PEACE LOVE YOGA: Mexico

Burnt To Ash

"All Inquiry is meant for one purpose; to take you experientially into the unknown as efficiently as possible. Once you get there, simply be still because inquiry has delivered you to its destination. The rest is up to Grace. Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way. Even the greatest revelations much not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance. The truth is ever new, existing only in the now. The highest truth is beyond knowledge and experience. It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness. Just remember that all direct path techniques are meant simply to undermine, to cut away, the one who is performing them. No matter what spiritual path you've walked or what teachings you've followed, they must lead you back to no path and no teaching. A true teaching is like a blazing fire that consumes the itself. The teaching must not only consume you, but consume itself as well. All must be burned to ash, and then the ash must be burned. The, and only then, is the Ultimate realized. True Enlightenment destroys enlightenment. As long as you can refer back to yourself and say, 'I'm enlightened', you not. Enlightenment is authentic only when there is no one left to be enlightened. Even to say 'I am nobody', is one too many. There's a point when you intuitively realize that to be Free you have to give up your attachment to Freedom. You have to quit asking yourself: Is it still there? Am I okay? You have to decide to never look over your shoulder again to see if you're free or if others know you're free. You just have to let yourself burn there - no matter what. This isn't something I can help you with. I can tell you what you need to do, but you have to do it. In the beginning, teachers can help a lot. But the deeper you go, all they can do is point, and clarify, and tell you what you need to do. Only you can take this step. Nobody can push you in to this place."

- Adyashanti

No Expectations

A spirit that lives in this world

and does not wear the shirt of love,

such an existence is a deep disgrace.

Be foolishly in love,

because love is all there is.

There is no way into presence

except through a love exchange.

If someone asks, But what is love?

answer, Dissolving the will.

True freedom comes to those

who have escaped the questions

of freewill and fate.

Love is an emperor.

The two worlds play across him.

He barely notices their tumbling game.

Love and lover live in eternity.

Other desires are substitutes

for that way of being.

How long do you lay embracing a corpse?

Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.

Anything born in spring dies in the fall,

but love is not seasonal.

With wine pressed from grapes,

expect a hangover.

But this love path has no expectations.

You are uneasy riding the body?

Dismount. Travel lighter.

Wings will be given.

Be clear like a mirror

reflecting nothing.

Be clean of pictures and the worry

that comes with images.

Gaze into what is not ashamed

or afraid of any truth.

Contain all human faces in your own

without any judgement of them.

Be pure emptiness.

What is inside that? you ask.

Silence is all I can say.

Lovers have some secrets

that they keep.

(Rumi)

Puebla, MX

23.3.08

"(The) inner universe is much greater than the outer universe; it is so vast that the entire outer cosmos can be kept in just one corner of it."

~Swami Muktananda

"The sense of separate existence is a reflexion in a separate body of the one Reality. In this reflection, the unlimited and the limited are confused and taken to be the same. To undo this confusion is the purpose of yoga.

~Nisargadatta Maharaj

God Never Dies

20.3.08

"The heart is the hub of all sacred places. Go there and roam." ~Bhagawan Nityananda

One of the fondest memories of my trip to Mexico was when my bf and I would go to his sister's home to practice yoga...and his nephew would be beyond excited. Already, at a young age... mystified by the practice...there was a connection. This cute, beautiful, little thing would plop down between me and Ricardo and try his best to follow along with what we were doing. Let me just say he became my teacher instead of the other way around. What a wonderful site to see, someone embrace yoga with nothing but an innocence that was so pure. It reminded me of what its all about. Just connecting to the moment. Laughing when I fall or flub up...and moving on with a fresh mind...an airy lightness...having fun with it all. This little guy loved every moment of what he was doing with no expectations or goals...only living in the moment of discovery and excitement...how refreshing...something to take to heart, and bring to my mat...as well as into life...

A Ray of Light

18.3.08

We do not meditate only to relax a little and experience some peace. We meditate to unfold our inner being.

~Swami Muktananda

Love this picture...

Cathedral Santa Domingo

17.3.08

The mind that always thinks of a woman
takes on a woman's form.
The mind that is always angry
burns in the fire of anger.
The mind that contemplates illusion
falls into the well of illusion.
The mind that continually takes refuge in the Supreme
eventually becomes That.

~Sundardas

Stillness

16.3.08

"We are taught how to move and behave in the external world, but we are never taught how to be still and examine what is within ourselves. At the same time, learning to be still and calm should not be made a ceremony or a part of any religion; it is a universal requirement of the human body. When one learns to sit still, he or she attains a kind of joy that is inexplicable. The highest of all joys that can ever be attained or experienced by a human being can be attained through meditation. All the other joys in the world are transient and momentary, but the joy of meditation is immense and everlasting."

~Swami Rama, in 'Meditation and Its Practice'

Monte Alban

15.3.08

"No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamed existed."

~Roger Bannister, on breaking the 4-minute mile

Soon...I'll be writing again. I've been going through a contraction period...ugh! frightening...but, I feel an expansion coming on...its just a feeling...