Spiritual Teachings With Shunyamurti

Student Question: When you are in a state of pure silence and you have to do activities in your life, how can you communicate in language without thinking and breaking the silence?

Student Question: Can old languages like Sanskrit for example be archetypes?

Student Question: I see that there is a lot of reading and study groups offered at the school and I was wondering how that’s fits in with the practice of silencing the mind?

Student Question: Is the Law of Attraction just another way to explain illusion?

Student Question: What is the relationship between thinking and knowledge and or wisdom?

Student Question: Here at Sat Yoga we focus on silencing the mind. In some other traditions they talk about the heart and opening the heart. Is there a difference between these approaches?

Student Question: If the body dies and you don’t achieve liberation, is it possible that the soul may still achieve liberation without the body?

Student Question: In English we use the terms like “she’s got it,” or “they want to have it,” or “someone wants to be it,” but always using the word “it.” When I have tried to translate it into Spanish, there is no way just to say “it.” It makes me wonder, what is the real etymology of the word “it?” I mean is “it” ultimately like “that?” God: is that what “it” is?

Student Question: How is it possible that people who have had out of body experiences and experiences from other lives still identify with the body if they know that this is not what they are?

Student Question: In your teaching you said that consciousness is bound to the ego, and I was wondering how that works?

Student Question: Why is it that there are people like monks who are living in Monasteries who have committed their lives to a path but have not achieved liberation?

Student Question: Can you talk about autistic people and what has happened with them internally and what their experience is like?

Student Question: What is phobia?

Student Question: What is the purpose and function of illusion?

Excerpt: “It is said that there are many paths. It is also said there are no paths. And it is also said that there is only one disguised as many… And here we teach what has historically been considered the most direct understanding of Self-realization and liberation… Liberation from suffering and that means liberation from illusion…. And so to say that a path is the most direct path is to say that you are not going through any indirect intellectual concepts or belief systems or practices that require you to believe that there is someone who is trying to achieve something because that is already the illusion that we are trying to break free of…. And so if you carry that further you come to the recognition that all concepts are false because they are indirect representations of what is, rather than simply being what is…. What is, is Emptiness…. There is an awareness, if you want to call it that, or consciousness that is prior to all the objects that appear in consciousness, because no objects could appear--whether sensations or concepts or images or memories or fantasies or emotions-- unless there was a container of consciousness that was empty and that could be filled with those objects. But mental objects. Not real objects. Objects that appear and disappear and have no substance….” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, March 08, 2012.

Student Question: Can you define self-esteem?

Student Question: You said tonight that it in meditation it doesn't really matter if you do not experience something amazing and the truth is that I have never experienced anything like that. All I can say is that I feel better and I am not even interested in putting it into words how I feel better, but sometimes a question does arise - How do I know that I am growing?

Student Question: Do we have to understand to really let something go?

Student Question: How are we supposed to learn from people who complicate our lives? Is it a case of seeing the way not to behave and the way not to treat other people?

Student Question: What is the egos relationship to money and how can we develop a more authentic relationship with it then what it currently represents in society today?

Student Question: My whole life I was taught that we are human beings who are here to live a human experience. I mean as human beings we are afraid and we cry and experience anger and all of those things that supposedly define human beings, as well as having an ego. But here in Sat Yoga what I have learned, and I don’t know if I am misunderstood, but we are divine beings? The Atman, the True Self is the Divine. My question is, are we truly human beings? What defines human nature? Do we want to separate from the human experience and focus more on the divine self?

Student Question: How do you define humility, and is it something that you can cultivate, or does it come from the heart? Sometimes when I feel that I am practicing it, for example, if someone says something that I know is untrue, or feel that they are judging me or an injustice has been done, but I keep silent, after a while when I am alone I feel really sad and I cry.

Student Question: We learn here that every issue that one experiences in life comes from the root idea of separateness from god. Can carrying through with one particular issue and using all of our focus and will power to follow that to its core and not letting the mind become distracted be enough to then in turn dissolve other issues that are all somehow intertwined?

Student Question: Sometimes in relationships you can recognize that you are acting out and that the relationship is illusory but there is a great strength that you cannot leave that illusion. It seems like you still like to stay in that place. I am wondering if one cannot go beyond that illusion because one has not gone deep enough into the silence, or if there is something else that you can elaborate on?

Student Question: Sometimes if we observe Maya it seems like there is a higher purpose even within itself. Is this higher purpose to be a waking of the mind? Is that the only purpose of it?

I have read about so many spiritual teachers and gurus who have woken up because of suffering? Is that just the old fashion way to do it? I know of five or six who got to the point where they were so miserable and they didn't want to live anymore and then they were able to see through. What are your thoughts on that?

Excerpt: “We are here to meditate together. Do we all know what that means? It is very simple, we tend to make very complex ideas and make it difficult for ourselves. It is the simple clarification of what is meant by the word ‘I.’ That is all; nothing more difficult than that... And so a good meditation is when clarity is achieved; that is all. Don’t think a good meditation means you are seeing lights and you’re in some trance or you have achieved some exalted sublime state. No. Clarity on the nature of ‘I’ and you’re done, because when that is clear there’s really no one left to meditate anymore… Everyone seems to use the word ‘I’ a lot, but do we know what we mean when that word comes out of the mouth or in thought? Do you know what it means?.... As Sri Ramana says, tiny little word - and because we get it wrong - we don’t know accurately what it means - all the suffering in the world is created by one tiny mistake. So if you want to end all the suffering in the world, just get clarity on the word ‘I’….” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, March 01, 2012

Excerpt: “The Self comes under no laws, but is the source of all genuine law. And that law is naturally holocentric because it serves no individual, it plays no favorites. The Self is therefore the source of divine order and it brings about unity, fairness, justice, community. Community is only possible from and as the presence of divine love. No humans can create community – no human egos – they can only distort and pervert the love that is our true legacy, destiny, identity.” Recorded on the afternoon of Monday, February 27, 2012.

Student Question: You spoke about how the most important thing is to have a desire for realizing the Self. I found that while I was meditating I really needed to have an image or something that I could focus on so that I could center all of my desire into that and try to realize the self, but I couldn't find anything?

Student Question: Sometimes when I sit down and start meditating I try to focus on my heartbeat in order to get into a state. After a while I forget about my heart and start feeling my forehead getting heavy and it feels like my body goes to sleep and then all I can feel is that point on my forehead. I am wondering what is happening to me and whether it is normal or whether it is some kind of identification with my body and why is it happening if I really want to focus on my heart?

Student Question: I feel you said once but am not sure, that anxiety and kundalini are the same thing or that anxiety is kundalini trapped and misunderstood or something along those lines?

Student Question: I keep getting caught up when I ask “who am I”, because the “I” keeps me going in circles?

Student Comment: I resonate with the idea that images are at the imaginary level--or, rather, I resonated with that idea when I was growing up. It feels like the religious image is kind of a double-edged sword because it can either aid one in devotion or it can be misinterpreted. I could never relate to people loving the image of the Virgin Mary, for example, but since we have been studying great beings, like Ramakrishna or Padre Pio, who also used the medium of an image to relate to God, I see that it can be used in a completely different way.”

Student Question: What does the witness, witness?

Student Question: Can you talk a little bit about friendship in the Kali Yuga sense, and also about what is the most sattvic approach to friendship for people moving into the same path together?

Excerpt: "Each of us has ESP, because we are ESP… What we mean here by ESP is Eternal, Silent, Presence. The Self that we are is always in Eternal, Silent, Presence. The one Self, and the one Self is the guru - the only guru. The one Self has been called by many names... The earliest name known is that of Shiva, but all religions give their own name to the same truth… For some religions that self is called the Supreme Self and from the perspective of ignorance, that is accurate. Because all else that portrays itself as a Self is really just an object in consciousness… So there is only one real Self and that Self is beyond words and thoughts and in an inconceivable silence, and even to say that is to go too far because the self is Nirguna. Without qualities that can be in any way considered a description of the Self, because the Self is not an object, not a thing, not an appearance, but we can also say that the self has infinite attributes. The three main ones noted by the Vedas are Sat – Chit – Ananda…." Recorded on the evening of Thursday, February 16, 2012.

Student Question: Can an egoless self survive the rat race?

Student Question: I am curious to know how you would bridge hysteria with post-traumatic stress and could you explain how the two relate?

Student Question: I have something I would like some clarity on. Thursdays are difficult for me in the sense that I feel pulled in two opposite directions. First we have a study group class that is very focused on theory and analysis and going into the ego and trying to understand our mind and then the meditation where we are told you are not the ego?

Student Question: Lately in meditation and especially in group meditations I have been experiencing a lot of pressure in my head and especially in between my eyes. I have heard that it may have a connection with the opening of the third eye? I was wondering if you expand a little a bit upon that?

Student Question: I wonder if spiritual teachings evolve with time or if they are just different translations of the same thing?

Excerpt: "If we can radically let go of the need for the others approval or gaze or touch or their desire - If we can radically detach from our own self-image based on the body or based on the mind - Based on achievements and prestige or social status - If we can let go of all of that, then the real search can finally get under way… Because those are the anchors that moor us in the physical plane where we cannot find the self… They moor us in attachments to biological family and we cannot find the spiritual parents that live in the depth dimension… But the light from that source - from the energy within - from the supreme self - Is always there guiding us and as we begin to disidentify from the physical form and the sensual realm and its pleasures and pains that follow quickly one upon the other… To realize some, more enduring peace and joy… And we recognize that the mind itself with all of it thoughts is another form of alienation from our being. It’s an attempt to grasp the self, that can never be the self, that can only at best point to the self, and so then the process of self-inquiry enters the phase were it goes beyond the mind… It enters the phase of being the silent witness of the mind… And it begins to see the patterns of the mind and the traps that the mind plays and all of its illusions; images of a happiness that are a mirage…." Recorded on the evening of Thursday, February 09, 2012.

Excerpt: "The unsurpassed sage Sri Ramana Maharshi has revealed that self-realization is actually a myth… Who is there to realize the self? The self is all that is… Has the self ever been unrealized? So self-realization doesn’t actually happen…. Take for example that if you have mold on your walls in your home you would probably want to scrub it off… well the ego is kind of like a mold isn’t it? Growing on the surface of the self… And so people scrub it off and then what is left is pure awareness… But to that awareness is there ever a wall? Was there ever a surface? That’s an illusion only ever held by the illusory mold itself which was never real…. So there are no things; things are an illusion of a mind that objectifies with concepts… Take away the concepts. No objects - no world - no self… but pure bliss - pure grace - pure awareness – pure supreme power and self-knowledge… but all experienced by the one without a second…" Recorded on the evening of Thursday, February 02, 2012.

Student Question: Can one be in peace without believing in God?

Excerpt: "Within each of us is the deathless spirit. The eternal self, that lies within and yet beyond, transcending the ego mind and this phenomenal world, and yet it is the very essence and core and center of our being. The purpose of all spiritual practices is to attain the realization of the deathless spirit. This alone confers eternal life, freedom from suffering, from illusion, from karma, and offers the direct union with the Supreme Being…. The most direct way to achieve the realization of the eternal Atman, which is the Holy Spirit, is simply to silence the chatter of the ego mind and hold your attention at the root of the ‘I’ thought. Not the ‘I’ thought itself, but the root which you feel as the urge to think with the word ‘I’…. Once you fall into thought you have moved from the realm of being into the realm of representation and you become alienated from spirit. First into soul and then into ego…. Remember that this world is only a dream in the mind of God. What is real is the Supreme Being. Don’t let yourself remain locked in lower states of false consciousness, but go directly to the source. This can be achieved easily if you do not let yourself to be deceived by negative thoughts. Hold to the silence and the higher you go the more the divine energy will pull you up and there will be no struggle at all. It will happen automatically as if your mind has become an anti-gravity apparatus, which it is because the mind is light. Let the light take you up into the highest bliss…." Recorded on the evening of Thursday, January 26, 2012.

Excerpt: "What we learn from Yoga and the science of the extraction of the ultimate essence is that all growth is about the extraction of that which is pure and meaningful from that which is impure and to be rejected.… It is to be extracted from our own consciousness. That is the only way we will ever know God – by extracting out the pure God-presence out of our grosser, impure consciousness. This is what we do in meditation. It’s an extraction process….it is a skill and an art that must be taught, and has been taught, through every culture until our most recent one…. there are really five stages of this process of extraction…" Recorded on the evening of Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Excerpt: “In Christianity there is a trinity as we all know. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. This trinity is an archetype and exists in every religion and every spiritual path although it has many different names in different paths… You’ll find it in Buddhism, you’ll find it in Hinduism, and you’ll find it in Taoism. In the yogic path it is only one of a number of trinity’s however… We could call it the vertical trinity and the equivalent in the yogic tradition is noted by the words Sat – Chit – Ananda…. But you have this power. Erase. Rewrite. That is what is known in religious terms as death and rebirth. That’s all it is. You erase the ego - it’s dead - it’s gone. It won’t be there because it is an artificial structure, if you really whole heartedly want to erase it. The problem is, we love our suffering. We are loyal to it…. Erich Fromm a great psychologist wrote a book called ‘The Fear of Freedom’, and it’s a very important book because what he shows is the reason why there are so many totalitarian governments in the world. So many big brothers that people follow… And it is because they can’t stand freedom… They want someone to tell them what to do….” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, December 08, 2011.

Excerpt: “Is everyone opened to having Christ Consciousness born within you this evening? It is not difficult to achieve that birth but we do need the recognition that Christ Consciousness is our Real Self. It’s not something alien, it’s not something different, it’s not something strange to us. What’s strange is the ego that we have come to believe that we are and that’s what we must be willing to let go of. What are we letting go? A false self. A structure of consciousness that acts as a filter that prevents us from seeing the world as it really is… And so to take that filter away - to become realized – all we need to do is to silence the ego mind. Period. No more. Silence is the key. When we can silence the mind, which is what meditation is… Contemplation... Then the Christ Consciousness emerges from within us and it comes in the form of an open heart through which pours divine love….” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, December 08, 2011. Keywords:

Student Question: How do you overcome jealousy and possessiveness?

Student Question: I was hoping you could explain to me why it is that every month especially around the full moon it seems that something happens with my energy and if I am not centered I become more susceptible to being pushed and pulled by it?