Wisdom Teachings - Sat Yoga, Costa Rica

Excerpt:  “We are here to meditate together.  Do we all know what that means?  It is very simple, we tend to make very complex ideas and make it difficult for ourselves.  It is the simple clarification of what is meant by the word ‘I.’ That is all; nothing more difficult than that...  And so a good meditation is when clarity is achieved; that is all.  Don’t think a good meditation means you are seeing lights and you’re in some trance or you have achieved some exalted sublime state.  No.  Clarity on the nature of ‘I’ and you’re done, because when that is clear there’s really no one left to meditate anymore…  Everyone seems to use the word ‘I’ a lot, but do we know what we mean when that word comes out of the mouth or in thought?  Do you know what it means?....  As Sri Ramana says, tiny little word - and because we get it wrong - we don’t know accurately what it means - all the suffering in the world is created by one tiny mistake.  So if you want to end all the suffering in the world, just get clarit

Excerpt: “The Self comes under no laws, but is the source of all genuine law. And that law is naturally holocentric because it serves no individual, it plays no favorites. The Self is therefore the source of divine order and it brings about unity, fairness, justice, community. Community is only possible from and as the presence of divine love. No humans can create community – no human egos – they can only distort and pervert the love that is our true legacy, destiny, identity.” Recorded on the afternoon of Monday, February 27, 2012.

Student Question:  You spoke about how the most important thing is to have a desire for realizing the Self.  I found that while I was meditating I really needed to have an image or something that I could focus on so that I could center all of my desire into that and try to realize the self, but I couldn't find anything?

Student Question:  Sometimes when I sit down and start meditating I try to focus on my heartbeat in order to get into a state.  After a while I forget about my heart and start feeling my forehead getting heavy and it feels like my body goes to sleep and then all I can feel is that point on my forehead.  I am wondering what is happening to me and whether it is normal or whether it is some kind of identification with my body and why is it happening if I really want to focus on my heart?

Student Question:  I feel you said once but am not sure, that anxiety and kundalini are the same thing or that anxiety is kundalini trapped and misunderstood or something along those lines?

Student Question:  I keep getting caught up when I ask “who am I”, because the “I” keeps me going in circles?

Student Comment:  I resonate with the idea that images are at the imaginary level--or, rather, I resonated with that idea when I was growing up. It feels like the religious image is kind of a double-edged sword because it can either aid one in devotion or it can be misinterpreted.  I could never relate to people loving the image of the Virgin Mary, for example, but since we have been studying great beings, like Ramakrishna or Padre Pio, who also used the medium of an image to relate to God, I see that it can be used in a completely different way.”

Student Question:  What does the witness, witness?

Student Question:  Can you talk a little bit about friendship in the Kali Yuga sense, and also about what is the most sattvic approach to friendship for people moving into the same path together?

Excerpt:  "Each of us has ESP, because we are ESP…  What we mean here by ESP is Eternal, Silent, Presence.  The Self that we are is always in Eternal, Silent, Presence.  The one Self, and the one Self is the guru - the only guru.  The one Self has been called by many names...  The earliest name known is that of Shiva, but all religions give their own name to the same truth…  For some religions that self is called the Supreme Self and from the perspective of ignorance, that is accurate.  Because all else that portrays itself as a Self is really just an object in consciousness…  So there is only one real Self and that Self is beyond words and thoughts and in an inconceivable silence, and even to say that is to go too far because the self is Nirguna.  Without qualities that can be in any way considered a description of the Self, because the Self is not an object, not a thing, not an appearance, but we can also say that the self has infinite attributes.  The three main ones noted by the Vedas are Sat – Chit – Ana

Student Question:  Can an egoless self survive the rat race?

Student Question:  I am curious to know how you would bridge hysteria with post-traumatic stress and could you explain how the two relate?

Student Question:  I have something I would like some clarity on.  Thursdays are difficult for me in the sense that I feel pulled in two opposite directions.  First we have a study group class that is very focused on theory and analysis and going into the ego and trying to understand our mind and then the meditation where we are told you are not the ego?

Student Question:  Lately in meditation and especially in group meditations I have been experiencing a lot of pressure in my head and especially in between my eyes.  I have heard that it may have a connection with the opening of the third eye?  I was wondering if you expand a little a bit upon that?

Student Question:  I wonder if spiritual teachings evolve with time or if they are just different translations of the same thing?

Excerpt:  "If we can radically let go of the need for the others approval or gaze or touch or their desire - If we can radically detach from our own self-image based on the body or based on the mind - Based on achievements and prestige or social status - If we can let go of all of that, then the real search can finally get under way…  Because those are the anchors that moor us in the physical plane where we cannot find the self…  They moor us in attachments to biological family and we cannot find the spiritual parents that live in the depth dimension…  But the light from that source - from the energy within - from the supreme self - Is always there guiding us and as we begin to disidentify from the physical form and the sensual realm and its pleasures and pains that follow quickly one upon the other…  To realize some, more enduring peace and joy…  And we recognize that the mind itself with all of it thoughts is another form of alienation from our being.  It’s an attempt to grasp the self, that can never be th

Excerpt:  "The unsurpassed sage Sri Ramana Maharshi has revealed that self-realization is actually a myth…  Who is there to realize the self?  The self is all that is…  Has the self ever been unrealized?   So self-realization doesn’t actually happen….  Take for example that if you have mold on your walls in your home you would probably want to scrub it off… well the ego is kind of like a mold isn’t it?  Growing on the surface of the self…  And so people scrub it off and then what is left is pure awareness… But to that awareness is there ever a wall?  Was there ever a surface?  That’s an illusion only ever held by the illusory mold itself which was never real….  So there are no things; things are an illusion of a mind that objectifies with concepts… Take away the concepts.   No objects - no world - no self… but pure bliss - pure grace - pure awareness – pure supreme power and self-knowledge… but all experienced by the one without a second…"  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, February 02, 2012.

Student Question:  Can one be in peace without believing in God?

Excerpt:  "Within each of us is the deathless spirit.  The eternal self, that lies within and yet beyond, transcending the ego mind and this phenomenal world, and yet it is the very essence and core and center of our being.  The purpose of all spiritual practices is to attain the realization of the deathless spirit.  This alone confers eternal life, freedom from suffering, from illusion, from karma, and offers the direct union with the Supreme Being….  The most direct way to achieve the realization of the eternal Atman, which is the Holy Spirit, is simply to silence the chatter of the ego mind and hold your attention at the root of the ‘I’ thought.  Not the ‘I’ thought itself, but the root which you feel as the urge to think with the word ‘I’….  Once you fall into thought you have moved from the realm of being into the realm of representation and you become alienated from spirit.  First into soul and then into ego….  Remember that this world is only a dream in the mind of God.  What is real is the Supreme Bei

Excerpt: "What we learn from Yoga and the science of the extraction of the ultimate essence is that all growth is about the extraction of that which is pure and meaningful from that which is impure and to be rejected.… It is to be extracted from our own consciousness. That is the only way we will ever know God – by extracting out the pure God-presence out of our grosser, impure consciousness. This is what we do in meditation. It’s an extraction process….it is a skill and an art that must be taught, and has been taught, through every culture until our most recent one…. there are really five stages of this process of extraction…" Recorded on the evening of Thursday, January 19, 2012.