The Seer

In the dojo (meeting-room) at Gurukula is a large hand-embroided wall-hanging of the ‘Tree of Life,’ that was given to us by our daughter. It clearly depicts in stylized form, the whole tree — leaves, branches, trunk and even the exposed roots.

What is the hidden meaning of this symbolic tree? What deeper understanding does it offer us?

The way we see it, the leaves are the symbol of our individual identities. There are so many leaves and so many individuals on the tree of life. If each leaf is living for itself, then it is living in individual love.

When the leaf realizes it is connected to a branch, it moves into the collective identity and lives for its collective identity. This identity unites us with some and separates us from others, just as one branch is separated from another. In this level, our love becomes collective love. We live for our collective identity and may even be willing to die for our collective identity.

The trunk is the symbol of our universal mind. All branches and leaves are attached to the trunk, but at the same time it transcends them. Here our love becomes universal love.

At the level of the roots — the unitive mind or consciousness or God — our love becomes divine love or unitive love.

Each of us is a leaf for we are a unique physical being. Each of us is a branch in as much as we belong to a particular nation, culture or tradition. And each of us is the roots in as much as we are one with the divine or absolute … whether we realize it fully or not.

To accept intellectually the truth that we are, right now, each grounded inseparably in and as the divine is one thing, but to actually see It, even briefly, is another thing, and to experience this unitive vision continuously is quite another altogether and joy unspeakable.

There have always been a few of these visionaries in every age whose lives seem to correspond with the whole tree of life … including the trunk.

There is only one trunk and one universal mind. The trunk or the universal mind is the mediator between the roots, which represent the unitive mind, and the branches and leaves.

The trunk receives from the roots and nourishes the branches and the leaves. It speaks to the roots in the name of the leaves and the branches and it speaks to the branches and the leaves in the name of the roots.

The trunk lives for all. The Buddha, Jesus, Shankara and Ramana Mahashi etc. could be described as ‘universal persons’, who lived for all humankind. These are the way-showers, the truth-revealers or the mediators, as it were, between the the roots and the leaves / branches of their time.

We are fortunate to be served by a growing number of contemporary spiritual teachers who are fulfilling much the same function today. These are the teachers we respect and attend to at Gurukula.

No one is outside this tree and no ideology, religion or belief-system is outside this tree that is ‘life’ Itself.

There’s only one way, one truth and one life. This is the way of the tree, the way of unity and non-duality. This way embraces different levels of truth, the un-manifested truth and manifested truth.

The great transition or shift isn’t about an individual entering into a branch (belief-system) or moving from one branch (belief-system) to another branch (belief-system).

It’s an invitation to make the leap in consciousness from the branches to the trunk and from there to the roots. Now that’s radical!

In his best-selling book, The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle writes: “The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly.

“By misuse, I mean that people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying.

“This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, assertions, and egoic delusions, such as “My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false,” or Nietzsche’s famous statement “God is dead.”

“The word God has become a closed concept. The moment the word is uttered, a mental image is created, no longer, perhaps, of an old man with a white beard, but still a mental representation of someone or something outside you, and, yes, almost inevitably a male someone or something.

“Neither ‘God’ nor ‘Being’ nor any other word can define or explain the ineffable reality behind the word, so the only important question is whether the word is a help or a hindrance in enabling you to experience That toward which it points. Does it point beyond itself to that transcendental reality, or does it lend itself too easily to becoming no more than an idea in your head that you believe in, a mental idol?”

~ To read the rest of this insightful article, >>>Click Here.

“In the instant of simply opening, you experience that whatever you were struggling with is no longer there. True openness reveals that the struggle — the problem, the bogeyman, the wound — is actually nonexistent. The story is not transformed by openness; it is revealed to be actually nonexistent. The only thing that holds the story in place is the resistance to opening. What remains, when what was feared or fought with disappears, is the openness of existence itself — the truth in the center of your own heart.”

~ by Gangaji.

Once there were four boatmen living in a small village on the bank of a very wide river in India. It took all four of them to row a few people and their goods from one side of the river to the other. Every day they used to get around 40 persons. They charged 5 Rupees per passenger, so they earned on average 200 Rupees per day which was divided equally among them. At the end of the day they prayed like this:

The first boatman prayed: O God, I am very grateful to you for sending 40 fares today so that I can earn 50 Rupees. Please send more fares tomorrow so that I can earn more money and become rich. Thank you for today’s 50 Rupees.

The second one prayed: O God, I thank you so much because today I could take 40 of my countrymen and their goods from this side to the other side. I am so happy that I can be at the service of my countrymen. Please send more of them tomorrow so that I can serve them too. Thank you for giving me 50 Rupees to maintain my family today.

The third one prayed: O God, I am so happy today because I could take you from this side to the other side so many times. Please come more often tomorrow so that I can serve you even more. Thank you for giving me 50 Rupees today to take care of my family.

The fourth person prayed: O God, please forgive me for making this prayer. I realize that you alone exist. You are in me and you are in the others. It is you who are taking yourself from this side to the other side. The work which I do is not mine, but you who live in me do all the work. I am blessed to have this vision and to be your instrument. Thank you for giving me today 50 Rupees to take care of my family.

All the boatmen did the same work and earned the same amount of money, but their motives were different. The first boatman lived in individual love, the second boatman lived for collective love, the third boatman lived in universal love, and the fourth boatman lived for divine love. Our spiritual journey is to grow from individual love to the love which is divine.

~ by Br. J. M. Sahajananda

I urgently needed a few days off work, but I knew the boss wouldn’t allow me to take leave. I thought that maybe if I acted ‘crazy’, then he would tell me to take a few days off. So, I hung upside-down from a ceiling fixture and made funny noises.

My co-worker asked me what on earth I was doing. I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb, so the boss might think I was ‘crazy’ and give me some time off.

A few minutes later, the boss came into the office and asked, “What in the name of Sam Hill are you doing?”

I told him I was a light bulb.

He said, “You’re clearly stressed out. You’d better go home and rest up for a couple of days.”

I jumped down and walked out of the office.

When my co-worker went to follow me, the boss asked her, “And where do you think you’re going?”

To which she replied: “I’m going home too. I can’t work in the dark.”

~ Sent in by DB, of Lorena, TX. Thanks DB!

An imagined hasidic master, Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael writes to his student who has moved from the old country to America:

“It rained heavily during the night, and our village is thick with mud. I walked to the Beit Midrash (House of Learning) this morning and stopped to watch a group of little children playing in a puddle of mud.

They sat in the puddle, oblivious to the damp, and made dozens of mud figures: houses, animals, and towers. From their talk it was clear that they imagined an identity for each: a story that told the figure’s past and foretold its future.

For a while the mud figures took on independence, a life separate and unique. But they are still just mud. Mud is their source, and mud is their substance.

From the perspective of the children wrapped up in the play of separate figures their mud creations had separate selves. From the point of view of a casual observer it is clear that the separate self is an illusion, that in fact they are all just mud.

It is the same with us and God: “Adonai (the Lord) alone is God in heaven above and on earth below, there is none else” (Deuteronomy 4:39). Ayn od — there is none else — meaning that there is nothing else in heaven or on earth but God.

Can this be? When I look at the world I do not see God. I see trees of varying kinds, people of all types, houses, fields, lakes, cows, horses, chickens, and on and on. In this I am like the children at play seeing real figures and not simply mud. Where in all this is God?

Some would argue that God is a divine spark inside each being, some would say only within human beings. Others would argue that God is above and outside creation. But I teach neither position.

God is not inside or outside, God is the very thing itself! And when there is no thing, but only empty space? God is that as well.”

Also, from, the non-dual point of view, the first two of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20: 1-7) are extremely powerful non-dual statements, i.e., neither permitting images before the “I” sense, nor allowing the use of the subject “I” together with an identity to images.

~ From, Open Secrets: The Letters of Reb Yerachniel ben Yisrael, by Rami M. Shapiro

It’s often said that the truth is impossible to express in words. This seems strange for a language that is so varied and eloquent and so many books and discourses have been produced about it. The simple reason for this is that the truth of who/what you are is that principle before the advent of language and mind. Language formed later, you were already the fact. Look at a young child and it is seen that it is aware of you long before it has developed concepts and language.

Language was invented to communicate and express the reality that the person found themselves in. And so language is all about the duality of the world seen to be around us. This means that there are no words to express the non-duality of who you actually are prior to language, they are all geared to duality and concepts.

By concepts I mean the word tree isn’t an actual tree, it’s only a concept, a mental picture we learn to represent a tree so we all know what it is that’s being referred to. We may not be referring to one specific tree, it’s a general concept.

Non-dualists use the term pointers to the truth and not claim they are stating the truth. And non-dual is used instead of one’ness because one is part of language and is a concept and immediately brings with it two and we’re right back into duality once more – the concept of numbers. Non-duality is not learned as the opposite to duality even though it is.

You are Awareness and that’s not a concept.

~ by Roy Townsend

“How “spiritual” you are has nothing to do with what you believe but everything to do with your state of consciousness. Do not be concerned with the fruit of your action — just give attention to the action itself. The fruit will come of its own accord. This is a powerful spiritual practice. Love does not want or fear anything.”

~ by Eckhart Tolle

I don’t know if you’ve heard the music of the awakened US singer/songwriter, Kirtana, but if you have, you’ll know how insightful her lyrics can be. For example, take the words of The Train Song from her latest CD, Falling Awake … it just about says it all.

Just because the tracks are laid … or just because your ticket’s paid for …
and some crazed conductor keeps on calling out your name,
you don’t need to board the train. No, you don’t need to board the train.

Trains of thought will come and go,
but you are not your thoughts, you know -
so why get all caught up in where they lead?

You are who these thoughts are passing through – don’t you see.
You are who these thoughts are passing through. Be free. Be free.

Even when you’re feeling frightened, sad or hurt or unenlightened,
you can find a peace that underlies what passes by.
Don’t mistake the weather for the sky (of your being) — Why mistake the weather for the sky?

Feelings rise then fall away — even those you wish would stay,
so why equate your sense of self with mood?
You are who emotion passes through – don’t you see.
You are who emotion passes through. Be free. Be free.

What a blessing to have taken birth in this human form –
with the chance to see that who we are was really never born,
can never die, is always free.

If Destiny decides to strike some version of the script you like
And make a melodrama of your endless cabaret,
you know you can still enjoy the play (yes you can) —
if you’re still and you know how to play.

Just treat it like a mystery and view it from the balcony.
Laugh and cry and stomp your feet, but don’t believe a thing.

You are who these scenes are passing through — don’t you see.
You are who this play is passing through. Be free. Be free.

If you haven’t discovered Kirtana yet, you can see her CDs Here

Two Jewish mothers met in the street.

“Well, Ruthie, how are the kids!”

“To tell you the truth, my Abie has married a slut! She doesn’t get out of bed until eleven. She’s out all day spending his money on God knows what, and when he gets home, exhausted, does she have a nice hot dinner for him? Psha! She makes him take her out to dinner at an expensive restaurant.”

“And Esther!”

“Ah! Esther has married a saint. He brings her breakfast in bed, he gives her enough money to buy all she needs, and in the evening he takes her out to dinner at a smart restaurant.”