“An ordinary man seeks freedom through enlightenment. An enlightened man expresses freedom through being ordinary.”

—Adyashanti

“Throw everything away, forget about it all! You are learning too much, remembering too much, trying too hard… relax a little bit, give life a chance to flow its own way, unassisted by your mind and effort. Stop directing the river’s flow! Mooji”

—

“To be devoted to the One Self is the real Aloneness.”

—Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj

“Let your heart break into a million pieces today. Allow yourself to cry today. Be vulnerable today. Feel gratitude today for the smallest and most 'insignificant' things. A taste. A glance. A breath. On this day of all days - your first day, and your last day.”

—Jeff Foster

“Immortality is complete happiness, for the essence of both of them is the same, and only that which is unending is complete. The transitory is not complete, and that which is suffering is not eternal. The Realization of the Self is blissful immortality. It is abidance in and as That which has no beginning or end. The desires for happiness and immortality are the same. They come from the same intuition of the Truth of the Self. Only abidance as the Self, which is the Reality, fulfills both. ”

—Master Nome

“Do not take anything too seriously. Just observe the world going by and yet do not react to it. Watch everything, be alert, but leave it alone. Do not try to own anything and do not try to give up anything. 'Just be yourself.' Have no feeling that I am the doer. Let your body go about its business, but you stay with the 'I' and all will go well with you.”

—Robert Adams

“You are something that the whole universe is doing, in the same way that a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing.” ”

—Alan Watts

“That Reality is One; though, owing to illusion, It appears to be multiple names and forms, attributes and changes, It always remains unchanged. [It is] like gold which, while remaining one, is formed into various ornaments. You are that One, that Brahman. Meditate on this in your mind.”

—Shankara

“There are men of giant intellects who spend their lives gathering knowledge about many things. Ask these men if they have solved the mystery of man, if they have conquered themselves, and they will hang their heads in shame. What is the use of knowing about everything else when you do not yet know who you are? Men avoid this enquiry into the true Self, but what else is there so worthy to be undertaken?”

—Sri Ramana Maharshi

a way out

As long as you are interested in your present way of living, you will not abandon it. Discovery cannot come as long as you cling to the familiar. It is only when you realize fully the immense sorrow of your life and revolt against it, that a way out can be found.


Nisargadatta Maharaj

Atma Shatakam by Adi Shankara

(perhaps you’d also enjoy listening in song, in Sanskrit)

1) I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego, 
    nor the reflections of inner self (chitta). [more]
I am not the five senses. [more] 
I am beyond that.
I am not the ether, nor the earth, 
    nor the fire, nor the wind (the five elements). 
I am indeed, 
    That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
    love and pure consciousness. 

2) Neither can I be termed as energy (prana), 
    nor five types of breath (vayus), [more]
    nor the seven material essences, [more]
    nor the five coverings (pancha-kosha). [more]
Neither am I the five instruments of elimination, 
    procreation, motion, grasping, or speaking. [more]
I am indeed, 
    That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
    love and pure consciousness.

3) I have no hatred or dislike, 
    nor affiliation or liking, 
    nor greed, 
    nor delusion, 
    nor pride or haughtiness, 
    nor feelings of envy or jealousy. 
I have no duty (dharma), 
    nor any money,
    nor any desire (kama), 
    nor even liberation (moksha). 
I am indeed, 
    That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
    love and pure consciousness.

4) I have neither merit (virtue), 
    nor demerit (vice). 
I do not commit sins or good deeds,
    nor have happiness or sorrow, 
    pain or pleasure. 
I do not need mantras, holy places, 
    scriptures (Vedas), rituals or sacrifices (yagnas). 
I am none of the triad of
    the observer or one who experiences,
    the process of observing or experiencing,
    or any object being observed or experienced. 
I am indeed, 
    That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
    love and pure consciousness.

5) I do not have fear of death,
    as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self, 
    no doubt about my existence, 
    nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth.
I have no father or mother,
    nor did I have a birth. 
I am not the relative, 
    nor the friend, 
    nor the guru, 
    nor the disciple. 
I am indeed, 
    That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
    love and pure consciousness.

6) I am all pervasive. 
I am without any attributes, 
    and without any form. 
I have neither attachment to the world, 
    nor to liberation (mukti). 
I have no wishes for anything 
    because I am everything, 
    everywhere, 
    every time,
    always in equilibrium. 
I am indeed, 
    That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
    love and pure consciousness.

Atma Shatakam / Nirvana Shatikam of Adi Shankara (788 - 820 CE)

“Liberation is our very nature. We are that. The very fact that we wish for liberation shows that freedom from all bondage is our real nature. It is not to be freshly acquired. All that is necessary is to get rid of the false notion that we are bound. When we achieve that, there will be no desire or thought of any sort. So long as one desires liberation, so long, you may take it, one is in bondage”

—Bhagawan Shri Ramana Maharshi, Great Adviatic Master

“If our friendship depends on things like Space and Time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome Space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome Time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”

—Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
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