It is so brilliant and astounding

There is One Thing - It existed before the earth and skies came into being, and it will exist long after they all have disappeared. The heavens and earth could appear a thousand times and be destroyed ten thousand times, but this One Thing would not change at all.

This One Thing is incomprehensibly huge. The entire universe is 
just a spray of water in comparison to this ocean.

This One Thing is incomparably brighter than a trillion billion suns and moons, and it constantly lights up everything. This absolute Great Light is beyond light and dark, and yet it lights everything that exists.

This One Thing is beyond description, beyond discrimination, and 
it is absolute. But even the term "absolute" is entirely inadequate to describe it. 

To call it "One Thing" is to lie, because "One Thing" is only a name, and a terribly inadequate name.

 All Buddhas of the universe could spend eternity describing it, but such an effort would be insignificant. If you were to become enlightened, then you yourself would know; 
but you would never be able to explain it to anyone.

This One Thing is called "Buddha" by those who have become enlightened. 

It is beyond the agony of life and death, and those who know it become free-flowing for the rest of eternity. 

But those who have not become enlightened to this One Thing continue to struggle and suffer in the sea of life and death, in the everlasting cycle of the four forms of birth and the six realms of sentient existence.

Even the tiniest form of life includes this One Thing. Both an enlightened Buddha and an unenlightened ant possess it. The only difference between them is that one knows it and the other doesn't.

It is so brilliant and astounding that even the Buddha and Bodhidharma cannot look at it when they raise their eyes. 

They can open their mouths, but cannot describe it. They and all our other Zen patriarchs become merely blind and mute in the face of it.

All one can do is to become enlightened to it, and then become totally free-flowing in it.

Ven. Tong Songchol (1912~1993), one of the great Zen masters in the last century, was also called the Living Buddha of Korea.

All questions vanish

Doubts

Centred in Love

Kindness

Sphurana is the light or the radiance of the ‘I am’

Q: People who follow other paths sometimes experience samadhi states.
Will they also have the experience of sphurana? (a light-experience which can come before the samadhi experience)

Annamalai Swami: If one unceasingly follows the paths of japa or yoga, the mind will merge eventually in the sphurana. At the time of merging the experience will come.
This sphurana is the light or the radiance of the ‘I am’. When you are close to merging with the real ‘I’ you feel its emanations. This real ‘I’ is the real name and form of God. The first and most accurate name of God is ‘I’. The awareness ‘I am’ is the original and primordial mantra.

So the ‘I’-mantra is even prior to pranava, the sound of OM?

AS: Yes, that is what Bhagavan said on several occasions.
This consciousness, the ‘I am’, is existing and shining always, but your awareness of it is obstructed by the ego in just the same way that the shadow of the earth hides the moon during an eclipse. The shadow over the moon is only visible because of the moonlight behind it. Without this light the shadow of the eclipse could not be seen. Like this we are conscious of the body, the mind and the world even when they obstruct our clear vision only because of the light of the Self. By the light of the Self all this is seen.

Q: How did this single, unbroken ‘I’ become the many different things and people that we see in the world?

AS: It didn’t. It always remains single and unbroken. Your defective vision and your misperceptions give you the impression that the one became the many. The Self has never undergone any change or transformation except in your imagination.
When we identify ourselves with the body the mind, the one appears to become many. When one’s energy is diverted from the mind and the outside world towards the Self, the illusion of multiplicity fades away.

Go deeply into this feeling of ‘I’. Be aware of it so strongly and so intensely that no other thoughts have the energy to arise and distract you. If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself.

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p 298 , 299
.

Reality

If the focus of the sense of ‘me’ is on the rising crest, the person never lives in reality but is constantly poised with the expectation of control of the next instant.

They are therefore constantly concerned with the future.
If the focus is on the back of the falling wave, then the ‘me’ tends to cling to the past and editorializing. With some practice, the focus can be precisely narrowed to only the breaking crest of the wave, for in that instant, there is neither past nor future and neither regret for the past nor longing for nor anticipation of the future. Everything is witnessed to be as it is.
With no editorializing or anticipation, even the illusion of ‘now’ disappears.
 Reality is actually ‘always’ and continuous, with no ‘now’ or ‘then’.
I: Reality and Subjectivity (Kindle Locations 1396-1401).

Ping Pong

Don't worry. Life is not a puzzle.

Go for the greater, and the lesser will be taken care of.
Don't worry. Life is not a puzzle.
It is the ego that gets puzzled.
You don't have to work things out.
Simply keep quiet and let it all unfold.
If you think you can work life out,
you create an identity as a solver of life.
Big trouble!

Nobody can work it out.
As one surrenders one's ego,
one comes automatically in harmony with life.
Watch as life takes care of life.
It flows spontaneously and perfectly in each form.
Let go to the dance of existence.
Why miss the best show on earth?

~ Mooji

Affirmations for a wonderful week

Friday,
In challenging times I accept the situation, pray for divine right action and move through it with positivity and grace.

Saturday,
I am a powerful creator! With the entire universe as creative potential, I consciously focus on that which is good about my life, knowing that more good is on its way to me. 

Sunday,
Releasing anything that may be holding me down, I move lightly through the world, enjoying the happiness I deserve. 

Monday,
I’m changing all the time! Today I recognize and make a list of my positive attributes. Gratefully, I become aware of how far I’ve come.

Tuesday,
There is a light within me that shines of infinite possibilities. When I turn toward it, I allow miracles to happen

Wednesday,
I pray, knowing that my prayer is heard and it is answered. As I become filled with active hope, I am changed.

Thursday,
As I listen to my inner wisdom, I replace negative beliefs with the truth of my self-worth, guiding my thoughts and actions to happiness. 

Which one speaks to you the most?

Will you experiment and explore with any of them?

You are welcome to let me know how you go in the comments section below

Infinite Luminous Sea,

I used to know my name.
Now I don't.
I think a river understands me.
For what does it call itself in that blessed
moment when it starts emptying into the
Infinite Luminous Sea,

and opening every aspect of self wider than
it ever thought possible?
Each drop of itself now running to embrace
and unite with a million new friends.
And you were there, in my union with All,
everyone who will ever see this page.
- Hafiz

Identity

Q: Can you please explain more about identity?

A: The ego fears dissolution and therefore resists giving up the illusion of a separate existence in an imaginary 'here' and an imaginary 'now'. It fears it will dissolve into being nothing and, therefore, the conscious awareness will also cease.

With examination, it will become clear that one's reality is not a 'who' at all, but instead is an intensely loving Allness, which is realized and known to be much closer and more comforting and fulfilling than the prior sense of ‘I’.
In the evolution of consciousness, the sense of the small 'I' is replaced by a more profound, invulnerable and nontransitory sense of universal presence. The sense of 'I' is now infinite, more grand, more gentle, more powerful, more aware, and more gratifying than the sense of the little ‘I’ had been. The small ‘I’ is like a penny whistle compared to the full symphony of the Self.

Q: What does the Self feel like?
A: It is like the ultimate completion of being home. There is a knowingness of finality, conclusion, completion, fulfillment, satisfaction, perfection, and beauty.
The quality of Love dissolves all possibility of suffering or wanting. No mentation occurs, nor is it necessary. A profound sense of certainty prevails. Divinity is unmistakable.
There is absolutely nothing in ordinary human experience to compare with the joy of the presence of the Love of God. No sacrifice is too great nor effort too much in order to realize that Presence.

Q: What is the ultimate truth of one's reality?
A: One's absolute reality is beyond consciousness itself. It is the substrate of consciousness; it is beyond Allness or Voidness. It is prior to Creation, beyond the manifest and the unmanifest. It is prior to existence, beingness, or is-ness. It is beyond identity, yet out of it arises the Self. It is neither transcendent nor immanent, yet both.

Q: Where or when could enlightenment occur? If there is no reality such as time or here or now, nor a real 'me' to become enlightened, how can it be possible?

A: If it were a phenomenon that had to occur at a certain time or place, then indeed it would not be a possibility. The only explanation is that the state or condition termed enlightenment already is a reality and therefore needs only to be allowed to be realized in order to prevail. What already 'is' requires no future. Acceptance is an ever-present option.
Complete surrender to God unveils the Truth. Nothing is hidden; only the ego is blind. Reality lies just beyond the mind. Out of the fear of becoming nothing, consciousness denies its only reality that it is everything—the infinite, everlasting Allness out of which existence itself arises.
Truth prevails when falsity is surrendered.
To do this, however, requires great dedication, courage, and faith, which are supplied by divine inspiration in response to surrender.
The trigger is the consent of the Will.

From: “The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden” 
D. Hawkins(2002),