The reason I started down this path was that I had to. I knew that what I wanted to know was there, wherever “there” was. What did I want? Happiness and peace. Knowing the Truth, the bottom line of life, I knew would give me lasting peace and joy. Thus began my treasure hunt. From science back to my first …
Give Up Good….
I’m a good person. I mean it. I’m a good person. That’s the problem. The Fall was the creation of the small self. The fruit that brings knowledge of good and evil signifies the ignorance from which we must liberate ourselves. The small self is not a good person. If you are a good person, then you are also a …
Reaching the Third Level….
The third level of practice, which is called śāmbavopāya (path of Śiva) in the tradition of Kashmir Śaivism, uses the will. All traditions teach this practice, in which we rest in the Heart by a well directed will. Obviously, this is not easy; it requires discipline and complete surrender to God, Self, the Absolute. Yoga Sūtras III.17 says that through …
Internal Only….
Exoteric and esoteric are two terms I rarely if ever use. They basically split everything into external and internal. While in the UK recently, I met up with a dear friend from the ashram. He said that Baba taught both exoteric and esoteric practice, and that most people went to the ashram for exoteric practice, thinking and believing it was …
Being a Free Actor….
When people come to my classes or see me privately, we usually use situations or people in their lives to show how to apply the practice in the world. Though this is truly an internal practice, it has to be used and applied to inform all of our life. So after a class people leave the laboratory and hopefully implement …
The Love Machine Part One….
It’s all about recreating our childhood vibration, which we call love. We call it love (or safety, comfort, normalcy, etc.) because it is how the small self gets attention, and therefore power. For the small self, power is the surrogate for love. Intellectually we hate the vibration and look for “solutions”, but emotionally we crave it and keep looking to …
Believing in Baba….
Let’s get this out on the table. There are people who received tremendous gifts from Baba, but once the “sex scandal” came out they left. These people say they cannot come to grips with what he did. What did he do? That is the question. Did he have sex? Apparently not: no one I know of has said he did …
I’m All for Nondualism….
We have to die. Who has to die? The one that never existed. This seems unclear, but from the standpoint of the Self it totally makes sense. As long as the small self believes it exists, we are living a dualistic life, separate from God. Nondualism does not occur except in philosophy and theology class until we actually remove our …
The False Idol of Self-esteem….
Being strong-willed is not being willful, and freedom is not getting to do whatever you want. Our first lessons in these realities come from our first caregivers. These people demonstrate and reflect for us how to live. They both model and teach. Good leadership is like good parenting. Both embody and encourage behavior that is healthy for everyone involved. This …
War and Peace….
Peace is something we all say we want—except when we want to fight. Yes, many a morning each of us arises to enter battle rather than face a day filled with harmony and joy. So what is this desire to do battle, to fight to go to war? It is nothing new. War is the counterpart to peace; we cannot …