beyond body and mind….

seeker, lay your burden down 

and let the grace of all move the being 

to stillness

for grace is the only thing that makes it right 

this is the reality 

the body is simply a vehicle of experience and 

is inert, insentient and cannot be the doer or the 

one that gives life force …

the mind, it cannot be the doer either for it is 

like a moving current that changes all the while 

and has within it nothing lasting that can be 

put in front of one and say "here it is!"….

this is what is to be seen sturdy souls 

see the movement with detachment and 

wisdom instead of getting lost there …

for in this movement, thoughts jostle and play about 

and are empty always, always …

grace though, it is the freedom that gives of itself 

it has within it love undivided and wisdom that 

is pure and holy and without the least stain of 

of the personal way...

the sadhu he is a one that walks the path

with his staff and gourd and robes of ochre 

he lives and breathes reality 

in his mind there is the driving desire to be free

from the transient way

and in his heart too, there lives this fire that burns 

he lives in the caves and lights the dhuni fire that 

is always burning bright 

this fire is the atman to him and it is what is to 

be entered into with love and courage 

he sits by it and chants or sleeps or eats or 

performs austerities 

he is not to be taken in by the ones that are masquerading 

as sadhus for this would be such a disgrace 

he wears his hair in dreadlocks of shaves it or 

keeps it long, it makes no difference 

his body is sometimes very lean and unkempt 

but it matters not, for he is not this mass of bones and flesh

and impurities ever and he is to know this well

when he sit on the ghats in the evening light or in 

the early morning he is well aware of death and how it 

comes to all without discrimination

the burial grounds are showing of this way that life has

how it gives and takes all at the same time …

in relation to the body, it comes into the world 

out of the womb of the mother…

and begins it's journey with eyes that are 

most often pure in the beginning, but tarnished by desire 

in time due to identification with the body...  

in time though, (sooner or later), the body begins it's descent 

downward and eventually it is taken away and buried or burned

or left out for the creatures to eat or what have you…

the sadhu he watches this type of thing and when this burning 

desire ignites with the feeling of death and seizes him
greatly -- then the mind is shocked into 

thinking that there is an end to it …

like Ramana who laid down at his uncles house as he was overcome 

by the feeling that he was to die and he went thru the death process --
the spontaneous inquiry came; "who dies?", "what dies?"..

with a flash he felt the "I" to be separate from the body and he 

knew without a doubt that he was not this body that walked around 

and talked and ate and all of this …

he was the absolute reality … this came to him not with a thought process,

but with an understanding that was not of mind …
like Guru too… she was sitting on the banks of the

ganges and understood her efforts were done on this journey and there was nothing
more that could be done … then she said, "on the altar of truth, i lay myself"…
and there was a great fear that arose, then the death experience came to her
and she was pulled into the absolute reality…. 

(which she has spoken so many times about)….
and after realization, went on to be a mentor to many going thru
kundalini, always making the pointing to stay in the heart and within
quietude…

Ramana also spoke about letting go of the world 

and being in the heart …

this is what is to be seen and lived 

the heart is the soul fire of all

it is on the right side of the chest, but not really a local point that 

can be identified with -- it is truly not physical -- it is the absolute 

which is bodiless…

the right side is simply a way to say that one is truly the heart …

not the head, not the thoughts, not the playing out of the world …

but the heart, hridayam  = "heart am I" as Ramana says so perfectly….

-maha shanti om-