Dreams

Originally Posted by Viswa

Impressive. These words - 'choiceless awareness','dreamer and the dream','fundamental reality','consciousness','advaita','Karma,jnana,Ra ja' (Just devotion left), 'do-nothing' (5star ad - humour) and it's combinations, remainds me of 'somethings'. But, never mind. Thanks a lot.

Devotion/Bhakti has never been my strong suit. I suppose that's why I put Catholicism aside in my teens and wandered the agnostic woods for decades.

I can't emphasize how important and transforming do-nothing meditation has been for me. That combined with the tenets of Jnana Yoga has been the key for me and Karma Yoga has been an add-on after the fact.

Do-nothing meditation also referred to as resting in awareness, choiceless awareness and Shikantaza. Just like mindfulness meditation, which I also practice, it becomes more and more a state of being outside of formal sitting dependent on the investment in practice. Highly recommended.

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Devotion/Bhakti has never been my strong suit. I suppose that's why I put Catholicism aside in my teens and wandered the agnostic woods for decades.

I can't emphasize how important and transforming do-nothing meditation has been for me. That combined with the tenets of Jnana Yoga has been the key for me and Karma Yoga has been an add-on after the fact....

Glad to hear this. I think you might be interested in Science & Psychology. In your free time, you might also check Donald Hoffman (scientist) & Krishnamurti (one of them who made Bruce Lee to feel 'Let flow'), Ramana Maharshi. They are one of the modern 'non-dualist' deep observers. And institutes of K's like KFA and forums are making a good platform for meeting and exploring/inquiring. You might check them. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Viswa

Glad to hear this. I think you might be interested in Science & Psychology. In your free time, you might also check Donald Hoffman (scientist) & Krishnamurti (one of them who made Bruce Lee to feel 'Let flow'), Ramana Maharshi. They are one of the modern 'non-dualist' deep observers. Thanks again.

Been there.

When I dived into consciousness studies it was from all perspectives. Neuroscience, psychology, philosophy of mind, physics, meditation. At one point I was quite taken with the Orch-OR hypothesis put forth by Penrose & Hameroff and to a lesser extent by Hoffman's Conscious Agents.

Here's a consciousness playlist I put together on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...XfywQvhBzzdrQA

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Devotion/Bhakti has never been my strong suit.

Yeah, well, ya big lug ---you just wait ---one day you're
gonna be drowning in Divine Love!!!

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Yeah, well, ya big lug ---you just wait ---one day you're
gonna be drowning in Divine Love!!!

Oh, but I have and at the substrate level of Ananda too. This is the hardest aspect of SatChitAnanda to verbalize.

At the surface level, the level of duality, it manifests as joy, happiness, love, bliss, ecstasy but there's a substrate underneath it all and that's the bliss of Ananda. One way I would explain it is it's that state of supreme silence and stillness - absolute contentment or completeness and fullness - deep in the meditative state.

So there's the unmanifest Ananda and its manifestation as the emotions of embodied being.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Oh, but I have and at the substrate level of Ananda too.
This is the hardest aspect of SatChitAnanda to verbalize.
At the surface level, the level of duality, it manifests as joy, happiness, love, bliss, ecstasy but there's a substrate
underneath it all and that's the bliss of Ananda.
So there's the unmanifest Ananda and its manifestation as the emotions of embodied being.

For the sake of young people or those not versed in Hindi -
would you say each time we see Ananda,
we could replace that with the word Bliss?

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by Viswa

How to realize and come out of this MAYA?

Way to overcome maya (ie delusions of life ) is
- only through maya
- not shunning/ criticising it
- not succumbing to it
- not running away from it
- not getting drowned in its magnetic pull
- not fearing it
- remembering to discern something beyond ( God ) all the time.

So spirituality does not ask you to leave your your possessions/ occupations / hobbies / status / relationships etc . But it lets u play / juggle with all these in an expert manner and come victorious.You are right that there may be commercial elements in the field of spirituality . But that's ok and we need to give them the value they deserve only and not get deceived in any way . But at the same time its very important to not become extreme materialist . That also can be self damaging.

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 13 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

But, I would say more it is, (ok, for 'me', now)-
'Meditation is: sit and enjoy!'

I like the "sit and enjoy" alternative to "sit and wait" though I can relate to both depending on who is speaking.

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 22 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by Viswa

In your free time, you might also check Donald Hoffman (scientist) & Krishnamurti ..., Ramana Maharshi. They are one of the modern 'non-dualist' deep observers.

Although Ramana Maharshi is one of my favorites and is frequently quoted here by both myself and others, it's good to introduce Krishnamurti to this forum.

I will have to check out Donald Hoffman since I am not familiar with him.

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 27 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by HITESH SHAH

So spirituality does not ask you to leave your your possessions/ occupations / hobbies / status / relationships etc . But it lets u play / juggle with all these in an expert manner and come victorious.

That is an excellent point.

Recently, I have started hanging out with a 28-year-old self-made millionaire whose goal in life is to become a billionaire. He had no interest in spirituality or meditation .... until he revealed that he gets his strength and inspiration by going within. It should be obvious where I went with that.

In any case, we've been discussing the Taoist principle of dual-cultivation which is very consistent with your post. Do both --- juggle them as you put it.