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Children of Immortal Bliss:
A
New Perspective on our True Identity Based |
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Excerpts on Detachment:
"Buddha was known
for his detachment. Making no distinctions, he treated everyone and
everything in the same way—and yet he was the epitome of compassion. So we
must not allow the mind to think that detachment means coldness and
inhumanity. Rather, it is a dynamic new way of approaching the things that
typically clutch at us, seize us, and make us act against our better
judgment. We have to respond in a more enlightened manner. If this means
being more impersonal than we have been, we should cultivate that
attitude." "In meditation we concentrate on some idea of our own choosing that symbolizes the Reality within. We cling to that symbol so that the mind has some comfortable way to advance into the unknown country within itself. In the process of meditation we empty ourselves of the things that are distracting us. We gently turn our mind away from the world. But when we do this, we discover it isn’t a true emptiness, because after we have emptied the contents of the outer world we discover the seething world within—and it is not so empty after all! But we are to do the same thing there as we proceed. In principle, we start out the same way. We sit for meditation and we detach our mind from the false, the accidental, the habitual, the nonessential. Detachment is just another word for emptying the mind. There is a sense of peace when we do that, as though there is already a glimpse of what true peace really might be, the peace that passeth understanding, even on the outer limits of the mind. As we reach ever-deeper levels, we continually detach ourselves from nonessentials. To start with, we empty the mind from all the clutter of the day, such as whom we saw yesterday, or whether we are going to get that job, or whether we’ll buy that book or not. There is a little peace right away. And we empty the mind, too, of all the other things that are nonessential, little by little, slowly, in a controlled way. Lust, greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, envy all fall away. These sins are deadly because they conceal the light from us. We are full of light; we are light. The soul’s nature is light, not merely the light that we see, but another light—the Light of the Self.
"If we can empty
ourselves of the things that conceal the Light, we go into the
emptiness—into God, into Brahman, into the Void. The Void, then, is the
realization of the essential. It is that which results when the
nonessential is voided, is removed, is emptied."
"A
splendid introduction to Vedanta for the average person..."
"I gladly recommend
Children of Immortal Bliss for general Western readers looking for
spiritually uplifting and emotionally fulfilling ideas of basic spiritual
life."
"A rare and compelling find.... a consummate companion for the journey within."
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