Brian D. Stephens
The divine is present throughout creation. It is the formless intelligence that guides and sustains creation. Enlightened teachers have different names for the divine such as the Paramatman or the Self. And they describe the divine in various ways such as light, stillness, and love… Read more
There are many translations of the Upanishads. Many people who read the Upanishads recommend the translation by Swami Prabhavananda. I found it on Internet Archive and began reading the first Upanishad in the book—the Isha Upanishad. After a few moments my mind stilled, and I was deeply immersed in the formless… Read more
Papaji is a modern enlightened master who practiced devotional japa to Krishna for 25 years. According to Papaji, there are stages to using japa as a spiritual practice. In the beginning, you repeat a mantra using the voice. In the second stage, you repeat the mantra in the mind without saying it out loud. During the third stage, you learn to synchronize the mantra with the breath. And eventually the mantra and the breath become one. The mantra is repeated automatically, without your conscious attention. In the last stage, you become aware that the mantra is arising from the Heart—the formless unity from which the “I” arises. And the sound of the mantra subsides into the silence of the formless… Read more
At each point along the path, a seeker has only experienced the divine at a certain level. And he is ignorant of what it is like to experience the formless at a deeper level. If a seeker is not careful he can delude himself regarding his level of spiritual knowledge and development. As you walk the spiritual path remain humble and open to new and better ways of connecting with the formless unity… Read more
India is a place like no other. There the veil between the physical plane and the deeper reality is very thin. And in the more holy places, it is much easier to touch the formless unity that permeates and sustains all of creation. I often envision leaving my current life behind and starting anew in India… Read more
Life tries to impose limitations upon us. Having the courage and the willpower to make a better life for ourselves is essential. If you don’t try, you feel powerless and become a passive victim of fate. Yet even if everything in your life were to work out just right—with your job, finances, relationships, and health—you would still not be free. True freedom is not something you find in your external circumstances. Instead, it is found within… Read more
The divine is present within everything in creation. Yet most people are oblivious to it. Their awareness is trapped within the ego-controlled mind. So they perceive only forms and not the formless universal consciousness. When filtering reality through the mind, you are unable to experience reality directly. The mind gets between you and what is happening. The spiritual journey is about freeing your awareness from the confines of the thinking mind and experiencing reality directly… Read more