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The Calll Retreat

Seeing the One through the Many

  By Davidya | January 16, 2014 - 7:24 am | , ,
2 Comments

In a December conference call, Lorne made a few comments I quite enjoyed.

On Self Realization
“It’s something that sees itself when we stop looking.”

On Unity
“Through the appearance of many, the one can become more clear…”
ie: multiplicity is not a barrier to oneness – it is the means by which oneness knows itself more fully. Consider the mahavakyas, for example.

[the world] “becomes more pronounced because it’s all consciousness.”

This weekend, I will be enjoying another retreat with Lorne and Lucia, on a Kiwi farm on the island.
Looking forward to it.
Davidya


Mantra and the World

  By Davidya | August 13, 2013 - 1:38 pm | , , , , , , , ,
3 Comments

As readers of this blog know, I recommend an effortless mantra meditation rather than one using concentration or similar. This is because a mantra is a sound with known effects. If we try to use the mind to manipulate it, we’ll stay in the mind. If we try to use the mind to control the mind, we’ll struggle. But if we let the mantra go where it will, it will naturally settle into deeper layers of the mind. This causes the body to become more restful than deep sleep. It then takes the opportunity to purify which increases physiological activity, bringing us back to other thoughts. And the cycle repeats.

As we cycle through this process, the mantra will occasionally take us down to the depths of the mind, where we transcend the mantra and thought altogether and experience pure consciousness, awareness without content. All this without trying to control anything.

The experience of pure consciousness is known as samadhi in Sanskrit. Extensive research has demonstrated that such meditators experience samadhi on a regular basis in each sitting. In a prior post, I reviewed the layers of samadhi described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the root text of much modern understanding of yoga, meditation, and so forth.

The deeper samadhis become increasingly common over time, creating the ground for consciousness to wake up to itself – what is commonly called Self Realization.

Various traditions prescribe other techniques like inquiry or mindfulness. But to be effective, these assume an existing quality of consciousness that can be consistently self-aware. That is cultured through samadhi. And this is why Vedic and Tantric traditions place mantra meditation as a core practice, even if some have mistakenly added effort.

The word Mantra is derived from manas and tool, thus it literally means “mind tool”. But mantra is not actually limited to meditation or the mind.

You’ve undoubtedly heard of Om (more correctly Aum), the primordial sound of the universe, the sound from which all sounds arise, and so forth. This points to a simple detail. Our universe and everything we experience originates in vibration. Physicists point to subatomic particles as being both particles and vibrating waves. Even deeper as vibrating “super-strings”. Explorers in consciousness point to the subjective experience of vibration as sound, mantra.

As Lorne Hoff put it during a recent webcast, “The world is the mantra of consciousness.” It is all mantra and nothing but.

I’ve talked about how liveliness stirs alertness and it becomes aware. Then awareness becomes aware of itself and in that recognition, creation arises. That liveliness is vibration. Thus, as Lorne put it, “Consciousness itself is mantra.”

One way we experience this is that we are aware and experiencing in the first place. Another way is we feel bliss, vibration within. Another way is the world itself. It’s all mantra.

From the perspective of Brahman, “…[there is] not really a world appearance – it’s all consciousness.” said Lorne. Not even a maya. Just consciousness, flowing and vibrating within itself.
There is only mantra.
Davidya


A Second Childhood

  By Davidya | July 31, 2013 - 2:12 pm | , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment

The experience varies but for some, awakening can be like a second childhood. Like we’re going back to school and relearning about what life is. Also because it’s a process of progressively deeper surrender. A return to innocent allowing.

As Lorne Hoff puts it, “The secret to Awakening is readiness, openness, simplicity, innocence and clear simple guidance from within, from nature, or from a fully enlightened being.”

Jesus is said to have said: “I tell you the truth. You must change and become like little children. If you don’t do this, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the person that makes himself humble like this child.“  (Matthew 18)

Awakening is not something you can convince yourself of or think yourself into. In fact, it is not something you do at all. It is something you surrender to. It is recognizing we are an aspect of the whole. Not individual’s achieving something but expressions of the divine knowing itself more fully.
Davidya


Brahman Unfolds

  By Davidya | June 3, 2013 - 1:10 pm | , , , , , ,
3 Comments

Recently, I was on another retreat with Lorne and Lucia. It was a profound exploration, brought about by a young woman who had recently had a clear shift into Brahman. This only a few months after her initial awakening and Unity. Such a thing was at one time astonishingly rare.

Unlike her shift, the Brahman Consciousness (BC) shift can be a two-stage affair not unlike the initial awakening.  First, transcending Atman into a kind of dry phase where we can be more conscious of those aspects of Unity that we’ve lost or are falling away than the new perspective. And then a second stage where the fuller value unfolds. I explore this more here.

The profundity of the shift cannot be over-estimated. As I’ve noted, the grace people often talk about is Brahman. The true driver to the awakening process is Brahman. It is, fundamentally, all that is. And yet it neither is nor isn’t. It is beyond that duality.

Describing BC is an art in itself. As the old saying goes, the Tao than can be described is not the Tao. Brahman is beyond the conception of even someone in Unity. It is beyond existence, consciousness, even the most rarefied, abstract understanding of pure Being or Isness. Transcending Atman, it is beyond I and Am.

To avoid larger concepts over Sanskrit terminology, Lorne called it “Beyond Consciousness“. Amusingly apt and playful. Even calling it a stage or state of consciousness is erroneous as it is beyond that too.

BC is said to be the final stage of Unity but is quite distinct from Unity within Atman. The ancient texts called it The Great Awakening due to its profundity.

While In Unity, we recognize both ourselves and the world as my Self (Atman). This makes it profoundly intimate, even right in the senses. In BC, we transcend all that and discover there is no world. Nothing is happening or ever did. Note though that this is not the same thing as an emptiness that may first be experienced in pure, content-less awareness. There is no devoid here.

Because we transcend Atman, the Self looses its sense of Self, of being, and we are beyond all that is. When Atman knows Brahman it is Brahman. As has been famously put, the Knower of Brahman is Brahman.

Some may imply this is a greater wholeness than Unity but it’s not. It is beyond such differentiation. But the supreme value of wholeness is revealed. It is a simple, causeless completeness.

Paradoxically, this does not mean there are no experiences or that it’s a blank emptiness. But there are no actions, just a kind of lively alertness. The devata value or seeing continues, along with love and bliss. Yet as it is beyond Maya (creation); the appearance is non-existent. We come to see other people not as individuals but as patterns of devata.

As is said repeatedly in the Yog Vasishtha, there are no causes, so there are no effects (creation). Thus, all those former experiences of the nature and layers of creation all dissolve in a heap and our understanding of what is real vastly simplifies.

You’ll notice this description is full of paradoxes and logical inconsistencies. This is the fault of language and the lack of reference points we may have for such statements.

While we may certainly place a very high regard on someone in BC, it’s always good to put such things in perspective. In the Kala model of stages, the most evolved humans reach about a 7 on scale out of 16. In other words, there are beings who are more than twice as advanced and talented as the most evolved human.

We do what we can. ;-)
Davidya


New Lorne & Lucia Clips

  By Davidya | December 15, 2012 - 4:16 pm | , , , ,
1 Comment

Lorne and Lucia have posted some new, short videos on Youtube.

Give Up, Mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBrod19O35E

Let Being Speak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48GXOnnxL0g

Unbounded Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkXYWZqbyHs

Devotion (Lucia) – the source vs form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upHW5NgUCEc

If you value such talks, they have a large selection of audio recordings from prior satsangs plus a few videos available via their web site.

To browse prior videos and links here, see this page.

Other mentions can be found by selecting the CaLLL category on the right.
Enjoy!
Davidya


God Realization Plus

  By Davidya | November 28, 2010 - 1:59 pm | , , , , , , , , , , ,
8 Comments

I’ve spoken here occasionally about God Realization. I wanted to add some further notes on the subject.

Firstly, it’s good to know that evolution happens both ways – from the outside in and from the inside out. We have a spiritual practice to awaken and Self has a process to wake through us. Put in this context, we go to meet God and God comes out to meet us.

Also, before God Realization, we have to know who we are. Self Realization has to come first. Self awakens to the Self through you. Then God Realization can really begin.

From the inside out, the fullness of Self within begins to overflow, it moves forward and absorbs fine feeling (hence the heart expansion). Then it absorbs mind and thinking, then out into all of our experiences. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes the “fullness of Being overflows” into the mind and thinking, then out into the senses. Adyashanti talks of this as absorbing head, heart, and gut.

From the outside in, we experience growing perception of subtler values (energy and light), then the mechanics of creation. At some point, we come to primary principles of nature & the 5 forms of God*. Finally, we come to the finest of the relative. Here we find the interplay of the 3 gunas, the intellect, and, just beyond the intellect, the field of eternal bliss. We have come to the edge of the absolute, what physics calls the event horizon.

This is where God Realization takes place – where the absolute and creation meet. This is where we meet God in earnest, whatever our prior experiences may have been. It doesn’t matter what we believe or don’t believe or what concept we have about any of this. Now it is our direct experience. We can say God becomes self-evident then directly experienced.

A deeply intimate relationship develops, one much closer than anything we’ve ever experienced. God and Self are now as close as the absolute and relative.

Here’s a few quotes from Maharishi from his translation and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita (p 443-7)
“Where perception of everything whatever is perception of Being made manifest”
God Realized, one “moves on earth and lives in the land of God.”
“They share their life with God”
We see God “abiding in all beings”
(his commentary is well worth the read)

Unity
Gradually we surrender more and more to God until we’re so close, there is a unification. Even if we’ve already had the Unity shift (ending the separation of inside and outside), it is not until this stage that the unity can reach any kind of completeness. Everything must join together, including with God, for Totality to be realized.

As we join God, the absolute and relative aspects of life are also joined. Together we contain all.

Its notable here that there is a choice in unification.**
1) Personal
We may take a Personal route and retain a small gap, a Leisha Avidya or remains of ignorance. A small separation to keep the flow of love and devotion to God. We continue to play with God.
or
2) Impersonal
We may choose the Impersonal route, the route of complete Oneness with God. We surrender even our relationship with God. God becomes a part of us and we a part of God.

This choice is between you and God. There is no point in considering advantages of one or another. You’ll know what is best when the choice arrives.

This final step is more than God Realization. Maharishi once called it Unity in God Consciousness. It is the ground of what he later came to call Brahman Consciousness. Back on the Mahavakya page, this article is about Tat Tvam Asi, Thou art That.

This all may seem far out or far off, but it’s really closer to you than the end of your nose.  ;-)
Davidya

* The 6 forms of God per Shankara are Nirakar or formless and Pancha Devata or 5 primary forms. How each person experiences them is somewhat unique and dependent on both the person and deva.

**[Update: Note that Personal and Impersonal also apply to our approach to the personal qualities of reality. Broadly, Personal is the more feeling devotional path, Impersonal the intellectual path. Devas vs laws of nature, for example.  In other words, both our approach to reality and our choice of relationship with God can fit in one or other camps. As well, an Impersonal approach does not necessarily mean an Impersonal choice. One may approach intellectually, then melt in the light of God. Or one may approach devotionally and desire a complete merger.]

[UPDATE: When i wrote this article, I was using "God Realization" the way Maharishi was using it - when we have the ongoing experience of the living reality of God. (as in the quotes) More recently, I've begun using "Realization" in the same way as it's used for other stages - when we become. In that case, "God Realization" is the climax when we make the choice described above - to unify fully or retain a small separation.]


Deep Retreat

  By Davidya | January 27, 2010 - 6:48 pm | , , ,
2 Comments

Apologies for the lag in posts. I spent a week on retreat and it’s taking a little time to get caught up.

The retreat with LornLucia (a name symbolic of their unity) was quite distinct from earlier ones. For one, they’ve moved from the prairies to the coast. The retreat was located on an island not far from my home. An area named one of the most pure in the world.

They also offered a part-time extension for the full week. While there was a surface crust of resistance there we began to dissolve, the clarity beneath that was remarkable. It was wonderful to spend the time more deeply intensifying the inner alertness. It was quite profound for me and for a number of others there.

Some of the offshoots of that I’ll be sharing in posts shortly – I have over a dozen subjects lined up.

Isn’t life amazing??
Davidya

[Update: new domain: http://www.lucialorn.net/  ]


Beyond I Am

  By Davidya | September 29, 2009 - 11:47 am | , , , , , , , , ,
4 Comments

Another great question, this on the basics of our existence.

“My spiritual journey is driven by one main question I had from the very beginning: How and why did I and this world come to existence? After reading so many books, ok, I can accept that the world is an illusion, so I can take it out of the question. But how about “I”? My admired spiritual teachers all say:

The only thing I know for certain is I AM and I don’t know anything else.

Is this I AM knowledge so strong that it dispels the urge to ask the question about how and why the Spirit comes to existence?”

Some people use “I Am” to describe soul realization. The awakened inner spirit. But this is not Self realization as the me remains. The deeper sense of Self or “Amness” becomes clear either before or after Self realization – that’s why the name. Self realization itself is when we not just experience it but become it. Some describe this as the end of the seeker, when self-knowledge dawns. It’s not learned knowledge but rather more knowingness.

While this is a worthwhile “goal”, some people suggest this is the end of inquiry. Not in my books. It is not the end of knowledge. In fact, this is one of the things I harp on. It’s just the beginning. That’s partly why they call it being “reborn”. If you consider “I Am” and the surrender of knowing the end of wisdom, you’ve missed the discovery of reality itself. Fundamental reality is beyond I and Am. There are many teachers who are realized but fewer who have reached the highest truths of fully embodied unity. While a realized person can offer great value, they cannot take you where they are not. Only in unity is the fundamental reality revealed, after transcending even God’s dream.

As a side note, not everyone will use terms like “I Am” because there can be a sense of the end of “I”, either with the end of the ego or with the end of identity prior to unity. However, it’s difficult to use English without using “I”. (laughs)

Ultimate reality cannot be described as it has no qualities or characteristics. In fact, it is beyond even being. We can use words like silence, source, or unmanifest. Brahman or Tao. Within that unmanifest nature is 2 unexpressed principles, what Lorne calls liveliness and alertness. When alertness becomes lively, the silence becomes aware and then becomes aware of itself. When awareness becomes aware of itself, there is a recognition, then explosion of expression. Being becomes, existence then is.

How that expression is perceived depends on from where you are looking, your perspective. One may see an explosion of love that flows, creating and sustaining everything. One may see Shiva and Shakti making love. One may see the unfolding of pure knowledge and intelligence into structure. One may also feel, hear, or know or may not see, just feel or hear or know. Thus, the diversity of descriptions of the details. But the fundamental process remains. Until you experience it for yourself, it will not make a lot of sense. But it is you who is doing this. You are that awareness, that lively alertness that infuses everything, that causes being to become.

Everything we know and experience is a derivative of that process. Often, a reflection of a reflection of a reflection. As above, so below. The world is frequently described as an illusion and this is found true at a certain point. But the deeper truth is that it’s a dream. The imagination of God, at play in the field of love and wisdom.

Certainly, our experience of life quite often does not match that experience. This is understandable. We’re perceiving it through a pretty heavy load of filters – resistance and expectation of what it ‘should’ be and an unwillingness to see it as it is. Ironically, we fear only ourselves.

As far as why you are here – first thing is that you are never separate from the whole. It only appears that way. Infinity has drawn it’s attention to a point, what we might call the soul. That focus unfolds the completeness into what we describe as space and time so that your focus can experience it incrementally. Go into the detail. A means for the unexpressed Self to know itself. For love to experience its breadth and depth. You as an apparent individual are here to experience a specific aspect for/of the whole. Consciousness creates and shifts for a specific sequence of experiences to occur.

This may sound like determinism or fate, but who is consciousness? You are. You are unfolding as you choose. Free will and determinism are one and the same.

In the end though, this is just words on a screen. They may help you remember, it may mean nothing. It is for you to look within and find out for yourself. When that inner Self awakens to itself, then finds itself in all things, the perception of wholeness dawns. There are no words that can describe it. But one can be it and thus know it. And that knowingness will dispel “the urge”.

As a bonus, you will understand the Upanishads. (laughs)
Davidya


LLL Retreat 5

  By Davidya | September 11, 2009 - 8:09 pm | , , , , , ,
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I’m back. But not really. As is not uncommon, the person who arrived back was not the same person who left. There was a deep enough perspective shift that reality has once again changed. (laughs) And is in the process of going further.

As Lorne suggested, there are states of consciousness. And then within each state are levels of awareness, a progression of clarity and alertness. For example, in waking state, we can have days where we feel lonely and separate. Days where we feel foggy and dull. And days where we feel alive and full. After a spiritual awakening, there can be an uncertainty, a deep clarity and peace, perhaps a struggle with mind, and then the dawn of sat chit ananda, absolute bliss. Yet even that is only the foundation of what follows in higher states. And how it unfolds varies widely by person.

Like the last retreat I spoke of, there are no main points to describe. There was rather a conversation of Self with Itself. Kind of like an advanced version of the conference calls. This one was particularly potent. The love was palpable in the group. The richness sublime. The experiences profound. Because of the mix of the group, the conversations were startling in their depth.

The mind has not yet caught up with the shift underway. I continue to be surprised by the depth of what is there to unfold. And the yet deeper vistas that are revealed. Such a remarkable journey we’re on.
Davidya

(5 as this was the 5th I’ve been on)

[Update: new domain http://www.lucialorn.net/  ]


Retreating

  By Davidya | August 31, 2009 - 8:54 pm | , , ,
1 Comment

In July ’08, I went on 2 retreats – 5 days with Lorne and Lucia followed by a week in silence with Gangaji. In the year since, I’ve been on a bunch of video-conferenced day retreats and some local satsangs, but not a full retreat.

Next weekend, I’ll be going on a 4 day retreat on the prairies with Lorne and Lucia. These are very profound retreats. For example, it feels like it’s already begun. As the various awake and close-to-awake put their attention on the event, its presence builds. Already, people from a distance have begun their journey. The coming together of Self spills the boundaries of time.

It’s also a special retreat as Lorne and Lucia have sold the farm and are moving west. Their landing point is unknown so it may be awhile before another.

I also quite enjoy the retreats as I know many of the people, some for over 30 years. So it’s a time to see old friends too. Old friends who are completing their life’s purpose.

Its a beautiful thing.
Davidya

[Update: new domain: http://www.lucialorn.net/  ]

Other links I have here