Spiritual Teachings With Shunyamurti

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.

Beyond Self-centeredness – 08.04.11

Student Question:  During the retreat you taught about the five obstacles which the Bhagavad Gita speaks of but specifically regarding the fifth one, Ahankar.   One translation of that is self- centeredness.  What recommendations could you give to towards healing this obstacle?

Understanding Mathematics, Imagery and Language within Maya – 08.04.11

Student Question:  We were just now in the study group studying the “MILAGRO” theory and I was wondering about the “MIL” and what we were studying at the retreat about how Prakriti and Purusha get together or would you say this is the stage of the MIL, or am I confused or can you talk about it?

Staying in the Silence – 08.04.11

In this one, I would reword the question a little: “Student Question:  You talked earlier about disidentifying, with I guess anything ultimately, and just going into the silence as the answer to disidentifying.  I am frequently finding myself wanting to convince the unconscious fragments instead of going into the silence.  I feel like I end up avoiding that or ignoring it.  How can I get past that?”

What is the Merkabah? – 08.04.11

Student question:  During the retreat you spoke about the Merkabah.  I was wondering if you can explain a little bit more about what is the Merkabah?

The Act of Not Doing – 08.04.11

Student Question:  I have been thinking a lot about not doing, not trying to silence the mind or trying to do this or that.  I can see that, or from what I think I have learned is that it will maybe seemingly get us closer to what we are trying to do but won’t get us there because it is an act of doing.  Tonight you mentioned dissolving any thoughts or any sense of understandings of the ego or language or anything.  So I was trying to figure out, I was trying to use language and figure out, if you’re not doing something, what would be the opposite of that?  Not doing implies doing in some way and then maybe being is maybe a better word but it’s just a word that I’m trying to ask for that maybe it will help me understand the concept of dissolving because even dissolving implies something?

Presuppositions Plague our Past – 08.04.11

Student Question:  I know this is not related to what we are talking of this moment, but I still have a lot of enigmas and unanswered questions.  Although I keep informed of some of these matters I still make the same question that Einstein made when he said that, “does it mean that if I am not looking at the moon, the moon is not there”?  Well that’s something that still bothers me inside of my head and I don’t have an answer for that.  And questions like who was watching at the moment of the big bang?  But there is something that happened one day here and I mentioned something related with Paleontology and evolution and I heard you very decided and very sure, affirm that the way Paleontology has presented things is not correct.  Even today if you see any analysis that they present to you at schools with the Carbon-14 dating, they can say when it was that people were living and you can see a path, although I don’t want to use the word evolution.  What are your thoughts on that?

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.