Non Duality Teachers

[Goldcup7]

It would be interesting to hear from other forum members about Non Duality teachers they have found useful.

There are several that have been helpful for me, but I'll mention the first one I came across over 25 years ago: Sri Ramana Maharshi. I'm currently reading again 'Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.' It's a comprehensive book on the teaching of Non Duality, full of questions from seekers and answers from the great sage.

[Michael K.]

Blessings Goldcup thank you for this post Ramana Maharshi is indeed a great
master, I have many of his books and have been to his ashram in India twice.

regards michael

[Miss Hepburn]

Ah, yes Ramana M......then you'd have to say Nisargadatta - and his "I Am That" book.

[Unseeking Seeker]

In my view, the thing about non-duality is that what any teacher points out to is an understanding that transcends lower mind and as such in early days, we can at best hear the spoken words as a provisional hypothesis. It is only when we befriend silence that we position ourselves to spontaneously recognise the truth, which we are but know not, since thought spirals consume our attention.

Long back I attempted to read non-dual texts like the book by Nisargadatta ’I am that’ or the Ashtavakra Gita or for that matter Wu Wu Wei but to be honest, at that time what they said seemed like an unsolvable koan. Then partial recognition dawned. Why do I say partial? Because having been, seen and so known, the truth is clear but what is imbibed yet needs to be assimilated.

I like Rupert Spira and Aaron Abke too, as also all teachers who are yet students themselves! In fact, actually all paths lead to the same understanding eventually.

[Goldcup7]

Michael, the ashram visits sound great.

Miss H, 'I Am That' is on my list to get round to reading.

Unseeking Seeker, thanks for that. I find Rupert Spira to be such a pool of wisdom in the ocean of consciousness. I don't know of Aaron Abke, so one to look into. And yes, all paths lead to the Heart. :)

[Unseeking Seeker]

@ Goldcup ~ yes, heart is the centre

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Goldcup7

Aaron Abke. :)

I love him. So simple, so clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGpFWRRTVaU
Perfect talk to get to know him, he gets right to the point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLiT-LTuNlE
Longer one -Q and A form

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

In my view, the thing about non-duality is that what any teacher points out to is an understanding that transcends lower mind and as such in early days, we can at best hear the spoken words as a provisional hypothesis. It is only when we befriend silence that we position ourselves to spontaneously recognise the truth, which we are but know not, since thought spirals consume our attention.

This brings to mind this verse from the Kena Upanishad:

The disciple said: I do not think I know It well, nor do I think that I do not know It. He among us who knows It truly, knows (what is meant by) "I know" and also what is meant by "I know It not."

Intellectual knowing knows it not well but something else cannot say It does not know It.

The eye does not need to see itself to know itself. In fact the eye cannot see itself, however by the very fact it sees it knows its existence.

[Goldcup7]

Originally Posted by J_A_S_G

The eye does not need to see itself to know itself. In fact the eye cannot see itself, however by the very fact it sees it knows its existence.

Love that.

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by Goldcup7

Love that.

It's like "I think, therefore I am" only deeper. Perhaps it's "I experience therefore I am" because we experience thought just like we experience any other object. In consciousness studies and philosophy of mind it's called qualia and the Hard Problem of Consciousness.