Knowledge and Religion

Freedom from Limitation

Most people that I talk with don’t realize how free they can be. If a person could find a way to clear out the frameworks that seem to keep him or her in limitation, their true potential would reveal itself by itself. In case you think that you are a limited person, did you know that you are the source of wisdom and bliss? The freedom that we talk about here is remarkable; it is complete freedom from the situations that seem to cause suffering.

This freedom has the quality of being unexpected but welcome. It does not depend on changing the situations that you blame as the cause of suffering. In other words if you change your partner in your relationship or not, whether you change your job or not, whether you work or retire and even if you are sick and in pain you can still be at peace. That’s because the freedom described here comes from the depths of your being and not from the situations that you face. Indeed this freedom is even deeper than the condition of your mind and body.

What you can see you are free of
So you may wonder, “How can I clear out the frameworks that seem to keep me in limitation?” The first step is to simply recognize them. The limitations and suffering that you take to be natural are not natural at all. The thing that glues them together is your belief in them. When you can finally see frameworks as frameworks and not as reality you dissolve the glue that holds these frameworks together and they disappear. Now here’s the most interesting thing: there is no other step necessary; you don’t have to use positive thinking or the force of will. That’s because you are the seer of limitation, not the one caught in it. So when you recognize a limited view as limitation and not as reality you automatically return to your natural place as awareness, free from the limitation that you see. 

So use your natural curiosity and question suffering. After all only peace and joy feel natural. Suffering has a cause and you can find that cause. You might see it as your view of the world, the view of your mind, or your view of yourself. Once you see these frameworks you’ll be in for a surprise. The situations that are supposed to cause suffering just won’t bother you anymore.

You don't have to apply force to make this fundamental change. All you have to do is recognize limitation for what it is—assumed limitation. The rest of this practice occurs beyond your mind and will. Returning to your natural freedom, all of the problems that life seems to bring get released. You are left with nothing but freedom and a joy that your mind just can’t fathom. And you think, “I’m supposed to have problems and here I am in utter joy!”

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. 
 
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Dying into the Deathless Spirit

Below is a quote from Gitanjali  (an offering of songs) by Rabindranath Tagore. I am sure you will find that the beauty of these words shine forth by themselves. I hope you will enjoy them fully,  by resting in the place that they point to.

Gitanjali

I dive down into the depth of the ocean of forms, hoping to gain the perfect pearl of the formless.

No more sailing from harbor to harbor with this my weather-beaten boat. The days are long past when my sport was to be tossed on waves.

And now I am eager to die into the deathless.

Into the audience hall by the fathomless abyss where swells up the music of toneless strings I shall take this harp of my life.

I shall tune it to the notes of forever, and when it has sobbed out its last utterance, lay down my silent harp at the seat of the silent.

by Rabindranath Tagore produced by Chetan Jain, Viswas G and Anand Rao at Bharat Literature

These verses are from near the end Tagore's poem where he heads towards the end of his life. Also these verses describe another type of dissolution into the unseen and unheard form that has no boundaries, the perfect pearl of the formless, your very nature.

These verses are a wonderful description of self discovery. With a little explanation you too can experience that which he so beautifully describes and die into the deathless. The problem is that here on earth we tend to forget the thing that we are, and take ourselves to be the objects that we see. The culprits that we identify with most are the physical body and states of mind. We also take our self to be the thought I. Self discovery is returning to our rightful place, our real nature. 

How can you possibly know that which has no form?
Now you might ask, “Why would I mix myself up with an object; after all I am what I am, aren’t I?” The answer is that you are that perfect pearl of the formless, the harp that plays silent music. This is something that is beyond the ability of your senses, and the thoughts in your mind to grasp. Senses and thoughts are designed to look out and see objects that are either physical or mental. There is no sense designed to look back at the ultimate seer, which is the steady unflinching Consciousness that lights up the mind and makes it knowable. If you attempt to turn your eyes around and look at Consciousness, you will just end up with a headache and not the silent Consciousness that you are.

So now you might ask, “If I can’t sense or think myself, how can I possibly know myself?” If you ask this question you are on the right track. You know yourself because you are yourself, without the need for a separate knower. Like the sun, you shine by your own light without the need for a separate light.

The still place that sees the ever-changing universe
Self inquiry is returning to the state that sees form but has no form of its own. It is a matter of disengaging from the little pets that you take to be you and returning to your formless state. Whether it’s a quiet mind or a mind that contains certain thoughts, the fact is that any state of mind is just an object that you see and not you. This means that the ultimate spiritual practice is returning to that which you are the whole time. Spiritual practice is not self purification.

The weather-beaten boat tossed on the waves is identification with the body. Dying into the deathless is returning to that which was never born and will never die. It is the still place that sees the ever-changing universe; and when the universe disappears, standing here you remain in perfect peace as the deathless spirit.  

For more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. Also feel free to ask questions. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Spending Time away From this Computer

This week we went on a retreat into the hills of Northern California. There was no cell phone connection, and no internet. We were cut off from the modern world. In some ways it was like being dead. Although we were doing fine, except for the beauty around us we were out of contact with the world. This leads to several questions: first of all, “When I crave all of the distractions that come with my cell phone, the millions of websites and the thousands of TV shows and videos at my disposal, what do I hope to find?” Or more to the point, “What am I running away from?”

If you have read these blogs before, you know and may have discovered afresh for yourself that the sparkling sense of existence that seems to come from the world actually comes from you. Also the happiness that seems to come from objects actually comes from the place where you experience happiness, your own self-nature. For more information on this go to: Inspire Me Today. 

You are the seer of limitation not the one caught in it _____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.

 ___________________________________________________________________

So what happens when you find yourself away from the things in the world that keep you distracted? Are you at ease without your usual distractions? Or are you tempted to run back into town to watch that TV show, get your email, and make a phone call? But before you run anywhere ask why? Are you afraid of the thoughts coming up in your mind like “What happens when I die?” Or do you feel that the world is a scary or threatening place? Do you feel bored when you are not busy? The great thing about this type of questioning is that once you discover the thing that bothers you, you are on the verge of releasing it. That’s because assumptions survive by lack of questioning. When you recognize the thing that is really bothering you, by your wisdom, you are able to stop identifying with it. That’s when you return to your natural state of freedom as the seer of limitation.

I am sure that you know that you are the seer of limitation, not the one caught in it. Since your nature is freedom, limitation feels constricting like a shoe that doesn’t fit. That’s why when you identify with limitation you find yourself attempting to escape from it by running after all of the distractions you can find. But even the thousand TV shows at your disposal are not enough. If on the other hand you can inquire into and see the assumptions that cause your suffering, you can stop the frantic running and return to your home, your natural state.

At the time of death the world disappears, not you!
So if you enjoy meditation, I would recommend spending some time away from the world of modern electronics. Are you really missing something that’s important? Instead of picking up that cell phone to make a call, or clicking on one more link, just sit and enjoy bliss at its source. You will find that you can enjoy the wisdom and bliss that does not depend on the things in the world. This wisdom springs from your identity.

And you will know that even when you pass away nothing really changes. It is more like the phone line that connects you with the world gets cut. Although the world disappears your sense of existence remains the same. What you are you always were and always will be. When you wake up you find that the character in the dream was really nothing at all.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Expanding Your Mind

Did you ever have a mind expanding experience where life seemed to come in close and get amplified in ways that you could barely describe; an experience punctuated by waves of bliss? Are you curious about what actually happened to your mind? How did it actually expand? You might be surprised to know that your mind did not really expand. Rather what you thought was an experience, was really a glimpse into your natural state. But because it seemed to have a beginning and an end, you thought that that it was an experience.

Your next question might be how can I get back there again and that’s where the trouble starts. Your question implies that you are somehow separate from the state that you were in. Your assumption was that you were a person having a great experience. And based on that assumption, you look for ways to get back again. You might ask, “Was it the way I was sitting or that my eyes were open or closed; was it the tree that I was sitting under or the position of the sun as it set over the hills?” “Maybe,” you might think, “it was my breathing or the thoughts or lack of thoughts in my mind. Was it perhaps the drug that I took?”

Once you determine what you think the causes of the experience were, you try to setup and repeat those conditions, with the hope of returning to that wonderful state. And if you fail in your efforts you bring in self judgment: “I must be deficient.”

The five keys to the kingdom
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.

 ___________________________________________________________________

Today I am going to give you the four keys to the kingdom so you never have to come down and suffer again. So are you ready? First, you are what you seek! So if you want to expand your mind fully, and get back to your highest states, find out who you really are.

Second, you are not an object. Assuming that you are an object, life seems divided and you feel limited. When you look into it deeply, you will find that all the factors mentioned above as possible causes for your experience are just objects that you see and not the real conditions. Whether it is factors in your environment, body, or mind, these are only the conditions of objects. You are the space-like ever-free Awareness that sees them. You are not the one caught by their limitations. The cause of your experience was your identity, not some object that you saw.

Moreover you do not sense yourself like you sense an object by sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. You are not a thought either. You know yourself because you are yourself. This is the essence of direct experience. As soon as you attempt to capture yourself in the same way that you sense an object, you bump into limitation and feel as if your experience is disappearing. 

The third key is that it is your view of the objects that you sense that keep you stuck in limitation.  For instance if you feel that the world is a dark or scary place, you will not be able to enjoy the oneness that underlies it and makes it up.

The forth key is that when you see a limitation as limitation and not you, you are freed from that limitation. The only thing you have to do is see these limitations for what they really are. That will take the apparent power out of them and you will naturally return to what you really are.

The most subtle object is the thought I. Once you see that this thought is just a thought and not the real you, you will have eliminated the anchor that drags you back into limitation. That’s when there will be nothing left to come back to.

Use these keys to return to your real experience
So in your meditations and in your life try to use these keys to free yourself from the suffering and limitation that you feel. When you seem to come down from your high experiences, take some time and determine what you are coming back to. Is it a physical body or a state of mind? Perhaps it’s a view of the world. When you finally see that limitation is just that – limitation, and not a real definition for you, you will be in for a surprise. Without even trying, you and your most expanded experiences will be one.

For more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. Also feel free to ask questions. Questions are the bonus key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation it falls away.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

A fresh view for a New Year

Now at the New Year it’s time to take a fresh view of life. Some people think that its spirituality that makes life boring. After all who would want to sit all day and play the harp? But upon further examination I think you will find that it’s the constraints that we impose on top of life that give it that same old – same old feeling.

So what happens when you throw off those constraints like worn out clothing? It defies your thought process to come up with an answer, doesn’t it? When life becomes unpredictable in this way it becomes fascinating.  The only thing you can know for sure is that life partakes of a deep harmoney and will turn out just right.

Of course there is no guarantee that you will become rich or famous or successful in any way. After all if you could predict the results of looking at life afresh, then it wouldn’t be fresh. I can only guarantee that life is different than you think. That’s because the changes that you experience will come from a different and surprising angle.

Your experience is different than you think
You will experience the harmony that actually takes care of everything in the universe, even you. And this harmony does not come from objects. Rather it comes from a deep connection that you notice when you allow yourself to be present. In this presence you get to see the magnificent beauty that underlies the universe. From here you get to see the harmony that really takes care of us. This is where words fall short and you have to go by your direct experience.

As an example, here is an experiment that you can try to go you beyond the limitations of the thoughts in your mind, and to show you clearly how your experience is different from what you think: Where do you experience the world anyway? At first blush you might think that I am over here and the world is over there. But let’s sneak a peek into what you actually experience and see if it matches your thoughts. After all if the world was really over there then you wouldn’t see it.

This is where your wisdom comes alive
That means is order to experience the world it has to be over here. So where is it? See if you can experience the place that these words point. When you see an object, like a camera, your eye takes a picture of it. The picture is transmitted through the optic nerve, to your brain, and from your brain to your mind and you see your mind. See if you can find the place where you really experience the world. I think you will be amazed to see that the world is really in here and not out there. Incidentally, you can also try this experiment with your sense of hearing, and your other senses too.

So in your meditation practice and in your life try this experiment. You will then understand what I mean when I say that your wisdom can come alive. These words are not the product of a dead religion. They are the product of living experiential truth. When you find the place that these words point to, boredom will quickly leave, and your life will become interesting and exciting.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How to die so that you can be born anew

To bring out the old year I thought I would write a blog on death and dying. That’s because the end of the year is the perfect opportunity to let go of the things that you accomplished, as well as everything that happened to you, both the good and the bad. By letting go of the things that happened on the surface, you afford yourself the opportunity to be reborn in the depth of your being, to wake up and find your real home. That makes for a really happy New Year.

I think you will be amazed by the feeling of letting go. It is so freeing. At first it may seem natural to identify with your accomplishments and the things that you do. For instance you may think I am a teacher, a doctor, or a policeman. To your family you may think, I am a father, a son and an uncle; a daughter, mother and aunt. You may also think: I am successful or I am a failure, I am rich or I am poor, I had a good year or I had a bad one. The sum of these definitions seems to comprise your identity. But they are really just definitions based on what you do and your relationship to your family and others.

The definitions that you think up are not the real you _____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.

 ___________________________________________________________________
Did you know that the definitions that you think up are not really what you are? Now here’s another thing that might surprise you: all of these definitions embellish one little word, I. That I is also just a thought and not a definition for you either.

So now you might be really confused; you may think: Then who am I anyway. When everything is gone I am nothing. Here is where a meditation practice is necessary. That’s because your identity is deeper than words and thoughts can capture. But you can still know your identity because it is the one thing that you actually experience. Although words can point to the thing that you are, they never quite get it right. That’s because words are meant to describe objects, not your very essence.

You light up the world
Despite this limitation, here are a few pointers that will help you to meditate on your identity: You are the light that lights up the world; it is by your light that you know that the world exists. Your identity is pure Consciousness, which is a clear light.

Since the sun is light you don’t need a candle to find the sun. In the same way, because you are Consciousness you don’t need a separate consciousness or mind to know yourself. You know yourself because you are yourself.

You can die before you die and then you will live
When a terminally ill patient is about to pass away, he or she naturally starts to detach from the family and the world. That is when the patient finds peace. The patient discovers that although the world is about to disappear, existence remains the same. That’s when the patient finds that things are actually upside-down. You do not depend on the world to exist; rather the world depends on you.

The good news is that without becoming terminally ill you can find the meaning of these words. If you die before you die you will not taste death. This is the promise of Jesus and Sages that existed from before there was time. When you discover that your identity stretches beyond birth and death, your life will become very meaningful. In fact you will have discovered the secret meaning of life on this earth and you will be able to live and die in peace. So our message is to wish you a very happy New Year. We hope that you will let go and die in this way, so that even now while here on earth you can be born into the peace and happiness that is always there.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

 

 

 

Experience that which was before words came into Being

Now we come to the conclusion of Verses on the Faith Mind by the 3rd Zen Patriarch, Sengstau. 

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction.

To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.

To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with trusting mind.

Words!

The Way is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.

 ___________________________________________________________________

Living in the trusting mind is living in a presence that is beyond what words can describe. Some people call this oneness, where you are one with everything. But as soon as you posit an everything you end oneness, because everything is many and oneness is one. So by your direct experience you have to know that like water is the substance of the waves in the ocean, the trusting mind is the substance of everything that you perceive.

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction.

To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.

When you live with your identity firmly planted in the Trusting Mind you are living as the water that supports all of the waves. As they rise, dance for a moment and crash back into the ocean, the identity of the waves are nothing but water. Even their motion cannot affect their fundamental identity. That’s because waves are nothing but water.

In the same way, this universe is nothing but the one harmonious trusting mind. Focusing on the waves you might perceive non-perfection in the large waves and perfection in the small ones. But when you become the water, you become the perfection in all of the waves. When you stand as the Trusting Mind you get to perceive the original meaning of oneness.

To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with trusting mind.

Sometimes we call this oneness nonduality, one without a second. Nonduality is not some interesting philosophical view. It is the direct perception of the fundamental reality behind the whole universe. It is a description of the thing that you really are, untainted by the limitations of the things that you see. Indeed if you can discover the secret meaning of nonduality, you will find that which was never born and will never die. You will wake up to your original and true nature. You will have found the real purpose of life.

Words!

The Way is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.

Sengstau ends this beautiful poem by reminding us that language cannot really describe the state that he talks about, the Trusting Mind. Words can only describe things that are in motion, affected by the passage of time. Motion goes through space, but the space is not affected. Like space, you are the stillness that sees motion; you are not the one caught by the passage of time.   

So return to the thing that you were before you were even born and remain there as the undying spirit that supports the whole universe. That is the mind that Sengstau is pointing to. Let go of all these words; they can only describe limitation and not the reality that you are. Enjoy the presence that reveals the fundamental and exquisite harmony that supports the whole universe.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

The secret of your own being

Let us continue with Verses on the Faith Mind by the 3rd Zen Patriarch, Sengstau.

Infinitely large and infinitely small; no difference, for definitions have
vanished and no boundaries are seen.

So too with Being and Non-Being.

Don't waste time with doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this.  

These three verses go together. They talk about how people get distracted with words, arguing about this and arguing about that. In fact they get so caught up in their arguments that they never find the secret of life. This secret is the knowledge of where reality comes from; it is the secret of your own being.

Does reality come from the world or does it come from you?
If, for instance, reality came from the objects that appear here in the world, then there would be no secret at all. After all you can ask anyone walking down the street if the people walking on the sidewalk, or the cup of coffee on the table are real. Of course they will say yes. You don't have to read thick books or even this blog, or to meditate on your self-nature to discover that reality comes from the things that you see; almost everyone believes that anyway. These people would argue that they see the color of the cup and feel its warmth in their hand, and that is the sign of reality.

On the other hand if we can show that your sense of reality comes from a place that is much closer than the cup, a place that is so close that you look right past it, then this blog is worth reading. And our being, sometimes called the sense of reality, can rightly be called a secret.

Your meditation will become the highlight of your day
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.

 ___________________________________________________________________

So here’s the secret that I am talking about: the sense of reality that the world seems to have actually comes from you and not from the world. In your meditations you can verify this by noticing what you actually experience, as opposed to what you are supposed to experience. You will gasp in amazement when you discover the difference; and most important you will find that which supports the whole universe.

That’s why in these blogs I suggest little experiments that will light up your meditation practice. Once you get a feel for this type of experimentation, you will gain a whole new appreciation for the power of meditation. Instead of drudgery, your meditations will become the highlight of your day.

What doesn’t depend on coming and going?
So here is an example: We all know what we are supposed to experience, right? That we’re over here and the world is over there. Moreover, when we close our eyes we assume that the world remains, but we don’t see it. Now that we know what we are supposed to experience let’s verify this and see if it’s what we actually experience. Just sit comfortably and close your eyes. What are you experiencing right now? Are you experiencing a world that you just can’t see, or are you experiencing something that is much more basic than the world; a thing that doesn’t depend on the comings and goings of the world.

Don’t worry if your experience doesn’t fit into words and thoughts. Although you can’t quite capture it, you can know it. That is the beauty of being. Before you bring in a separate experiencer, you can notice what you actually experience. This is what we call direct experience; it is the thing that makes your experience seem so rich.

You are yourself already
You may have heard of the quote, Those who know cannot say. You might think that this is a strange quote coming from a person who writes thousands of words on your self-nature. Yet for all of these words, the only thing I can do is point you to the thing that you experience directly. After all you are yourself, aren’t you? Find your being by your direct experience and you can forget all of these words, and just remain as you really are.

There are many more experiments that will enhance your meditations. For instance you can discover the nature of your body and mind, and find out where the world is anyway. But just get to the bottom of the one experiment described above: is the world there when you do not perceive it? You will then be well on your way to discovering that which supports the whole universe. It is the thing that you really are. And it makes no difference whether you call it being or non-being.

Asking Question
As always feel free to ask questions. It is only when you don’t ask that you get to live in assumed limitations. When you can ask you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

On Returning to our Origin

We just got back from our trip to Philadelphia where my wife and I visited our family. In their nineties, my parents are moving towards the end of their lives. So what spiritual instructions could we give to someone of that age? Would you like to be a fly on the wall and listen to the instructions that will take them beyond birth and death? This is your opportunity. If you can catch the meaning of these words, you too will not taste death. And even in life you will live in peace.

Certainly a long and drawn out practice will not work for my parents. And, how are they going to focus on a difficult practice as if it were the razor's edge? Moreover if they depended on using their breath or taking drugs to calm their mind, the first thing they should know is when the body and lungs disappear, these techniques will no longer work. And if they think that meditation is a matter of controlling the mind and body they will also be in for a surprise. At the time of death the sense of I, as the one who controls is the first thing to drop out. That’s when they will come face to face with the things that they really take to be true.

You are the seer of thoughts; not the one caught in them
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Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
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But my parents should also know that at the time of death, no matter how strange their thinking becomes, they are the seer of their thoughts, not the one caught in them. If they simply stand as the Consciousness that they really are, things will come to perfect balance. They will return to the harmony that was there all along and just got overlooked. It is the harmony that comes right from their self-nature. And they will not have to worry one little bit.

The only quality that they need for the meditation that transcends life and death is freedom from self judgment. After all, it is judgment that takes us out of our natural state of awareness and draws us in until we mistake a state of mind for reality. By giving up self judgment we are free to return to our natural state.

You are the one thing that remains
So here’s it what I told my parents:

Just abide in your original nature as all seeing Awareness. Everything else comes and goes. That includes the body, mother, father, doer and enjoyer, the world, any state of mind, no matter how strange it may seem, and even the thought I, which attempts to impersonate you.

Although everything disappears, the thing that makes the world seem so real remains. That’s because reality comes from you, not from the world. In relation to the world your identity, Awareness, is the witnessing Consciousness. But in reality you are the all seeing eye of God. Remain here as you always were, always are, and always shall be and you will rest in peace.

And with those parting words we boarded our flight back to California.

Asking Question
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Out of the Body Experience

Recently I saw an article on the ABC news site talking about a scientific investigation into out of the body experiences. That is where you are floating above your body and looking back at it. The scientists were trying to determine if these experiences where real, or just a figments of the person’s imagination.  The way the article described this was a person looking back on his or her self.

This is exactly where the scientists get mixed up. They never fully investigate their own Self Nature. So today I thought I would help them set up a method for investigating their own identity. After they read this article, these scientists will wonder if they were ever contained in a body to begin with. So buckle up your seatbelts and get ready for some mind blowing information that will help you to uncover your original center. In fact this is your center even now.

We sense that we are greater than physical Beings _____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
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We already have a sense that there is something really deep buried within the person. Even though we see that everyone dies, we have a sense that we won’t die. Did you ever wonder where this comes from? Also, we feel like one person and not like many. At first you may think that this too is a contradiction to what you actually experience. After all you seem to be many people don’t you? For example you are a daughter to your mother and a mother to your daughter, a wife, a teacher and a friend.  It seems like as your experience changes your identity should also change. But it doesn’t. There is something within the person that is not affected by his or her situation or circumstances. That thing is the real you, and that’s the one we’re going to uncover today.

The method we are going to use is quite simple. You are the subject and the things that you experience are objects. You don’t mix yourself up with an object, do you? That’s why when I ask, Who are you, you don’t say, I’m Michael Gluckman. If you mixed yourself up with me, I would correct you and say, I am merely an object in your experience; I am not you, at least for now.

The body is an object — you are not an object.
Ok, so what does this mean? You know that you aren’t Michael Gluckman, because this writer is just an object in your experience; isn’t the body also an object that you experience?  Don’t look past this seemingly simplistic line of reasoning! This means that while the body is limited by time and space, perhaps its limitations are not yours. The reason I say perhaps, is because these words are mere pointers; you have to uncover their meaning for yourself by looking deeply into what you actually experience.

Now we assume that we are limited by the objects that we see. That’s why the scientists assume that when you have an out of the body experience you are looking back at yourself. But once you start to investigate, you will discover that there is a lot more to you than the scientists know. You are the Consciousness that lights up limitation; you are not the one caught in it.

Scientists assume that they know the seer
You may want to know where these scientists, who are brilliant men and women, get confused. Scientists are used to looking at objects. And as you know, objects are things that you sense, or things that can be defined by your thoughts. The problem is that you cannot know yourself like you know an object.

That would be like space assuming that it was limited to a pot and then trying to come up with a definition for space. Pot space is too limited to know the nature of space. The only way that space can know itself is by recognizing that the walls of a pot do not really define space. That deep knowledge will allow space to return to its original nature, the place that it never really left.

They fail to notice the treasure hidden in their own identity
Like the pot space, the scientists would have to notice that they are not contained in their mind and body. Moreover, their mind and body cannot see them. For this reason they cannot know themselves as a shape or thought. The only way they can fully know their self–nature is by being their self. I call this knowledge by direct experience. Since this is direct experience, it is the opportunity for you too to explore and verify the meaning of these words. Then you will step beyond the limitations of the body. But in reality you will not step anywhere; you will only find what you always were, always are and always shall be, and you just overlooked this great treasure.

Then you will recognize that if you appear to be in a body or out of it, you never really leave yourself. You always are yourself. And if you look back at the body you are merely looking back at the body, not at the Awareness and Bliss, which is the real you.

Asking Question
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman