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The Exquisite State of Enlightenment

Posted on June 10, 2014
Earth School Phase Four:
The Exquisite State of Enlightenment
An excerpt from Ramgiris forthcoming book HeartSourcing: Finding Our Way to Love and Liberation
Learn more about Ramgiris book here!
All rights reserved.
Enlightenment is a state of Oneness, of absolute simplicity. This makes it impossible for the mind to
grasp, for our thinking is not made to comprehend the One but the many in duality and opposition. We
have glimpses of oneness and they make us hunger for more. The danger is that after glimpses of this
sublime experience the ego grabs hold of them and we think we know. All the conflicting theologies of
the world have been created this way and have led us astray. There are as many ways to describe
higher states of awareness as there are beings describing them. Words and concepts can never fully
express the great mystery of enlightenment because the highest experience is embedded in absolute
silence. No description can ever capture the truth, as the authors of the Upanishads knew when they
wrote, Neti, neti its not this, and its not that. And so, out of my limited experience I will attempt
to share with you what little I understand. May it shed some light on your way.
We live with a very constricted sense of self to which we are deeply accustomed. Our normal way is to
identify with our thoughts, emotions, behavior and the physical body. We are imprisoned by ignorance
of our true identity. The sign of that is our suffering. Then one day there is a shift and suddenly a much
vaster perception opens up. We discover that what we are is not an ego inside a body, but the vast
field of consciousness within which the ego, the body as well as all of creation appear. This
consciousness is forever free, clear and limitless. Where we have previously identified with a small
individual wave, now we come to realize that we are the cosmic ocean itself. Where our identity
seemed locked into this mortal body, now we realize that what we are is not at all limited to this
temporary form. We are not the body, mind and emotions we call I, but pure consciousness,
immortal, unlimited and blissful.
I remember many moments of this: unexpectedly awareness expands and finds itself vast and
unlimited, without center and end, blissful, void and free of all fear. Within this vastness the body and
individual self appear. This vastness is the taste of Brahman, the eternal, unchanging, infinite reality. It
is both immanent throughout this creation and it transcends it. In it appear all matter, energy, time,
space and existence. It is the matrix in which all creation arises. This vastness conceives, projects and
observes this small temporary I, which continues for a while until it dissolves. It is lovely, this
manifestation of who we are in the world, but what we really are, the unlimited Self, is such a much

greater truth, such a state of profound freedom from fear and from pain, such a complete expression
of love. The immensity we are is never caught up in the dream of the world it creates; it is not the
dream, nor the one caught in the dream, but the dreamer. And it is more even than that.
This experience brings a sublime state of freedom. It is enlightenment. It is immortality. It is our
graduation from Earth School into Self-realization. With no confusion or obstacle left, you have become
the manifestation of grace, wisdom and love in this world. After many times of awakening and
forgetting again, you have come to the realization that you are what you have been seeking. You are
free. You have come to the end of the path.
An ancient Indian text, the Ashtavakra Gita expresses it this way:
You are the endless sea
In whom all the worlds like waves
Naturally rise and fall
You and the world are one.
In this realization you no longer live for yourself, but for and through all the people you touch. You live
in Oneness with everyone and everything. You are unmoving within the constant movement of life,
peaceful and clear. You are in harmony and your heart radiates your joy into the world. You have
arrived here and now, where you have always been and you are fully awake to this moment just as it is.
This alone is true happiness. It is unshakable and unending. Your identity is no longer a separate and
limited ego housed in a bag of skin, but the boundless field of awareness in which all creation,
including your body, appears and disappears. Nothing can harm you. You remain in this world by choice
out of compassionate love for all beings. You have become the light of the world. You have now become
a teacher in Earth School. You have awakened to your true Self.
We live in a great time, full of promise and difficulties, when darkness is giving way to new light, a
time of turmoil when humanity is coming out of the stage of materialism to reach a higher awareness.
We are witnessing the dawning of an age of more compassion and wisdom. Our world will not change
overnight. Much of the change will be difficult and hard won. But inevitably a new consciousness is
emerging. We can see this in the appearance of new teachers, methods, and skills, and as an intuitive
knowing inside our hearts. We are guided internally. We are creating spiritual community in countless
forms. New awareness is awakening everywhere. And while we may tend to get overwhelmed at times
by the troubles and cares of this world, we can remember the prophetic words of the great sage
Ramana Maharshi: Let Him who created this world see to its maintenance. Meanwhile find out who
you are.
Although we see all around us how the old consciousness is desperately trying to stay in control, it
cannot succeed. When a higher principle comes into being, power resides in the new life being born,
even though it may not seem that way when youre feeling the labor pains or when the new life is still

fragile and young. For us as individuals, as well as for the collective, birthing and raising a new
consciousness pushes us to our limits. This is scary, but it teaches us to question not our capacities but
our limits. And it shows us that the immensity we are safely brings this new life into being.
It is not that the world is coming to an end, but layers of the old fear-dominated consciousness are
being shed like the worn-out skin of a snake. It is an immense birthing process with contractions that
can be fierce when the shadow contents emerge in their last big fury before they dissolve. We may fall
back time and again into the fears and terrors of our past conditioning, only to awaken again each time
as the phoenix of consciousness rises from its own ashes. This process of forgetting and remembering,
of surrender, death, rebirth and renewal can be dramatic, but it is always guided from a higher source
and is therefore completely safe. Any fear we experience is like the fear in a dream. It feels so real at
the time, but once we awaken we realize that all the while we have been completely safe. When we
do slip into old mind-sets, it helps to remember that the relief and the peace we seek are already fully
present in us and it is there we can find them. Knowing this we can consciously open to the astounding
reality of what is being bornour own intrinsic freedom and love.

The Path to the Mountains

Posted on November 6, 2014
>> The following is an except taken from Ramgiris book HeartSourcing:Finding Our Way to Love and
Liberation, released Sept. 2014
Our quest leads not only to the end of time, the NOW of the mind, but also to the end of space, the
HERE of the heart. To be present in both is the gift of all gifts. It is possible for us to open our heart in
the Now so completely that we are in love with all things. It is possible for us to see the divine
presence everywhere, even in darkness and intense pain, our own and that of others. Thenand not
beforeour journey is done. There is a path to that place.
How do we reach this great goal of enlightenmentof living in the Now and in unconditional love? It is
simple and inevitable. Time reasserts itself in the timelessness of the first hilltop and we take the first
step.
And down we go into the valley ahead. Oh no! We want to stay high; we love it up here in the pristine
air of the hills, in the pure Here and Now, in clear view of the goal, not bothered by the
inconveniences and problems of life. But to overcome our troubles for good, we must meet them with
skill so they clear the way for us to proceed. Many have tried to steer clear of the dark valleys, but we
cannot avoid ourselves for very long. Once we have the goal of spiritual liberation, our obstacles
become the pathway to our freedom.

The first purpose of sadhana, spiritual practice, is to cultivate the ability to live in the present
moment. We experience the Now countless times; gradually these experiences become deeper and
more lasting. The second goal, which is not separate from the first, is to love. This is how we
build sadhana shakti, the power generated by spiritual practice, which culminates when the soul
force fully realizes its identity with the Absolute Self and no longer falls into confusion. But until we
live in this absolute oneness, we are still in training. As long as our heart still closes, there is a path.
On this path it is not life itself, but our stressful reactions to life that disrupt the pristine quality of
the Now and plunge us into a valley. External things are what we get upset about, but what upsets us
are our stressful thoughts and the way we become entangled in negative emotional habits. People and
situations do not have the power to make us suffer, no matter how challenging they may be. All
suffering arises within us. We cannot change the world, but we can change the way we react to the
world. This is the key to freedom.

How Not to Fall Back Into Suffering

Posted on November 3, 2014
When we have a powerful awakening experience it creates ripples, like a rock thrown into a pond. Ive
experienced this ripple effect since going into the heart so deeply last Sunday, with the feisty old pain
body throwing at me whatever it could come up with to get me to fall unconscious and suffer. I notice
that the darker emotions that emerged this week have not had the power to swallow me up, except for
moments so I could learn. It seems that the intuition I had holds true: that going deep into the heart
can create such permanent change.
Yesterday evening this became most obvious. I entered a very light expansive state, an elation and
peace in which I sensed the fruit of what I had experienced. The experiment seems to be working: Let
the heart-sun shine strongly enough on the puddles of negative emotions and thoughts and they will dry
up.
That makes me think of devotion, the systematic cultivation of unconditional love and the deep
gratitude for any moment of life. And especially I am grateful to you for being interested enough in my
ramblings so I can hear myself explain these things to you and to me, for I am learning this as we go
along.
Again I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. It will make this experience even fuller for all
of us. We are all waking up together.

The Liberating Power of the Heart Essence

Posted on October 23, 2014
This past week it has become increasingly clear to me that we have direct access to the pure essence
of the heart. It is a feeling, a sensation we can become aware of by stilling the mind and directing our
awareness to the heart center (in the middle of the chest).
People use different words to describe the feeling, but I have so far not found anyone who was unable
to sense it after looking/sensing/listening for it deeply and with concentrated attention. Some are
aware of frequent interference by thoughts and the usual mental noise, but even so the essence could
be felt clearly in moments.
Because of the importance of this awareness of the heart essence it strikes me that all of humanity has
not known to tap into this source forever. And that is of course exactly what is the matter with us: we
have become lost in the mind and its fears and it is time now to break this hypnotic spell cast by our
stressful thoughts and emotions. We have believed that we need these thoughts and emotions to be
safe in a world we have perceived as unsafe, and nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality it is our perception of danger, based on our case of mistaken identity (I am this body and I
have to protect it, etc) that creates the danger. The perception becomes the reality in which we
flounder until we have the presence of mind to see through our mental self-entrapment. This spell can
be broken by repeated and eventually continuous focus on the heart essence. I call it Drinking from
the Heart.
Ramana Maharshi said: When the mind gets absorbed in the heart, the ego I, which is the center of
the multitude of thoughts, vanishes
It seems Freedom cannot be described more clearly. We are all capable of allowing the mind to get
absorbed in the heart.

Stillness in Action
Posted on October 8, 2014
There is formal meditation and stillness in action. Meditation is a core skill; if we make it a daily habit,
it will soon be a constant source of rejuvenation and peace. Before long we wont want to miss even a
single day of our practice. But to practice stillness, one doesnt necessarily have to sit still. Stillness
comes from clear and peaceful awareness, not simply from lack of movement. Most people experience
moments of stillness in action when they are doing some activity they love. When our actions come
from the heart, everything we do is part of our spiritual practice.
One of my favorite ways to experience stillness in action is through sculpting. As my fingers work with
the clay, my thoughts take a vacation. In this type of activity, the thinking mind would merely get in
the way. There is a deeper intelligence that runs the show very well. I see and feel in my sculptures
what is being birthed in myselfa sense of order, beauty, warmth, and insight, reality experienced with
a clear and untroubled mind. When I sculpt images of Indian deitiesthe elephant-headed Ganesha,
the majestic grandeur of Shiva, the warm presence of the Divine Motherthese deities come alive for
me. They are symbols of the enlightened mind, of deep wisdom, of the ways the human soul has
expressed the mystery of divine love.

As the sculptures come to life in my hands, I feel blessed by the life they are giving me. All action can
be like this. Making a sculpture is not different from doing the dishes, driving a car, sorting through
papers, discussing a project, or turning a screwdriver. We are always creative. To the extent we are
present in the here and now, we live in the great peace that gives birth to all action, even while
performing everyday chores. Stillness helps us to be aware.
When we attune ourselves to stillness, we can get in touch with the heart.
Once we can sense stillness in what we love, we can learn to love whatever we do. We can find
stillness while jogging, working, cooking, or cleaning. We can remember to enjoy stillness in the middle
of a conversation, when waiting in line, or while paying our bills. Just like space, stillness is always
present. It means to stay centered in that silent space in the heart. Maintaining an awareness of
stillness is an act of devotion in which everything we do becomes sacred.
As we cultivate an awareness of stillness, the old unconscious ties to our suffering loosen and the pain
body dissolves. Stillness means to become more self-aware. Stillness is peace.
What would happen to our habitual dramas if stillness permeated our mind? Who would we be if we
were internally peaceful and present during our normal activities? Do we really function better when
we are driven by worries and wants, deadlines and commitments, or when we act out of the clarity
that comes from inner peace? The answers are obvious, but to overcome the minds unconscious

addiction to turmoil, intellectual insight alone is not enough. It has to become gut-level realization.
Practicing stillness can take us there.
Stillness is everywhere; we can sense it if we take the time to tune in. It makes our old negative habits
transparent and they will cease to control us as much. As we pass through a valley, moments of stillness
can remind us of the peace and harmony of past peak experiences. They will be more than a memory;
we will feel them again as they encourage and strengthen us and put us back in touch with who we
really are.

Lovers dont finally meet somewhere.

Theyre in each other all along.
- Rumi

THAT Which Can Truly Fulfill You

Posted on October 16, 2013
You are made to fall in love, because in your innermost core thats what you are: pure, unconditional
love.
We are all made to fall in love and we do. We fall in love with humans and with divine beings and
while the essence of love is the same, the outcome is usually quite different.
Human love tends to get entangled with attachment and need. As soon as it does, we lose the pristine
purity of the moment, the breathless awakening to the brilliant wonder of our innermost Heart. Then
personality habits take over and personalities dont love, they want stuff.
Thats a downgrade of our experience; we lose the moment and inadvertently plant the seeds of
disappointments, rejection and pain. After a while we are afraid to open. We build walls of protection
around our heart and they become our prison. Love, the way you know it, too often turns into a
frustrating struggle. How can you get it right?
Sacred Love
The great scripture of India, the Ramayana, advises us: Take all the strings of your desires and wind
them together into a rope. Then, with that rope, tie yourself to the feet of the Lord.
These are potent instructions for divine love, and they guide us to the secret how this divine love can
transform our human love. Instead of giving up your desires, find THAT which can truly fulfill you. The
Lord, in whatever form, is the one Source of true love. The place to find Him or Her is within our own
Heart.
There is the Source of the love that will never abandon you.

If you have a relationship with a divine beloved, with Jesus, Krishna, the Goddess, a guru or
enlightened sage, then you already know the taste of the sweet nectar of your own Heart. If not, then
HeartSourcing can open you to that love.
As potent and wonderful as devotion to an external form is, in the end we must find the beloved in us.
Perhaps one morning you get up and are shocked to see the one youve been waiting for, looking at you
right from your bathroom mirror.
How could you have missed it?
Its easy, just listen to your usual morning mantras: Oh, those wrinkles! Not so young anymore! Life is
a struggle. I made too many mistakes. Perhaps I dont deserve real love. And enlightenment? Thats too
much to ask for. Those morning conversations, half conscious, but filled with a sense of less, a quiet
sort of giving up. Like a barbed wire fence such beliefs keep us out of our Heart.
But beyond the pain and the disappointments, there is still and always that brilliant lover, that
enchanting beloved, in the sacred core of our soul, beckoning. It is our true Self in the Cave of the
Heart, what we really are, non-dual and blissful, not just loving something, but love itself.
You may have forgotten it for quite a while. But once remembered, this vibrant and vivacious love will
be as ready for you as it ever was.
This is HeartSourcing Yoga, the path to enlightenment through the love of the Self. It makes use of the
secret of secrets: that in your center you are always whole. From here, from the deepest core of your
being, from the presence of the divine in you, this love can nurture and heal your wounded self.
It eliminates fear of love. It quiets the mind. It infuses your entire being with an irresistible, brilliant
love that begins to radiate from you effortlessly. It is immensely attractive. But it doesnt come cheap.
The price for this happiness is your negative mind. It will cost you your emotional pain, all the hurts
and fears you hold on to. You have to surrender your habits of self-sabotage. It will cost you your
struggle.
Are you willing to pay?
If you are, begin to focus the mind in your innermost core. Install it there with the help of a mantra.
See in the center of your chest a brilliant light, an effortlessly radiant sun that shines its light and
warmth into all the parts of your being. Receive it deeply, until you can feel it in every cell of your
body, until it dissolves the places of emotional pain, until it illuminates your entire mind.
This is the genuine taste of the Heart. It is the river tasting the sea, realizing that its true nature is
none other than ocean.

The Four Types of Silence

Posted on August 14, 2012
Our thoughts are almost continuously restless. This is the nature of the thinking mind. It is seeking,
restlessly, for relief from its self-created tensions, for its essential enlightenment, for the peace of the
heart. This seeking is in itself a sign of our coming awakening.
Behind the stream of thoughts, our inborn intuitive intelligence, the higher mind, is waiting to be
discovered. It is consciousness of pristine clarity, able to discern what is true and what is false, and
ultimately able to recognize its own enlightenment.
This higher mind is pure and ever undisturbed. Its nature is peace. Through dailysadhana (spiritual
practice), the judging, worrying, suffering mind becomes transparent to its own wisdom, its essential
enlightened nature.
Clarity of mind is like the vast sky, limitless and unobstructed. Clouds of thoughts and stressful
emotions drift through at times, but the sky doesnt mind. To enjoy this pristine nature of mind, we
can cultivate four successive stages of silence.
1. Silence of Speech
The first silence is control of speech. It comes from the effort to restrain angry, hurtful, and insulting
speech as well as from the wisdom of knowing when to speak and when it is better to stay silent.
It is about restraining the impulse to let our thoughts run out through the mouth; its about being
aware of the impact of your words on others and the cultivation of kindness in speech.
Consciously containing speech, and perhaps practicing silence (mauna) on certain days, is a potent
practice of managing energy. It can make us aware of just how turbulent our thinking is, and control it.
It has been said that silence is golden, because of the immense value or inner awareness.
2. Silence of the Senses
The second type of silence is withdrawal of the senses. Known as pratyahara in yogic language, you
may experience it as a distinct sensation during meditation. At first your mind is busy with its worldly
concerns, but you sit still, not feeding its outward movement. After a while there is a distinct shift
when the mind lets go of its outer focus and turns inward. It feels peaceful and self-contained.
Withdrawal of the senses can come in less noticeable ways and allow you to be more present and selfaware. It naturally happens every time you go to sleep.
Developing the Silence of the Senses is essential for overcoming the distractive tendency of the mind.
3. Statue-like Silence
The third type of silence is known as statue-like silence. It comes in deeper states of absorption, when
you temporarily abandon all effort of concentration in meditation, when the mind becomes still and
you exist for a while in the still space between thoughts.

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Deeply rejuvenating, inspiring and relaxing, these moments of profound inner stillness are a taste of
the lower levels of samadhi (super-consciousness). They are direct insights into increasing levels of
freedom, deeply nurturing and profound. They are however only temporary; you return again to the
outwardly focused and often distracted mind.
Effort is required to experience any of these three states of silence, because in all of them the
outward-moving force of the mind is being restrained. Like stepping-stones into increasing levels of
peace, they lead us eventually beyond all effort into:
4. The Silence of Sleepless Sleep
This is the silence of the intuitive intelligence of the Self, the vast ocean of consciousness, recognizing
itself in all things. It is the mind of oneness and unlimited, divine bliss.
This sublime state is natural, spontaneous, and completely effortless. It is the peace that passes all
understanding. It comes as we develop the realization of the unreality of all passing phenomena, and
with the intuitive insight into the reality of the soul.
When the mind is filled with impressions of the profound meditation of the Self, the desires and
aversions of the ego are gradually replaced by pure thought-waves. The ego becomes transparent and
the mind clear.
Through this process, a yogi experiences the boundless freedom of the inner Self. He does not depend
on anything external for his happiness. He is no longer conditioned by outer events and circumstances.
He is like someone who awakens and is no longer upset by the contents of his dream.
While normal sleep gives us a moment of freedom from the mind and its problems, the sleepless sleep
permanently transcends all worries of the mind. Great clarity and peace replace the tensions of I and
of mine. Even while awake and active, such a sage is ever immersed in his peace.
When this silence attains its fullness, it is known as turya, the state beyond waking, dream and deep
sleep. In this state the yogis consciousness has shifted from identity with the body-bound ego
to oneness with the vast ocean of Self. The entire world, along with our body and personality, is a
small wave on the surface of this limitless ocean. It is ever undisturbed by the movement of the waves
on the surface. It is unchangeable and immortal.
The supreme Silence of Sleepless Sleep arises in a state of super-consciousness that needs no external
support, but can embrace all things with absolute love and compassion. This state of peace is the true
home of all souls.

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Drinking from the Heart!

Posted on October 19, 2011
an Excerpt taken from Ram Giris forthcoming book:
Practicing HeartSourcing is beneficial anytime, anywhere. This is not just because it feels good, but
because it is a direct way to access the gifts of the Self, theinner guru, the Supreme Reality. The good
feelings you enjoy with HeartSourcing are an emanation of the bliss of God and they will guide you
toward liberation, the Source of real happiness.
The aim of HeartSourcing is to have an open heart in all your activities in order to come closer to the
Self and eventually merge with it. The more you are able to feel the heart nectar, the more it will
attract you. It is the most delicious and enticing sensation and you can give yourself to it completely
because it is completely safe. The first benefit is that you feel good in the moment, but it does much
more than that. With practice, your ego will become more subtle as it identifies increasingly with love,
which dissolves the heavy burden of the pain body. Whatever challenge you encounter, see it as an
opportunity to taste the sweetness of the heart-essence. The place of stress in the body IS the
invitation to the heart to pour its healing essence into it. Anything painful, therefore, becomes simply
another occasion to experience the inner union of Lover and Beloved.
The more your mind dwells in the heart, the more grace you receive. HeartSourcing is a delightful path
because you begin immediately to taste the fruit of your efforts, and its blessings follow you through
all stages of your journey.
You can practice at any moment. Focus on your heart while washing the dishes, while waiting at a red
light, while speaking with someone, while working, playing, or resting. Do it in the middle of an
argument or when you are sick or in pain. Moment by moment, make your life come alive with your
love. And remember to use The Work and Open Attention to help you quickly remove the obstructions
that keep you a prisoner of conditioned existence. Use them to peel away the causes of suffering layer
by layer.
Whether you know it or not, you are always tithing your time and effort either to the Self or to your
ego. At any moment, you strengthen one or the other. By doing nothing and simply continuing to live as
a conditioned, ego-driven mind, you call suffering into your life, because the essence of ego is
suffering. The love of the Self is the most powerful medicine to prevent such a waste of potential.
Inevitably the pain body will interfere with your attempts to become free; it will try to make you
forget your skills when you need them most. But if you have cultivated a steady habit of practice and
have the support of spiritual friends, your chances are much better that you will remember to meet
life in the most skillful way. In this way you can make sure that the next valley will be as short and as
shallow as possible.

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The Wisdom of Vasistha

Posted on July 29, 2010
One of the greatest books of the wisdom literature of this planet is the yet little known Vasisthas
Yoga. The following is a quote from it regarding self-inquiry and the Heart:
If one has achieved even a little bit of control over the mind by self-enquiry, such a person has
attained the fruit of his life. For that self-enquiry will expand his heart.
This of course is exactly what we are doing with the Skills for Awakening. Vasistha continues:
When such enquiry is preceded by dispassion [or: detachment] and has attained stability by practice,
all the noble qualities resort to it naturally. Ignorance and its retinue do not bother one who is fully
established in self-enquiry and who sees what is, without distortion. When he has found his foothold
in the spiritual ground, he is not overcome by the robbers known as sense-pleasures.
Practicing self-inquiry with The Work gives you that stability. You can first observe it by noticing how
you react less to situations and people that used to upset you. You become calmer, more peaceful and
in control of yourself. This is a control without force, a natural peacefulness and mastery. This is true
knowledge. It frees us from the constant distractedness of the undisciplined mind that is craving for
and running after sense pleasures. Notice that there is nothing wrong with pleasures; it is the desire for
them that throws you off balance. In true peace you can enjoy whatever comes, may it be labeled
good or bad. This is dispassion, the foundation of lasting peace. In that peace the Heart can be wide
open.

The Best Kept Secret in the World

Posted on April 27, 2010
How does it start? Some day you have an experience and your world shifts. Suddenly or gradually
you come to realize that Spirit is true, that there is a dimension of grace you can enter. At that
moment God steps out of a book and becomes a real presence for you (even though you may not relate
to a God, which is fine.)
The result is: You have entered spiritual life.
This experience can be a moment of deep inner peace, of being fully alive in the here and now; it may
be an experience of emotional harmony or a great opening of the Heart. These are the kinds of
decisive experiences after which your life may never be quite the same.
Then we go on a journey. We lose the experience and want it again. A yearning has been awakened.
What can we do?

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We learn about spiritual practice. We sit still for hours, turn our bodies into pretzels, make pilgrimages
to teachers or shrines and especially read lots of books. It is all good.
And where do we end up when we finally arrive where we are going?
We end up once more in deep inner peace, being fully alive in the here and now; we feel again that
emotional harmony or that great opening of the Heart.
We return to where we began, in grace, in the breath-taking presence of Being or God. Inside
ourselves. In the core.
We end up where it all began wiser, much more solid, our mind peaceful, our Heart vibrant, big and
alive.
The journey is a cycle from you to you, from now to now. You get lost in the middle, even while trying
to find yourself. You want to shorten the time it takes to get back to what you are seeking. You are
confusing yourself by your seeking.
There are 10,000 things to do while trying to get back to that place of pure grace. Most go in circles.
Which are the few that take you straight back to yourself? Which ones dissolve the internal tensions
that keep you in internal exile from grace? Which ones can nurture you so deeply you get the stamina
to face your own demons and not in 10 life times, but now?
This journey is not a walk in the park, you may have noticed. It is the greatest adventure bar none
open to human beings.
On this road you will have to face any terror your mind can dream up and overcome every habitual pain
and confusion.
And the payoff is eternal life. No cheap goal by anyones standards.
So again the question: what can take you there? What can give you the access to the pure essence of
this highest goal?
Perhaps not surprisingly it is the pursuit of the experiences that began it all. The experiences you will
be established in when you have arrived, when you have crossed the ocean of confusion and pain to the
other shore of divine bliss.
The essential practices are to step directly into the Promised Land. To stop the 10,000 distractions
and yes, even those that are labeled spiritual practice and enter the Heart, which in its unlimited
richness is always waiting for you to come home.
Always waiting. Still waiting. YOU are in there, still waiting.
And I know, so many will read these words and not understand. So let me say it again:
Your Heart is available to you this moment. It is as far from you as the Now. It is the central core of
space, as the Now is the core of time. The core contains everything. Why not return to that core in you
now?

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Oh no, so many say, I have to continue my sadhana, my spiritual practice and they wind their legs
around their ears and sit their bottoms flat and read the 20 th book that tells them the same thing they
cannot hear: Its inside you now!
So go there! But you cant. Your thoughts and emotions get in the way. You follow them rather than
your hidden instinct that says Stop it all. Stop. Listen to what he is saying. Let it come in. Maybe
there is something to this
There are 3 skills you need: Clear the mind quickly and effectively. Bring your confused emotions to
harmony. And drink from your Heart the Essence of love that you are secretly aching to feel.
It is the best kept secret in the world. It is secret because we keep it secret from ourselves. We have
become lost in a trance state. Somehow we can say the words and believe them; Its all inside. And
still we dont look. Still we dont become still enough to feel the ravishing Heart Essence. Still we are
lost.
I sit with people and I see myself in them, the way I was: tense, the body shifting, the mind not at
rest. There is no space for peace to get in. There is no rest in pure love.
Not yet.
But if you want it, stop. Stop now. Make a huge foolish decision to love yourself absolutely! It makes
absolutely no difference what people think of you.

Your Guide to Using the Skills for Awakening

Posted on November 17, 2009
Open Heart Peaceful Mind
Your Guide to Using the Skills for Awakening
Overcoming the causes of your suffering is of greatest importance. Your health and well being, your
peace of mind, your happiness and family harmony rise and fall with it and so does your ability to
perform your best at work and in your private life. If you dont address it skillfully, your suffering will
not only cost you enormously, it will also not go away.
So l ets make something that can appear extremely complex very very simple.
Whats so complex and can be very confusing is how to fulfill the human desire to be free of pain and
gain a lasting and deep state of happiness. This is the basic impulse in all beings toward liberation. This
is why you are listening to this recording. Reaching this greatest of all goals appears so difficult and
complex because the ways we are unfree and conflicted appear limitless. But they are not.
Here is how it becomes uncomplicated and simple:
At the core of our being lies the Spiritual Heart. All the happiness, peace and unconditional love that is
possible is already there, in each human Heart. The Heart is already and always enlightened, and when

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it opens we have increasing access to this unlimited well of grace. The inner reality of our Heart
contains dimensions upon dimensions of universal, divine love, without end. To live fully out of this
Heart is full enlightenment.
But our Hearts are closed much of the time. They are burdened and often we do not have access to this
well of grace. When we look at what burdens the Heart we can point to many things: pain from the
past, disappointed hopes, fear of the future, all the things we wanted and didnt get, and all we had to
contend with that we did not want. All this inner turmoil creates confusion, the forgetfulness of what
we truly are, of our free and divine nature.
And here, again, is how it gets simple:
What burdens the Heart are stressful thoughts and emotions. Thats all; there is nothing else.
Like an oppressive crust, stressful thoughts and emotions cover the Heart much of the time and refuse
us entry into this most sacred space within us. If we free ourselves of these stressful thoughts and
emotions, the mind will become peaceful and clear and our feelings will come into balance and
harmony. This is what the Skills for Awakening do. Then we will have access to the grace waiting for us
in the Heart.
We can then fill ourselves from the well of unconditional love, and, deeply nurtured like this, the
desire to share this love will naturally arise in us. So the blessings will spread and we will take part in
the miracle of love: that as we give it away we get more. This is the root of universal abundance for
there is never a scarcity of love in the Heart. What is limited is only our present access to it.
So we have work to do; if we want to experience the enlightenment of the Heart Jesus called it the
Kingdom of God we must free ourselves of stressful thoughts and emotions. This can now be done
systematically and more quickly than ever before. The time is right. The human race is in the middle of
a quantum leap into a new, heart-centered consciousness. There is no time to waste; our very survival
on this Earth depends on this transformation on your transformation. That is why we are given the
Skills, to accomplish quickly what used to take a long time.
Here are the details on the three primary Skills for Awakening.
The Heart
HeartSourcing allows us to drink from the well of unlimited love right now. If you can become still
enough and focus inward into the Heart Cave, you can feel a subtle sensation. It is the flow of Heart
Essence. It is the water of life. It may flow like a trickle at first, a few drops at a time. But with
practice you can open this well until the trickle becomes a stream and the stream a great river.
If a river of love flows from your Heart, the aspects of your life that have looked like a desert will
green, will come to life. Your desert will become a garden with many flowers, a paradise that nurtures
you and anyone you come in contact with. The Heart has such power.
The Emotions

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To allow the waters of life to flow we must get free of the burdens of stressful emotions. We have not
understood our feelings. We have chased after the good ones and tried to escape from or repress the
bad ones, we have indulged and complained. It hasnt worked. When we treat our emotions poorly they
always come back.
So now we do the exact opposite. With Open Attention we open to our feelings and we pay close
attention. This allows stressful emotions to dissolve and with them the patterns of fear, discontent and
confusion we have suffered again and again. Open Attention or Presence, as it is also known
dissolves the pain body, our patterns of stressful emotions.
And the Thoughts
We need to learn to see through our stressful thoughts and beliefs so they lose their binding and
blinding effect on our consciousness. Imagine if you could be completely at peace with your mind. That
is what The Work of Byron Katie can do for you. Through a simple sequence of 4 questions and a
process called Turn-arounds you can see through the mind itself and discover the liberating truth which
has been hidden from you. This truth will set you free.
We are neither our stressful thoughts nor our emotions. We are the liberating force in the Heart. We
have fallen into a trance of no longer recognizing the light and the love we carry in us. It is time now
to awaken. This awakening is not left to chance: you can systematically pursue it. As you clear away
the debris of limiting thoughts and emotions, the grace inherent in the core of your being will arise and
transform your world.
Of course we learn and practice one Skill at a time. So where should you start?
Again this is simple. If youre drawn to experiencing the bliss of the Heart, begin with HeartSourcing. If
you are under the spell of stressful emotional states, Open Attention might be the place to start. And if
you suffer from conflicts and stressful thoughts and beliefs, The Work may be where to begin.
You will find out if one or the other of the Skills is working best for you. Then go with that one. Your
preference may change over time. You can combine the Skills any way you like and use them with other
methods or skills. Use what is most helpful to you. Trust your inner guidance. If you listen to the voice
of the Heart it will guide you correctly.
What is most important is to have a clear and strong yearning for freedom and then act on it. The
forces of confusion and suffering are strong. The darkness may be very deep. But it cannot survive the
awakening of the light. When the Light of the Heart awakens, the darkness is already gone.

What you can do next:

You can subscribe to any of the free offerings on our website, choose any of our recordings on how to
apply the Skills for Awakening to a particular challenge, or get the study courses on HeartSourcing,
Open Attention or The Work. Beyond that there are many other ways we offer support.

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And then I invite you to practice. Practicing is the key. Knowing the Skills will do next to nothing for
you. Practicing them can do everything.
Thank you for your time. I hope to meet you in a state of ever increasing freedom and love.

The Goal of this Practice

To see through stressful thoughts and beliefs
So they self-liberate.
To feel through stressful emotions and body sensations
So they self-liberate.
To experience the true nature of mind
Peace and emptiness.
To experience the true nature of Heart
Unconditional divine love.
To drink from the well of the Heart, now and forever
And share the love with all beings.
Unconditional divine love can be self-arising
Or come though the vehicle of transmission.
Great masters of divine love act like a magnifying glass,
Focusing universal love into our personal lives

The Place of Ultimate Refuge

Posted on September 17, 2010
Life is full of pain sometimes, where do we turn to find some relief?
Look at your fear, depression, anxiety, worry. They are all about the past and the future, are they not?
Now bring your attention to the present moment. Not sort of, but really come into the now. Get
focused on the breath. Feel it streaming in and out. Then go even closer. Let the mind become very
still and pay close attention to every smallest part of each breath. Then, when your attention is truly
focused in the Now, look around you. Are you safe right now? Can you handle this moment?
Now where is your pain? Can you find it?
It cant exist in the Now. Since all pain and fear are about past or future, when you take those away
you take away the breeding ground of suffering. In the Now you are free and you have found relief
from your suffering.
Practice that again and again and even the strongest suffering will weaken and eventually melt away.

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Heart Opening Poem

Posted on November 23, 2009
Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening,
Kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night.
If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water,
I would have asked to be born a fish in this life.
If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts,
Then surely the saints would have been monkeys when they came from the womb!
If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves,
Then the goats would surely go to the Holy One before us!
If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way,
I would have adored a granite mountain years ago.
Mirabai says: The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.