Do you know a proper source for this beautiful quotation?

Concerning nonduality and advaita vedanta please can someone give me a proper source for;

“Like two birds of golden plumage, inseparable companions, the
individual self and the immortal Self are perched on the branches of the
self same tree. The former tastes of the sweet and bitter fruits of the
tree; the latter, tasting of neither, calmly observes.

“The individual self, deluded by forgetfulness of his identity with the
divine Self, bewildered by his ego, grieves and is sad. But when he
recognizes the worshipful Lord as his own true Self, and
beholds his glory, he grieves no more.” from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita

How important do you/I feel spiritually?

This is such a wonderful passage from Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee;

“If we can allow ourselves to live an ordinary life while also staying awake to the great void at the center of all that is, then we can be this intermediary place between that intoxicating, mystical bliss of oblivion and the wonder of how the Divine creates and reveals Itself in all the forms of life. Our lives are the expression of this bridge – ordinary and extraordinary, all things in their place, everything free to be as it is, and our consciousness, our heart, free to be used as needed.”

The Book review is of For Love of the Real
A Story of Life’s Mystical Secret
By Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Hilary Hart
A Sufi understanding of service and our lives as a bridge between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

From the Brussat’s book review;

-0-
…….many of the great Zen and Taoist teachers emphasized the ordinary and the dangers of spiritual importance:

” Emperor Wu: ‘I have built many temples, copied innumerable Sutras and ordained many monks since becoming Emperor. Therefore, I ask you, what is my merit?’

“Bodhidharma: ‘None whatsoever!’

“Emperor Wu: ‘Why no merit?’

“Bodhidharma: ‘Doing things for merit has an impure motive and will only bear the puny fruit of rebirth.’

“Emperor Wu, a little put out: ‘What then is the most important principle of Buddhism?’

“Bodhidharma: ‘Vast emptiness. Nothing sacred.’

“Emperor Wu, by now bewildered, and not a little indignant: ‘Who is this that stands before me?’

“Bodhidharma: ‘I do not know.’

“If we can allow ourselves to live an ordinary life while also staying awake to the great void at the center of all that is, then we can be this intermediary place between that intoxicating, mystical bliss of oblivion and the wonder of how the Divine creates and reveals Itself in all the forms of life. Our lives are the expression of this bridge – ordinary and extraordinary, all things in their place, everything free to be as it is, and our consciousness, our heart, free to be used as needed.”

SOURCE: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/excerpts/view/28020

Transcend but include – Ken Wilber

“Transcending the ego” thus actually means to transcend but include the ego in a deeper and higher embrace, first in the soul or deeper psychic, then with the Witness or primordial Self, then with each previous stage taken up, enfolded, included, and embraced in the radiance of One Taste.

And that means we do not “get rid” of the small ego, but rather, we inhabit it fully, live it with verve, use it as the necessary vehicle through which higher truths are communicated.

Soul and Spirit include body, emotions, and mind; they do not erase them.

Ken Wilber

Source: The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader., Pages: 33

What is the ego Answer The ego is…

What is the ego?

Answer
The ego is the ego. It’s zazen … as in “Know thyself.” I am always saying, You must understand the ego . . …. and in the end, there is no ego, the ego has no substance. Where are you going to locate this substance? In the nose? The brain? The navel? The head? Hard to say. In the mind? But what is the mind? It has become a problem, the biggest problem of psychology, philosophy, and religion.

I have explained that we have no noumenon, no permanent substance. The ego changes with every second that goes by; yesterday’s ego, today’s ego … they’re not the same. Our body changes, our cells change too. When you take a bath, for example, all the dead cells of your skin are washed away. Our brain, our mind changes; that of the adult is not the same as it was in the child. So where does the ego exist? It is one with the cosmos. It is not only the body, the mind, but it is God, Buddha, the fundamental cosmic force.

To find eternity is not egotism; it is truth, true noumenon. That is the true religion we must create. Our life is connected to the cosmic power and stands in a relation of interdependence with all other existences. We cannot live by ourselves, we are dependent upon nature, air, water. So we must not become selfish… That is the great satori. It is useless to be egotistical because every ego is in a relationship of interdependence with the world and with all things.

So there is no need to keep things for oneself. That is very important. In his Essays, Montaigne wrote that everybody else was always looking outward, but he wanted to look within. It is necessary to turn your eyes inward, even though most people only look outside. Today more than ever before we must look into ourselves. To look at an object is easy, to look at the subject is not so easy.

SOURCE – http://www.purifymind.com/WhatEgoZen.htm

Oops I recognize this one The Ego’s Need…

Oops I recognize this one

The Ego’s Need to be Right

Complaining and reactivity are favorite mind patterns through which the ego strengthens itself. For many people, a large part of their mental- emotional activity consists of complaining and reacting against this or that. By doing this, you make others or a situation “wrong” and yourself “right.”

Through being “right,” you feel superior, and through feeling superior, you strengthen your sense of self. In reality, of course, you are only strengthening the illusion of ego.

Not infrequently, tribes, nations, and religions derive a strengthened sense of collective identity from having enemies. Who would the “believer” be without the “unbeliever”?

In your dealings with people, can you detect subtle feelings of either superiority or inferiority toward them? You are looking at the ego, which lives through comparison. Can you observe those patterns within yourself and recognize the complaining voice in your head for what it is?

~ From: Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle. http://www.eckharttolle.com/

YOU ARE THE AWARENESS When you recognize that…

YOU ARE THE AWARENESS

When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking.

When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice — the thinker — but the one who is aware of it.

Knowing yourself as the awareness behind the voice is freedom.

The egoic self is always engaged in seeking. It is seeking more of this or that to add to itself, to make itself feel more complete. This explains the ego’s compulsive preoccupation with future.

~ From: Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle http://www.eckharttolle.com

‘Love Ego & Presence’ Kabir Helminski The Knowing…

‘Love, Ego & Presence’ – Kabir Helminski The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation pp49-50

“We do not reach love completely on our own. If we are loveless in and of ourselves, it is because we are living with our center of gravity in the false self. The false self is created from the desires and compulsions of our own separateness. This false self believes strongly in its own existence as separate from the rest of life, and it recruits the intellect to help defend this illusion at the expense of the whole of the mind.

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What is arising now is …

What  is   arising   now  is   not   a   new   belief   system,   a   new   religion,
spiritual ideology,  or mythology. We  are  coming to the  end  not  only  of
mythologies  but  also  of ideologies  and  belief  systems. The  change  goes
deeper than the content of your mind, deeper than your thoughts. In fact, at
the  heart  of the  new  consciousness is the transcendence  of thought, the
newfound ability of rising above thought, of realizing a dimension within
yourself that is infinitely more vast than thought. 

You then no longer derive your identity,  your  sense   of  who  you  are,  from  the  incessant  stream  of
thinking  that  in  the   old   consciousness   you  take  to   be   yourself.  What   a
liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I
then? The one who sees that. The awareness that is prior to thought, the
space in which the thought – or the emotion or sense perception – happens.

Ego is no more than this: identification with form, which primarily
means thought forms. If evil has any reality – and it has a relative, not an
absolute,  reality  – this is also its  definition: complete identification with
form – physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms. This results in a total
unawareness of my connectedness with the whole, my intrinsic oneness with
every “other” as well as with the Source. This forgetfulness is original sin,
suffering, delusion. When this delusion of utter separateness underlies and
governs whatever I think, say, and do, what kind of world do I create? T

Eckhart Tolle – A New Earth

It is very important to see your life…

It is very important to see your life not only from the narrow view of your egoistic telescope but also from the broad view of the universal telescope called egolessness.

This is why we have to practice. Right in the middle of the stream of time, we have to open our eyes there and see the total picture of time.

Through spiritual practice we can go beyond our egoistic point of view. We can touch the core of time, see the whole world in a moment, and understand time in deep relationship with all beings.

• Dainin Katagiri, “Time Revisited”

Source Tricycle Daily Dharma

MORE TOLLE quotes Please share your favorite Tolle…

MORE TOLLE quotes

Please share your favorite Tolle quotes – or any others!

Enthusiasm means there is a deep enjoyment of what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. … You will feel like an arrow that is moving toward the target – and enjoying the journey.

Knowing yourself deeply has nothing to do with whatever ideas are floating around in your mind. Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.

Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you.

No matter how active we are, how much effort we make, our state of consciousness creates our world, and if there is no change on that inner level, no amount of action will make any difference.

What you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself.

The source of all abundance is not outside you. It is part of who you are….The acknowledgment of that abundance that is all around you awakens the dormant abundance within.

Whenever there is inspiration, which translates as “in spirit”, and enthusiasm, which means “in God,” there is a creative empowerment that goes far beyond what a mere person is capable of.

If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity.

Life isn’t as serious as my mind makes it out to be.

The paradox is that the foundation of greatness is honoring the small things of the present moment instead of pursuing the idea of greatness. The present moment is always small in the sense that it is always simple, but concealed within it lies the greatest power.

The surrendered state of consciousness (to what is) opens up the vertical dimension in your life, the dimension of depth. Something will then come forth from that dimension into this world, something of infinite value that otherwise would have remained unmanifested.

When you are present, when your attention is fully in the Now, the Presence will flow into and transform what you do. There will be quality and power in it.

Once you have reached a certain level of consciousness, you are able to decide what kind of relationship you want with the present moment. Do I want the present moment to be my friend or my enemy? The present moment is inseparable from life, so you are really deciding what kind of a relationship you want to have with life. Once you have decided you want the present moment to be your friend……Life becomes friendly toward you….. One decision changes your entire reality. But that one decision you have to make again and again and again – until it becomes natural to live in such a way.

If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace. If peace mattered to you more than anything else and if you truly knew yourself to be spirit than a little me, you would remain ronreactive and absolutely alert when confronted with challenging people or situations.

When you recognize that the present moment is already the case and therefore inevitable, you can bring an uncompromising inner “yes” to it and so not only create no further unhappiness, but, with inner resistance gone, find yourself empowered by Life itself.

With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges – the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.

The ego’s unconscious core feeling of “not enough” causes it to react to someone else’s success as if that success had taken something away from “me”. It doesn’t know that your resentment of another person’s success curtails your own chances of success. In order to attract success, you need to welcome it wherever you see it.

To become free of the ego is not really a big job but a very small one…. When that shift happens, which is the shift from thinking to awareness, an intelligence far greater than the ego’s cleverness begins to operate in your life.

Love is the recognition of oneness in the world of duality.

Awareness is the greatest agent for change.

Don’t seek happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness.
If there is nothing you can do, face what is and say, “Well, right now, this is how it is. I can either accept it, or make myself miserable.” The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.

Emotion itself is not unhappiness. Only emotion plus an unhappy story is unhappiness.

If you don’t mind being unhappy, what happens to the unhappiness?

The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.

Source – http://www.mindfulwayoflife.com/2009/12/28/my-favorite-eckhart-tolle-quotes/