“Timeless Teachings on Nonduality”
I just finished Shankara’s, “Crest Jewel of Discrimination”; Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. I was overwhelmed with the message and path provided for actually becoming One with God; One with Brahman. But as I finished reading, a sort of dread overcame me, because I understood what would be required of me and I didn’t know if I had the mental and spiritual strength to follow the path. Even though it lead, step by step, to my deepest longing, through the method of becoming One with Brahman, One with the Atman; I balked and hesitated, because I was counting the costs. Yet, everything I craved; the inner, persistent craving for God, was satiated in the words of this small book.
Yet, was I willing to give up everything to pursue the uncovering of Brahman within…and almost immediately, I was presented with a test which I failed abysmally. Now what; can I cast myself upon the mercy of God?
Luke 14:28–33: 25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Did you hear that Joel Olsteen and Creflo Dollar? Renounce-All-That-He-Has; ALL!
There it is in the last line; the requirement of every true heart that seeks to unite with God as One. Whether it be Jesus, Krishna or Brahman. The cost is the renunciation of everything that has a hold on you, in order to bring about the unveiling and full indwelling of God within you. There is no other Way.
So by faith in the One who loves me, I will take the first faltering steps…upheld by the fire and spiritual strength of my beloved Mother; the Holy Spirit of God that unites with the Atman; unites with Brahman within the heart of the faithful. The blessed Mother who quiets our hearts, heals our wounds and dwells within the temple within.
I recommend this book highly…it just might be the most profound spiritual text I have read, and I have read many! A few quotes to show how it uncovers “the Pearl of Great Price”:
“The ego is a strong and deadly serpent, and the gunas are its three angry hoods. It lies coiled around the treasure of the bliss of Brahman, which guards it for its own use. The wise man, inspired by the holy scriptures cuts off the three hoods with the sword of knowledge, and utterly destroys the serpent. Thus he enjoys the treasure of supreme bliss…the ego…robs you of peace and joy in the Atman (the essence of Brahman within the Human). By identifying yourself with it, you have fallen into the snare of the world–the miseries of birth, decay and death.
“You are the Atman (Brahman), the infinite Being, the pure, unchanging consciousness, which pervades everything. Your nature is bliss and your glory is without stain. Because you identify yourself with the ego, you are tied to birth and death. Your bondage has no other cause.”
The “Crest Jewel of Discrimination” provides a path that stills the cravings within you. “But there is a way to destroy all three–this craving and both its causes. Under all circumstances, always, everywhere, and in all respects, you must look upon everything as Brahman, and Brahman alone. Strengthen your will to know the Reality, and the three will dissolve away.”
“Cease to find fulfillment of your cravings in the objective world, and you will stop dwelling on sense-objects. Stop dwelling on sense-objects, and your craving will be destroyed. When all craving has disappeared, that is liberation, it is called liberation-while-living.”
These words are but nonsense in a materialist nation like America. No I want my Jesus, who will forgive all my sins, let me do as I will, accumulate wealth, while letting me go to the Mall or shop to my heart’s content on Amazon. I want a God that gives me permission to steal from the Goyim. I want a god that is fine with slaughtering the infidel! This certainly is not true to those who are illumined, and have eyes of God to see. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21.
And if Brahman is All, and Brahman, I and the Other are One, then how can I have the need to accumulate money and things. There is no mine. It is all ours. We have so much more than enough for everyone. Yet the insatiable craving affects rich and poor alike.
“Know your true Atman as the witness of the mind and the intellect, and the thought-waves that arise in them. Raise a single wave of thought constantly: ‘I am Brahman’. Thus you will free yourself from identification with the non-Atman. Cease to follow the way of the world, cease to follow the way of the flesh, cease to follow the way of tradition. Get rid of this false identification and know the true Atman.”
“When a man follows the way of the world, the way of tradition and the way of the flesh, knowledge of the Reality is not born within him. The wise say this threefold way is like an iron chain binding the feet of the man who tries to escape from the prison-house of this world. He who frees himself from it attains liberation.”
“Know your Atman–the pure, infinite consciousness, eternally existent in past, present and future. Thus you will find peace. Cease to identify yourself with race, clan, name, form and walk of life. These belong to the body, the garment of decay. Abandon, also, the idea that you are the doer of actions or the thinker of thoughts. These belong to the ego, the subtle covering. Realize that you are that Being which is eternal happiness.”
“The wise men of discrimination understand that the essence of both Brahman and Atman is Pure Consciousness, and thus realize their absolute identity. The identity of Brahman and Atman is declared in hundreds of holy texts…”
“This is all fine and well,” Monkey Brain appears out of the shadows, wearing a black robe and a dour look on his face, which is sucking the joy out of me. “What you have is good enough! Why are you trying to reach beyond your ken. Why are you trying to move beyond the station assigned to you? My friend, if we are Brahman, then we posses the power of Brahman. We become the All. We contain All things as Brahman contains All things. And All things are contained by us. If this is not so then this is all a beautiful myth with no consequence. Go back to your roots. Go back to the stability of what you know!”
“I don’t want power, I renunciate the power of Brahman! All I am searching for is the presence of the One; my being entwined with the presence of the One. My being fully conscribed by the One. Brahman can hold my power in abeyance and I will still be satisfied, because all I want is the Unity of the One. All I want is to reach what I love!
“Caste, Creed, family and lineage do not exist in Brahman. Brahman has neither name nor form; it transcends merit and demerit; it is beyond time, space and the objects of sense-experience. Such is Brahman, and ‘That Art Thou’. Meditate upon this truth.”
“It is untouched by those six waves–hunger, thirst, grief, delusion, decay and death–which sweep the ocean of worldliness. He who seeks union with it must must meditate upon it within the shrine of the heart. It is beyond the grasp of the senses. The intellect cannot understand it. It is out of reach of thought. Such is Brahman and ‘That art thou’ Mediate upon this truth.”
“Brahman is the reality–the one existence, absolutely independent of human thought or idea. Because of the ignorance of our human minds the universe seems to be composed of diverse forms. It is Brahman alone…The universe is Brahman–so says the great seer of the Atharva Veda, The universe, therefore is nothing but Brahman. It is superimposed upon Him. It has no separate existence, apart from its ground.”