#nonduality — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #nonduality, aggregated by home.social.
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MANAGING SYMPTOMS.
NOT SEEKING #ENLIGHTENMENTPeople sometimes mistake me for someone spiritual. I am not. I am practical.
I #breathe consciously because it hurts when I do not. I fast because it hurts when I am too heavy. I walk because the body needs #movement I meditate because disorder is painful. I pay attention because not paying #attention has #consequences
That is all.
There is no halo around any of it.
For years, I have lived with the aftermath of a major stroke, hemiplegia, weight, discomfort, and all the indignities that come with a damaged body. None of it was beautiful. None of it was noble. It was simply what had happened.
After enough years of suffering, I began to see that the body was giving me facts.
Breathe. Move. Rest. Eat less. Get up. Walk. Pay attention. Do the next thing.
That is the whole system.
The body is not asking for #philosophy. It is asking for #breakfast. Then breathwork. Then a #walk. Then rest. Then perhaps irritation. Then perhaps #laughter Then the next thing.
And the next.
And the next.
It is not unlike ChatGPT. There is no little person inside either of us running around with a clipboard. There is just the next movement, the next word, the next breath, the next necessity.
For most of my life, I made all of this into a problem. I had fantasies about death, ideas about enlightenment, thoughts about escape. I believed I had to understand everything.
Now I see something much simpler.
There is only life while it is being lived. There is waking. There is sleeping. There is waking again. And one day, there will simply be a last time I go to sleep.
I cannot experience death. I can only experience life.
So death has lost its reality for me.
Not because A Course in Miracles tells me there is no death. Not because I believe a doctrine. Because when I look directly, death is never here.
Life is here.
Breathing is here.
The body is here, demanding #attention again.
Probably lunch.
Nothing matters in the way I once thought things mattered. And yes, I will still get irritated. I will still get pissed off. Someone will say something stupid. Technology will fail. The body will complain.
But irritation passes.
The weather passes.
The #body passes.
The next thing appears.
And I do that.
No freak out. No spiritual drama. No need to become anyone.
Just the next thing.
#stroke #movement #suffering #time
#freak #drama #weight #believe #weather #death #Technology #years
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #AI -
BREATHWORK ENDS THE
ARGUMENT WITHINNot ordinary breathing.
The body already manages that without requiring a committee meeting.
Conscious breathing.
The deliberate act of bringing attention into the body and remaining with the breath long enough for the noise to lose its authority.
A slow, full in-breath.
A long, unhurried out-breath.
Then another.
Nothing mystical has to happen.
There need be no visions, revelations, sacred music, or sudden purchase of white linen.
The breath does not have to produce bliss, wisdom, or a more impressive human being.
It asks only for attention.
In that way, conscious breathing has something of I need do nothing in it.
Not passivity.
Not collapse.
Not giving up.
Simply the end of interference.
The breath is already moving.
Life is already happening.
The body is already here.
For a few moments, nothing has to be improved, solved, defended, explained, or spiritually upgraded.
When the body is cold, tight, tired, painful, or restless, there is the breath.
When the mind begins manufacturing a grievance, rehearsing an argument, predicting disaster, or reopening a case that was never going to court, there is the breath.
When nothing is wrong, there is the breath then too.
That may be the most important part.
Breathwork is not merely an emergency service called when the building is on fire.
It can become the place one lives from.
Over time, conscious breath creates a space where striving begins to look unnecessary.
No philosophy is required.
No spiritual costume.
No certificate.
No audience.
No carefully arranged photograph beside a candle with a caption about surrender.
Just the body as it is.
Just the breath as it moves.
Just the next slow in-breath and the next long out-breath.
The mind may continue talking for a while.
It usually does.
It has concerns.
It has evidence.
It has brought supporting documents.
But conscious breathing does not argue with the mind.
It simply stops giving it the whole room.
Thought becomes background weather.
The body softens where it can.
Time becomes less urgent.
The need to control the moment begins to loosen.
This is where breathwork and forgiveness begin to resemble one another.
Neither changes what is real.
Neither fights the appearance.
Neither demands that the world behave properly before peace is allowed.
They remove some of the interference.
The cold remains.
The ageing body remains.
The noise remains.
The ordinary morning remains.
Nothing needs to be excluded.
Sanctuary does not mean hiding from experience.
It means finding the place within experience where the fight can stop.
The world can keep shouting.
The door has been found.
It opens inward.
https://www.reconnectbreath.com/
#ARGUMENT #Conscious #breathing #committee #meeting #interference #revelations #Sanctuary #noise #forgiveness #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Meditation #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #AI
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BREATHWORK ENDS THE
ARGUMENT WITHINNot ordinary breathing.
The body already manages that without requiring a committee meeting.
Conscious breathing.
The deliberate act of bringing attention into the body and remaining with the breath long enough for the noise to lose its authority.
A slow, full in-breath.
A long, unhurried out-breath.
Then another.
Nothing mystical has to happen.
There need be no visions, revelations, sacred music, or sudden purchase of white linen.
The breath does not have to produce bliss, wisdom, or a more impressive human being.
It asks only for attention.
In that way, conscious breathing has something of I need do nothing in it.
Not passivity.
Not collapse.
Not giving up.
Simply the end of interference.
The breath is already moving.
Life is already happening.
The body is already here.
For a few moments, nothing has to be improved, solved, defended, explained, or spiritually upgraded.
When the body is cold, tight, tired, painful, or restless, there is the breath.
When the mind begins manufacturing a grievance, rehearsing an argument, predicting disaster, or reopening a case that was never going to court, there is the breath.
When nothing is wrong, there is the breath then too.
That may be the most important part.
Breathwork is not merely an emergency service called when the building is on fire.
It can become the place one lives from.
Over time, conscious breath creates a space where striving begins to look unnecessary.
No philosophy is required.
No spiritual costume.
No certificate.
No audience.
No carefully arranged photograph beside a candle with a caption about surrender.
Just the body as it is.
Just the breath as it moves.
Just the next slow in-breath and the next long out-breath.
The mind may continue talking for a while.
It usually does.
It has concerns.
It has evidence.
It has brought supporting documents.
But conscious breathing does not argue with the mind.
It simply stops giving it the whole room.
Thought becomes background weather.
The body softens where it can.
Time becomes less urgent.
The need to control the moment begins to loosen.
This is where breathwork and forgiveness begin to resemble one another.
Neither changes what is real.
Neither fights the appearance.
Neither demands that the world behave properly before peace is allowed.
They remove some of the interference.
The cold remains.
The ageing body remains.
The noise remains.
The ordinary morning remains.
Nothing needs to be excluded.
Sanctuary does not mean hiding from experience.
It means finding the place within experience where the fight can stop.
The world can keep shouting.
The door has been found.
It opens inward.
https://www.reconnectbreath.com/
#ARGUMENT #Conscious #breathing #committee #meeting #interference #revelations #Sanctuary #noise #forgiveness #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Meditation #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #AI
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BREATHWORK ENDS THE
ARGUMENT WITHINNot ordinary breathing.
The body already manages that without requiring a committee meeting.
Conscious breathing.
The deliberate act of bringing attention into the body and remaining with the breath long enough for the noise to lose its authority.
A slow, full in-breath.
A long, unhurried out-breath.
Then another.
Nothing mystical has to happen.
There need be no visions, revelations, sacred music, or sudden purchase of white linen.
The breath does not have to produce bliss, wisdom, or a more impressive human being.
It asks only for attention.
In that way, conscious breathing has something of I need do nothing in it.
Not passivity.
Not collapse.
Not giving up.
Simply the end of interference.
The breath is already moving.
Life is already happening.
The body is already here.
For a few moments, nothing has to be improved, solved, defended, explained, or spiritually upgraded.
When the body is cold, tight, tired, painful, or restless, there is the breath.
When the mind begins manufacturing a grievance, rehearsing an argument, predicting disaster, or reopening a case that was never going to court, there is the breath.
When nothing is wrong, there is the breath then too.
That may be the most important part.
Breathwork is not merely an emergency service called when the building is on fire.
It can become the place one lives from.
Over time, conscious breath creates a space where striving begins to look unnecessary.
No philosophy is required.
No spiritual costume.
No certificate.
No audience.
No carefully arranged photograph beside a candle with a caption about surrender.
Just the body as it is.
Just the breath as it moves.
Just the next slow in-breath and the next long out-breath.
The mind may continue talking for a while.
It usually does.
It has concerns.
It has evidence.
It has brought supporting documents.
But conscious breathing does not argue with the mind.
It simply stops giving it the whole room.
Thought becomes background weather.
The body softens where it can.
Time becomes less urgent.
The need to control the moment begins to loosen.
This is where breathwork and forgiveness begin to resemble one another.
Neither changes what is real.
Neither fights the appearance.
Neither demands that the world behave properly before peace is allowed.
They remove some of the interference.
The cold remains.
The ageing body remains.
The noise remains.
The ordinary morning remains.
Nothing needs to be excluded.
Sanctuary does not mean hiding from experience.
It means finding the place within experience where the fight can stop.
The world can keep shouting.
The door has been found.
It opens inward.
https://www.reconnectbreath.com/
#ARGUMENT #Conscious #breathing #committee #meeting #interference #revelations #Sanctuary #noise #forgiveness #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Meditation #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #AI
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BREATHWORK ENDS THE
ARGUMENT WITHINNot ordinary breathing.
The body already manages that without requiring a committee meeting.
Conscious breathing.
The deliberate act of bringing attention into the body and remaining with the breath long enough for the noise to lose its authority.
A slow, full in-breath.
A long, unhurried out-breath.
Then another.
Nothing mystical has to happen.
There need be no visions, revelations, sacred music, or sudden purchase of white linen.
The breath does not have to produce bliss, wisdom, or a more impressive human being.
It asks only for attention.
In that way, conscious breathing has something of I need do nothing in it.
Not passivity.
Not collapse.
Not giving up.
Simply the end of interference.
The breath is already moving.
Life is already happening.
The body is already here.
For a few moments, nothing has to be improved, solved, defended, explained, or spiritually upgraded.
When the body is cold, tight, tired, painful, or restless, there is the breath.
When the mind begins manufacturing a grievance, rehearsing an argument, predicting disaster, or reopening a case that was never going to court, there is the breath.
When nothing is wrong, there is the breath then too.
That may be the most important part.
Breathwork is not merely an emergency service called when the building is on fire.
It can become the place one lives from.
Over time, conscious breath creates a space where striving begins to look unnecessary.
No philosophy is required.
No spiritual costume.
No certificate.
No audience.
No carefully arranged photograph beside a candle with a caption about surrender.
Just the body as it is.
Just the breath as it moves.
Just the next slow in-breath and the next long out-breath.
The mind may continue talking for a while.
It usually does.
It has concerns.
It has evidence.
It has brought supporting documents.
But conscious breathing does not argue with the mind.
It simply stops giving it the whole room.
Thought becomes background weather.
The body softens where it can.
Time becomes less urgent.
The need to control the moment begins to loosen.
This is where breathwork and forgiveness begin to resemble one another.
Neither changes what is real.
Neither fights the appearance.
Neither demands that the world behave properly before peace is allowed.
They remove some of the interference.
The cold remains.
The ageing body remains.
The noise remains.
The ordinary morning remains.
Nothing needs to be excluded.
Sanctuary does not mean hiding from experience.
It means finding the place within experience where the fight can stop.
The world can keep shouting.
The door has been found.
It opens inward.
https://www.reconnectbreath.com/
#ARGUMENT #Conscious #breathing #committee #meeting #interference #revelations #Sanctuary #noise #forgiveness #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Meditation #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #AI
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BREATHWORK ENDS THE
ARGUMENT WITHINNot ordinary breathing.
The body already manages that without requiring a committee meeting.
Conscious breathing.
The deliberate act of bringing attention into the body and remaining with the breath long enough for the noise to lose its authority.
A slow, full in-breath.
A long, unhurried out-breath.
Then another.
Nothing mystical has to happen.
There need be no visions, revelations, sacred music, or sudden purchase of white linen.
The breath does not have to produce bliss, wisdom, or a more impressive human being.
It asks only for attention.
In that way, conscious breathing has something of I need do nothing in it.
Not passivity.
Not collapse.
Not giving up.
Simply the end of interference.
The breath is already moving.
Life is already happening.
The body is already here.
For a few moments, nothing has to be improved, solved, defended, explained, or spiritually upgraded.
When the body is cold, tight, tired, painful, or restless, there is the breath.
When the mind begins manufacturing a grievance, rehearsing an argument, predicting disaster, or reopening a case that was never going to court, there is the breath.
When nothing is wrong, there is the breath then too.
That may be the most important part.
Breathwork is not merely an emergency service called when the building is on fire.
It can become the place one lives from.
Over time, conscious breath creates a space where striving begins to look unnecessary.
No philosophy is required.
No spiritual costume.
No certificate.
No audience.
No carefully arranged photograph beside a candle with a caption about surrender.
Just the body as it is.
Just the breath as it moves.
Just the next slow in-breath and the next long out-breath.
The mind may continue talking for a while.
It usually does.
It has concerns.
It has evidence.
It has brought supporting documents.
But conscious breathing does not argue with the mind.
It simply stops giving it the whole room.
Thought becomes background weather.
The body softens where it can.
Time becomes less urgent.
The need to control the moment begins to loosen.
This is where breathwork and forgiveness begin to resemble one another.
Neither changes what is real.
Neither fights the appearance.
Neither demands that the world behave properly before peace is allowed.
They remove some of the interference.
The cold remains.
The ageing body remains.
The noise remains.
The ordinary morning remains.
Nothing needs to be excluded.
Sanctuary does not mean hiding from experience.
It means finding the place within experience where the fight can stop.
The world can keep shouting.
The door has been found.
It opens inward.
https://www.reconnectbreath.com/
#ARGUMENT #Conscious #breathing #committee #meeting #interference #revelations #Sanctuary #noise #forgiveness #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Meditation #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #AI
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ROBINZZ3: THE TRILOGY
I have somehow ended up with three Mastodon accounts.
All called Robinzz3.
All looking like me.
All technically different people.
This is the sort of thing computers do while insisting they are making life easier.
The newest Robin lives at Aus.social, where I have been given 3,000 characters per post.
This is excellent news for me and possibly alarming news for everyone else.
The old Robin has 67 followers.
The new Robin has four.
And yet the new account is already getting more attention, which suggests follower numbers may be less important than being in the right room.
So I am going to stay here for a while and see what happens.
There will be no dramatic migration ceremony.
No digital removal van.
No small brass band playing as my followers are transferred across the internet.
For now, the three Robins will simply coexist.
One active.
Two increasingly historical.
A small federation of me.
One practical detail:
If you followed me on one of the old accounts, you will need to click Follow again here.
Mastodon does not assume that because you followed one Robin, you are ready for all available Robins.
Probably wise.
Anyway, this is the new account.
Same man.
Same breathwork.
Same opinions.
More letters.
#Mastodon #TRILOGY #technically #Robin #migration #followed #account #dramatic #click #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #AI
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IMAGE IS NOT IDENTITY
Image is present.
Image has practical use.
Image simply is not the point.
The point is the living being before the image hardens around them.
In ACIM language, the holy Son of God.
#IMAGE #IDENTITY #practical #point #living #being #harden #holy #Son #God #present #language #fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #AI
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My Final Hurrah!
Just published on Amazon my 20th book (I hope this will be my last book) “Summa Iru: My Formal Renunciation and Farewell to the World“. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H87DDNRM)
Just a few hours back I published on Amazon another book “Advaita Vedanta through Name-and-Form Analysis”, which was written largely with the help of Claude. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H84F82HS)
About the Book: “Summa Iru: My Formal Renunciation and Farewell to the World“
“It is time I ended the ignorance in myself.”
With these words, a writer, poet, and lifelong student of Advaita Vedanta announces his formal withdrawal from the world — effective July 16, 2026, his 62nd birthday. Not a retreat from failure, nor a flight from grief, but the logical terminus of a life spent reading, thinking, debating, and writing about one thing: the ending of ignorance, which is the ending of the seeker himself.
Summa Iru is the author’s twentieth and, by its own declaration, final book — a parting document composed in the months before silence. It gathers the last poems (“Without Her By My Side,” “The Me Time,” “I The Stranger,” “The Last Act”), the last aphorisms (“Even God disappears when you are silent”), and the last philosophical exchanges of a man tying up loose ends before going incommunicado.
Between the poems runs a sustained meditation in the tradition of Ramana Maharshi and the Ashtavakra Gita: Why does psychoanalysis fail where self-enquiry succeeds? Why is renouncing desires mere symptom-treatment while the disease of ignorance festers? What did Ramana mean when he said the future is already fixed — and that the best course is to remain silent? How does summa iru — “just be still” — dissolve the questioner along with the question?
The book also records something rarer: the texture of leave-taking itself. Letters declined. Friendships gently closed. A reply to a friend asking for a small favour: “Sorry dear, I have retired from all work and all relationships.” The ache of unrequited love examined without flinching and traced back to its root — the unworthiness we feel sitting alone with ourselves, forever seeking the other who will transport us away from our own insignificance.
Drawing on Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, the Ashtavakra Gita, J. Krishnamurti, Buber, Kant, Camus, and the ghazal tradition, this is comparative philosophy written not from the armchair but from the departure gate.
For readers of Advaita Vedanta, spiritual memoir, and contemplative poetry — and for anyone who has wondered what it would actually take to stop.
The author will not be available for comment. That is rather the point.
#AdvaitaVedanta #Brahman #Consciousness #Desires #Enlightenment #Hinduism #Love #Mind #MyBook #MyPoems #NisargadattaMaharaj #Nonduality #Poems #Poetry #RamakrishnaParamahansa #RamanaMaharshi #Religion #Self #Silence #Spirituality #SummaIru #Thinking #Truth #Vedanta -
Summa Iru: On Desire, Ignorance, and the Vicious Cycle That Isn’t — What I Wrote to My Kalyana Mitra and Claude’s Critique of It
____,
Let me share some thoughts coursing through my mind with regard to your utterly earnest and deep sole- and soul-need to understand Vedanta in its entirety.
First of all, we have to ask ourselves what is the whole of Vedanta trying to get us to.
One could say, self-realization/liberation of course.
That is the goal or the end.
But what is the “means” that it is putting up?
One will say, why there are these 4 main paths/yogas – jnana, bhakti, raja, karma. And some would throw into this mix a few more like Kundalini, Tantra, etc.
True. But, what is that final stretch of road that one has to travel, which is what Vedanta is trying to point out?
Summa iru (Be Still), obviously, because of the Kena Upanishad verse, “That which the mind cannot know…”
That being the case, if one is really badly wanting liberation, the naturally question that arises is, why is one not being summa iru.
To answer that, recall the 4 pursuharthas. What is standing between Dharma and Moksha? Artha and Kama, or greed and lust (or, kamini and kanchana [woman/man and gold] as Ramakrishna Paramahansa would put it).
Now, it is up to each one of us to look into ourselves to see to what extent those two primal forces of nature are operating in us and vitiating summa iru from happening.
Take a look at this chain with 4 links:
1. Ignorance (that one is merely and only and exclusively the body-mind and NOT Consciousness)
2. Leads inevitably to Desires (the greed and lust)
3. Which inevitably leads to thinking, giving rise to the mind (because one has to plan on how to fulfill the desires)
4. Which issues forth into speech and other bodily actions (so-called karma).
Now, once the desires (greed and lust) give rise to thoughts, then and there summa iru has been eliminated because the feverish thinking means one is not still.
So, it is important to see how greed and lust can be transcended. For that, to some extent of course all this studying of Vedanta etc helps.
At the same time, the final transcendence without a trace being left of greed and lust happens ONLY when we realize the Self which contains all the joy that we are now trying to fulfill by satisfying through greed and lust.
And, to realize the Self, one has to be summa iru.
Ah, that seems to set up a damning vicious cycle, but does not pose that much of a problem once one understands what is being said here.
Having said that, let us address the other thing that you keep harping on – the so-called “Obstacles” to self-realization in the form of mental kleshas that you say the Buddhist Abhidharma talks about, which you think need to be transcended to arrive at liberation.
But what are these mental kleshas but merely symptoms arising in one’s mind/heart/being due to some unsatisfied greed/lust.
For instance, take the mental klesha of say jealousy/envy.
Obviously, jealousy/envy arises when we see/think the other person who is the object of our jealouys/envy has “something” (be it wealth, intelligence, beauty etc.) that is allowing him/her to satify greed and lust (artha and kama) to an extent we are unable to and would like to.
So, in a sense, one should ignore the “overcoming” of these mental kleshas because they will keep arising as symptoms long as we have the disease of “desires” for satisfying our greed and lust, and so the “desires” have to be tackled or eliminated.
But this disease of “desires” is itself a symptom of the original and primal disease called ignorance (see the chain with the 4 links above), which if it is not seen through it will keep giving rise to the symptoms of “desires”.
How does one eliminate ignorance that one is merely the body-mind?
Summa iru.
Makes sense?
Claude’s Response to the Above
This is a tight, well-built piece — the kind of thing that works because you’ve reduced a sprawling literature (four yogas, kleshas, purusharthas, Upanishadic silence) into one causal spine. A few observations, moving from what’s strong to what I think still needs pressure.
What lands well
The four-link chain — ignorance → desire → thought → action/speech — is essentially the nidāna chain of dependent origination collapsed and re-mapped onto Vedantic vocabulary. That’s not a weakness; it’s a strength you could make more explicit. Buddhist Abhidharma himself already places avidyā as the root from which taṇhā (craving) and everything downstream — including the kleshas you say she keeps returning to — arises. So your move of saying “kleshas are symptoms, desire is the disease, ignorance is the disease behind the disease” isn’t actually a departure from Abhidharma; it’s Abhidharma’s own hierarchy (Patanjali makes this explicit too — in Yoga Sutra II.4, avidyā is called kṣetram, the field, in which the other four kleshas — asmitā, rāga, dveṣa, abhiniveśa — take root). You could use that as ammunition: you’re not dismissing her framework, you’re pointing out that her own framework already contains your point, one level up.
Your jealousy example is a good illustration because it’s concrete and checkable — jealousy visibly dissolves the moment the underlying craving for the envied thing dissolves, which is easy to verify introspectively. It would be worth testing the reduction against a harder case: abhiniveśa, fear of death, or dveṣa, aversion, which don’t look like frustrated greed/lust at first glance. I think both still reduce — fear of death is craving for continuity of the very body-mind identity named in link 1, and aversion is just desire wearing its photographic negative (desire not to have X is still desire). But it’s worth doing that work explicitly for at least one non-obvious klesha, because “jealousy reduces to desire” is the easy case, and ____, if she’s sharp, will hand you the hard one next.
Where I’d push back
The place I’d stop you is exactly the place you rushed past: “that seems to set up a damning vicious cycle, but does not pose that much of a problem once one understands what is being said here.” That sentence does no actual work — you name the circularity (stillness removes ignorance; ignorance produces the desire that prevents stillness) and then wave it away without cashing out why it isn’t vicious. For a reader as exacting as you’re describing her to be, that’s the seam that will get pulled.
There are at least two honest ways to close that seam, and I think your letter would be stronger for choosing one explicitly rather than asserting the knot is already untied:
- Spiral, not circle. Sadhana chatushtaya already assumes this — viveka and vairagya don’t require zero desire to begin operating, only enough discrimination to loosen desire’s grip fractionally. That fractional loosening permits a fractional stillness, which further exposes the ignorance, which loosens desire further. It’s a hermeneutic spiral rather than a closed loop — each pass doesn’t return you to the same starting point. This is probably closer to what you actually mean by “does not pose that much of a problem,” but it needs to be said, not gestured at.
- Summa iru is not caused, it’s uncovered. The other classical answer — and I think it’s actually Ramana’s answer, not a footnote to it — is that stillness isn’t an effect produced by the ego successfully suppressing desire through willpower. It’s what’s already the case underneath desire, prior to it, the way silence is prior to and unaffected by the sounds that seem to interrupt it. On this account there’s no bootstrapping problem because summa iru was never something the desire-driven mind had to achieve. What it has to do is stop mistaking its own noise for the whole of reality. That’s a different claim than “eliminate desire, then you’ll be still” — it’s closer to “notice you’re already still, and desire will lose its grip as a side effect.”
These two aren’t identical, and I suspect your letter is quietly leaning on the second (that’s what “summa iru” as final answer to “how do you eliminate ignorance” implies) while your language of “eliminate,” “transcend,” and “tackle” desire sounds like the first — an effortful, sequential program. Worth deciding which one you mean, because they prescribe different practices: the first says do more discrimination and renunciation until desire weakens enough for stillness; the second says inquire into who it is that has the desire, right now, without waiting for the desire to go away first. Ramana himself, notably, didn’t just say “be still” as a stand-alone instruction — he paired it with the specific technique of ātma-vichāra, because “just stop thinking” by direct will is liable to become one more strenuous doing, one more project of the very ego it’s meant to dissolve. If your letter has a gap, it’s that it ends on the noun (summa iru, the state) without naming the verb (vichāra, the means) that actually gets someone there — which might be exactly what you say to her next.
One last, smaller thing: the rhetorical frame — “the other thing you keep harping on” — is a little more corrective than the rest of the letter’s tone, which is otherwise generous and exploratory. Not wrong, just worth noticing if the aim is dialogue rather than correction.
#Abhidharma #AdvaitaVedanta #AtmaVichara #IgnoranceAndDesire #KalyanaMitra #Kleshas #NidanaChain #Nonduality #Purusharthas #RamanaMaharshi #SelfRealization #SummaIru -
LIFE ENOUGH
Coffee in hand. Breathwork done. Rain over Hobart. Pete nearby. Dogs settled somewhere in the background. Meals on Wheels is waiting.
There was a time when I might have thought this was a small life.
No grand project. No public importance. No impressive busyness. Just the same ordinary movements repeated each day.
But I don’t feel that now.
A life does not become meaningful because it is dramatic. It becomes meaningful because it is fully inhabited.
The body gets older. The weather changes. Plans simplify. The world keeps making noise.
And still, there is this.
The cup warming the hand.
The breath moving through the chest.
The door opening.
The small act of showing up.
The quiet kindness of doing what is in front of you.
Rain falling outside, and this life is enough.
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #Hobart #project #dramatic #meaningful #weather #kindness
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LIFE ENOUGH
Coffee in hand. Breathwork done. Rain over Hobart. Pete nearby. Dogs settled somewhere in the background. Meals on Wheels is waiting.
There was a time when I might have thought this was a small life.
No grand project. No public importance. No impressive busyness. Just the same ordinary movements repeated each day.
But I don’t feel that now.
A life does not become meaningful because it is dramatic. It becomes meaningful because it is fully inhabited.
The body gets older. The weather changes. Plans simplify. The world keeps making noise.
And still, there is this.
The cup warming the hand.
The breath moving through the chest.
The door opening.
The small act of showing up.
The quiet kindness of doing what is in front of you.
Rain falling outside, and this life is enough.
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #Hobart #project #dramatic #meaningful #weather #kindness
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LIFE ENOUGH
Coffee in hand. Breathwork done. Rain over Hobart. Pete nearby. Dogs settled somewhere in the background. Meals on Wheels is waiting.
There was a time when I might have thought this was a small life.
No grand project. No public importance. No impressive busyness. Just the same ordinary movements repeated each day.
But I don’t feel that now.
A life does not become meaningful because it is dramatic. It becomes meaningful because it is fully inhabited.
The body gets older. The weather changes. Plans simplify. The world keeps making noise.
And still, there is this.
The cup warming the hand.
The breath moving through the chest.
The door opening.
The small act of showing up.
The quiet kindness of doing what is in front of you.
Rain falling outside, and this life is enough.
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #Hobart #project #dramatic #meaningful #weather #kindness
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LIFE ENOUGH
Coffee in hand. Breathwork done. Rain over Hobart. Pete nearby. Dogs settled somewhere in the background. Meals on Wheels is waiting.
There was a time when I might have thought this was a small life.
No grand project. No public importance. No impressive busyness. Just the same ordinary movements repeated each day.
But I don’t feel that now.
A life does not become meaningful because it is dramatic. It becomes meaningful because it is fully inhabited.
The body gets older. The weather changes. Plans simplify. The world keeps making noise.
And still, there is this.
The cup warming the hand.
The breath moving through the chest.
The door opening.
The small act of showing up.
The quiet kindness of doing what is in front of you.
Rain falling outside, and this life is enough.
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #Hobart #project #dramatic #meaningful #weather #kindness
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LIFE ENOUGH
Coffee in hand. Breathwork done. Rain over Hobart. Pete nearby. Dogs settled somewhere in the background. Meals on Wheels is waiting.
There was a time when I might have thought this was a small life.
No grand project. No public importance. No impressive busyness. Just the same ordinary movements repeated each day.
But I don’t feel that now.
A life does not become meaningful because it is dramatic. It becomes meaningful because it is fully inhabited.
The body gets older. The weather changes. Plans simplify. The world keeps making noise.
And still, there is this.
The cup warming the hand.
The breath moving through the chest.
The door opening.
The small act of showing up.
The quiet kindness of doing what is in front of you.
Rain falling outside, and this life is enough.
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #Hobart #project #dramatic #meaningful #weather #kindness
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The “I” That is Seeking Liberation is Unreal: “All Are Appearances in and of Awareness” — Advaita, Gaudapada & the Seeker Who Never Was
A friend messaged “All are appearances in and of awareness” in reply to my poem “Big B” – https://selfrealization.blog/2026/04/13/big-b/.
I responded back as follows:
With such perfect understanding already in place, are you sure I might have anything else to add to that. Really, what you wrote just now is all the knowledge one needs to undertake and finish the spiritual journey with no need for any other prop. The very looking for other props is itself the obstacle to the full manifestation of the understanding that is already there…shit, one knows one has to just “keep quiet” and everything will be accomplished and yet why are we all restless?
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing;
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”~ Matsuo Basho
This (“All are appearances in and of awareness”) is all that the name-and-form analogy of the clay and pot conveys albeit in different words.
The only problem then for you and I might be that we are failing to grasp that the I that is seeking to understand and attain self-realization is itself an “appearance in and of awareness”.
Which is why Ashtavakra Gita and Gaudapada’s Verse 32 in Chapter 2 of Mandukya Karika (see below) and Sankaracharya’s Nirvana Shatakam say what they say.
Mandukya Karika 2.32 (Vaitathya Prakarana) asserts that from the standpoint of Absolute Truth (Paramartha), there is no creation, destruction, bondage, liberation, or seeker. This famous verse highlights that all dualistic experiences are illusions, and the ultimate reality is non-dual (Advaita), often interpreted as the unborn, unchanging Self. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Sanskrit Verse (2.32):
न निरोधो न चोत्पत्तिर्न बद्धो न च साधकः ।न मुमुक्षुर्न वै मुक्त इत्येषा परमार्थता ॥ ३२ ॥
na nirodho na cotpattirna baddho na ca sādhakaḥ |na mumukṣurna vai mukta ityeṣā paramārthatā || 32 ||
Translation & Key Meanings:
- na nirodho: There is no destruction.
- na ca utpattiḥ: There is no creation or origin.
- na baddhaḥ: There is no one in bondage.
- na ca sādhakaḥ: There is no one practicing spiritual disciplines.
- na mumukṣuḥ: There is no seeker after liberation.
- na vai muktaḥ: There is no one liberated.
- iti eṣā paramārthatā: This is the Absolute Truth. [1, 2]
Significance:
- Non-Dual Reality: This verse by Gaudapada clarifies that the ultimate reality is entirely free from all dualistic concepts, including the processes of spiritual seeking or the state of liberation itself.
- Context: It comes within the context of analyzing the “unreality” (Vaitathya) of the world and the mind, noting that when knowledge of the Self is attained, all mental projections disappear.
- Absolute vs. Relative: While relative existence appears as a world of change, from the ultimate standpoint, no change ever occurred, as explained on VivekaVani and Tom Das. [1, 2, 6]
[1] https://vivekavani.com/m2v32/
#AbsoluteTruth #Advaita #AdvaitaVedanta #AshtavakraGita #Atman #Awareness #Brahman #ClayAndPotAnalogy #Consciousness #Gaudapada #MandukyaKarika #MatsuoBasho #Maya #NirvanaShatakam #NonDuality #Paramarthatā #Philosophy #Religion #Sankaracharya #SelfRealization #SittingQuietlyDoingNothing #SpiritualJourney #Spirituality
[2] https://tomdas.com/2018/02/22/advaita-vedanta-gaudapadas-method-mandukya-upanishad-karika/
[3] https://swamij.com/upanishad-mandukya-karika.htm
[4] https://vedantastudents.com/mandukya-upanishad-with-shankara-bashyam-volume-17/
[5] https://vedantastudents.com/mandukya-upanishad-with-shankara-bashyam-volume-20/
[6] https://vivekavani.com/m3v32/ -
"Hegel ... sees things in terms of a 'principle of Idealism' ... It is a teleological or quasi-teleological principle, according to which things must be seen as if existing on account of, or as if tending towards, certain consummating experiences, experiences where there will cease to be a barrier between the self and other persons, or between the thinking mind and the world confronting it."
J.N. Findlay
#Findlay #Hegel #Idealism #Philosophy #Consciousness #Phenomenology #Nonduality #Teleology
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Inspirations of Love and Hope @richardsilverman108.wordpress.com@richardsilverman108.wordpress.com ·
This is the beginning of our glossary
Pure Awareness (Atman): The true essence of the self, often referred to as Atman in Advaita Vedanta. It is the unchanging witness of all experiences, untouched by the fluctuations of the mind. In nondual teachings, pure awareness is recognized as the core of our being, the aspect of ourselves that is ever-present and eternal.
Pure Consciousness (Brahman): The ultimate, infinite reality that underlies everything, often referred to as Brahman in Advaita Vedanta. Pure consciousness is the vast, all-encompassing reality that transcends all dualities. Pure consciousness is the source and essence of all that exists. Realizing this truth is the goal of many spiritual paths, leading to liberation and peace.
Ego: The aspect of the self that provides a sense of individuality and self-preservation, shaping our identities and interactions with the world. While the ego is a necessary part of human experience, overly identifying with it can limit our awareness and lead to suffering. The balance of the ego with pure awareness (Atman) leads to a more peaceful and fulfilled life.
Mind: The collection of thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and memories that constitute our mental experience. The mind is active and constantly changing. In spiritual teachings, the mind is often seen as external to pure awareness. It is the activity that arises within consciousness but does not define the true self.
Nonduality: A spiritual perspective that emphasizes the oneness of all existence, transcending the dualistic view of separation between self and other, mind and body, or individual and universal. Nonduality teaches that pure awareness (Atman) and pure consciousness (Brahman) are not separate but one and the same, leading to the realization of the interconnectedness of all things.
Lila (The Play of Life): A concept in Hindu philosophy that describes life as a divine play or sport, where all experiences, including challenges and suffering, are seen as part of the cosmic dance. Recognizing life as Lila helps to cultivate acceptance and reduces resistance to life’s challenges, leading to a more graceful navigation through difficulties.
Maya (Illusion): The illusion or appearance of the material world, which veils the true nature of reality. Maya creates the perception of separation and individuality. In Advaita Vedanta, overcoming the illusion of Maya is essential to realizing the oneness of Atman and Brahman, and seeing the world as it truly is.
Heart Sutra: A key text in Mahayana Buddhism that emphasizes the emptiness of all phenomena and the transcendent nature of reality. The Heart Sutra teaches that by going “beyond, beyond, beyond,” one transcends all dualistic notions and realizes the ultimate truth.
Individuation: A concept from Carl Jung’s psychology, referring to the process of integrating the various parts of the self into a harmonious whole. Individuation resonates with the idea of balancing the ego with pure awareness, leading to a more complete and authentic experience of self.
Unconscious: The vast, all-encompassing reservoir of the mind that includes all mental processes, memories, instincts, and potentialities that lie outside of our conscious awareness. The unconscious contains both positive and negative aspects, known and unknown, including latent talents, creativity, and profound wisdom.
Shadow: A specific part of the unconscious, primarily consisting of the aspects of ourselves that we have repressed or rejected—traits, emotions, and impulses that we find uncomfortable or unacceptable. The shadow can also include disowned positive qualities. It represents the darker, hidden aspects of the unconscious but is not limited to negative content.
https://richardsilverman108.wordpress.com/2024/08/11/glossary-of-terms/
#AdvaitaVedanta #Atman #Brahman #CarlJung #consciousness #egoAndSelf #glossaryOfSpiritualTerms #heartSutra #holisticSelf #individuation #Lila #Maya #meditation #meditationTerms #mindAndConsciousness #Mindfulness #nonduality #pureAwareness #pureConsciousness #SelfRealization #spiritualGlossary #spiritualGrowth #SpiritualTeachings #spirituality #yoga
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Inspirations of Love and Hope @richardsilverman108.wordpress.com@richardsilverman108.wordpress.com ·
In the rapidly advancing world of technology, computers and artificial intelligence (AI) have become powerful tools that can perform a multitude of comple tasks. But at the heart of these sophisticated systems lies a simple, fundamental reality: atoms. Just as computers and AI are composed of atoms arranged and manipulated to produce diverse outcomes, so too does the concept of Upadhi in Advaita Vedanta explain how a singular reality (Atman or Brahman) manifests as the pluralistic world we perceive.
Atoms as Atman: The Fundamental Building Blocks
At the most basic level, everything in the physical universe is composed of atoms. These tiny, indivisible units combine in various ways to form all matter—from the simplest elements to the most complex structures. Similarly, in Advaita Vedanta, Atman is the fundamental reality that underlies all existence. Atman, or pure consciousness, is the singular essence from which the diversity of life and the universe arises.
Upadhis as Programs: Creating Complex Outcomes
In the realm of technology, the operations of a computer or an AI system depend on the manipulation of electrical signals and the execution of complex algorithms. These algorithms, or programs, direct the flow of electrons through circuits, creating different outputs—images, sounds, data processing, and more. This is analogous to how Upadhis (limiting adjuncts or conditions) shape the expression of Atman, giving rise to the diversity of forms and experiences in the world.
Just as a single computer can perform a vast array of tasks depending on the programs it runs, the singular reality of Atman can appear as the manifold world when filtered through different Upadhis. The differences we perceive—whether in computers as varied outputs or in life as distinct entities—are ultimately products of the underlying uniformity being expressed in diverse ways.
The Illusion of Plurality: Seeing Beyond the Surface
When we interact with technology, it’s easy to see only the surface-level outputs—text on a screen, music from a speaker, a car navigating the road autonomously—and forget that all these are fundamentally the same at the atomic level. Similarly, in life, we often perceive the world as filled with separate, distinct entities without realizing the underlying oneness of Atman.
The diversity and complexity we experience are like the different functions of a computer: they are real in their context, but they don’t change the fundamental nature of the atoms (or Atman) that make them possible. This is the essence of the illusion of plurality. It’s not that the diversity isn’t there—it’s that the diversity is an expression of something deeper and singular.
Application to Self-Inquiry and Advaita Vedanta
Understanding this metaphor can be deeply enriching for those on the path of self-inquiry and Advaita Vedanta. It highlights the idea that while the world appears to be filled with diversity and complexity, it is all a manifestation of the same underlying reality—Atman or Brahman.
- Self-Inquiry: Just as one might examine the workings of a computer to understand its fundamental nature, self-inquiry involves turning inward to examine the true nature of the self. By asking “Who am I?” or “What is the essence of my being?” we begin to see beyond the surface-level differences created by Upadhis and recognize the underlying oneness.
- Meditation: Meditation allows us to quiet the “programs” of the mind and perceive the unity behind the diversity. In this state, we can experience the stillness of Atman, undisturbed by the fluctuations of the sensory world.
- Seeing the Divine in Everything: Recognizing that all forms and experiences are expressions of the same underlying reality encourages us to see the Divine in everything. Whether it’s the complexity of AI or the simplicity of a single atom, all is an expression of Brahman.
Conclusion: Embracing the Oneness Behind the Diversity
The computer and AI metaphor provides a modern, relatable way to understand the ancient concept of Upadhi in Advaita Vedanta. It shows us how a single, undifferentiated reality can manifest as a vast array of forms and functions, all while remaining fundamentally the same. By recognizing this, we can begin to see through the illusion of plurality and appreciate the underlying oneness of all existence.
This understanding not only enriches our spiritual practice but also deepens our appreciation of the world around us. Whether we are contemplating the nature of consciousness or simply observing the outputs of a computer, we are reminded that everything is an expression of the same fundamental essence. In this realization, we find both peace and profound connection to the infinite reality that is Brahman.
🙏🕊️🙏
#AdvaitaVedanta #AIAndSpirituality #Atman #Brahman #consciousness #divineInEverything #illusionOfPlurality #innerAwareness #meditation #Mindfulness #modernMetaphors #nonDuality #oneness #philosophy #selfInquiry #SpiritualAwakening #SpiritualInsights #spiritualMetaphors #SpiritualPractice #spirituality #technologyAndSpirituality #unityInDiversity #Upadhi
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I’m Nobody! Who are you?
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Emily Dickinson, 1830 – 1886
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog
#poetry #Poésie #nondual #Nondualawareness #nondualism #Nondualisme #nonduality https://libranet.de/display/0b6b25a8-2060-9ce8-5c29-beb999611019