Showing posts with label articles by Peter Littlejohn Cook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label articles by Peter Littlejohn Cook. Show all posts

Sunday, 14 August 2011

Here I Am

Self-Realization is not only possible, it is inevitable, if you are truly open... sincere... focused on living your deepest truth.
Self-Realization doesn't come through effort, it comes gracefully, through breathing in, breathing out... doing, resting... speaking, listening...
Self-Realization comes in balance, truth, openness, courage, faith... patience... Inspiration... and of course, Love.


Self-Realization ultimately is no big deal. It's what's left when all the confusion, fear, and struggle have gone.

Yes this is possible. It's your natural state.

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

'Think again'

It is fundamental to recognise that we have been taught not to trust ourselves...

We have been taught to create a split between 'me' and 'Life'... between 'me' and 'Source'...


The basis of this split is an idea. It is an idea that we picked up by observing all the 'separate-feeling' people around us - their actions, their words, their interests, their fears...


We have been taught to deny the peace that is right here in the Silence, between the thoughts, behind the thoughts, before, after and even during the thoughts... We have been taught to ignore this Witness that is Pure Consciousness... that is always Here.


No-thing is in the way of Understanding. No-thing needs to be removed or added. It's just that idea of separation that distracts us...

It's JUST an idea.


It's not important. It doesn't justify all that effort that we make to find wholeness again.

It's just an idea.


'Think again' ... or not.


It's just an idea.

Monday, 1 November 2010

Spirituality is just about finding Peace...


The goal of my spiritual work is true happiness... contentment... Peace.

But sometimes we may imagine that spirituality is in some way 'opposed' to involvement in the world. We may believe that if we were content then we would have no impulse towards any achievement.
However, do not confuse true happiness, contentment and Peace with apathy, ‘low-expectations’, indifference, lack of motivation, or stagnation.

In happiness and peace, we rediscover our natural talents, we rediscover our passion, and we find it perfectly natural to live a dynamic, adventurous life, full of discovery and achievement…

In happiness and peace we discover the best of ourselves, we discover the best we have to offer our loved ones and to this world. We discover that by being fully ourselves – just being at peace with ourselves –  actually has a huge impact on our world, because it is a powerful ‘wake-up call’ to those around us. It reminds those who come into contact with us that they too can be in peace… and that peace is not just an idyllic concept. It can be embodied in any moment of our lives.

Ultimately spiritual self-realisation is recognising  that this peace is our unconditioned nature… that it is still here, now as silent witness to all the highs and lows… it is unconditional and eternal.
It is the source of genuine unconditional love. Mystics have referred to it as the ‘Presence of God’… Hindus have referred to it as ‘Satchitananda’ (‘Truth-Consciousness-Bliss’), the Buddhists have referred to it as the ‘Buddha-nature’…
It is always present. We just tend to overlook it in our ‘disbelief’… We cover it up with our thoughts about the so-called ‘real world’, which really is the product of conditioning rather than direct experience.
Ultimately spirituality has nothing to do with belief – quite the contrary – it is what remains when we have the courage to drop our belief systems – both ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ – and experience the power of Life, animating us now… This is communion with the source.

It's too simple to be ‘grasped’, but the ‘cure’ for this strange condition is to recognise why we have been trying so hard to ‘grasp’ in the first place...
We have been afraid. We have developed an unquestioned and even unconscious belief, or attitude, of distrust towards life. This is all that stands in the way of our Realisation… and it has no strength to stand on its own… it is we who are keeping peace (‘God’) at a distance through this lack of trust in life. It is this lack of trust that holds together all our attachment, all our selfishness, all our ignore-ance.

My work – my gift to you – is to help you find that trust again... that innocence.

Spirituality is just about finding Peace.
In that Peace we recognise, and Realise, our very own Self, and the virtues so cherished in the world's spiritual teachings arise spontaneously.

Only in peace can this Infinite Presence of Self be realised, only in Grace. This is why your efforts may be going in vain.

Saturday, 30 October 2010

Who is Ramalinga Swami?

Ramalinga Swami of Tamil Nadu, South India, also known as Ramalingaswami, Ramalingaswamigal, Ramalinga Adigal, or simply 'Vallalar' was, or is, in many ways a unique saint in the world's history of spirituality. Not only did he seek 'Enlightenment', or 'Self-Realisation' as a form of 'Supreme Understanding' through total transformation of the psyche, but also, quite literally he sought 'En-Lightenment' as a total transformation of all aspects of one's existence - including of one's physical body, by opening to the graceful power of  the Divine, represented by 'Divine Light'.

It is believed that through his total surrender to the Divine Light of Grace, or 'Supreme Grace-Light' ('Arutperunjyothi', in Tamil) his body gradually lost its 'density' and he took on the vibration of Spirit - the Pure Light of Consciousness - and thus in 1874, he finally 'ascended' or 'expanded' his mind and body infinitely... and entered "all the bodies of His creation".

Ramalinga is considered to be a recent example of a Self-Realised Siddha, the likes of which have appeared in the region of Tamil Nadu over the centuries, and even over thousands of years, as related in the life-stories and teachings of the '18 Tamil Siddhas'.

For more information on the Tamil Siddhas, including material that is being translated and published in English for the first time, see the books of 'Babaji's Kriya Yoga Publications', such as:
- 'The Yoga of Siddha Avvai'
- 'The Yoga of the 18 Siddhas: An Anthology'
- 'The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar' - volumes 1 and 2
- 'The Yoga of Tirumular - Essays on the Tirumandiram'
- 'Thirumandiram - A Classic of Yoga and Tantra'
- 'Nine Tandirams on the Tirumandiram'
- 'The Poets of the Powers'
and the following book has a chapter dedicated to Ramalinga Swami:
'Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition', by M.G. Satchidananda (Marshall Govindan)

The following site gives some details of Ramalinga's life - his teachings on Union with Divine Love and Divine Intelligence and Divine Light through compassion and service to all beings, his miracles and his total merging with the Source:
http://www.arutperumjothi.com/