Avadhuta Gita - Essence of existence

Wherever a yogi may meet his end—
Whether beside a holy river or in an outcaste’s hut—
His births are through;
He merges in Brahman.

He who has realized the innate, unborn,incomprehensible Self
Never becomes stained while enjoying the fruits of his desires;
He remains always free of stain, free of karma.
The ascetic, concentrated on the Self, is never bound.

He goes beyond illusion, beyond comparison, beyond form,
Beyond any support, beyond the body and its nourishment;
Beyond duality, fear, desire, and powers,
It’s the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

His attainment is not the Vedas, nor initiation, nor a clean-shaven head;
It is not a Guru, or disciples, or bountiful treasures,
Or the practice of postures, or wearing of ashes;
It’s the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

He does not envision the form of the great Shiva,or Shakti, or any other gods;
He does not see kundalini, or light-forms,or the feet of God;
Nor does he perceive his own soul, like a jar with its contents;
It’s the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

That is the Essence from which the sentient and insentient universe is born;
It is like the ocean which gives birth to the foam on its surface.
It is That by which everything is maintained and dissolved;
It’s the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

His attainment is not breath-control, or fixed-stares,or yogic-postures;
Nothing becomes learned or unlearned at all.
His attainment is not the purification of the nerves;
It’s the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

He does not attain a "many" or a "One" that is separate from himself;
It is not something other, like an object with length and breadth.
It cannot be objectively proven, or compared with anything;
It's the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

He may or may not attain concentration;
He may or may not attain freedom from the senses;
He may or may not abandon all actions;
It's the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

Beyond mind, intellect, body, and sense-organs;
Beyond the subtle elements, and the five gross elements;
Beyond the sense of ego, and even the ethereal body;
It's the Lord, the Self, the Eternal, he attains.

Transcending all dictates, he abides in the Self;
His mind becomes free of the thought of duality.
Neither purity, nor impurity, nor distinction of sex,
Nor fortune, nor misfortune, has any meaning for him.

If the mind and speech can't reveal the Self,
How could the Guru's teachings reveal the Self?
How could a Guru reveal with words
That Essence of existence which is self-illuminating?
~ Avadhuta Gita of Sri Dattatreya
Chapter 2, Verses 29-40

 

PDF

Avadhoota Gita

Al-Hallaj - I am the Supreme Reality

Mansur Al-Hallaj by Erol Akyavaş

Kill me, O my trustworthy friends, for in my being killed is my life.

Love is that you remain standing in front of your Beloved.
When you are deprived of all your attributes,
then His attributes become your qualities.

Between me and You, there’s only me.
Take away the me, so only You remain.

I am the Supreme Reality.

 The Tawasin of Mansur Al-Hallaj PDF

Lao Tzu - Bond of The Eternal

We look at it and do not see it;
Its name is The Invisible.
We listen to it and do not hear it;
Its name is The Inaudible.
We touch it and do not find it;
Its name is The Subtle.
These three cannot be further inquired into,
And hence merge into one.
Going up high it is not bright,
And coming down low, it is not dark.
Infinite and boundless, it cannot be given any name; 
It reverts to nothingness. 
This is called shape without shape, Form without object. 
It is The Vague and Elusive. 
Meet it and you will not see its head. 
Follow it and you will not see its back. 
Hold on to The Way of the old in order to master the things of the present. 
From this one may know the primeval beginning. 
This is called the bond of The Eternal.

Chuck Surface - Free at last from “sanity”

I thought I was alone out here,
Out in the Wild.

How sweet to find you in this Vastness.
Are you mad, as well?

If not, you will be.
Free at last from “sanity”.

So few leave the village of the Great Teachings,
And wander Here, Alone.

The few I've met have been driven by Life,
To push open the village gates, and abandon all knowledge.

What drove you to such desperation,
Taking those fearful steps into the Inconceivable?

There are no concepts here for one seeking knowledge.
Your teacher, The Unknowable, will remove all certitude.

And have no concern of arrogance and pride,
That's not possible here, in the face of… This.

You will never understand this Vastness,
Write a book, and offer guided tours.

Such a din in the spiritual marketplace.
While here, butterfly wings are raucous.

I walked the Path of the Idiot to get here,
Burning scriptures for warmth, along the way.

And dying, at last,
Became the Love I sought,

Even while remaining, a simple man,
Imperfect, wounded, and broken as any.

www.GardenOfTheBeloved.com
www.Facebook.com/InTheGardenOfTheBeloved

Byron Katie - As simple as that

art Parablev

“I discovered that when I believed my thoughts,
I suffered,
but that when I didn’t believe them,
I didn’t suffer,
and that this is true for every human being.
Freedom is as simple as that.”

 

http://thework.com/

Mahmud Shabistari - “I am the Truth.”

In the empty heart, void of self
can be heard the echoing cry,
“I am the Truth.”
Thus is man one with the eternal.
Travelling, travel and traveller have become one.

Baba Kuhi of Shiraz - Only God I saw.

In the market, in the cloister – only God I saw.
In the valley and on the mountain – only God I saw.

Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;
In favor and in fortune – only God I saw.

In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,
In the religion of the Prophet – only God I saw.

Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,
Qualities nor causes – only God I saw.

I opened mine eyes and by the light of his face around me
In all the eye discovered – only God I saw.

Like a candle I was melting in his fire:
Amidst the flames outflashing – only God I saw.

Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,
But when I looked with God’s eyes – only God I saw.

I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo, I was the All-living – only God I saw.

Rumi ♡ - Here, here is the Beloved!

O you who’ve gone on pilgrimage –
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall –
You, erring in the desert –
what air of love is this?
If you’d see the Beloved’s
form without any form –
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you! . . .
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul’s pearly essence
when you’re the Sea of God?
That’s true – and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich –
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours!

~Rumi  ‘I Am Wind, You are Fire’
Translation by Annemarie Schimmel

Swami Rama Tirtha - To Truth

O Love! O Love I O Love!
Above time, space and causality
Thee I will always love,
O Truth, the one Reality.
O Love! O Love! O Love!
My Self in which I live,
In Thee I live and move,
And to Thee myself I give.
O Love! O Love! O Love!
To Thee belongs my whole life,
Thee I will ever serve,
In the midst of honour or strife.
O Love! O Love! O Love
Thy will is wholly mine,
Just bid me do whatever Thou wilt.
My will is a reflection of Thine.

http://www.ramatirtha.org/ 

Swami Ramdas - The One Reality

My thought flies like a bird carrying the message of peace to all the worlds. 

A light goes out of my eyes that illuminates the entire cosmos. 

My heart responds to the rhythm of a heavenly music that resounds through all space.

The angels hover round me—the devas of the other worlds—the embodiments of the omnipresent Spirit. They look human, but they are my God in so many forms. 

The deva, man, bird, and beast are all the varied shapes taken by my God.

They are all sweet and good.

I see Him and am lost in Him. I hear Him and am attuned with Him. I touch Him and become one with Him. In all planes of life I am united with Him.
With outstretched arms He beckons me and I rush to Him, and I am caught in His ecstatic embrace. 

I shut my eyes in the intoxication of joy. “O Beloved!”—that is all I could say. 

O my Lord, my God, my supreme Mother, I am eternally Thine—I am Thyself.

How strange! I am Thyself, yet I am Thine. 

When I sit silent with eyes closed, I behold all the worlds and beyond in me, 

and myself in all the worlds and beyond. Whenever I am before anybody, I look at him as myself. 

His movements are mine. When he talks and acts, it is all myself.

Death is false. Every particle of the body in all its states is ever intensely alive—dust or ashes. 

Soul, body, universe, all beings and things are all one. 

Matter is Spirit, Spirit is matter. All is He and His expression!
Spirit is still, but it sings sweetly and universes are born.

They live in the infinite ocean of the Spirit like ice floating on water.

All minds and all bodies! You are dear to me. 

You are made of my substance. My substance is omnipresent, immutable Spirit. 

Still, there are ripples in me. 

They are the planets, stars, and stellar spheres, 

ever in motion, whirling through the glowing etheric atmosphere.

All hail, all hail to Thee!—the one Truth—the one Reality.

(The Divine Life, pp. 54–55)

Swami Vivekananda - Song of the Sannyasin

Wake up the note! the song that had its birth
Far off, where worldly taint could never reach,
In mountain caves and glades of forest deep,
Whose calm no sigh for lust or wealth or fame
Could ever dare to break; where rolled the stream
Of knowledge, truth, and bliss that follows both.
Sing high that note, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee down,
Of shining gold, or darker, baser ore;
Love, hate - good, bad - and all the dual throng,
Know, slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not free;
For fetters, though of gold, are not less strong to bind;
Then off with them, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Let darkness go; the will-o'-the-wisp that leads
With blinking light to pile more gloom on gloom.
This thirst for life, forever quench; it drags
From birth to death, and death to birth, the soul.
He conquers all who conquers self. Know this
And never yield, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

"Who sows must reap," they say, "and cause must bring
The sure effect; good, good; bad, bad; and none
Escape the law. But whoso wears a form
Must wear the chain." Too true; but far beyond
Both name and form is Atman, ever free.
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

They know not truth, who dream such vacant dreams
As father, mother, children, wife, and friend.
The sexless Self! whose father He? whose child?
Whose friend, whose foe is He? who is but One?
The Self is all in all, none else exists;
And thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

There is but One - The Free - The Knower - Self!
Without a name, without a form or stain.
In Him is Maya dreaming all this dream.
The witness, He appears as nature, soul.
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Where seekest thou? That freedom, friend, this world
Nor that can give. In books and temples vain
Thy search. Thine only is the hand that holds
The rope that drags thee on. Then cease lament,
Let go thy hold, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Say, "Peace to all: From me no danger be
To aught that lives. In those that dwell on high,
In those that lowly creep, I am the Self in all!
All life both here and there, do I renounce,
All heavens and earths and hells, all hopes and fears."
Thus cut thy bonds, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Heed then no more how body lives or goes,
Its task is done. Let Karma float it down;
Let one put garlands on, another kick
This frame; say naught. No praise or blame can be
Where praiser praised, and blamer blamed are one.
Thus be thou calm, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Truth never comes where lust and fame and greed
Of gain reside. No man who thinks of woman
As his wife can ever perfect be;
Nor he who owns the least of things, nor he
Whom anger chains, can ever pass thro' Maya's gates.
So, give these up, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Have thou no home. What home can hold thee, friend?
The sky thy roof, the grass thy bed; and food
What chance may bring, well cooked or ill, judge not.
No food or drink can taint that noble Self
Which knows Itself. Like rolling river free
Thou ever be, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Few only know the truth. The rest will hate
And laugh at thee, great one; but pay no heed.
Go thou, the free, from place to place, and help
Them out of darkness, Maya's veil. Without
The fear of pain or search for pleasure, go
Beyond them both, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Thus, day by day, till Karma's powers spent
Release the soul forever. No more is birth,
Nor I, nor thou, nor God, nor man. The "I"
Has All become, the All is "I" and Bliss.
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"

Charles Baudelaire - Always be drunk.

Always be drunk.

That's it!

The great imperative!

In order not to feel

Time's horrid fardel

bruise your shoulders,

grinding you into the earth,

get drunk and stay that way.

On what?

On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.

But get drunk.

And if you sometimes happen to wake up

on the porches of a palace,

in the green grass of a ditch,

in the dismal loneliness

of your own room,

your drunkenness gone or disappearing,

ask the wind,

the wave,

the star,

the bird,

the clock,

ask everything that flees,

everything that groans

or rolls

or sings,

everything that speaks,

ask what time it is;

and the wind,

the wave,

the star,

the bird,

the clock

will answer you:

"Time to get drunk!

Don't be martyred slaves of Time,

Get drunk!

Stay drunk!

On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"