One-pointedness: the stopping off decisively our miscellaneous activity, and concentrating our force on one point; as the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one vigorous limb, instead of suffering it to spindle into a sheaf of twigs. Where your attention goes, your energy flows. Keep your attention one-pointed! This is the tremendous advantage that the single person has, who lives alone in a solitary, quiet, and uncrowded place, over the householder who has a wife and family, career, etc. The solitary life is that which, 'separates the men from the boys' so to speak. Its disadvantage, if there is one, is its failure rate. It is something which the majority of aspirants just will not do. Some will try it for a period of time, but eventually succumb to the desires of the ego, and the thinking and comfort of the majority.

"Nothing can resist a human will..... that will stake even it's existence..... on the extent of it's purpose........... "

A transformation of human nature can only be achieved when the substance of the being is so steeped in the spiritual principle that all its movements are a spontaneous dynamism and a harmonised process of the Spirit. Sri Aurobindo. (italics and underline mine)

When any human being has reached the stage wherein experience has been substantially exhausted as a source of vital value, when this pasture has become a desert with only a few scattered bunches of grass in isolated corners, and when, in addition the capacity for self-consciousness has been highly developed, then the only remaining significant Path lies in or through the Nirvanic Domain of Consciousness.....Merrell-Wolff.

"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."

When nothing seems to work, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

In meditation as in love, too much concentration on technique can often lead to impotence.

"To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a yogi. Depend upon it that, rude and careless as I am, I would fain practice the yoga faithfully."....Thoreau.

The quest is less a search for bliss than an effort to satisfy a deep yearning for freedom.....Merrell-Wolff.

Beneath the surface of life in the world-field, there is a feeling of loneliness that is not dissipated by objective achievement or human companionship, however great the range and penetration of sympathetic adjustment.....Merrell-Wolff.

The true consciousness to be developed is, that you do the right thing not because it is your duty to do it, not because it is worthy to do it and it is expected of you to do it, but because your nature impels you to do it. The flower blooms spontaneously without any sense of duty, its nature is simply, to be beautiful. Human beings should also be like that, spontaneous and natural in their action and behaviour. When you do a good thing, you should not feel that you are doing something marvellous or that you are exercising or stretching your power. To do a thing because if is your nature to do so, is far superior than because it is your duty to do it. As blooms a flower in an unvisited place.

For all empirical knowledge is from its' very nature directed to external things, therefor turned away from the inner Soul and consequently, where it is a question of comprehending the latter, is actually an obstacle.  To overcome this obstacle is the purpose of meditation.

But it was not long before I realized I had gone too far to turn back.  I had realized enough to render forever barren the old pastures, and yet not enough to know either peace or satisfaction. For some years I rested in this period of indecision, without achieving much visible progress.  Yet meanwhile, as time rolled on, progressive exhaustion of the world desire developed, while concomitantly there grew a greater willingness to abandon all that had been reserved and so complete the experiment.....Merrell-Wolff.

It was only after some time that I discovered that the real meaning consisted in the changing of the polarization of desire.  Ordinarily, desire moves outward towards objects and objective achievements.  It is necessary that this desire should be given another polarization, so that, instead of objects and achievements in the world-field being sought, an eternal and all encompassing consciousness should be desired.....Merrell-Wolff.

He goes on to stress the point that the real aim of meditation is to become free from the restrictive operations of the mind, which cannot but operate within its' limitations.

When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense. (Intuit.)

In order to see the moon, you must reject the finger pointing to it.

There are plenty of 'manuals' on how to do Yoga;..... there's no manual for being thirsty. And if you are thirsty enough, the river comes to you. ............if you are not thirsty, the river does not exist.

As the mind gradually becomes devoted to the atman, it frees itself by degrees from craving for sense objects.  Through constant devotion to the atman, the mind's impurities dissolve away.  Cease to find fulfillment of your cravings in the objective world, and you will stop dwelling on sense objects.  Stop dwelling on sense objects, and your cravings will be destroyed.  When all craving has disappeared, that is Liberation.

Therefor the practical discipline of the way of liberation is the progressive disentanglement of ones' self from every identification.  In the moment when every last identification of the self with some object or concept has ceased, in the state called 'nirvikalpa' or 'without conception', there flashes forth from its' unknown depths, the state of consciousness which is called Divine.

This Freedom depends on detachment from the object, but does not imply that such detachment is the whole meaning of the Nirvanic Freedom.  It does imply that, while realization of the Nirvanic State is dependent upon detachment from the object, it is not dependent upon non cognition of the object.  For simple cognition of the object does not necessitate attachment to it.  Thus realization of Nirvana is, in principle, compatible with continued cognition of the world.....Merrell-Wolff.

I must conclude that if by 'mind' cognitive activity is meant, then it is not true that the mind must be stilled in order to attain Recognition.  But it is true that the cognitive action must be within a matrix of a high order of dispassion.....Merrell-Wolff.

The activity of the mind is in a peculiar sense a barrier to the Realization of the Higher Consciousness, the primary reasons are two-fold:  First, the sheer activity, as such, produces an effect which we liken unto a great noise that hides the subtle sound of the Voice of the Silence.  In the second place, mind action is a fruitful cause of egotism, and the latter is the basis of the sense of separateness.....Merrell-Wolff.

Thus the consciousness to be sought is the state of pure subjectivity without an object.  Fully to attain the Goal is to destroy the subject as well as the object, and then there remains pure Consciousness-without-an object, a state which is equally pure Consciousness-without-a-subject.  But so long as the movement is towards pure subjectivity, the Goal is unattainable.....Merrell-Wolff.

A truer understanding is reached by regarding the Nirvanic state as that realized when the powers of experiencing and thinking are anesthetized, without destroying self consciousness.....Merrell-Wolff.

It is a state wherein self-identity and the field of consciousness are blended in one indissoluble whole.....Merrell-Wolff.

But the Goal is not a change of content, but divorcement from content.  Thus Recognition has nothing to do with anything that happens.  I am already That which I seek, and therefor, there is nothing to be sought.  By the very seeking I hide Myself from myself.  Therefor abandon the search and expect nothing. This was the end of the long search, I died, and in the same instant was born again.....Merrell-Wolff.

Recognition actually is a spontaneous induction out of Spirit  Itself.  Mans' personal effort merely removes barriers in his nature that inhibits this spontaneous induction.....Merrell-Wolff.

At the present time, I am convinced that some original or creative discovery is vitally important in effecting a self induced transformation of consciousness.  For I have found that ideas received from outer sources, even though in convincing form, lack the power over consciousness possessed by an original idea.  By 'original' I do not mean an idea that has never been thought before, but one which, for the individual, has been produced with a creative effort from himself.....Merrell-Wolff.

Aim at the segregation of the subjective factor in consciousness.  To concentrate on the subjective moment.  To have the emphasis placed on the extraction of the subjective moment.....Merrell-Wolff.

In other words... place your attention... on your attention....you are your attention.

You have to be willing to step out of the pack and take risks, even jump completely out of your element if thats what it takes.

..........it is the moment you forget who you THINK you are..... and FEEL....... Who and What you really are.

Now, the 'plus' quality at first is almost indistinguishable from nothing, or emptiness.  It is like a breath that has just escaped, a momentary gleam caught from the corner of the minds' eye that disappears when the full focus of attention is turned upon it.  It must be reached for very gently, as one must act in seeking the confidence of a defenseless and fearful creature of the wilds.  One must reach out almost as though not reaching at all.  It must be assimilated very carefully or It will disappear in the first stages.....Merrell-Wolff.

Keep your mind from dwelling on anything whatsoever, keep it forever still, and utterly pure, and thereby awake.  The mind should dwell on non-dwelling, and there dwell.  Hui Hai.

Settled determination and steady pursuance! On and forever onward,..........we shall win at the last!!

The essence of the preparation is the building of the capacity to maintain consciousness apart from all objects.  This kind of Consciousness is present all the time surrounding the functioning of the relative consciousness.  It can be isolated by Self-analysis  while observing the phantasmagoria of the appearing and disappearing of the objects in the stream of time.  It is THAT which remains unaltered through all change.  When awareness has learned to turn its focus upon this ever-present Matrix of Consciousness so that Consciousness becomes its own object, the power to remain individually conscious through the mutual cancellation has been achieved.  Then the time has come for the Transition from the embodied to the Radiant State.  There is nothing simpler than all this, and yet there is nothing more difficult. The critical step hinges upon the isolation of the pure apperceptive moment of consciousness itself.....Merrell-Wolff.
 

To see the divine as something external is to be outside of it; to become it is to be most truly in beauty: since sight deals with the external, there can here be no vision unless in the sense of identification with the object.  This is why in that other sphere, when we are deepest in that knowledge by intellection, we are aware of none; we are expecting some impression on sense, which has nothing to report since it has seen nothing and never could in that order see anything. The unbelieving element is sense; it is the other, the spirit, that sees; and if this too doubted, it could not even credit its own existence, for it can never stand away and with bodily eyes apprehend itself as a visible object.

We must recognize, that there comes a time, when thinking, like boiling an egg....must come to a stop.

If the way that I have pointed out as leading to this result seems exceedingly hard, it can nevertheless be found.  It must indeed be hard, since it is found so seldom.  For if true freedom were readily available and could be found without great effort, then how is it possible that it should be neglected by almost everyone?  For all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.  Spinoza.

Su-cheh observes that neither abstraction nor quiescence are complete unless unconscious.  So long as they are maintained with effort there can be neither absolute abstraction or perfect stillness.

God can only come to visit you, when you aren't there!

FAITH IN MIND  The Supreme Way is not difficult  If only you do not pick and choose.  Neither love nor hate,  And you will clearly understand.  Be off by a hair,  And you are as far from it as heaven from earth.  If you want the Way to appear,  Be neither for nor against.  For and against opposing each other  This is the mind's disease.  Without recognizing the mysterious principle  It is useless to practice quietude.  The Way is perfect like great space,  Without lack, without excess.  Because of grasping and rejecting,  You cannot attain it.  Do not pursue conditioned existence;  Do not abide in acceptance of emptiness.  In oneness and equality,  Confusion vanishes of itself.  Stop activity and return to stillness,  And that stillness will be even more active.  Merely stagnating in duality,  How can you recognize oneness?  If you fail to penetrate oneness,  Both places lose their function.  Banish existence and you fall into existence;  Follow emptiness and you turn your back on it.  Excessive talking and thinking  Turn you from harmony with the Way.  Cut off talking and thinking,  And there is nowhere you cannot penetrate.  Return to the root and attain the principle;  Pursue illumination and you lose it.  One moment of reversing the light  Is greater than the previous emptiness.  The previous emptiness is transformed;  It was all a product of deluded views.  No need to seek the real;  Just extinguish your views.  Do not abide in dualistic views;  Take care not to seek after them.  As soon as there is right and wrong  The mind is scattered and lost.  Two comes from one,  Yet do not even keep the one.  When one mind does not arise,  Myriad dharmas are without defect.  Without defect, without dharmas,  No arising, no mind.  The subject is extinguished with the object.  The object sinks away with the subject.  Object is object because of the subject;  Subject is subject because of the object.  Know that the two  Are originally one emptiness.  In one emptiness the two are the same,  Containing all phenomena.  Not seeing fine or coarse,  How can there be any bias?  The Great Way is broad,  Neither easy nor difficult.  With narrow views and doubts,  Haste will slow you down.  Attach to it and you lose the measure;  The mind will enter a deviant path.  Let it go and be spontaneous,  Experience no going or staying.  Accord with your nature, unite with the Way,  Wander at ease, without vexation.  Bound by thoughts, you depart from the real;  And sinking into a stupor is as bad.  It is not good to weary the spirit.  Why alternate between aversion and affection?  If you wish to enter the one vehicle,  Do not be repelled by the sense realm.  With no aversion to the sense realm,  You become one with true enlightenment.  The wise have no motives;  Fools put themselves in bondage.  One dharma is not different from another.  The deluded mind clings to whatever it desires.  Using mind to cultivate mind  Is this not a great mistake?  The erring mind begets tranquillity and confusion;  In enlightenment there are no likes or dislikes.  The duality of all things  Issues from false discriminations.  A dream, an illusion, a flower in the sky  How could they be worth grasping?  Gain and loss, right and wrong  Discard them all at once.  If the eyes do not close in sleep,  All dreams will cease of themselves.  If the mind does not discriminate,  All dharmas are of one suchness.  The essence of one suchness is profound;  Unmoving, conditioned things are forgotten.  Contemplate all dharmas as equal,  And you return to things as they are.  When the subject disappears,  There can be no measuring or comparing.  Stop activity and there is no activity;  When activity stops, there is no rest.  Since two cannot be established,  How can there be one?  In the very ultimate,  Rules and standards do not exist.  Develop a mind of equanimity,  And all deeds are put to rest.  Anxious doubts are completely cleared.  Right faith is made upright.  Nothing lingers behind,  Nothing can be remembered.  Bright and empty, functioning naturally,  The mind does not exert itself.  It is not a place of thinking,  Difficult for reason and emotion to fathom.  In the Dharma Realm of true suchness,  There is no other, no self.  To accord with it is vitally important;  Only refer to not-two.  In not-two all things are in unity;  Nothing is excluded.  The wise throughout the ten directions  All enter this principle.  This principle is neither hurried nor slow  One thought for ten thousand years.  Abiding nowhere yet everywhere,  The ten directions are right before you.  The smallest is the same as the largest  In the realm where delusion is cut off.  The largest is the same as the smallest;  No boundaries are visible.  Existence is precisely emptiness;  Emptiness is precisely existence.  If it is not like this,  Then you must not preserve it.  One is everything;  Everything is one.  If you can be like this,  Why worry about not finishing?  Faith and mind are not two;  Non-duality is faith in mind.  The path of words is cut off;  There is no past, no future, no present.

"Liberation is only for him who gives up everything for others, whereas others who tax their brain day and night harping on 'my salvation', 'my salvation', wander about with their true well-being ruined, both present and prospective." -Swami Vivekananda Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows. Felt dimly in the soul, by world-man unconceived; Unknown Goal of all yearning; The Eternal Beloved, veiled in the objects of human desire; Balancing the emptiness of living death, With values beyond conceiving. The Goal of all searching, little understood, By few yet attained, though free for all. Sought afar, but never found, For closer It lies than all possession; Closer than home, country or race, Closer than friend, companion or Guide, Closer than body, feeling or thought, For closest of all It lies, Thine own true SELF. Franklin Merrell-Wolff. "I was as a gem concealed; Me, my burning ray revealed" " THE MONK'S LIFE.   'The monk alert, rapt farer on the edge, Should have no fear of these five fears; Gadflies and stinging bees, and things that creep, Attacks of men and of four footed beasts.   Nor should he be afraid of others' views, When the great perils of them, he hath seen; So should the expert seeker overcome, All other troubles that may here befall. When stricken by disease and hungers pangs, Cold and excessive heat should he endure; When stricken sore by them, that homeless man, Must stir up energy and strive with strength.   Let him not steal or tell a lie, Let him show amity to weak and strong; And when he knows disquiet of the mind, Let him expel that as dark Mara's gloom. Nor must he fall prey to wrath and pride, But digging up their roots, let him stay poised; And as he wrestles, let him overcome, All that is dear to him, all that repels.   With joy in what is lovely, wisdom led, Let him put to flight these troubles here; Conquer dislike for his lone lodging place, Conquer the four that cause him discontent. 'Alack what shall I eat and where indeed ? How ill I've slept!  Where shall I sleep to-day ? Whosoe'er leads and trains the homeless life, Must oust these thoughts that lead to discontent.   With food and clothing timely gotten, He must therein measure, know for his content; He, faring thus, restrained and curbed, Would speak in village no harsh words, though vexed indeed. Then let him loiter not, but eyes downcast, Be ever bent on musing, much awake; Then let him strive for poise, intent of self, Cut doubt and hankering and fretful ways.   Alert, let him rejoice, when urged by words, Break fallowness in fellow wayfarers; Utter in season due, the expert word, Not ponder on the view and talk of folk. Alert, then let him train to discipline, These things that are the five dusts of the world; To conquer lust for forms, and sounds, and tastes. To conquer lust for scents and things of touch.   When he hath disciplined desire for these, Alert, with mind released in full, that monk; As studies he the thing aright, in time, Alone, uplifted may the darkness rend. All activities that require a strong, positive, and incisive use of the mind, and all will-directed efforts, particularly if in directions that are more or less distasteful, are highly helpful.....Merrell-Wolff. Absolute unmixed attention is prayer. The finger that points the way, belongs to the hand that will provide. For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: " It might have been. " J.G.W. Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience. Emerson.

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