"There is no angel so sublime, He wispered, Who can be granted for one moment What is granted you forever. And I hung my head, astounded.
My Heart, that dervish vagabond, Poured me the wine of oblivion. I stagger to the House of Wine Dancing, dancing, dragging this old cloak.
How can you ever hope to know the Beloved Without becoming in every cell the Lover? And when you are the Lover at last, you don't care. Whatever you know or don't - only Love is real.
If one drop of Divine Drunkenness fell On the intellects of everyone in the world, The world and its beings, free will, and obedience - All, all, would vanish in a moment.
The sail of the ship of man's being is belief. When there is a sail, the wind can carry him To place after place of power and wonder. No sail, all words are winds.
You say you have seen Him, but your eyes are two stones. You say you have known Him, but nothing in you trembles. You still say "I" when you speak of surviving His glory: No one who has seen It has ever survived.
The real work of religion is permanent astonishment. By that I don't mean in astonishment turning your back on Him - I mean - blazing in blind ecstacy, drowned in God and drunk on Love.
Choose the company of those withdrawn in love. Listen to those who open the path to you; listen, and don't say a word."
Swami Baba Ganoush: How Do I Know If I'm Enlightened?
Pure Silence, the ineffable, unknowable, the uncontained reality of this moment is freely given to all beings. There is nothing you can do to captivate it or coerce it. It is beyond capture or manipulation. It is the truth, the essence of being; it is love itself. It is you, right now: pure, free, simple, unencumbered by thought, emotion, the past or the future. You are this inexpressible wonder itself. Please know this with all your being.
Others would tell you differently and they have and they do. Do not follow them. Do not follow anyone who says that he or she has the answer, the whole truth. The truth is not contained in any person, religion or ideology. The truth is freedom itself, and it is within you already. Perhaps the teachers, gurus, priests, rabbis, lamas and others in the world may have a glimmer of truth to share (and this is a very, very small minority of them) and if they are sincere and are compassionate, you will resonate with them. You will know in the fabric of your being itself. If they have any credibility at all they will merely be pointing you to a door: the door of your very Self, your own mind, heart, soul, whatever. They cannot enter with you. They cannot take you through. They dare not try to charge you money for that or take anything from you, including your sexuality, your free will or your trust-that is an abomination! As a matter of sad fact, some of them do not even know the door itself or where it is located. Some are so hurt within themselves that they are in desperate need of compassion, of love, of acceptance; they will do or say anything to receive this. Some of these teachers believe in themselves so much, they have lost the glimmer of truth itself. Please listen to this now. These teachers: THEY ARE NOT BETTER THAN YOU. THEY ARE NOT MORE ENLIGHTENED THAN YOU. THEY ARE NOT CLOSER TO GOD THAN YOU. THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME AS YOU AND I!
(Stepping down from the soap box) I hope you heard that loud and clear. You do not need a teacher or guru. You do not need to follow a practice, to meditate, to say a mantra. You do not need to attend a church or a synagogue. You do not need to repent, to confess anything to another human being. You do not need to say prayers at certain times, on certain days, in certain places. You do not need to kneel to anyone. You do not need to follow rules and regulations and theologies or dogmas. You do not need to give money to any group, or cause or offer tithes to anyone. You do not need any sacraments or blessings. You do not need to read the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Gita, the Tao, the Gospels, the teachings of Buddha. No, sorry, my dear friend, this is all a big ruse, a big mistake. Without your money, without your blind obedience, these religions, teachers and traditions would fade into nothingness. No, there is nothing you need at all.
You are that to which all these traditions, all these teachers, all these words are pointing. You are the sacrament of the divine. You are the sons and daughters of God. You are the Buddha. You are the Christ. You are the chosen. You are redeemed and saved already. You are forgiven. You are! If you stop, right now, this moment, everything, and see what is still there, what is always there in you, through you, with you. You will see that to which all these people, traditions and religions are pointing: your very Self in Pure Silence. In that is your freedom. In that is your teacher. In that is your destiny.
Freely given to you through your own self - this moment!
