Two-Pointedness – 09.02.10

Excerpt: “As you all know, I’m sure, it goes quite against the grain of this time period to be building a monastery. . . . [and] spiritual retreats of the old type are falling away, losing their credibility, their integrity, the interest of people in leading a life devoted to contemplation of God, and a life of what has been called ‘blessed simplicity.’ And yet—because of all of that, and because of the hyperactivity of the modern world, and the disappointment that we all have come to feel about the projects of the modern age, and of science itself, as having led to a dead end, and to the destruction of our ecosystem, and to the un-sustainability of the modern way of life—there is a new interest—there’s a new wave of interest in creating spiritual communities in the world. But somehow we have to put the old wine into a new bottle that makes it attractive to the modern mind.”

“So our approach here is very secular, and it’s open to anyone from any spiritual background. And we don’t focus on whatever name you have for the Ultimate Reality because it’s beyond any name or any dogma or any creed. It’s a matter of realization. And that realization can only happen when the mind is in silence. And so that’s why meditation is the central act that forms the core of a spiritual life.” Someone once asked the great twentieth century sage Ramana Maharshi what the best way to achieve liberation was, and he replied “one-pointedness.” “The problem is that most people can’t do it; most people who sit to meditate have a very hard time silencing the mind. It seems to me that before we learn one-pointedness, we have to master two-pointedness . . .”

“And when we create an ashram, we are creating an entangled energy field that is like a metaphor used in ancient India called ‘The net of Indra’ where there’s this wonderful net that is the whole universe, and that at the corner of each point where the nettings meet, there’s a pearl, a beautiful jewel, that reflects every other jewel within itself—it’s really the holographic paradigm before that word existed. And it was recognized that that indeed is the structure of the universe: that each one of us is a microcosm that contains the entire universe and every being within it. And if will be in our meditative core, we will realize that oneness with all beings, and there will be no more conflicts, no more antagonisms, no more alienation.”

“And so an ashram is simply that practice, and the fulfillment of the desire to live a life with other beings who want to also live in openness, not in defensiveness, and to share the beauty of life at the highest level with one another. . . . And that act is the most revolutionary act that you can perform. And it will bring you in connection with all the other beings—the great sages and saints who are here on the earth today, the avatars, who are working secretly, silently together to create such a new world.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, September 2, 2010.