Spiritual Teachings With Shunyamurti

Student Question:  I am finding that I have an inner conflict when writing emails.  For example, my friend just got married and I wrote "I hope you had a nice wedding" or a friend of mine’s father is sick and I write "I hope he gets better," or "I hope you enjoy these photos," or whatever; it is it feels like I am giving them a command.  What if they were not supposed to have a nice wedding?  What if his father is not supposed to get better?  I feel this conflict very strongly and I don’t know what to write or how to approach this?

Student Question:  You mentioned that our consciousness constructs our reality and I have been thinking about that lately, but I have been wondering as to the extent of that.  For example if I walk by and there are people being disrespectful and causing problems, is that like a reflection?  Is every single thing just a projection?

Student Question:  What is the relationship between mathematics and logic?  Is it that one is a subset of the other?  I tend to think that mathematics is more fundamental, or is it that they are just two sides of the same coin?  It just seems like mathematics is logic at a very codified and more universal level.

Student Question:  Does devotion require total surrendering, because I can see people who are devoted but not totally surrendered to God?

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.

Student Question:  I believe that the path to enlightenment must start with a personal individual choice.  In today’s world it is very difficult to follow that path because even though you have the purpose and the intention if you’re in an environment that is unsupportive, like for example ones family who may ignore the path, it takes you a lot of effort and it is very difficult to get there.  So the importance of being in a community like this is that you find like minded people that can reinforce that path.  Even though I can understand that we all have geniuses in all of us the challenge is to really believe it.  I think about how much other people’s thoughts can influence that, like I could fly but nobody believes I can so I can not.  So the question is how much can other people’s beliefs affect us?

Student Question:  Do thoughts really become things and how fast is the outcome?  Does it depend on how intense the thought is?

Student Question:  Does the way that we think of others even when not expressed, have any effect on them?

Student Question:  We were talking about the lotus position and you mentioned that sitting in that position can activate sanskaras.  I have experienced this kind of thing in meditation and realized that even though my whole body would be still, I would continue to move my eyes when they are closed.  When I am able to keep my eyes still it seems to be a whole different thing.  Could you speak about that because it seems like there is a connection between eyes moving and a chattering mind?