Posts Tagged ‘ramana maharshi’

Nonduality Talk Interview with Enza Vita

May 16, 2013

Interview with Enza Vita

enza1

Enza Vita lives in Adelaide, South Australia, where she and her husband Leo Drioli own and operate Inner Self Magazine:

Play or Download link:
http://nonduality.com/enzavita27april2013.mp3

Here is a listing of the tracks:

In the first hour (1:16:38, to be exact) there are blasts of static throughout the interview. If you find the static makes the interview hard to listen to, you may read a transcript of the first 1:16:38 here: http://nonduality.com/enzavita.htm

You may skip to 1:16:39, where the last hour is static-free.

0:00 – 4:43 Enza’s first interview. Husband Leo Drioli. Australia. Meeting Enza at SAND. Chatting, talking about Enza’s name.

4:43 – 17:52 Born in Italy. Going to Australia at age 17. Alice Springs. Coming from Solarino, Sicily. Growing up in Solarino. Feeling different growing up and having various boundary dissolving experiences that were outside the normal thus making her feel isolated. Several experiences described growing up and talking to different people in order to understand them. Trying to be normal. Discovery in Alice Springs resonating with childhood activity and being a sign she should stay in Australia. Family dinners in Sicily.

17:52 – 24:09 Family dinners in Solarino remembered and described. Enza being up on the roof to get away. Stories. How much of nonduality is stories? Awareness introduced.

24:09 – 30:36 Continuation of the discussion on going to Australia at age 17. Not speaking English. Dealing with her dad who didn’t want to let her go. Living in Alice Springs for two years. Reading at the library. Seeking. Trying to understand her experiences.

30:36 – 35:54 Nature of Enza’s seeking. Moving to Adelaide. Meeting her husband Leo Drioli. Making herbal potions. Studying naturopathy. Seeing teachers. Discovering Nisargadatta’s I Am That. Also Ramana Maharshi, Dzogchen books.

35:54 – 46:15 All the teachings having flown through Enza, being part of Enza as guiding energy. Current connection with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. Remarkable story he tells that connects directly with Enza’s childhood experience. Experience with Zen breathing/meditation teacher that led to an opening up. More about resonance with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu stemming from her childhood. Mystery of it.

46:15 – 57:29 Being meditated, significance of. Paradox of getting from here to here. Enza learned to describe her knowing out of questions from her husband Leo. Not having anything to teach. Waiting for the next step as a teacher to become clear. If there were no questions she would have nothing to say.

57:29 – 1:01:58 Waiting for space to open to start teaching. Needing a reason to give teaching. The breast feeding story/analogy to giving a teaching.

1:01:58 – 1:13:11 Terms consciousness and awareness discussed. Coming from consciousness compared to standing as awareness. “I am” as consciousness. Nature of awareness itself. “Dark radiance of pure awareness.” Nature of “I am” and how to realize. Why isn’t the “I am” awareness promoted in today’s nonduality circles?

1:13:11 – 1:16:38 Suffering at the level of relative truth and as inseparable from absolute truth. Embracing both. Practice of presence. In teaching, starting with where a person is at.

ON THE TRACKS BELOW THERE IS NO STATIC:

1:16:39 – 1:21:08 Enza changes phone. Chatting about coffee and karaoke. Casual chat. Enza talks about her memory not being too good so she doesn’t remember what we were talking about before she switched phones.

1:21:08 – 1:27:34 The event of dropping away, non-separation, or shift in perception, or looking and seeing that she was everything. Everyone is already looking in this way. As a searcher or seeker you are looking for something other than this non-separation. Spiritual people resisting that Enza had this realization. This was seven years ago.

1:27:34 – 1:34:16 Is this realization a big deal? How the initial realization played out for Enza. Not talking about it openly for a few years. Role of meditation in facilitating realization. Not necessary to meditate as a practice. Enza having an inner knowing that this lifetime was for self-realization.

1:34:16 – 1:42:55 Enza feeling that a rope from within was pulling her toward “something” and that it was inevitable. Having trust. Nature of honoring that tug toward the inevitable. Relaxing into the spacious knowingness or “I am.”

1:42:55 – 1:48:15 Talking about awareness alone could be boring as it is not the complete picture. Nature of the separate person. We don’t need thoughts to know the sharp lucidity. Yet the mind is used to carry out the business of discussing awareness.

1:48:15 – 1:55:15 A space between the words. I ask Enza if she reads any current books. She says her memory is no longer photographic as when she was young. Things don’t stick around, even in the middle of speaking. Silence as the default stand. Her husband Leo keeps her exteriorized. How Enza is engaged in the world. Living in the body.

1:55:16 – 2:07:00 We talk about the Science and Nonduality Conference (SAND) U.S.A. 2012, where we met. Enza suggests a SAND for Australia. I talk about the group in Nova Scotia I’m involved with. Mind grasps perspectives. The activity in satsang where the teacher tries to get people to shift perspective toward non-separation. Enza’s experience addressing her husband’s questions. Headlessness.

2:07:00 – 2:16:50 A natural approach to self-realization compared to forcing it, yet can’t dismiss the more forced approach. The nature of being interviewed. Is anything happening? Awareness in movement and awareness still. Ramana Maharshi on deep sleep. Enza’s out of the body experiences as a kid and energetic experiences as an adult. Enza rehearsing as a backup singer for her husband Leo’s band which is opening for the Dalai Lama’s upcoming appearance.

Visit http://EnzaVita.com

enza8

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Nonduality Talk: Interview with Gonzalo Fernandez

May 7, 2013

Interview with Gonzalo Fernandez (conducted by Jerry Katz)

Download/listen link:

http://nonduality.com/gonzalofernandez29april2013

Descriptive listing of tracks:

Gonzalo Fernandez is a native of Costa Rica, “the happiest country in the world.” Gonzalo organizes meetings in his country featuring nondual teachers/sharers from around the world. He spoke from the community of Moravia, a suburb of the capitol San Jose. Meet Gonzalo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gonzalo.fernandez.5437

0:00 – 10:24 Beginning of Gonzalo’s search. Milestones including discovery of J. Krishnamurti, Nisargadatta, and Ramesh Balsekar. Went to India to visit Ramesh. His realization is demonstrated to Ramesh. Roshi Phillip Kapleau mentioned. Teaching of J. Krishnamurti as too intellectual.

10:24 – 15:19 Life after meeting Ramesh. Costa Rica and nondual teachings. Spiritual practices are popular. A few years ago met people who like him were interested in Nisargadatta. Formed small groups after coming out of zazen group.

15:19 – 23:40 Eckhart Tolle comes to Costa Rica but locals were not allowed to hear him. It was too expensive for locals and the locals weren’t invited. Spirituality as a business.

23:40 – 30:41 Gonzalo’s involvement in starting groups. Eckhart Tolle group. Toni Packer’s work discussed. Sandra Gonzalez invited to Costa Rica to lead silent retreats.

30:41 – 41:26 Unmani invited to Costa Rica twice. We digress and talk about Costa Rica as a retirement destination, especially the option of living a simple life. We talk about Unmani again. Gonzalo talks about his role in bringing teachers to Costa Rica and the roles others play.

41:26 – 47:13 Elena Nezhinsky discussed. Nature of Elena’s teaching style, her visit to Costa Rica and the time spent with her.

47:13 – 49:04 The nature and humor of seeking when the answer is always right here. There are no seekers, yet seeking happens.

49:04 – 53:55 Noumenon and phenomenon discussed. “Seeking happens, but there are no seekers.” Seeing all this as consciousness dreaming and we are a dream character. I ask Gonzalo whether he has spoken as a teacher to locals and talks about that.

53:55 – 58:02 We talk about locals in Costa Rica forming their own groups without inviting teachers from the outside around the world. Is it necessary to invite outside teachers? “Are prophets not prophets in their home town?” Extreme case of Ramana Maharshi as a local teacher. You can find enlightened peope everywhere.

58:02 – 1:03:24 Encouraging a locally grown group in Costa Rica. Nature of such local groups in which Gonzalo has been involved, as confrontational and requiring the presence of someone who they see as holding spiritual authority. We talk about what it takes to form and operate an open-minded group that supports and nurtures all who are drawn to it.

1:03:24 – 1:08:27 Inviting Hashim Zaki (aka iamyou on the internet), a student of Nisargadatta Maharaj, to Costa Rica, where he is going to speak for a few days and may decide to retire.

1:08:27 – 1:11:18 Running open meetings with locals without focusing on a single teacher.

1:11:18 – 1:16:04 Light-hearted talk on the beautiful women Gonzalo invites to Costa Rica. The beaches. Nosara Beach discussed for it’s spiritual activities and women. Pamela Wilson and Jac O’Keefe mentioned.

1:16:04 – 1:25:06 Everytime Gonzalo wants to stop getting involved in inviting people, but someone comes across for him to invite. Francis Bennett mentioned and planning to come to Costa Rica. Nature of Jerry’s visit to Costa Rica discussed and marking the next step in group meetings in Costa Rica. Jean Klein mentioned as a teacher of Gonzalo. Gonzalo will let Hashim Zaki know about the local group, which Hashim might become part of if he moves there.

1:25:06 – 1:42:55 Things get personal here and I feel we’re hearing the natural Gonzalo these next few minutes aside from his work in nondual teachings. Gonzalo’s daily life in Costa Rica. His interest in farming. He prefers to walk and sit in nature. Gonzalo’s family. His minimal needs. His conversations with the farmers at a local bar. What he drinks. “Peace is the most essential thing.” Just being who you are. Friendship in its most basic sense as a sharing of being. Being social as natural. Accepting all interaction including the belief that there’s a seperate entity, thus welcoming the dissolving of the separateness. The oneness that we are. Life is nothing complicated, belief makes it complicated.

1:42:55 – 1:50:48 We express mutual gratitude and talk about the nature of doing what interests you compared to doing work in order to make money. People avoiding others who are too peaceful; they need you to be against something so they can fight with you. However, it’s nice to talk to people about things other than ultimate reality itself. We talk about some details of farming coffee. We talk about coffee and how Gonzalo makes his coffee.

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Ramana Maharshi’s Words Set to Music

April 23, 2010

This is good!

For a free download of the demo tracks for “Nothing to Realise: Eleven Truths from Sri Ramana Maharshi” please click here:

http://files.me.com/billyspangles/ucbuud

Or visit here:

http://maharshimusic.com/

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Science and Nonduality: Minding the trip

November 5, 2008

What are the main themes to consider when organizing science and nonduality? The first job is to differentiate science and nonduality from science and consciousness.

There is a body of literature and work on science and consciousness. The focus is on experiences, phenomena, mystical states and possibilities, things like communicating with animals, accessing the quantum mind, tripping on the mind, relaxing the mind, developing mental abilities, accessing the potential of the mind, studying the brain and neurology. “Tripping on the mind” says it all. That’s the hallmark of “science and consciousness.”

The hallmark of “science and nonduality” is more like “minding the trip.” That is, asking “whose mind?” “What mind?” “What experience?” “Who is fascinated with the play of consciousness?”

Science and consciousness is a trip down the rabbit hole that stops on a spacious ledge.

The work of science and nonduality is a deeper ride down the rabbit hole, through a small door that leads beneath the tripping on mind and goes far down. How far? As Greg Goode might say, “All the way!”

Here are a few quotations that would set the tone for a body of work on science and nonduality:

This is a fragment of dialogue between a Devotee and Ramana Maharshi:

D: Is not meditation better than investigation?

M: Meditation implies mental imagery, whereas investigation
is for the Reality. The former is objective, whereas the
latter is subjective.

D: There must be a scientific approach to this subject.

M: To avoid unreality and seek Reality is scientific.

D: I mean there must be a gradual eliminaton, first of the
mind, then of the intellect, and finally of the ego.

M: The Self alone is Real. All others are unreal. The mind
and the intellect do not remain apart from you.
The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Stillness
is the sole requisite for realization of the Self as God.

~ ~ ~

from “The Way of Chuang Tzu,” trans Merton:

*The Lost Pearl*

The Yellow Emperor went wandering
To the north of the Red Water
To the Kwan Lun mountain. He looked
around
Over the edge of the world. On the way
home
He lost his night-colored pearl.
He sent out Science to seek his pearl,
and got nothing.
He sent Analysis to look for his pearl,
and got nothing.
He sent out Logic to seek his pearl,
and got nothing.
Then he asked Nothingness, and
Nothingness had it!
The Yellow Emperor said:
“Strange, indeed: Nothingness
Who was not sent
Who did no work to find it
Had the night-colored pearl!”

~ ~ ~

William Blake wrote in the introduction to “Jerusalem,”

Poetry fetter’d Fetters the Human Race
Nations are Destroy’d or Flourish in proportion as
Their Poetry, Painting and Music are Destroy’d or Flourish:
The primeval state of Man was Wisdom, Art and Science.”

Wisdom precedes art as art precedes science. Wisdom is consciousness of being itself; it cannot be qualified, conditioned, or defined, for it is intrinsic to being itself. Art is the reflexive state of wisdom; it is the natural and spontaneous expression of being. Science is the way of materially implementing the reflexive state of wisdom. In awakened human consciousness these three form a unified whole. But in our own time science precedes art, and the practice of art precedes the realization of wisdom; and the three are no longer related as a unified system of knowledge. By Blake’s terms, the state we live in is the utter reversal of man’s natural state… (from this untitled work)

~ ~ ~

Science and nonduality is about self-realization or knowing who you are. That goes for the scientist. Anyone exploring science and nonduality has to find out their true nature or who they are. They can’t just trip on the mind and all kinds of cool things about consciousness. They need to go beneath that.

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Namaste for the Gods, the Guru, and Kelly Ripa

September 14, 2008

I was watching Meg Ryan on the Regis show and as her interview ended she signified her departure to Regis’s co-host Kelly Ripa by bringing her hands together prayer-like in front of her forehead. That is to say, Meg presented the sign meaning Namaste.

Namaste means “my soul and your soul are one,” according to nonduality teacher Dr. Jean Klein. Further, Klein points out in the video Discovering the Current of Love, that when the hands are held at heart level it is intended for your neighbor and all people. When the hands are brought to forehead level it is a namaste for the Guru. When the hands are held over the head, Klein says, this is namaste for the gods.

On the Regis show, Meg Ryan brought her hands to forehead level, signifying to Kelly Ripa that this namaste was for “the Guru.”

So, what Guru do Meg Ryan and Kelly Ripa share or recognize? More broadly, what is the spiritual connection between Meg Ryan and Kelly Ripa?

How deep, diverse, and widespread is the teaching of nonduality throughout Hollywood? I think it is prevalent and takes the forms of Tibetan Buddhism, Eckhart Tolle-ism, Kabbala, and open Christianity ala A Course in Miracles. That’s only a few.

It’s all over the internet that Jeff Goldblum is reading Talks with Ramana Maharshi.

Acclaimed British actor Terence Stamp has voluntarily read the audio version of David Carse’s most nondual Perfect Brilliant Stillness.

Legendary Richard Beymer has written the wild and penetrating nonduality book, Impostor, a creation that should be made into a movie.

Since my work in nonduality over the last ten years has been to bring nonduality to “the people,” it makes sense that I would try to gauge how nonduality has penetrated the lives of people within certain groups. The mass entertainment group is interesting since it could spread the teaching of nonduality very broadly, if, perhaps, not too deeply.

Posted in Mainstream Media, Popular Culture | 4 Comments »
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Reincarnation and Nonduality

April 24, 2008

Are you wondering about reincarnation and its place in the teaching of nonduality?

The teaching of Advaita Vedanta — also known simply as Advaita — is part of Hindu tradition. Advaita addresses your questions of karma and reincarnation. Dvaita means duality, and the ‘A’ prefix confers the ‘non’ portion. Advaita = Nonduality.

Advaita means nonduality, and nonduality means ‘not two.’ While things, events, phenomena appear to be separate, in reality there are not two — not separate — things.

Advaita is a tradition which takes the student through steps of knowledge leading to the full recognition of reality as nondual. Neither Advaita nor Buddhism nor other teachings in their advanced forms talk about reincarnation or soul development. Those experiences are not more special than other experiences. However, if questions about reincarnation are important to you, they need to be addressed.

In Advaita, one of the steps on the way to nondual understanding is the teaching of karma, free will, and reincarnation. This step is not the ultimate teaching of Advaita. The ultimate teaching is that there is only reality, God, Christ, Truth, The Eternal Self, The Kingdom of God, Oneness, or whatever you wish to call it.

It’s important to have a sense of the ultimate teaching while investigating your urgent questions, such as reincarnation.

One way of keeping the ultimate teaching present, is to resort to a metaphor.

View burning questions and intense emotions as the rising of waves in the ocean. Any wave can be tremendously awesome, hugely violent, or small and calmly gentle. Yet no wave is separate from the great, vast ocean. The ocean is the nondual self, the eternal Self, the real you. While Advaita teaches about the qualities of waves, the ultimate teaching is about the ocean itself.

I suggest that Advaita is the best context in which to pursue questions about reincarnation for one who senses nondual reality. If you wish to look into Advaita, begin at this page on Dennis Waite’s site. Also, Dennis’s books are the best guides to Advaita. In Back To The Truth he speaks specifically about reincarnation.

Chuck Hillig’s classic, Enlightenment for Beginners, brings reincarnation into the view of nondual reality. Chuck is a devotee of Ramana Maharshi, who is mentioned below.

Finally, note that the very same teacher of Advaita (or nonduality) will one moment explain reincarnation in detail and at the next moment deny there is such a thing as reincarnation.

Do not let the apparent contradiction confuse you. Do not be offended or insulted by any response. The teacher is speaking to different needs of different people. He is giving the answer that would best serve the specific student. Simply hone in on the response that is right for you and don’t worry about the rest, for now.

For example, look at this teaching from one of the great sages of Advaita, Ramana Maharshi.

Advaita requires that one know the source of questions about reincarnation. Until one is ready to approach that knowledge, and in order to stimulate curiosity about that knowledge, careful answers about reincarnation are given. So are answers given to questions about karma, free will, desire, creation, purpose, happiness, and the world in general.

Advaita is a full path to full knowledge of the Self.

Neo-Advaita? Well, that’s another story. Neo-Advaita is the confession, claim, report, or description of existence and reality from the point of view of one who has attained full knowledge of the Self. Some people are in such a disposition that they can hear one of these confessions and awaken to the full knowledge of Self. But many cannot. For those who cannot, the path of Advaita is available.

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