As It Is
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IT isn't about YOU becoming enlightened.
IT isn't about YOU becoming awakened.
IT isn't about YOU gaining awareness.
IT isn't about YOU being in the here and now.
IT isn't about YOU entering a state of higher consciousness.

IT isn't about YOUR consciousness.

What is IT for a bird?
What is IT for a tree?
What is IT for a rock?
What is IT for YOU?

IT is that which is.

Concerning yourself with ANYTHING less than EVERYTHING,
is just playing in the delusion of duality.

But there really is no need to worry yourself about EVERYTHING,
any more than the need to concern yourself with ANYTHING.

It is just a play, playing in the delusion of duality.

How can one awaken or find enlightenment?

Can a character in a novel find the ink on the paper?

In the story of the novel a person goes up to a Sage and asks: "How can I find the ink on the paper?" The Sage replies: "You ARE the ink on the paper."

The trick is not in understanding who you are, but who you are not.

Don't try to cease thinking; Cease trying to think.

Once you go through the gate, you will find there was no gate to go through,
and no You to go through the gate.

Awakeness already is, but we overlook it. Though awakeness is already us, it can not be comprehended. It is easier to see the pointers than what they are pointing to. Fortunately, there is no need for us to understand awakeness; no more than there is a need for it to be understood by a bird, a tree, or even a rock.

The words are doing the best they can but there just isn't a vocabulary for it.

We are all Advaitins and we all practice it correctly.

Main Menu:
Some Initial Questions And Answers
Advaitism In A Nutshell
Observations / Comments / Reflections / Quotes / Notes
Books, Video, Audio, Podcasts / On Being Adopted

CafePress.com Advaitism Online Store

Related Websites of Interest:
LatterDayBuddhism.com
and
How To Make Your Life Work -Or- Why Aren't You Happy?
By Ken Keyes, Jr. And Bruce (Tolly) Durkan

Links:
Wiktionary / Kamat Glossary / Advaita.org / Advaita.org.uk
Amazon.com / TheOpenSecret.com - Tony Parsons / AlanWatts.com
Quantum Physics for Dummies (YouTube): 1 of 2 / 2 of 2 / More Links
Zen Center of Orange County (CA) / MyZen.tv / More Traditional Advaita Links

Love Means Not to Be -
A Zen-inspired short film about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

What is Advaitism? Advaitism is very simple, but maybe not so simple to explain. At its root, "Advaitism" means "not two". It is based on the "non-dualist" school of Vedanta founded by the 8th century Indian philosopher Sankaracharya. Some may consider what is proponed here to be "neo-advaitism" as explanations are kept simple, free of religious jargon and free of superfluous beliefs and practices. Advaitism is the realization that existence is non-dual. That is, you are not separate from anything else in existence. It is ALL you!

Ramana Maharshi, Ramesh Balsekar and Nisargadatta Maharaj are the more famous contemporary voices about what I would call pure Advaita. Advaita Vedanta on the other hand is a religion with an entrenched swami class, with rules and rituals that, to my mind, are completely superfluous to the essential teaching.

Even though the Teaching itself is quite austere and unornamented, there exists within it the potential for tremendous passion. The notion that everything that exists is an aspect of God is actually a very passionate, sexy teaching. It's saying that the flowers, the juices in your body, the urges in your being, the excitement, the fear, the life, the death, and all these qualities that exist are aspects of the incredible presence of God.

And you will realise at long last that yes, of course, you are that Nothingness, and you always have been. With utter clarity, it will be seen that Nothingness is the essence of it all, the reason for it all, the cause of it all, the beginning and end of it all, for all eternity and beyond. And there will be great laughter, and great lightness.

And you will laugh at even these thoughts, which like all thoughts are just pointless mental noise. And you will come to rest in the simplicity of being, in the obviousness of present-moment awareness. You will come to deeply accept what life throws at you now, now and now. You will have found your true home, and nothing will ever be able to hurt you again.

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