July 21st Westcoast Stillness Within Meetup – Nisargadatta (virtual gathring)

Posting a few notes from the meetup last month:

A handful of us got together on July 21st for a virtual exploration of Nisargadatta Maharaj’s key discoveries about the nature of self, existence and reality. The concepts were challenging yet somehow also familiar to each of us in different ways. This practice of exploring our direct experience with curiosity and an open mind, is something that Krishnamurti celebrated – suggesting that: [i]In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself[/i].

For ten or so minutes, we listened to https://krishnamurti-canada.ca consisting of a series of quotes from Nisargadattta’s book I Am That, and then explored whether/how these concepts resonated or felt aligned with our current experience.

The quotes were somewhat like koans, and for me, once the mind stopped stretching to grasp, there was a sweet echo of something known – once the seeming ‘knower’ melted into its own futility. A few of these quotes follow – included as an invitation here now to sit with each one for a few moments before reading the next:

[center][i]“You are beyond the experiencer, ever unborn and ever deathless.”
“What comes and goes has no being.”
“The Absolute precedes time; the Absolute is.”
“Both the subject and the object exist in you, but you are neither.”[/i][/center]

We followed our debrief/sharing with a practice called Group Awareness, sinking in to our source of awareness even more fully.

Thanks to the group for showing up, and leaning into their own direct experience in such a powerful way! And thanks to Krishnamurti Centre of Canada for their support for these meetups.

P.S. Feel free to chime in if this topic resonates in any way…