St Augustine—The Early Struggles
In his youth Augustine had no clear sense of direction, but he knew that he wanted the best that life had to offer, and he grasped it with all the strength of his ardent personality. He sought admiration, worldly success, excitement, enjoyment, and he turned a deaf ear to his mother’s anxious advice about sexual…
Read MoreThe Course of Love-Knowledge
At the end of the prose part of A Thousand Teachings, Shri Shankara has, with great logical acumen, demonstrated that the subject is different from the object, and that the properties of the object are not the properties of the subject. You see a cow lounging in the open air in a green field. Its…
Read MoreMore Light from the Kena Upanishad
The Upanishads are of interest because they throw light on the deepest aspect of human nature. Their enquiry does not end with the life of the mind, or with the store of experiences and tendencies that we feel is uniquely our own. Instead, it discerns that consciousness is essentially free from the colouring of our…
Read MoreThe Trivial and the Tragic
When we learn of tragedies and disasters in faraway places, our hearts are moved, but the focus of compassion and concern is usually quick to fade, as the demands of daily life once again capture our attention. The charity appeal on radio or television, is followed by entertainment; the heartrending story in the newspaper is…
Read MoreThe Meditative Mind
People often ask about the state of mind brought about in meditation. Characteristic replies speak of tranquillity, one-pointed concentration, and a sense of unity with all. But more significant than mental states that occur in the stillness and withdrawal of our meditation period, is the development of a meditative mind. This is a mind that…
Read MoreThe Kena Upanishad
One of the signs of mature thought is the urge to discover the ultimate meaning and purpose of life. If this urge arises in us and persists, it is usually linked to our recognition that the goals which most people pursue—or would pursue if they had the opportunity—are insufficient to cure the restlessness of the…
Read MoreThe Non-Duality of Shri Shankara
An extract from H P Shastri’s Outline of the Advaita of Shri Shankara Limitations are a darkness and obstruct the vision of Truth. They make Reality appear what it is not; where there is bliss they paint a picture of distress, pain, sorrow and disappointment. Our mind is a limitation and so are the senses…
Read MoreThrough Non-attachment to Freedom
A previously unpublished talk by Marjorie Waterhouse When we choose to follow the inner path that leads to the ultimate self-knowledge, we may be told that true practice is to rise above the pairs of opposites (joy and sorrow, gain and loss, success and failure, etc.), to regard the material world and the realm of…
Read MorePrayer and Self-Knowledge
Let us consider the nature of prayer—where God is usually worshipped or prayed to as if separate from our Self—in the light of the non-dual teachings. For prayer is a practice common to all the great religions, and it is considered by many to be essential for safe and wise living. First, what is prayer?…
Read MoreLight and Darkness: Bhagavad Gita Chapters 16 and 17
On the Bhagavad Gita Chapters 16 and 17 The Bhagavad Gita teaches that the Supreme Being, Brahman, God, is the support and inner controller of all manifest beings, and is also the transcendent cause of all beings, and is yet also the ultimate Reality which has no connection with any cause and effect. The Gita…
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