Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Omkaradatta's LiveJournal:

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Monday, March 17th, 2008
7:26 am	The person behind the words...  People often feel as though others are projecting or "displaying" personality or ego in their writing.   Often folks will talk about the person they see "behind the words". Little does anyone realize who is actually sitting physically behind the words as they are being read ;-).  That is the nature of the subject-object mistake, though.  "Other" is always and only The Self. Why not get to know that One better who's sitting behind the words (and the computer screen) - they're pretty interesting, dontcha think? :-) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, March 7th, 2008
10:02 pm	I really respect 'egoic people' ;-)... I really love to see "egoism" in people, by which I mean people who can just say what's on their mind. It used to bug me, but now I'm like "that person is just confident". From here, the real definition of egoism is "I have to bring that person down, because they are too confident and making me feel inadequate and insecure". If we ever chat, please feel free to boast, brag, be whatever and whomever you like. Please *be who you are*, not who you imagine I want you to be.  I love it when people say exactly what they think/feel - such folks have my deep respect. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
7:02 am	The View from Here... It is nearly 7:00 AM here. Looking out the back porch, it is about thirty degrees outside. A beautiful layer of frost is covering everything. It is really lovely. The sky is heavily over-cast, dark with impending moisture. It is beautiful. Only the smell of the air isn't so beautiful - it smells of automotive exhaust fumes. Really, it isn't a bad smell - it's OK. Only it smells like seeking. The smell is as if seekership rules the world, like people cannot do anything but chase, seek, run after their own tails. That is the case. Still, it is all beautiful and full of promise.  (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
3:45 am	Self-Realization My life is forever a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon. Self-Realization means the end of the chase, end of the whole game. You can relax at last - you will be able to relax and enjoy. As a child, young child you did - the thunderclouds, dark clouds came on a Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon. You looked forward to those dark clouds, to that rain - you didn't have to go to school, chase. You could relax, play with blocks - listen to your parents talking, play comfortably. You knew everything was OK, always it was OK.  Soon it will be nap time, a delicious feeling to sleep - then dinner, maybe the warm glow of the TV set, maybe family talking.  Maybe you went for a drive in the car, mid-afternoon drive on that day.  The rain pattering against the windshield, the rhythmic beat of the wipers, the warmth from the heater soaking through you, drying your clothes, your coat - the smell of the moisture.  A voice on the car radio, maybe a song.  You were a little drowsy, contented, at peace - happy. The snow came - during the week, it snowed.  You could skip school - how you looked forward to that, delighted in it!  No chasing today, you could play in the snow.  Build a snowman, throw balls made of snow, examine snow flakes. It was so beautiful outside - perfect white sky against a perfect white ground.  Even the cold didn't bother you - it was a delight, pure joy.  The smell of your gloves, the feel of the snow squeaking against your hands as you packed a snowball. Then the summers - newly mown grass, fresh scent.  The first day it hit seventy degrees - a warm wind through your hair, against your skin, a breeze blowing.  Just the freshness of the first mowing, a clean scent carried on a warm breeze.  All is well with you - how could it possibly be otherwise? That is Self-Realization in a nutshell. Everything is OK, everything will ALWAYS be OK. Nothing can ever go wrong again. (Comment on this)
Friday, February 15th, 2008
11:47 am	Am I "contained in" a body, which is "contained in" a world? I have been heard tell: "We are contained inside a body, the body feels alive". We aren't - aliveness is "felt here" as a presence. We do not feel a body at all, we feel aliveness! More or less: We are a Presence containing the body (and everything else - the world, the universe). The body is contained in us! Try this experiment:  Touch somewhere on your skin, then close your eyes. Move your fingers a bit. Do you feel a "body", or do you feel "a sensation here"? When you *think of fingers* you will "feel a sensation in your fingers". When you *think of the body* you will "feel a sensation in the body". Otherwise, "there is a sensation here". This body is contained in thought! There is no other existence to it. MIXUP: I am contained inside a body, which is contained inside a world. TRUTH: The body, mind and world are contained in I. If I am a Presence containing the body, mind and world, And YOU are a Presence containing the body, mind and world, And *everyone else* is a Presence containing the body, mind and world, WE ARE ALL HERE! TOGETHER!!! Happy valentine's day, humanity - I love you... (Comment on this)
7:37 am	My style (sincerity, directness)... I may be coming across pretty strongly these days.  Direct, to the point, sincere. This is just where I am at - if you can deal with my style, I guess.  The benefit may be that I just dive in, cut right to the chase.  No beating around the bush, no nonsense, nothing - like an arrow straight at the target. Not everyone will like this style, I am aware - it is just a style, honestly.  I can be casual and light-hearted as well, it's just not the way I "teach" :-). P.S. I've announced everywhere that I've taken the spiritual name Omkaradatta (no Maharaj, that stays in the Indian tradition).  You can still call me 'Tim' if you like, but it seems most people who do that are interested in some sort of 'personal' issue rather than pondering this Advaita stuff, considering it together.    It's really kind of handy to take a spiritual name, as it sorts these two things out into separate piles, if you will.   There's certainly nothing *wrong* with the personal, but in terms of teaching (and learning) Advaita it seems to me to be more of a distraction than anything else.  Probably why my guru didn't keep the name Maruti, either - imagine him trying to show the way to Peace with people dancing around and singing "Maruti-tooty, monkey see, monkey do!" and such.  It just doesn't "work" :-). Now, off to make a cup of Bigelow "Perfect Peach" herb tea - very peachy stuff, one of my fave flavors.   Can you believe it actually contains peaches?  How the heck they would retain their flavor when dried, I have no clue... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
4:44 am	New Website - Please Visit http://www.omkaradatta.info I am actively teaching Advaita, please drop by and enjoy :-). (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 29th, 2003
11:06 am	Seven Months Have seven months passed since my last entry? According to the calendar, to the clock, it is so. Yet, where is the sense of this time passing? What is the sense of time? Time is attention, is interest. A watched pot never boils, An ignored pot boils over. What I have to say isn't important. Pay attention to Confucious, where he says: Man who stands on toilet, is high on pot! (Comment on this)
Friday, November 8th, 2002
4:39 am	Non-Doership Do you think I can either permit or deny The actions of a body-mind? What am I? Nothing but the thought or the sense of a center arising. How can the sense of a center permit or deny any action? A body-mind acts as it will because it is conditioned to do so -- or because the universe is precisely as it is. I cannot even know anything! It is all surmisal, based on memories of past actions. Where did these memories come from? I don't know. I cannot even observe anything! I am nothing but an arising thought, an idea of a fixed center. I arise when "thou" or "it" arises. I am thou! When "thou" or "it" subsides, so do "I." Where is responsibility or irresponsibility? Is a tree responsible or irresponsible when it falls on a house after a storm? Where to place the blame? Should the tree be sued? Or should it be praised? There is only Peace. Who could understand it? Nothing is out of place, there is nobody here to bear a burden, or to drop one. Who speaks now? No one. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 20th, 2002
1:08 pm	Light and Shadow... Zen master Joshu, when asked if a dog has Buddha-Nature, Replied "Mu!" (no). What else could he have said? Does a shadow 'have' light? You think there are Jnanis (knowers) and you go to them in search of Light... But the body-mind (form) of the Jnani is a shadow and so are you! Can darkness lead darkness to the light? A shadow both is and is not light. A shadow is absence of light. Yet without light, there could be no shadow. A shadow is defined by light, but Light is defined by nothing at all, And knows no shadows. You go to a Jnani in search of Light... And the Jnani is already Light... But so are you! Can Light lead Light to the Light? Light does not 'know' Light It only *is*. Can you seek to become what you are? Does the source of Light know shadow? What foolishness is this? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 12th, 2002
10:48 am	i wonder what day is it? is it a.m. or p.m. these things don't matter much, and it doesn't matter that nothing matters. do you run in fear from the unreality of your own existence? should i? what time is it, baby? once, i dreamed a dream called life and wandered the world as form when was it? once, i churned like the sea and the foam upon it bubbled but now i am still. existence is groundless, so how can i be grounded? there is only one, so how can i have friends? you say you want reality, but the truth is, you don't -- reality wants you. surrender. yes, the 'spiritual' identity, too. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 20th, 2002
2:51 pm	Grow A plant can grow even out of a stone, Anywhere we are -- right here we are home. We don't need soft soil to be, not at all. "To be" is true-nature, even for a brick wall. But the 'reality' that everywhere is asserting Is groundless, only emptiness flirting With Beingness, so trace it back And find out what you never lack. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 3rd, 2002
1:10 pm	We are home already The ordinary way of thinking is a continual movement away from the center. The "enlightened" way of thinking is also a continual movement away from center -- with this difference only: the center is home. The ordinary way of thinking is like standing at the periphery, gazing at the center and longing to be home. But in truth, we are already home, and dreaming of being at the periphery, wanting to go home. Do you understand? We are home already. You are only homeless to the degree you imagine some better home, something to seek, something to become or to reach. Simply ceasing to move away for awhile, it will become clear. There is nothing to seek -- if you seek, you move away. You are already that which you seek. You are home. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 27th, 2001
4:49 am	Personality... Personality; carrying that weight around? Forgot it was there. Barbell large in size; back bent forty five degrees, as yet unaware. Weighty mass of dreams; when it drops, the utter joy -- get it out of hair! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 6th, 2001
1:17 pm	Harsh, but fair (?) - The nature of the "me" "When the supremacy of the illusory entity 'me' is challenged, the reaction is invariably hostile. The 'me', fearing its own demise, is both unable and unwilling to trust anything or anybody. It is ceaselessly in rebellion; against 'itself', against 'others', against 'life' and against 'death'. The nature of the 'me' is inherently 'anti-life' and 'anti-love'. It can do nothing but react to perceived threat. It is a pocket of unlife, a static, dead and nonexistent 'entity' bracketed by illusory ideas of past and future, consisting only of fear. Its only interest is to continue at all costs." (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 14th, 2001
12:43 pm	Seven Haikus Fire without heat Bubbling Burning Energy Burn down Universe Seeing too much smoke Fire burns hot and smokeless Vasanas, goodbye! Seeing no more smoke Fire dies to warm embers Smoking in a corpse Neither birth nor death Unborn, not alive or dead Deathless burning joy Joy without the bills No more energy crisis Ended in this life Self knows only Self Bubbling volcanic joy Self knows only Self Others think me mad Fire burned them all out, too Everything has died (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, June 8th, 2001
5:55 pm	Unknown! - All known is unknown All unknown is unknown Is all therefore unknown? 'In' this unknowing moment, everything moves. 'As' this unknowing moment, nothing moves. Because nothing moves, everything moves. Is all therefore unknown? Unknown. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 18th, 2001
2:38 am	Footprints In The Sand... - A deserted stretch of beach; A footprint in the sand; The ocean reaches out her hand, and snatches the footprint away. Smooth sand remaining. Everything is like that footprint; Here for one instant only, Washed away the next. Therefore, do nothing; Or do something. No difference. Doing is dead already. Sandcastles, footprints; The wave takes it all. Neverending waves; Pure impermanence. The work of decades disappears in seconds. To destroy is to create, To create is to destroy. The waves of time wash it all away. Before it is done it is already gone. Here only for an instant; Sparks in the vastness of Eternity. All that we do has no meaning. It all gets washed away. Only in meaningless; is meaning found. In total emptiness; is fullness discovered. In perfect stillness; The Perfection Is. In emptiness is found the Real. It is inexpressible; inexhaustible. Infinite potential. Explosive, unrealized, Forever unrealized. The Real is the wave. The false is all we do. None of it lasts beyond the moment. All human endeavor is futile. So be the wave. Do not endeavor to endeavor. Something never happened. Find it within yourself. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, May 4th, 2001
5:38 pm	Rumi-esque - Today I've done little but sit still in a kind of absolute absorption in awareness itself -- literally not moving out of this chair for 5 or 6 hours, *absorbed* utterly in/as awareness (however you want to put it). One wonders at the course of life that leads to having literally 24 hours/day free with nothing to do (and no desire to do it) at a physical age of only 36. It has all been quite spontaneous, that's clear -- life takes the course it does, and in this case there's been no "clinging to rocks" at all for the past 7 or 8 years. Call it destiny, call it luck, call it 'interest' or 'detachment' or 'passion-dispassion' -- call it what you will, but whatever it is, it has just been spontaneous... this lack of/loss of interest in most of the usual 'worldly stuff'. Are you curious what comes out of such a 'detachment'? What 'happens' when awareness loses interest in "many scattered affairs" and becomes "one-pointed" -- fascinated only with itself? The following poem arose today. Enjoy :-). "Burning Burning" The Fire of Understanding has touched me The universe is aflame, on fire like hot sands Mad, intoxicated, raving and speaking nonsense, And yet i am still. Oh Holy Fire, Everlasting Burning Bliss-Love, There is nothing else but This Understanding The hot desert sands shimmer with Understanding Raving with intoxicated Bliss, Madly I dance, And yet i am still. That has entered and i am Gone, Utterly Gone! The Holy Fire, Swimming in an ocean of Bliss It Burns and Burns, this Knowingness, this Understanding beyond all possible Understanding And yet i have not moved. How can this be? There is nothing but This. Only this Understanding, Universe Aflame, No words could contain the Madness of This. Understanding Shines alone, Burns Alone, All is burned away in the Holy Fire of This And yet i am calm. No words could contain It, it burns even fire! The madness of Understanding, Knowingness, It cannot be expressed, it is Love Burning Sand The forest of the world has burned down and Only ashes remain. Ashes! Yet still the fire Burns and there is nobody left, Nobody! Understanding! The universe is a candle. Pale reflection, shadow of This Fire, And i am no more. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 29th, 2001
2:36 am	Going somewhere, having never left... - a butterfly in the sky and fluffy white clouds blue sky and squirtguns sandboxes and dinnertime squealing with delight running through sprinklers snowcones and sodapops, green, green grass rolling down the hill lawnmower tan so loud smell of fresh mowing looking in tidepools, such colors, funny fish and sea things, fresh air limpets on rocks, mussels waves overlapping, gently wave crashes and tumbling, rolling onto the shore, sneezing out salty water seashores and lakeshores skies forever blue, clear smell of good food cooking marshmallow graham crackers by the river, boiling water in a rusty tin can clean smoky campfire, green tents warm sleeping bags, zipped waking up so early, cold breakfast by the fire eggs wading through the river slippery rocks, sliding it wants to knock me down deeper, shock of cold water rises above my waist, eek crossing into the woods smell of green, moss, pine trees, crooked trails log with bugs inside it big funny white mushrooms needles crunching underfoot laughter and good friends holding a live frog, mushy it wants to go! let it looking up on the mountain a dark night, so dark except gorgeous white band of stars milky and so clear, so many so bright and the stars so clear and seeing into forever someone says that's a planet, even brighter than a star i see the big dipper i think it can last forever it can (Comment on this)