Posts Tagged ‘Members’
Meditation Practice
A session led by the Warden of Shanti Sadan When we meditate, what do we do with our mind? We bring our mind to a state of alert quietude. This change from an active and restless mind to one that is peaceful and concentrated is easier said than done. Be assured that this is a…
Read MoreSeeing More Deeply
What is wisdom? The founder of Shanti Sadan once gave a simple, practical, threefold explanation: Wisdom is to see deeper than with the eye and with sympathy. Wisdom is to clean the glasses of the mind. Wisdom is to have an understanding of the I. All three are relevant to the general idea of seeing…
Read MoreThe Natural Way to Peace
By Hari Prasad Shastri Pleasures and sufferings recur in life, but pleasure and its memories pass away like the summer evenings, while sorrow endures like the winter cold. What is the meaning of this? They say that experience teaches us to live better, but what is better living? Which is better, to rear a large…
Read MoreMeditation and Our Beliefs
Meditation is a matter of practice, not doctrine; this accounts for much of its appeal. So are our philosophical views or religious beliefs important when we come to meditation? Some may say that they are not, and even that meditation should be based on, and approached with, as few religious or philosophical ideas as possible,…
Read MoreAl-Ghazali’s Search for Certainty
There are close parallels between the non-dual teachings and those of Sufism, or Tasawwuf, mysticism within Islam. Both are focused on the possibility of a knowledge of Reality that overcomes the division between the knower and the known and thus leads from theory to direct experience. And, according to both, the path to such knowledge…
Read MoreThe Properties of the Mind
By Hari Prasad Shastri Life acquires its climax in the human mind. Our mind is known mostly through its property of action. Life and action go together. Activity takes two forms in the higher aspects of life. Firstly, it creates something which has the appearance of being new; secondly, sometimes it transforms the crude objects…
Read MoreLife Without Limits
When you no longer identify yourself with the mind, true life begins in that region of self-experience that knows no horizon. Shri Dada of Aligarh The ideas about self-knowledge, as it is understood in the non-dual philosophy, are not put forward dogmatically, but they do suggest a new way of reflecting on our own experience.…
Read MoreShafts of Light from Meister Eckhart
IN LATE THIRTEENTH century Europe there emerged a spiritual teacher whose ideas and practice closely resemble those of the nondual teachings. His name was Eckhart von Hochheim, and he was born in Thuringia around 1260. When aged about fifteen, Eckhart joined the religious order of the Dominicans. He studied at Cologne and later Paris, a…
Read MoreWhat is the Spirit?
By Hari Prasad Shastri WHAT IS THE SPIRIT—that in us which transcends the limitations of body and mind? We are conscious of our body, we are conscious of the thinking, feeling and willing mechanism in us. The question is asked: what is the spirit? Many people, including Plato, have made an error confounding the spirit…
Read MoreContentment
An address given by the Warden of Shanti Sadan In the Vedanta classic, the Yoga Vasishtha, we read: The Spring is full of charm and so are the gardens of Paradise, but all these joys are found in contentment, which is capable of yielding all delight. One of the great qualities of mind of those…
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