Legend
Realization is but the opposite of ignorance. To take the world as real and one’s self as unreal is ignorance, the cause of sorrow. To know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and transient is freedom, peace, and joy. It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them as they are. When you can see everything as it is, you will also see yourself as you are. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
The map is not the territory, but the legend of the map indicates the nature of the territory.
The mentally ill all have the same symptoms: the mind is in a riot of noise. A common symptom of a disturbed man is a furious conversation with himself.
Conversely, psychological health is characterized by a quiet mind which is untroubled, unhurried, and able to focus on the task at hand. There is a natural sense of contentment.
Keep quiet. Do your work in the world, but inwardly keep quiet. Then all will come to you. Do not rely on your work for realization. It may profit others, but not you. Your hope lies in keeping silent in your mind and quiet in your heart. Realized people are very quiet. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
The physical habits that engender enlightenment are all healthy. Calm prevails systemically. Stress is naturally rejected rather than absorbed.
Conversely, the path to dissolution is gained by pursuing indulgences and addictions of all sorts: the most benign being overeating food, whereas the most destructive addictions are over-stimulations or deadening by artificial means, such as alcohol or drugs. Life in ignorance is lived in thrall of thrill, or in numbing the mind out of its incessant restlessness.
You are what you seek. ~ Indian guru Anandmurti Gurumaa
The Collective often desire goods and services, not for what they do, but to boost the spirits. Material wealth is pursued as an end unto itself, as a means of feeling powerful. What is more than enough is felt to be not enough.
The point is, you can never be too greedy. ~ American con artist Donald Trump
In contrast, an enlightened person enjoys the comfort of sufficiency. Work is productive entertainment, not merely a means of monetary enrichment.
Violence is so ubiquitous among the Collective as to be largely unremarkable. The stronger the sense of self and entitlement, the more violent the person. Only effective threat of retribution may momentarily temper a violent spirit.
Enlightenment holds no ideal of violence. Compassion is a habitual practice. In contrast, the Collective simmer in ignorance, senselessly bringing forth the sour fruits of civilization, which amount to nothing more than a world rent by violence to self, to others, and to Nature.
Fools dwelling in ignorance, yet imagining themselves wise and learned, go round and round in crooked ways, like the blind led by the blind. ~ Katha Upanishad 2.5
The parsimonious practices of the enlightened are those necessary for a sustainable environment. In contrast, the acquisitive materialist practices of the Collective have created the ecological decimation of the Earth. It is a dismal legend.
Nothing outside you can ever give you what you’re looking for. ~ American guru Byron Katie
A penchant for solitude is normal for someone enlightened. The noise of the Collective can be off-putting. From the vantage of enlightenment, there is nothing to be gained from the noise of the ignorant.
Live to enjoy the simplest pleasures: retain a perspective that allows contentment to be the common state of affairs. Realization is really nothing more than appreciating Nature to its fullest, which is the same for your consciousness as Ĉonsciousness.
Even in realization, one is still in a human shell, still subject to vexations. The difference is in how the static of living is received and dispatched.
Enlightened people typically live simple, quiet lifestyles. Everything encountered is an entertainment opportunity. Then again, one can abide only so much entertainment.
The desire to put an end to all desires is a most peculiar desire. The man who seeks realization is not addicted to desires; he is a seeker who goes against desire, not with it. The seeker has only one goal in view: to find his own true being. Of all desires, it is the most ambitious, for nothing and nobody can satisfy it; the seeker and the sought are one, and the search alone matters. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
