Oneness Winston-Salem

Sri Bhagavan's Message to Africa on 11/11/11

2011-11-16T16:19:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Shifts October 28, 2011

2011-10-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

"For the unenlightened person, there is the one who is praying and the one who is being prayed to. For the enlightened, there is no such difference. Prayer simply happens. You will see for example seeing Christ praying to his Father. At the same time Christ says, 'I and the Father are one.' The awakened one though he feels one, prayer naturally happens to him. But all this cannot be understood until you actually become awakened."

Day of Relationship

2011-06-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

On the occasion of Relationship Day, June 9, 2011, Sri AmmaBhagavan give a special darshan to all. This takes place annually on their wedding anniversary. This year marks their 35th wedding anniversary.

The quality of our lives is determined by the experiences of our relationships - with other people, with ourselves, with our thoughts and feelings, with our bodies, with our memories, our opinions, our hopes. This Deeksha by intent with Sri AmmaBhagavan is given to heal all relationships, to bring Grace and clarity to us so that we may see and accept What Is with joy and purpose and to deepen our Awakening process.

You Are the Teacher & Your "Self" is the Teaching

2010-11-12T05:27:00.000-08:00

You are the Teacher & your"SELF" is the teaching! :) from jeet Sharma on Vimeo.

Oneness Celebrates Gratitude

2010-11-05T07:59:00.001-07:00

Notes from Tejasa at Oneness University about November being the month to celebrate gratitude. What follows is Bhagavan on video talking about how gratitude actually works. Notes included below.

Oneness celebrates November as a month of Gratitude.

We have now entered into the month of Gratitude, which opens up new possibilities for us to more conscientiously contemplate on the real meaning of Gratitude.

Let us take this opportunity to take at least 10 minutes every morning and every evening to contemplate on each person who have come into our lives and make the list of help we received from each one of them. (We can think about 1 or 2 person each day).

November 14th is considered to be the Oneness Gratitude Day.

On this occasion let us express our Gratitude to the Divine and to each and every person who have came into our lives. You could choose the way to contact them, by mail, by sms, by snail mail, by post card, by a phone call or by meeting them personally. This will culminate in huge breakthroughs in all your relationships making them better than you ever imagined they could be. At the same time this will fuel your awakening process.

Have an amazing journey!

Note: You could begin the practice from the moment you read this and you could practice this till the end of this month

We also take this opportunity to thank you for staying and supporting the Vision of Sri Amma Bhagavan.

With Love and Regards,

Ever in the Service of Sri Amma Bhagavan
Tejasa

This freedom of the mind is what we call the awakening. - Sri Bhagavan

2010-03-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Living without being awakened is not living at all. It is merely an effort to survive. Why is it that we do not live? It is the mind which prevents us from living. How does the mind prevent us from living? The mind does not allow us to experience reality as it is.

When you experience reality as it is then you are living. But the mind does not allow that to happen. Why? The mind is always naming, it is judging and trying to commit to memory. That is why the mind never allows you to actually experience anything.

Therefore, in order to live we have to be free of the mind. There is yet another reason why we should be free of the mind. The mind is responsible for all our problems throughout our human existence. It creates problems then it tries to solve the problems. In that very effort it keeps surviving. Without problems, the mind cannot survive. That is what is responsible for all our problems.

As long as we are not free of the mind problems are not going to cease. The individual, the collective, political, be it economical, be it social, be it environmental, what not - the root is in the mind. Unless and until we are free of the mind, these problems are not going to come to an end.

To be free of the mind is the only revolution. There is no other revolution that can really transform man. Therefore it is very important to be free of the mind. When we say that we must be free of the mind we are not talking of extinguishing the mind - no, not at all. The mind will very much be there, in fact it will be working more efficiently. But then instead of the mind making rules of our lives we will be making use of the mind. That is the only difference that is going to take place now. The mind will very be there, but then we will be making use of this.

This freedom of the mind is what we call the awakening.

Accepting Oneself, Sri Bhagavan

2010-01-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Nature of the Mind by Sri Bhagavan

2009-12-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

adapted from a video conference with Brazil, December 5, 2009

The first thing to realize is that it is not your mind or somebody's mind, it is the Human Mind. We think it is our mind but it is not really so. That's why we call it the one mind. All mind, whosoever's mind it is, that one mind, has fear at its center. Fear is the core of the mind. Not only that, mind is nothing but a flow of thought from the past, through the present, into the future. This is what the mind does. And mind has got jealousy, anger, lust, desire; all these things are the qualities of the mind. No matter whose mind it is. They have the same qualities.

So, the first thing to realize is that all mind is only one mind. Let us say you have tuberculosis, you can not say "it is my tuberculosis" or "her tuberculosis". Tuberculosis is tuberculosis. So, the mind is the mind. It is not your mind, or his mind or her mind. There's just the one mind with those qualities. This we must first realize.

Next we must realize that this mind is very, very ancient. It's as old as man is. It has not changed at all. The brain itself has changed very little and the human mind has virtually not changed. The ancient man had fear of the tiger or the lion or something and modern man has fear of the share market or losing his job or girlfriend, so it's the same thing. The ancient man desired for a spear, you desire for a car or a house, or some such thing.

So it is the very same mind, only the object of fear or the object of desire has changed. You must realize this is an ancient mind. Not only is it the one mind, it is also the ancient mind.

Just like sugar has some qualities, like it tastes sweet, its specific gravity is something, its specific heat is something. If you take salt, it has its own taste and its specific gravity is something, it's specific heat is something. Those are the qualities of salt; those are the qualities of sugar. Sugar, you cannot make into salt, or salt into sugar. Similarly, these are the qualities of the mind, as designed by nature, as designed by your brain. There's NOTHING you could do about it.

It must strike you, like a ton of bricks, that it is impossible to change the mind. It must really strike you, not intellectually, not even as an insight, but actually you must see that the mind can not be changed. It was, it is and will be the same.

So, what you must see is that it is the one mind, it is ancient and it is impossible to change it. If you really see it, you will become free of the mind. It will not trouble you. It will be there, but it will be working on its own. It will not infringe on your consciousness, it will not take charge, it will not trouble you. It's like a stranger living in your house, it will be there working on its own. It won't bother you.

Then, who is there in charge? Your consciousness is in charge. Consciousness knows how to respond to different situations. Not the mind, but consciousness takes over. The mind generally reacts to situations. Consciousness responds.

When the mind does something it will go back and think, "Did I do the right thing or the wrong thing?" When consciousness responds, you do not go back and think whether it was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. Whatever consciousness does, it is perfect. It would take over and there will be no problems at all when consciousness functions. When the mind functions, the mind being divisive, creates problems.

Spiritual Growth, by Sri Bhagavan

2009-12-10T04:41:00.001-08:00

adapted from a broadcast to Verbania, Italy December 6, 2009

Is it OK to follow my natural tendencies to avoid or reject things or people that I don't like? Or do I have to confront them even though I think it is useless?

Sri Bhagavan: The whole process of spiritual growth is confronting oneself. If you do not confront yourself, you are not going to grow. It's only when you confront yourself, you know who you are. And unless you know who you are, you cannot accept yourself, and if you cannot accept yourself you cannot love yourself, and if you cannot love yourself you're not going to love the other, and all spiritual growth stops so in this case you should not follow your natural tendencies. You have to learn to confront the darker side of yourself. You are trying to avoid the darker side of yourself. You have to get in touch with the darker side. Getting in touch with the positive side is not of much use, but what is important is the darker side the negative side. Each one of us has got an inauthentic side, a darker side, a negative side, a side of which you are very frightened. Unless you hold it like a baby, you examine it carefully, and you look at it non-judgmentally, there is going to be no growth. But if you keep avoiding it things will move from bad to worse. Your life could very well become miserable.

Shifting Core Problems, by Sri Bhagavan

2009-11-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

adapted from a broadcast to Verbania, Italy November 28, 2009

Some are stuck facing a core problem. How can we shift places we are stuck inside?

Sri Bhagavan: If there is a core problem, and you cannot get out of that. Stop fighting. Any effort to understand or analyze a problem will prevent it from getting resolved. The problem is in trying to analyze the problem. Analysis is paralysis. You must realize with that external problems are different. With internal problems do not use analysis.

Once you realize analysis won't work, you will naturally feel helpless and have to stay with the problem. It is like a hen hatching an egg. You must sit with the problem. Then, the problem will hatch and the solution will come out.

With the fight for Indian independence, Ghandi did not know what to do, so he sat quietly with the problem. He was not able to understand the problem, so he just stayed with it until a solution came to him from the inside. The solution that came to him was to boycott salt for India's independence. The whole country was shocked, but eventually they realized that this would free them from British rule. Do not try to fight with the problem, then you'll get your salt for your core problem.

Anything Fully Experienced Turns to Joy by Krishnaraj

2009-09-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Becoming awakened doesn’t mean you don’t face challenges and difficult emotions like fear, pain, etc. All these are experiences that are very much a part of the mind. This is how the mind begins.

The objective of all spiritual processes put us into a state of consciousness where you do not resist. How well can you experience, how quickly can you pay attention to your feelings, and turn the experience of hurt and pain into joy?

When you move to gratitude, you feel stillness inside, and there’s not much need to resist or fight with anything. Things look more still, perfect and calm – this is bliss. This is your aim: to help people reach a state where there is a constant stillness and calmness, while experiencing life’s situations and emotions. Stillness is NOT the absence of thought.

Move into a position where you can watch the experience, and observe the mental activities. When there is resistance to what is happening inside, the process of trying to move away consumes a lot of energy. It makes you feel low, and that is when you cannot experience reality as it is. This is when you go on accumulating more charges, end relationships and create many problems in your life.

Your most important focus in life is to ask the question: How can I pay attention to these experiences?

Freedom is about experiencing what is inside, not about finding a way where all life situations are perfect without adversity.

9 Steps for Handling our Experiences

2009-09-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

from Sri Anandagirij at the Oneness Conference in Milan:

1- Become conscious that we are suffering.
We need to admit it. When an emotional charge surfaces, when we are not feeling all right, the force of habit and social conditioning is to tell ourselves that we are feeling fine. When we are in pain and suffering, we need to acknowledge and accept it. No need to make any effort to move away from it. When you are in fear, there is no point to say you are feeling fine. Admit you are feeling low.

2- Become aware of habitual questions of the mind to take us away from the discomfort.
The mind throws up wrong questions: Who caused this suffering to me? Why did they do it to me? Why should life be so cruel to me? This makes us interested in finding cause and blame to attribute to somebody or a situation and disperses our attention to the questions instead of experiencing what is going on inside. If we get stuck in these questions, we cannot concentrate. What habitual questions are you asking? Once you're suffering, the important part is how you deal with it. It's irrelevant about right and wrong or because of who or why you are suffering.

3- Ask the right questions.
Right questions are driven by a vision to experience our emotions. So the question must be how to I deal with the pain? How do I experience it? How do I become free? This takes you right into the experience instead of distractions of the wrong questions. Liberation comes from the attention to the feeling in our body and our hearts. As we pay attention, this is where the process moves deeper. Who and why are irrelevant. You can feel immense focus building up as you ask the right question of how do I become free of it through the experience.

4- Become aware of the habitual response of blaming, fighting with the situation, or losing all motivation in life.
Moving into depression and self-hate. All these are old habits, how we have trained ourselves to deal with it. We fight with ourselves or others, feel guilty, blame others, and condemn ourselves or others. Attention is then moving outwards. Constantly prompts you to believe liberation is elsewhere by someone else or situations changing. By doing something else and turning attention away is the habit and the biggest mistake. This brings you more entanglement.

5- Make the decision.
Once you know this is a habit and no sense or logic in it. It's just a track where the mind is moving out of habit. Breaking a habit requires a firm resolve. We need to become clear in ourselves and re-program our responses. Making the decision that I am not moving away from this experience come what may. I'll do anything and everything required to pay attention to the experience. This will break the old habit pattern. This is not a one day affair. Every time you get in touch with emotional charges and you keep repeating your resolve, you will be more able to engage. It takes practice.

Resolve and face your feelings each time and eventually you will have a breakthrough and the process will get easier. Even if we fail 100 times, we need to resolve the 101st time. That is our ultimate goal. We must reach it. No moving away, no other alternative. Body posture will also help to reprogram new habit-to physically anchor by sitting erect as you make the decision. Close your eyes and breathe deeply and keep your left palm below and close it with the right palm on the right thigh. As you inhale, then hold your breath, make the decision-"I am experiencing this feeling completely." Then exhale. Do this 7 times.

6- Invoke the Divine presence.
It's also a matter of Divine benediction. We need the intense focus and extra bit of energy. It's important that the spiritual energy is activated by Divine grace. The brain must be pushed into concentrating all attention. This is like focusing a magnifying glass lens onto cotton in the sunlight. That is what is happening in consciousness. Our emotions can undergo a transformation. You can ask for a blessing from your experience of the Divine, from AmmaBhagavan by touching their picture, or from another facilitator.

7- Allow yourself to go through the whole experience.
Just see what you are feeling physically and go with it. There is nothing to make sense of, it is just an experience to go through.

8- After you complete the experience and feel sense of silence, joy or gratitude, you will make an affirmation that "Suffering is not in the fact, but in my perception."
Repeat this 7 times. With the firsthand experience through the first 7 steps, this teaching will be deeply lodged and the next time the teaching will be inside you and you will effortlessly begin to focus inward. Breathe in and out as before, joining hands and your heart-as you breathe in and hold the breath, make the affirmation, and then breathe out.

9- Conclude with expressing gratitude to the Divine.
Spirituality is not so much about experiencing higher states and mystical happenings, but about re-programming our responses. Our responses determine our destiny. If we respond out of old habits, we break up our relationships and cause disease. If we respond through acceptance and experience it and see the transformation, we are creating a new consciousness.

Teach yourself this new response and keep doing it. It will become faster and faster. It is like kick-starting an engine that has not been started for a long time. If you follow these 9 steps, we are retracing our mind back. If you become a master in this and it is a habit to transform suffering into bliss, imagine how much confidence you will feel.

Oneness Experience Weekend, Sept. 12-13!

2009-09-09T11:24:00.000-07:00