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"Liberation is of life itself.
We help you to see through yourself to live that."
Ajnanda ShonManchester Non-Duality Satsang
Anger, fear, anxiety, grief and resentment are dualistic emotions. I am angry with him, she is afraid of them, he is envious of us.If there is no other and this is realised, then how can such emotion even occur?Only if this is realised at the level of mind, and the ego still works at the heart.When the emotional ego goes, the heart realises there is no other,Then such emotions and thinking cease to arise at all.Some have realised this, knowing effortless, unconditional bliss and compassion.As Ramana Maharshi, a non dual teacher showed --- There need be no grief, even after bereavement.What is "Holistic Awakening" and what makes it different?
Some teachers speak of boundless awareness, others point to boundless love, whilst others touch on boundless being. These aspects just seem different on the surface. Yet, it takes true Awakening to realise that beyond the concepts, beyond the language, there is a unified sense of all three aspects. That is Holistic Awakening and it is beyond awareness alone.
This is why the Holistic Awakening group was started. To teach all the aspects of total Awakening, for what it truly is, as "Being, Love, Awareness". total Awakening is not just awareness without compassion.
Also, it is not realising Your true nature or My true nature. Just realising one true nature. One reality, interconnected and whole. There is no separation between you and me whatsoever, just distinct manifestations of the one reality. Like two distinct waves of the one ocean. "I" then simply refers to a local point within the whole, not to anything separate..
But Awakening only happens as a single event, right?
No and there's no particular reason why it should, is there?. Actually, the history of spiritual realisation does not back this view. Even the most famous non dual teacher, Ramana Maharshi, after waking up in a massive single event, still meditated for another 10 years - why bother if it's all over? Then he also recommended at least two practices for realisation, recognising that it is a process. So whilst major events always happen spontaineously as if by themselves, it's usually not the total end of ego in one go.
And some teachers, who first taught single event Awakening have now changed their view and then said "illusions can fall off in chunks over time" or "there is a two step process - the first into emptiness, the second into fullness"..
And what about ever present Awareness in sleep?
And as awareness is continuous, it can and has been realised continuously in deep dreamless sleep. So whilst many with partial Awakening have not realised this depth of Awakening, some, including the Buddha and Ramana Maharshi have. So if Awakenings are all single event, then how is it that most non dual teachers have not realised the ever present, ongoing awareness in deep dreamless sleep? It can only mean a process of increasing depth.
But you can't make Awakening happen, can you?
Yes, but indirectly. One can't make it happen at will or at a given time. Realisations great and small, happen when they happen. At those times, an aspect of ego is seen through and "falls" away. But one can induce it to happen sooner or later through certain practices. Those practices have to be undertaken in the right order and the "do nothing" mode of practice is the very last. Yet if brought in too soon, the do nothing approach can leave much illusion of duality unseen and undissolved down at the emotional level, as was described above.
For once the do nothing approach takes root at the mental level, when there is a sense of boundless awareness in which thoughts and experiences happen, it can become very difficult to see through the illusion of egoic duality down at the heart and even deeper than that. Then many have to rationalise away all those dualistic emotions as if they are actually a part of awakened life. No, they're not. They are an outcome of the deeper, remaining ego which is quite happy to continue its existence and operation even if the person keeps saying and even believing in their minds, "there's nobody here.".
The recent argument against spiritual practice has been that it somehow builds up the "spiritual ego". Well, some practices may just do that. But we're not talking about any old spiritual practices and ego trip here. Non-dual spiritual practice is different and altogether far more select and rare. Truly effective practice diminishes the ego. It is not a doing, nor is it a non-doing. It is more an undoing. It is about a type of inner work, beyond rituals, beyond affirmations, beyond mantras and beyond visualisations.
The practices of Holistic Awakening are about seeing the ego as it operates, sensing through what it is, what it controls, how it arises and the cessation of that control and so on. It's not about building anything up, for nothing needs to be built up. The infinite is already here and just perfect as it is.
And if it is still said, well even if there is no harm in that sort of practice, it still won't work either. Then if such practice has no "harm" to it, then why not give it a chance. After all, there are plenty of people who have not found the "can't do anything approach" to be helpful or productive.
And just look at the evidence. The history of spirituality over the last few thousand years proves that Awakening can eventually be brought about by practice, as the Buddha, Ramana, N Maharaj, Shankara, Chuang Tzu, the Dalai Lamas and many, many others have said and shown. They all wrote about the pre-existence of enlightenment and how it can be revealed.
The Identity Confusions
Some people say you are awareness or love, but this only gives the ego other, more subtle identities to pretend to be. Yet what is the ego or I, really? Usually the difference is not clarified between the ego and the human being. The ego is a mirage. The human being is the life organism seeing that mirage, being under its spell, that lives on after Awakening. There is a difference. But here, we'll just address the ego, the sense of a separate self:
"You as a separate self, are not awareness, nor love. nor even nothingness.
This "you" is a complete illusion in that reality."
Ajnanda ShonDo I have to adopt your beliefs about non-duality or Awakening, as some people wish?
No. Holistic Awakening does not actually need you to believe in it or in anything I Ajnanda say, for this to work. Here, you do not have to change your religious or spiritual beliefs. This is why we have Christians Buddhists, Nondualists, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics and Hindus using Holistic Awakening groups to suit their needs, not the other way around. We find that an open-minded, tolerant and unifying approach is a natural outcome of living non-duality and oneness. Something that is truly heart-warming and gladdening. If the approach is too cerebral or dogmatic, our approach might not be appreciated.
So here, it does not matter what you believe. It only matters what you realise.
This is different from some non-dual spiritual teachings, which seem to require people to adopt a set of new non-dual dogmas, which people can become very attached to and so fundamentalist about, as with some in traditional religions.
However Holistic Awakening works on the level of direct, unmistakable "experiential realisation", beyond the mind. So you don't even have to believe in Awakening or in oneness or in anything said on this site or in the group sessions. It is not a conceptualised teaching approach. It's beyond that.
What happens in the group?
This group actually helps bring about Awakening - Awakening as pure, infinite Awareness, Love and Being.
It is for people who don't just want to listen to talks about Awakening or have a blissed out experience in Satsang by the teacher.
It's for those who want to realise it for themselves in daily life. So rather than being 100% about describing the awakened state which has been done abundantly so far, it is 10% awakened state and 90% practice instruction.
There are talks, questions and answers and individual guidance on practices which actually seem like a non doing by allowing the ego, the self centred-doer, to be seen and sensed through and to fall away. There is time of inner sensing to see and feel for yourself what is behind the illusions of separation and ego that obscure the universal reality already here.
We use practices that work now as they have done for thousands of years.
They reveal the ongoing peace, bliss and fulfillment of Holistic Awakening
as pure and boundless being, love, awareness, even when life is difficult.
The frequency of our ongoing group is fortnightly, the duration of
sessions is 2 hours and the cost is £15. Please contact us for latest
venue details
We hope to see or hear from you some time, and to realise oneness with you. "What is beyond the totality, the One? What can be? Reality, Illusion, Emptiness.They are all within One and unified in One." Boundless peace and love Ajnanda Holistic Awakening Group
