INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER JUNE 2014
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‘Life is Non-dual’ Dr.Vijai S Shankar: AAU Life is timeless and non-dual but appears dual in the mind. An experience which is dependent on time and duality therefore is illusory and not real, and in particular the spiritual ‘That’ could only be an illusory experience if ever it is experienced. In the most ancient texts of the enlightened, the ‘Upanishads’, it is precisely documented that enlightenment is ‘neither this nor that’ (neti neti). To just say ‘all is illusory anyway’ lacks understanding and has nothing to do with enlightenment. Enlightenment is neither achieved nor realised. Enlightenment is clarity that every moment of life is non-dual but appears as dual in the mind.
‘Wisdom’ Wisdom does not point to or indicate time, cause and effect. Wisdom is not dependent on cast, culture, tradition, religion, dress code, mundane or spiritual experiences, spiritual practices or exercises, knowledge, ideas, or beliefs. Therefore, wisdom is evolved understanding and NOT imbibed or assimilated knowledge. Wisdom reveals itself when any knowledge is understood to be an auditory illusion of certain audible sounds. Wisdom is the realisation that the world, man and mind are an inherent illusory reflection of visible light and certain audible sounds.
‘Now’ Man is in the ‘now’ which is an eternal moment, but this realisation has not happened to man as yet, to whomever the realisation has happened is the enlightened one. The now moments are illusory period of time in the mind and not an actuality in life, as time is absent in life. The today is an illusion just as yesterday and tomorrow is, because a moment is an illusory period of time and makes up today, yesterday and tomorrow. There is no watch or a calendar that records or defines a moment. Man loves if he realises that love is without conditions, but the moments of illusory times, which is the today, yesterday and tomorrow has many conditions and therefore the mind cannot know love to love because it does not know what real love is. Man knows what illusory love is. Man enjoys the thoughts that he likes, but does not know what the present is, because only the timeless ‘now’ is life and the real present. An issue is duality and so is the feeling of joy and thoughts. Therefore, it is impossible to like every moment of the mind to be joyful, because there is bound to be dislike. To be joyful is merely a hope to man. The enlightened live in the timeless and thoughtless ‘now’, which is life and realise that joy and thoughts in the mind are dual and illusory, but not real or actual.
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Letter to AAU Hedy Rose, UK: Dear Regina, Thank you for sending the tapes and for sharing your findings with me. Watching the films/talks has had a tremendous effect on me. This was totally unexpected especially after reading the books so often and being familiar with the subject (the illusion of life). There is such depth in every talk and even the spoken word does at times strike me to my very core. I have listened to all of them several times and yes, they are new each time I watch and they reveal more depth with each session. For me it is almost like being in Dr. Shankar's presence. My whole focus in life has changed and yet there is awareness that this is only just the beginning. I also have a question; I would like to ask Dr. Shankar. At the end of the talk “Unconditional Love" he said: It is fortunate to be in the company of an ENLIGHTEDED BEEING and he asked why this is important. I understood his words but the meaning was not entirely clear to me. I just know from my own meeting with him how profound the effect was. Thank you Regina. AAU Response: Dear Hedy, Dr. Shankar says it is fortunate because the enlightened has no conditions, demands, insistence, wish or want. The enlightened simply loves. Regina
Sonja, Canada Dear Dr. Shankar, Thank You for your books and cd’s. In rereading the book " The Illusions of Life", There is something you say about why does man question. It says there that man questions because the ego not only wants to know what is going to happen in life, but also wishes to be in control of life, to mould it, shape it, prevent it, and hasten it. That is becoming more clear to me and I really want to thank you for that and everything. Response to Sonja: Read all the books over and over again. Wisdom reveals itself when our conditioned beliefs are understood NOT to be the truth but merely knowledge that appears as the truth to the conditioned mind. Regards, Dr. Shankar/ AAU
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NEW ARTICLE: “What does Life mean?” The question what does life mean has intrigued many a great thinker and philosophy in general. Man is certain of the meaning of whatever happens in a day that is governed by cause and effect. He knows what it means only after it happens and never before. At the end of the day man is able to recollect the important events of the day, and considers this to be the meaning of his everyday life. It could mean parts of his daily life, but not the entire day. So, man can never know what his life, anybody’s life or life in general means in its entirety, just as he cannot know what his entire day means. Man knows what a single event means only after ….read further Articles in German and Dutch translation
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COMMENT ARTICLE: ‘What does memory mean?’ Paula Smit, Netherlands Sometimes you wake up in the morning without memory. The surroundings loom up and there are no words to name each object. Everything is new and silently present, without a past. There are no thoughts about the future. Suddenly the question arises “Where am I?”. A strong urge appears to get hold of the situation and a diligent seeking in the memory. One by one the memories come floating on the surface and make up a story. Strangely enough this is reassuring, because everything seems to be as it was before. After reading this article it becomes obvious that only in the mind it is as it was before, that is the past superimposed over the present. A past we can only store fragmentary, with words, in our memory. Stubbornly we try to control life with these memories, like a two dimensional cartoon character erasing himself and drawing himself again, not realising it is the cartoonist who is making him do so. |
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DISCUSSION Linkedin “Nonduality group”: “What is Absolute Understanding?”
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Comment: CD ‘Life and Beliefs’ Elisabeth, Netherlands The life is real to you because of your beliefs. Man's beliefs contradict the existence of life or God. If you listen to life, and if listening happens to you, the following of beliefs will stop happening to you. Your depth of understanding which will happen to you, it will determine the quality of speech, the quality of movement, nothing else. Listening happens provided your beliefs do not come into the equation. It is wise to watch life rather than object to it. The mind is a barrier as well as a gateway to enlightenment. It has to be both. It is a barrier to enlightenment if you are convinced the mind is real. It is a gateway to enlightenment provided you understand the mind is illusory. In a moment it is illusory as well as real. To just listen to life and not observe it through my beliefs. So happy with the satsang. ….to shop
Comment: CD ‘Time Elements and Man’ Elisabeth, Netherlands What is the proof that man is a thought? Everything exists because we think about it. Everything is a thought. Time is a thought, not physical. When does man come to know about time? Man comes to know about time only when he thinks about it. Time and space exist only for man. If time is a thought, space is a thought too. All the five elements are just a thought. It is only man who recognizes or knows about an element. Space and time exist only for man. Our interpretations exist only because of time. The world is a world of thoughts. What hit me in the book 'The Illusions of Life' in the chapter 'The Illusion of Thought' was where the understanding reveals that the Soul is the source from where all thoughts come and go back, and not the mind. That in reality the absence of thought is the presence of the Atman or Soul from where the thoughts come flying by. Quite an understanding. ….to shop
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For understanding to happen it is very important to read and listen over and over again the books, CD’s, DvD’s available on this website
Re-think your thinking! See article “rethink”
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