,
but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today.

Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!"

You are the Solitary Witness

of All That Is,
Forever free.
Your Only Bondage
is Not Seeing This.

~Ashtavakra Gita