So I find myself in the non-duality world in a very strange situation. Because very often I’m simply trying to convince people that they exist.
A lot of people don’t understand that there are two stages to the non-duality search and you can’t stick in the first one forever. The first stage is the “Not Two” bit. Advaita means “Not Two.” In this stage we are searching for all the things that we aren’t. It’s a process of erasing. People get to this place where they understand they are not the mind. It can become a belief system that the mind doesn’t exist, and if you still are caught in the mind then you start to believe that you don’t exist.
This is a very difficult place to live. It’s difficult for you and for the people around you. So let’s try to put you back together now.
The second part of non-duality is literally the opposite of the first part. When you get down to the fact of who you are you realize that you are everything. So you literally turn the whole thing around. Instead of “I am not that,” the quest is to see yourself in everything and everything in yourself.
It’s, “I’m that, and I’m that, and I’m that. “Here and we start experiencing the full bounty of being a human being.
It’s my opinion that this is the place that we need to get to in order to put our world back together. We need to be fully functioning human beings who are able to see our conditioning and decide which parts of it are useful and which parts aren’t. Being able to see your mind is, of course, one of the big parts of that. But your mind has so many vast aspects to it.
So let’s just explore some of the some of the beauty of being inside ourselves. Your internal world. You know how it feels. Like you’re inside of yourself there somewhere. Right? You’re in there. Spirituality means learning to manage that internal space.
Check out the little melody in the video. If you read music here’s a little notation.
I want to get this melody implanted in your mind. It’s easy. You’ll find that there is a part of you that picks up this melody and lets it just sing inside. We call it getting a song stuck in your head. Right? Happens all the time.
This is the Green Tara mantra: The words are, Om Tare Tu Tare Tu re Soha.
What does it mean?
One thing that’s wonderful about these mantras is that they all have meanings. This one is from the Buddhist tradition. It speaks to what I’m talking about here. This is the Green Tara Mantra. It’s a healing mantra.
The first Dalai Lama wrote that we can call on Tara to save us from eight particular dangers. Lots of people think that we’re trying to heal ourselves from bad energy, or a cold, or or something physical. Mental illness too. But the Dalai Lama said it can save us from eight particular dangers on the spiritual path. Each of which represents a corresponding human mental problem
We have lions: that’s Pride.
Wild elephants is delusion and ignorance.
Forest fires: hatred.
Snakes: jealousy.
Robbers: wrong views, including fanatical views (This points us back to the Navajo teachings I was sharing previously).
Prisons: greed and miserliness.
Floods: desire and attachment.
Demons: doubts caused by delusion.
Those would be good things to be liberated from… yes?