Spiritual Portal

Silence beneath the sounds
Stillness at the center of every movement
Fullness in the infinitesimally tiny fulcrum

Self - All - Peace

hey art,
nice seeing you around. beautiful post brother. I've been thinking on this a lot. thank you.

also,
how have you been? are you still making music?

 :)

Is this Eric?

I'm doing well.  Man, I got on this site years ago because I was jealous of your relationship with Jessica.  Now, I just put out a fire in my oven, just happen to be listening to "Hey Jealousy" on repeat.

I hope you don't mind me mentioning such, if you do feel free to edit or delete my response.

I still make music, yes.  Actually, Jessica and and her current boyfriend happened to come to my last 2 shows (1 in Houston, 1 in Austin).  No great significance to that, except that I think I've made peace with that part of my life, from which I knew you and which brought me here to spiritualportal.net

I'm gonna make another post or 2 now, but feel free to respond more on here or pm if you prefer. 

Honestly, thank you for introducing me to this site Eric!  Even though, I'm hardly a "regular", the effect of you inviting me to this sacred digital space has been beyond profound.

🙏🏻 ❤️

Hi Art,

Yes, it's me. :) I'm happy to read that the portal has had a positive effect on you. That's wonderful, having your own shows I mean. It is my hope that you always feel welcomed and share your self, your interest, your music and maybe even invite a couple of friends that you feel would also benefit. It's a tiny community at the moment but one you've been a part of for some time. It's nice to see you posting.

I may finally meet Steve this year. I think our paths might also cross, if they haven't already.

Kind regards

Yeah Eric it is nice to see him posting I also hope to see you guys soon. Today they tried to get a job for me driving to San Diego so it seems plausible that they will send me to Texas soon.

Cool man!

Yeah, I think when Steve makes it to Texas, we may all meet!  Or maybe I'll see you at the next Amma visit of Dallas?

Peace

Yeah!! That'd be awesome.  :)

Not just physical stillness but also inner stillness. Get beyond thoughts...complete stillness of the mind. Filling up the years with techniques prayers and affirmations...but we never get into the communion with God. Ma speaks about the stillness... the consciousness is very alert but there is no restless thoughts on the lake of the mind.  A deeply alert state .. although no thought. To  commune with God you cannot think about him... be absorbed in feelings God‘s presence in the spiritual 👁. It is not just absence of thought but communion with God. There is an alertness. In time there is communion with God. In time behind the mind, beyond the thoughts...enter into the inner silence through the Guru given techniques that the master gives you. Meditations first goal; to get that inner stillness.  God is the goal but the immediate goal is stillness; become so focused on the techniques that there is no room for anything. Just be watching the breath. Things  will slow down. The mind and breath are interrelated, so the mind also slows down. With ever increasing attention, there will be no more room for thoughts .

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what are you doing there my jolly friend?

.

Thought often presages experience. I remember times in my life when I have actually gotten beyond peace and felt/experienced stillness. When the mind is still suddenly a different experience happens. That experience is bliss. I have heard it said that if you can keep the mind unruffled by thoughts for six seconds you will instantly be in a state of wonderful bliss.

I have found some very unusual and unlikely things happen to people around me as I pray for them and try to be in tune with the divine plan so when you ask the question I smile at the irony of Gods sense of humor and recognition that the human mind can not grasp what happens in the consciousness of the divine. It is best to just be flexible to whatever God may happen to do in our lives and all is for the ultimate good. Appearances can be very deceiving if we keep mindsets about people and circumstances. We really know very little and if we think we do we are in for some startling surprises to develop humility and recognize the miracles all around us. I hope that sufficiently satisfies your curiosity.

One can not be too sure of anything; only the experiences that linger on over a lifetime.

We do not achieve that inner state of pratyahara unless we still our mind ..but peace is not enough; we have to go deeper into the peace of silence. There is  a tendency to get bored because nothing is happening. We cannot let ourselves let this happen. We have to realize that peace is the presence of God. We shouldn’t be judgmental about it. The techniques are going at their own pace... with the grace of God. Be gently aware of the spiritual eye. If We use too much of our will the ego gets involved. We Cannot force our way into the stillness you must relax into it.

This thread meandered into several side roads. But I came back to it thinking to myself how much there is to learn in this life. Especially if we realize that this life is really nothing more than a big school. It may take a lifetime for some to recognize. Even if we do recognize it at a young age, we still have our share of hard knocks in this school of life. It is better to thank the Masters for all the lessons we are learning and all the improvements we have made in our knowing. The more we are conscious we are of the great help and the towering figures that have blessed our life the better off we are. We are often put in positions of being seemingly humiliated that latter turn out to be the best experiences of our life because we find out what we  are and not what we imagined ourselves to be.

My last observation here is Art’s initial short poem .’Stlllness’ Even if we practice stillness every day we will begin to understand the benefits of meditation. It is through relaxation and silence that we open up to inner awareness and understanding. I had to get a definition for the word ‘fulcrum’ in Art’s poem to understand its meaning better. When I pictured it in my mind as a ‘ place of rest ‘ between two points of motion it fit in quite well with the rest of what stillness is and like many poems; we do not fully understand their impact or meaning till life gives us similar moments that the poet expresses and pause between the
actions we are thrust into…. The polarity…the duality of those sides we swing between… and the point of rest where we understand. I have had the experience of having a few words being the key that opens the heart’s  💜  door to love. Sometimes koans are the best words to ponder on until they do their work on us.

Peace is found through surrender to good through devotion. People who are loving, who practise stillness, who delight in meditation and good actions, are really peaceful. Peace is the altar of God, the condition in which happiness exists.

Sri Paramahansa Yoga nanda,
Yogoda Satsanga Lessons

Sometimes I have to go back and follow my own advice. I know there have been times when everything was so still that a spiritual state enveloped me… a blissful feeling. Often I was with other devotees. Like at the Hollywood SRF temple or at the SRF convocation. There is something about the vibes of others meditating with you. It’s like an invisible aura enveloping the room that lifts you out of your normal consciousness. “Be still and know that I am God.” “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I shall be also.”

WOW !    Beyond words.....  Amazing moments , as you said in the past.... To remain in the moment is a miracle in itself.   JAI & Thanks, beyond words !    That's all she wrote....

I’m stillness we find clarity and in clarity we find ourselves.