Katie Davis is a Satsang Spiritual Teacher of Advaita, Non-duality, Self-inquiry, enlightenment, spiritual awakening, the power of being now and presence. Since 1999, she has been traveling to offer satsang in communities worldwide. The Awake by Katie Blog is moderated by Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment." http://www.AwakebyKatie.blogspot.com
Can you sense the Changless as the white clouds drift across the pale blue sky?
This morning, do you hear the inaudible Silence of the red-breasted cardinal, while its song is outpouring?
Are you aware of the unfathomable Perfection of the radiant colors of the rainbow?
Is not the Infinity of space truly awe-inspiring as the stars twinkle in the midnight sky?
Do you feel the Harmony within as the sun sets over the Pacific or the Mystery of the full moon over the island of Lanai?
Are you distinguishing the Stillness, when a blue-tipped butterfly suspends in imperceptible space?
Well, close your eyes for a moment. Yes, there are many thoughts and corresponding feelings. Do you notice that they are all either about or in relationship with "you?"
Have you discovered yet the blissful joy beneath happy and sad, when you stop talking story?
Now, just rest as "I am" and stop at that ... nothing more.
Still with eyes closed, back away a little. Are you missing the space around "I," the sublime sky of being?
Are you able to discern that this sky is still within the field of experience? Are you any less, if you resonate solely as "am," this beautiful feeling of connectivity?
Ever more subtle, perhaps still unnoticed, does any reference point whatsoever remain? Not a personal reference point of course, but any?
Is there anything deeper than even the slightest movement ... or stillness ... of inner experience?
Upon Self-discovery, open your eyes! Let it all settle in, so to speak.
Can you be fully in this world, while not being of it?
Is there any difference between That which is within and That which appears to be manifesting everywhere?
Are you fully integrated and embodied as the non-dual Heart of Pure Beingness?
As True Sky, are you experiencing the sky, the cardinal, the starlit night, the rainbow, the sunset and moonrise as the purest joy of True You?
When all that is impermanent is surrendered, what remains is who you really are.
Every "thing" in the perceivable world of duality is subject to the law of impermanence. This means that everything that appears will eventually disappear. Forms come and they go.
If you are seeking for something permanent and lasting, within that which is impermanent, you will suffer. It is self-evident that the changing cannot contain the changeless. No-thing is permanent.
For instance, you might seek to find stable happiness within relationships, not really understanding that this is destined to fail. Since people and circumstances change, relative happiness will cycle to unhappiness sooner or later. While relationships may provide many moments of happiness, they will always be intermingled with unhappiness.
In fact, it might be quite helpful to note that whenever you feeling unhappy, that unhappiness is just as unstable as happiness. It will inevitably change, within time, and cycle to happiness.
When you give up striving for true and enduring happiness through objects, people and circumstances, it signals that you are closer to realizing the changeless joy that you genuinely are.
After all, if you were anything other than the changeless, you would not even be able to perceive the ever changing.
Your body and its life situation are subject to this law of impermanence. The content of the life situation is always different. It is therefore unreasonable to expect anything other than periods of unhappiness.
Pure joy simply cannot be found objectively.
Who is aware of the body and its life situation? Who is aware of unhappiness? Who is watching?
Does that awareness ever change? Is it not true that it is everywhere you are?
Is it not the same awareness that was looking at its image in the mirror, when you were only six years old?
Is it not the same awareness that was looking at the blue sky at the beach when you were only twenty?
In fact, is it not the same awareness that is looking right now in this moment?
Who is that? Who are you?
You are the only key to realizing pure love and joy that is caused by nothing and never changes. This joy is not some-thing for which "you" strive. It is who you already are.
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ADI SHANKARA (Excerpted from the beautiful music video):
The great Adi Shankara (first Shankaracharya) of the eighth century summarized the entirety of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualistic philosophy) in six stanzas.
When a young boy of eight, while wandering in the Himalayas, seeking to find his guru, he encountered a sage who asked him, "Who are you?"
The boy answered with these stanzas, which are known as "Nirvana Shatakam" or "Atma Shatakam."
"Nirvana" is complete equanimity, peace, tranquility, freedom and joy.
"Atma" is the True Self.
The sage the boy was talking to was Swami Govindapada Acharya, who was, indeed, the teacher he was looking for.
NIRVANA SHATAKAM
I am neither the mind, nor the intellect, nor the ego, nor the mind stuff. I am neither the body, nor the changes of the body. I am neither the senses of hearing, taste, smell or sight. Nor am i ether, the earth, the fire, the air.
I am existence absolute, knowledge absolute bliss absolute.
I am He, I am He.
I am neither the Prana, nor the five vital airs. I am neither the materials of the body, nor the five sheaths. Neither am I the organs of action nor objects of the senses.
I am existence absolute ,knowledge absolute bliss absolute.
I am He, I am He.
I have neither aversion nor attachment, neither greed nor delusion, neither egotism nor envy, neither Dharma nor Moksha. I have neither desire nor object of desire.
I am existence absolute, knowledge absolute, bliss absolute.
I am He,I am He.
I am neither sin nor virtue, neither pleasure nor pain, nor temple, nor worship, nor pilgrimage, nor scriptures. And I am neither the act of enjoying,the enjoyable nor the enjoyer.
I am existence absolute, knowledge absolute, bliss absolute.
I am He, I am He.
I have neither death, nor fear of death, nor caste nor was I ever born, nor had I parents, friends and relations. I have neither Guru nor disciple.
I am existence absolute, knowledge absolute, bliss absolute.
I am He, I am He.
I am untouched by the senses. I am neither Mukti nor knowable, I am without form, without limit, beyond space, beyond time. I am in everything, I am the basis of the universe, everywhere am I.
I am existence absolute, knowledge absolute, bliss absolute.
RSVP is required by email at awake [at] katiedavis.org (due to the security gate). Please just email your name and you will be on the gate list. Space is limited, so please make your reservations early. You will be notified if space is no longer available. Therefore, if you RSVP and then decide not to come, please let us know.
Hosts: Nancy and Rex:
Wailea Elua Village
3600 Wailea Alanui Drive
Building #21, in #2102
Wailea, Maui, Hawaii
Please enter in silence.
You are invited to arrive 15 minutes early to begin sitting with Katie and Sundance at 6:15 pm.
PLEASE CAR POOL or park at the Shops of Wailea (10 minute walk). If you park at the Shops of Wailea, you will still need to be on the security gate list, so please RSVP.
Comfortable seating is provided, however please bring a cushion or backjack if you have them.
KATIE DAVIS awakened radically and spontaneously in 1986. Since 1999, she has been traveling to share the true possibility of awakening and Self-realization. She is author of Awake Joy.
SUNDANCE BURKE awakened in 1982 with his teachers Satoshi (Osho) and Shunyata, named the Rare Born Mystic by his friend Ramana Maharshi. Sundance and Katie met in 1988 and are frequent teaching partners. Sundance is author of Free Spirit.
AWAKE SPIRIT TEACHINGS are consistent with the teachings of Eckhart Tolle for spiritual awakening and for Self-realization, they are consistent with Advaita Vedanta and Non-duality, yet free of all Eastern jargon. They are pragmatic and point to the simplicity of Self-realization.
Through Self-inquiry and consciously resting as "I am," the teachings are also consistent with the great sages Ramana Maharsi and Nisargadatta.
Awake Spirit Teachings are not conceptually based. Rather, they are based on direct Self-realization. Satsang is therefore blessed with the true teacher; the radiant stillness that you genuinely are already.
Free Advaita and Satsang Videos, as well as Free Downloads at:
Before enjoying this video, please scroll down this blog and in the right hand column you will find the video Shamamic Dream. Please pause Shamanic Dream. Otherwise, you will be listening to two songs at the same time.
Kirtana is a lovely composer, singer/songwriter and guitarist. She wrote this song as a tribute to the great sage, Ramana Maharshi.
"Ramana's Song" is from Kirtana'a latest CD, "Falling Awake."
Hello Sundance, Thank you kindly for satsang yesterday. I am feeling decidedly dissembled. That's good news.
This is what is lingering:
This could be called a watching game: awareness watches consciousness, which watches the mind, which watches the world. Self, Awareness, is steady, immutable, mountain-like, as you say. Awareness doesn't care what arises. And, for Awareness, nothing is happening.
There is just That, Sat-Chit-Ananda, and That is who ‘we’ really are, our essence. But it's not really that “we” are “One.” That's what “Non-dual” is pointing at. It's not two, and yet it's not one, either.
The mysterious paradox is, there is not One, because Awareness isn't an object. Perhaps it could be said, “there is nothing and everything.” Awareness, as the ultimate subject and then all else that appears to arise; body, mind, world are objects.
So, it's about letting go of control and attachment to everything, total surrender to what arises as it does, allowing all to be as it is. No mind, no suffering, no agenda, no initiating. Yet, clearly mind can be picked up and used for practical purposes. When an impulse for self-interest arises, catch it by noticing and turn back. There-in lies freedom.
Can you clarify what you meant when you said, “when you're asked, How are you feeling, if you go inside, you get lost.”
Does this mean “you,” Awareness? When you asked me this question, there was nowhere to land, no sense of feelings, even though there was alertness and presence. Not a sense of an individual “I,” more a non-localized experience of aware being. Is it a trick question in the sense that it reveals where identity is arising from? And the challenge of using pronouns and who is being referred to, you not as the body/mind, but as Awareness?
Eternal gratitude and deepest pranams,
Sundance replies:
Beloved, Awareness is all consuming, as it is real Being and not imaginary minding. To Awaring-Self, the concept, sense or identification of "I" is meaningless, as non-existent. “To Be” does not require self-consciousness, any more than you need to look in a mirror to confirm your sense of body. What we are conscious to is always the false, the imaginary non-existent. Only Knowing Is, even when nothing appears to be sensed.
All that gets lost is the non-essential, the "I" self-interest, the non-existing. We simply cannot give our allegiance to the "I thing," while forgetting who we are and get away with it. Rather, this union of attachment will appear to get away with truth by giving Self a name, shape and time. We were never meant to elevate our believing over our Being.
Let me be clear, I was pointing to SOLITUDE, ALONENESS. There is nothing but YOU, SELF. You merely hang yourself on the branch you are holding in mind, for there is no branch or anyone to hold it.
There is no true answer to the question, "how are you feeling," except silence. After all, the question is speaking of YOU Beloved before feeling.
On another occasion, XO shares a quote with Sundance:
"Events in time and space - birth and death, cause and effect - these may be taken as one; but the body and the embodied are not of the same order of reality. The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless suffering. You can speak of the mind and body as one, but the body-mind is not the underlying reality."
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Sundance comments on this sharing:
Yes, all mind-bodies, all forms, all experiences of every order are sourced in the consciousness of Being …
and you are that consciousness, that ocean of ever-present awareness …
sometimes seen, sometimes not, life in calm waiting and potent expression, yet always awake, always being ...
the formless inspiration and the spiritual heart of our living dream.
Only the underlying reality of our nature as Awareness can set us free to be as we are...
fearless peace, loving expression without bounds or reason and so much more than words can convey.
You are the secret, the One you've been longing for.
You are within all time, all space; too close for discovery, too intimate to approach, too innocent to declare.
You are timeless. So, if you follow time, you move away.
You are nothing. So, if you seriously matter, you feel lost.
You are all presence, all power, all knowing,
In other words, All Loving.
Belief can never be the real You.
The impersonator is not the One.
You are an impossible act to follow, because you leave no trail at all.
Only the simple is truly profound,
so make no effort to be what you are...
Simply Be and Injoy
XO on the impact of Satsang:
Clearly, who I really am, is the awareness behind even consciousness. With residing there, comes a feeling of deep rest and peace. When you and I are in satsang though, this experience is so intense, a heightened sense of alertness, intimacy, great calm and detachment, almost disinterest in "things". What is that? Obviously an experience that comes and goes. Does this kind of experience emerge when two people are together and consciousness "recognizes" itself?
I notice I feel shy at first around you, uncertain about all of this, yet there's a fierce compelling quality to it. That dissolves once what seems like a shift occurs, maybe it's withdrawal from the perspective of a separate "me"? I so value your support and welcome any kind of guidance or suggestions of any kind.
Sundance replies:
Yes, I see and feel this in our Self-Presence. The blessings you speak of flow like a river, clear sailing unto Source. Surrendered as we are, we freely rest in the silence and stillness of our true depth. The miracle is that we know and the blessing of this knowing is our loving way.
Being true is intensely alive. This is satsang; fearless, desireless, All Loving presence. It is your true Being that is so compelling and beautiful.
The All Loving Heart is realized, once and for all in satsang. True living begins when dying ends and … even if the world could end … only the Awake would know.
The memory of body pain comes to satsang:
I'm noticing that when I allow it to be as it is, watching the pain come and go as the experience it is, there doesn't seem to be much suffering associated with it anymore.
Sundance on contemplating physical pain in the context of awakening:
It sounds as though your physical experience is serving to deepen your awareness of Self. This is not unusual in my experience. The path through this challenge is often easier for those who are already free of the belief that the Self is primarily a body. This I am certain you know. Nevertheless, we uniquely feel the impact of our hold and release from this human belief.
No one can really escape from the direct experience of our physical association. It seems the best option, when no other therapy is presently active and effective, is to continually abide in Self-Awareness, to be the witness beyond the symptoms.
All therapies hold potential for good, especially when acted upon from pure witnessing. If pain is present, what can one do but accept it, take action if it seems right and then allow everything to be as it happens.
Pain is clearly a call for attention, but attention to what and how to attend? I say, go to Self, pure consciousness and not just when we are hurting, but always. Let the message of pain become obsolete by its becoming unnecessary as a reminder. Easier said than done, but which of our lively efforts are truly worthy? This, we each answer by the quality of our presence regardless of circumstances; the body being one of these among many others.
It seems to me that each of us possess various forms of belief about healing and healers. Some of us strongly believe in medical doctors and science, others believe in holistic healers, shamans, energy healers, body workers, counselors, change of environment or behavior, etc. Still others intuitively combine the above. Our past human experience is a vast library in consciousness full of body ignorances and wisdoms.
A few of us question the entire experience of dis-ease. Is it real? Can I really be unhealthy? If I am the Self, can I really be suffering and subject to crippling and death? Does disease point to my true state of being or does pain appear for another purpose? What is pain if I am not opposing it? Can my being really be threatened? Is death to be feared, as a loss or diminishment of Self? Can I control my experience? Can I prevent what I do not want to experience from happening? If I act upon any belief in a fearful idea will it bring me freedom or dis-ease? If I am not in control, why worry? How will I know how I will act in any case, until it becomes my experience? What is my attitude of Self in all conditions? Do I have a permanently real attitude or am I searching for security and comfort, neither of which can endure in every condition?
There's no need for you to answer all of these questions, but they do seem to arise in consciousness in the midst of remembering or contemplating pain, aging, death, etc. My attitude is that only the Self determines my experience and the form of healing I choose is also Self-Will, no matter what it looks like. This is the only way I can be mySelf. I'll soon be in a dentist's chair contemplating Self as patient, dentist, assistant and all else in that moment of consciousness.
Surrender is the default attitude of witnessing, as the only condition worth your trust is... being aware.
While everyone appears to be dreaming, witnessing watches, unconcerned and fearlessly awake.
Sundance Burke is author of "Free Spirit: A Guide to Enlightened Being"
Monthly articles on presence, spiritual awakening, non-duality, advaita, enlightenment and Self-realization with poetry, music and art. You are invited to join our mailing list on this page. We mail only once a month.
IN THIS RADIANT ISSUE:
"Pure I Alone, Prior to Consciousness, Self-realization" by Katie Davis
Pure I stands alone; totally free of consciousness. I make the light of consciousness possible.
I am beyond being and not being and yet as pure beingness, I am the pure bliss that pervades all so called things ... and still inseparable.
I am not an experience.
There are no objects. Not one object exists.
The perception of "things" as "objects" is proof that separation and duality persist. This false perception endures as long as the subject-witness remains. A subject that is the witness always has an "object" to witness. The subject-witness is not the Ultimate Reality ... and of course inseparable.
In the disappearance of all experience, Pure I stands alone as the Ultimate Reality.
Free of the subject, "all" is no longer appearing as objects. I am all ... and beyond all.
One could say that I am you ... radiant, pure beingness ... and the Great Mystery.
I am free of all states; I am beyond the deep sleep state, the night dream state and the waking dream state of consciousness. In deep sleep, one is awake as pure consciousness and yet when one slips beyond the deep sleep state into the non-state of the Ultimate Reality, consciousness disappears.
Try this as an experiment. Before falling asleep tonight, note that you will follow every state that brings you to waking up to the daytime dream. From deep sleep, the pure bliss of pure being is the first to consciously appear as pure consciousness, though fleeting you then become conscious of the body and without notice, the body is suddenly in the world and the daytime dream of form then reappears. The fact that the dream is consistent is due to memory and expectation. One can be free of both and therefore the dream has infinite possibility.
Upon realizing Pure I alone, conscious experiencing reappears ... as Pure I.
Therefore the world may be called neither real nor unreal. It is indescribable as Pure I. What you are calling the "objective" world, only I am.
I am beyond the unity of self "with" the supreme, the unity of "you and me" and the unity of all "objects."
Though amazingly beautiful with being-consciousness-bliss at the forefront, even this separation is unattainable. The knower and the known dissolve into knowing and this knowing also dissolves as consciousness and yet inseparable.
Even here, the root of consciousness itself persists. This root perpetuates the appearance of suffering; even when "no one" suffers.
This also offers the illusion of uncaused will or one could say desire (beyond personal desire) or an urge toward perfection or evolution.
Whereas I am neither doing nor not doing. Nor am I affected. I AM perfection and simply indivisible in any manner. There is no one else and no other to become or evolve toward.
When the supreme witness (the sum of all perceivers) surrenders on its own accord, so does perception and cognition disappear. Is there at least openness to consider the possibility that free of perception and cognition, there may be no experience?
Is it possible to experience what is potential?
One may correctly say that all is consciousness.It is incorrect to say that "nothing" is beyond consciousness. I am neither nothing nor all. I am beyond all and all.
I am neither experienced nothingness nor experienced unity that is everything. Only to the unclear do I appear as unity that is simultaneously diversity. Though mature, this is not yet seeing aright. I am free of all differentiation and non-differentiation.
Pure I alone.
As Pure I, all is Pure I; no subject and no object. I am not a "source" from which "all else" flows. I am neither creating nor manifesting.
Vedanta is the end of all knowledge; neither knowing nor not knowing. I am neither theoretical, analytical nor intuitive.
I am beyond the personal that is not. I am beyond the impersonal that is not. Yet I am all pervasive and virtually nothing is ultimately an obscuration.
As consciousness, that is knowing, experiencing and perceiving, I remain Pure I alone. I do not know, experience or perceive. Neither can I be known, experienced nor perceived.
It is only I that is appearing as the ultimate witness, the subject-witness and the personal self-observer. All are reflections and superimpositions. Even this I am and have never changed or differentiated. Yet, there is only Pure I.
I am not asking for believing, learning, understanding or philosophizing. I only invite direct noticing what is.
I have no interest in "your" things; neither home, nor possessions, beliefs or concepts. As all luminous consciousness, I invite only ye. Ye is Pure I already, is this noticed yet?
In unequivocal surrender, all is infinite; free of all lack and gain and therefore, completely free of suffering. Rather ... free of the one who is lacking and gaining.
Suffering is still superimposition and is none other than pure love. One can be free of the superimposition through the harmonizing of pure consciousness. Indeed, one is already free. I am not pointing to a possibility that is forever throughout all time. Pure love is timelessly now.
Free of differentiation, I cannot say that there is a right way or a wrong way to be who you already are; whether that be advaita, non-duality, duality, "neo-advaita" (whatever that is), self-inquiry, satsang or for that matter, even white water rafting! What is ... is perfection.
May we follow the map perfectly or imperfectly perfect or have no map at all. In every case, I am beyond the pointing, the experiencing, the understanding and the perceiving. Virtually every 'pathway' leads to the realization of the Pure I that I am ... and that all is. Indeed, I am also the path.
Dual spirituality is extraordinary; so is the unquivocal surrender of deep devotion. It fuels the very fire that may or may not lead to spiritual awakening. Whether awakening seems to occur or not, I am already perfection. The misperception of separation also leads to unnecessary suffering. However, that suffering is ultimately pure love. It is just possible to consciously be the pure love that you genuinely are, free of all suffering states of consciousness.
Understanding, direct perceiving, devotion and vigilance are all essential tools. All tools will be surrendered before realizing who/what I am. Nonetheless, I am uncaused. I am beyond all and all.
At one point discrimination and discernment are all important. In the end, nothing ever happened.
The mind that is space and time dissolves as consciousness and then dissolves as timeless purity.
Neither nothing nor everything has independent existence from Pure I.
It is more than I contain all; I am all ... and I stand alone.
Never am I changing and as consciousness I shine as complete equanimity upon what some are calling all others; still only I am.
Though one might try for awhile, it is not possible to say that I am the meditator, nor the divine object of meditation, although this may exquisitely appear. Again, perfection cannot be divided. So called imperfection can only be superimposed, and even this I am.
I am beyond the distracted mind that is energetically active. I am beyond the dull mind that one may call "lazy." I am also beyond the mind that is in harmony. Yet, it is most likely that one will realize who I am with the harmony of the quiet mind. Yet, there is no causal relationship. I am uncaused. I am already.
I am beyond the concentrated mind. A distracting mind and a concentrated mind are both still 'mind.' Meditation is a very good tool for mind concentration and harmony. That said, I am uncaused.
I am not a state such as samadhi. There are many levels of samadhi. Suffice it to say that I am simply not a state that comes and goes.
The great disappearance of the universe is not what is called nirvakalpa samadhi. In this form of samadhi, the body and its sensing are not functional as the word of form. Pure I is beyond and stands alone. Whether with the dream of form or beyond the dream of form, there is only Pure I. I am not only functional in the world; I am the world ... and nonetheless, beyond all.
It may be interesting to note that in the East, they have eight different words that point to ever deeper levels of consciousness, whereas in English, we have only the word, "consciousness." I am not suggesting that you need to learn or translate those eight words. I am only suggesting that in an infinite field of possibility, there is always 'more' and no such thing as 'arrival.'
To be beyond reason is to be beyond 'higher' reason. Both are excellent tools for realizing all that I am not. Once all false ideas are removed, this is not likely to be the Ultimate Reality. I am uncaused and stand alone beyond cognition.
Free of attachment, what was once called mind sees neither duality nor unity.
Unconsciousness is a delusion; there is only inattention.
I am free of superimposition and supra-imposition and without contradiction, I am all.
Only... Pure I ... AM.
I am not the empty void, the full void, the golden-light void or the blue void; yet, I am all. One might say that I am the potential.
I have never been born and therefore never die.
I have no beginning nor end ... still I am the alpha and the omega.
Truly, I am the Heart that is the Totality and that, dear Heart Friends, is infinite.
