Spiritual Teachings With Shunyamurti

Socialization - 09.08.11

Excerpt:  "In childhood a process begins that the psychologists call socialization… what it really consists of is the stapling together of the pure awareness that is the self with the belief enforced upon you that you are the body (the identification with the body)… that is controlled by the third element which is language… you are given a name and the name sutures consciousness to the body and from then on people can call you and tell you what to do and that is in societies interest… once you buy into that through your affirmation of that socialization process, you no longer have access to the pure awareness that is your eternal self…."  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, September 08, 2011.

An Illusory Trap – 09.01.11

Excerpt:  “Buddhists say that there are three types of desire.  The first one, the lowest one, is the desire for pleasure.  Then they say that more refined minds realize that what the desire for pleasure really was, is the desire to be, and that that’s the real underlying intention of all the various particular desires and objects of demand and lust…  All of those objects that we think cause us pleasure actually do not, but they give us a sense that we are.  They give us a sense that we can control something out there “therefore I am”…  But of course the object is always a disappointment because you don’t really want that object.  It’s not it, and it doesn’t give you the truth of your being, and therefore it is always something that turns into pain rather than pleasure. And so the ego eventually settles for the equation “I am suffering therefore I am”…  But that doesn’t do it either because it [the ego] realizes that it is actually suffering because it is not, but it wants to get out of it suffering so the third kind of desire is the desire not to be…  This creates a paradox of who is desiring not to be.  The very fact of having the desire makes it seem that you are something, and therefore the desire necessarily fails in its effect…  All of this is the logic of Buddhism that attempts to provide a way out of the trap of desire, which is ultimately the trap of an illusory sort of being trying to make itself feel real and failing again and again repetitively, but because this being is unreal to start with there is really no reason to find a way out of a trap which is also an illusion…"  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, September 01, 2011.

The Monkey Mind - 08.25.11

Excerpt:  “It’s the mind of the ego that creates all the problems with its chaotic thoughts based on false premises of misunderstanding of reality, producing anxiety and depression and all the other negative emotions and symptoms of suffering…All of that can be cut simply through silencing the mind, but to do that we have to realize that “I am not the mind”….  Silent awareness contains the mind; it contains everything in the universe which is actually mind.  All there is, is mind….  But there is a difference between the ego’s little mind and the cosmic mind of God, and then the source of the cosmos - The ultimate noumenon…."  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 25, 2011. 

Unconditional Love of the Self – 08.18.11

Excerpt:  “When we are sitting in silence we are in Holy Communion with the Self within that is recognized as Being reflected as the entire manifest cosmos.  And so there is nothing to do just be….  This is a dream and you are the dreamer and so everyone you meet in the dream is an aspect of your Self and so each of us here are reflections of different facets of our own Self….  And so by coming together as a community we discover all those aspects of the inner shadow that we can’t find because it’s repressed but our unconscious turns out to be the world itself and so it is not hidden at all….  And so when we come together in a spiritual community we are doing it in order to learn unconditional love of the Self.  Not the individual self but the one Self….  The worship of God is not the worship of an other it is the worship of the Self…”  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 18, 2011.

Perfection of Ones Love for God – 08.11.11

Excerpt:  “The idea of Christian perfection was the perfection of one’s love for God….We don’t care whether you believe in duality or nonduality here, the point is let the love which ultimately is nonduality isn’t it, isn’t love union?  Whether it achieves an actual ontological dissolution on the boundaries between the soul and God is irrelevant, but the experience that you will have if you allow yourself to sit with that intention of dissolving in love with God and it’s sincere, as the first commandment in the old testament says, ‘love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy might’.  If you will do that and with that consistency of attention that is focused within, not on an imaginary God on a cloud somewhere, but within as the Self, you will break through the duality and enter into a state of grace...”  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 11, 2011. 

What is Self Inquiry? – 08.04.11

Excerpt: “So the good news is that we don’t have to wait until we leave the body to attain liberation, we can do it here and now….So it is important to recognize that what we mean by the self and by self inquiry, is not seeking an image or a concept of the self; not seeking an object of any kind…but leaving behind all levels of objectification and conceptualization....And what we discover when the mind has been completely stilled and emptied of thought and emptied of the continuing flow of images and the flow of memories or the flow of emotions.  When you have attained the witness state in which there is simply purified silent awareness….And so there is within each of you that core of being that is deathless and birthless and that cannot be given a form…”  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 4, 2011.

I Am Not the Doer – 07.26.11

Excerpt: “There is one sentence that sums up the essence of every spiritual path and it seems very simple, and yet to live it is the most difficult thing in the world. . . . ‘I am not the doer.’  The ‘I’ does nothing.  The ‘I’ is only a witness and yet how hard it is for us to give up the illusion of doership.  Isn’t that strange?  So the question is how do we get out of this illusion that I am the doer?  In the Bhagavad-Gita it says very clearly that the first step is not to be attached to the fruit of your actions, not to be attached to the results. . . . And so perhaps one of the first stages is the realization that we can’t control reality. . . . So it requires disidentifying from both the bodily organism and the mind.  The mind may continue to think but you are not the mind. . . . And when we are realizing that we are not the body or the mind, the other benefit is that if the body and the mind have any dis-ease or if there is any pain or discomfort in the body, it doesn’t pertain to us.  You can witness it but you don’t take it on, you don’t identify with it and so it doesn’t disturb your peace.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, July 26, 2011.

Indra’s Net – 07.21.11

Excerpt: “The ancient yogis had a realization that Indra, the Supreme Intelligence, had a net that is the universe. And at each focal point of the net, each cross, each place where the threads met, was a jewel, a diamond. And each jewel in the net of Indra reflected every other jewel; the entire net was reflected in each gem. And the net is infinitely large, with an infinite number of these diamonds. And each of these jewels is perfect. And it reflects the perfection of all beings, all diamonds . . . all manifestations of the One Self that appears as this infinite multiplicity. But the net unifies all of us. And in the minds of each of us is the entirety of the All, the Absolute. And every other diamond that is reflected in your consciousness is a reflection of your own perfect beingness. But each diamond is slightly different than the next; they are all unique. Each shines with a slightly different color, different facets, different shape, different and unique beauty, and yet the beauty is perfect in each one.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, July 21, 2011.

Perfect Buddhahood – 07.14.11

Excerpt: “Each and every one of you here is already a perfect Buddha. Do you know that? When we meditate, what we are doing is simply letting go of our forgetfulness of that minor fact. And when we begin to remember that minor fact, our life transforms forever. And we gain the courage to live from our heart instead of out of fear and a need to conform, to be approved of by others, to follow the conventional way of living to get some sense of identity and approval, because once you realize that you are the perfect Buddha, then whatever you choose to do comes out of the perfection of wisdom. . . . Why lose your bliss when, in fact, for the perfect Buddha, who is functioning through the body, nothing ever goes wrong? This is a perfect universe. And you can trust that because you’re the perfect Buddha. And your being here as a perfect Buddha is essential to the perfection of this universe. You are a necessary ingredient to make this world function. So never forget your essential importance.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, July 14, 2011.