A most essential question
What convergence is there between the journey of the ascetic Tibetan yogi Milarepa and that of the little-known great French mystic of the Seventeenth Century, Madame Guyon ? between Ramana Maharshi and the famous sufi Al-Hallaj ? What is the common denominator between these extraordinary beings who, in such apparently dissimilar ways, climbed the rungs leading to the ultimate realization ? Is it not a question of the greatest importance, to conjecture about what is essential and what is of incidental value, about what is truly the core of a practice and what relates to a cultural context and epoch ?
Bhagavad gita : I support this entire universe
/0 Comments/in Hinduism, Right understandingTake it thus, that I am here in this world and everywhere. I support this entire universe with an infinitesimal portion of Myself.
By Me, all this universe has been extended in the ineffable mystery of My being;
Chapters 10.42 & 9.4
Dhammapada : Vigilance is the path to Life Eternal
/0 Comments/in Right understandingBrother Lawrence : Practice of the Presence of God
/0 Comments/in Christianity, Right understanding“Let us think often that our only business in this life is to please God, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity. You and I have lived above forty years in religion (i.e. a monastic life). Have we employed them in loving and serving God, who by His mercy has called us to this state and that very end ? I am filled with shame and confusion when I reflect on one hand upon the great favours which God has done, and incessantly continues to do me ; and on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection.
Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in earnest, let us repair the lost time, let us return with a full assurance to that Father of mercies, who is always ready to receive us affectionately. Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is not He ; He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him : I doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it, receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nothing but sin.
We cannot escape the dangers, which abound in life, without the actual and continual help of God ; let us then pray to Him for it continually. How can we be with Him but in thinking of Him often ? and how can we often think of Him, but by a holy habit which we should form of it ? You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing : it is true, for this is the best and easiest method I know ; and as I use no other, I advise all the world to it. We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him ; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure. This is an argument which well deserves your consideration.”
Brother Lawrence
Kabir : O Friend hope for Him
/0 Comments/in Right understandingO Friend,
Hope for Him whilst you live,
Know whilst you live,
Understand whilst you live;
For in life deliverance abides.
If your bonds be not broken whilst living,
What hope of deliverance in death?
It is but an empty dream
That the soul shall have union with Him
Because it has passed from the body;
If He is found now, He is found then;
If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.
Kabir
The experience of I AM. This is our aim George ADIE
/0 Comments/in Gurdjieff, Right understandingwho can say that they have now within themselves, at this moment, a strong unifying presence?
A strong sense of their own separate individual reality, and also a related state to everything surrounding them here.
This is exactly what we are trying for.
This is exactly what we are aiming at.
That is, an unconditional, present, conscious state.
The experience of I AM. This is our aim …”
George Adie, A Gurdjieff Pupil in Australia (Joseph Azize)
Bede Griffith : Beyond all forms of thought
/0 Comments/in Right understandingBede Griffith
Karajan : The privilege of doing music
/0 Comments/in The role of Great Art.Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) conducting. Austrian conductor c. 1972
« “I have often said to the orchestra, especially to the younger players, ‘Do your best, and love what you are doing, because you are allowed to do this thing.’ By this I mean, they can do what millions of people cannot do. Many people cannot think of playing music or listening to it until six o’clock in the evening. To be involved professionally in a thing as creative as this is a great privilege and we have a duty to make it in such a way that we can help bring pleasure and a sense of fulfillment to those who are not so fortunate.”
Herbert von Karajan
Many of my critics write, and will go on writing, that I conduct too lavishly. That may be so. During my day people have been somewhat extravagant in terms of art and music. I believed this was the right attitude to adopt, and so I’ve supported it. It has something to do with respect towards art, and if this respect is old-fashioned, so be it, I’ve no intention of dissociating myself from it. When I was young, we approached music with a sense of awe and celebrated each such approach as a special event. I can see, of course, that times have changed, that people don’t want to know about respect any longer, and that it is not in keeping with the times to celebrate a concert. People are going to great lengths to make themselves ugly, to wear ugly clothes, and to feel precious little enthusiasm for beauty. I’ve been observing this for years…I know there is nothing that can be done at present to change all this. But no one can expect me to seek a polite or understanding explanation for this, still less that I should agree with it and conform. I belong to a different age. And what I want to preserve for myself and posterity also belongs to a different age.”
Teresa of Avila : This little palace of my soul
/0 Comments/in Christianity”I think, if I had understood then, as I do now, how this great King really dwells within this little palace of my soul, I should not have left Him alone so often, but should have stayed with Him and never have allowed His dwelling-place to get so dirty.”
Teresa of Avila
Ars Moriendi (The Art of Dying)
/0 Comments/in Death, Reincarnation rebirth karmaArs Moriendi (“The Art of Dying”) is the name of two related Latin texts dating from about 1415 and 1450 which offer advice on the protocols and procedures of a good death, explaining how to “die well” according to Christian precepts of the late Middle Ages.
♦Each time an aspirant sinks back into his habitual lower state, it is always his attention, these states cannot become active, nor have any existence. He is placed in a curious situation, faced with a dilemma which he cannot comprehend at first. Through weakness, he is continuously being seduced and deluded into agreeing to enter into this strange sleep, losing the awareness of his being and “dying” every minute of his life without ever realizing what is happening to him. He will gradually come to see what vital role the attention plays in this strange battle for the overcoming of his inner death and on what secret plane the latter is being subtly fought all the while. Read more
Jeanne de Salzmann : I am open to a new intelligence
/0 Comments/in Gurdjieff, Right effort, Time and eternal presentJeanne de Salzmann (1889-1990) in her hundredth year in New York