Power
of Now
Tolle
the German Mystique
Born Ulrich Leonard Tolle in Lünen, a small town located north of Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley, Germany in 1948, Tolle describes his childhood as
unhappy, particularly his early childhood in Germany. There, his parents fought
and eventually separated, and he felt alienated from a hostile school
environment While playing in buildings destroyed by Allied bombs during World
War Two, Tolle felt depressed by his experience of "pain in the energy field
of the country" At the age of 13, he moved to Spain to live with his father. Tolle's father did not insist
that his son attend high
school, and so Tolle elected to study
literature, astronomy and language at home.
Tolle wrote many books and his first
book, The
Power of Now, was first published in 1997 by
Namaste Publishing. Only 3000 copies were published of the first edition. Tolle
would personally deliver a few copies every week to some small bookstores in
Vancouver ... Friends helped by placing copies of the book in spiritual
bookstores farther afield". The book was first published under
copyright by New World Library in 1999 Oprah
Winfrey (A famous African-American entrepreneur
and the winner of Daytime
Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1998) recommended it in her
magazine, In August 2000 it reached the New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover Advice. After two more years, it
was number one on that list. By 2008, the book had been translated from English
into 33 languages; since. Tolle published his second book, Stillness
Speaks, in 2003. In July 2011, The Power of Now appeared
on the list for the 10 best selling
Paperback Advice books for the 102nd time.
In 2005, Tolle published his third book, A New Earth,which assumed the number one position on the New York Times
Best Seller list several times between March and September 2008. By the
end of 2008, it reached the list for the 46th time The high sales of A
New Earth in that year followed its selection by Oprah Winfrey for her book club in January. In the four weeks following the
announcement, 3.5 million copies of the book were shipped. Tolle partnered
with her to produce a series of webinar sessions beginning in May 2008.The weekly webinar
sessions included discussions between Tolle and Winfrey, silent meditations,
and questions from viewers via Skype. Each webinar focused on a specific chapter of A
New Earth. The third webinar attracted more than 11 million viewers.
(
Eckhart Tolle assumed this name after Meister Eckhart , who was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic. ( 1260 – c. 1327) )
The Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle begins his book
with a story, worth going through, as a precursor to this book.
“A
beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a
stranger
walked
by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out
his old
baseball
cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked:
"What's that you
are
sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old
box. I have been sitting on it for as
long
as I can remember." "Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger.
"No," said the beggar.
beggar
managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw
that the
box
was filled with gold.
I
am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look
inside. Not
inside
any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer inside yourself.
"But
I am not a beggar," I can hear you say.
Those
who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the
deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great
material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or
fulfillment, for validation, security,or love, while they have a treasure
within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than
anything the world can offer.”
Excerpts
from this book
About the Mind
Identification with
your mind, which causes thought to become compulsive. Not to be able to stop
thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this because almost
everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant
mental noise prevents you
from finding that
realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. It also creates a
false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering. We will look at
all that in more detail later.
The mind is a superb
instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.
To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly -
you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You
believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has
taken you over.
Your mind is an
instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the
task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 8o to go
percent of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but
because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also
harmful. Observe your mind and you will find this to be true. It causes a
serious leakage of vital energy.
This kind of
compulsive thinking is actually an addiction. What characterizes an addiction?
Quite simply this: you no longer feel that you have the choice to stop. It
seems stronger than you. It also gives you a false sense of pleasure, pleasure
that invariably turns into pain.
(
So far, so good .. )
What is enlightenment?
practical purposes,
but you are free of the involuntary internal dialogue, and there is inner stillness.
When you do use your mind, and particularly when a creative solution is needed,
you oscillate every
few minutes or so between thought and stillness, between mind and no mind.
Pleasure and Joy
Love, joy, and peace are
deep states of Being or rather three aspects of the state of inner
connectedness with
Being. As such, they have no opposite. This is because they arise from
beyond the mind.
Emotions, on the other hand, being part of the dualistic mind, are subject to the
law of opposites. This simply means that you cannot have good without bad. So
in the unenlightened, mind-identified condition, what is sometimes wrongly
called joy is the usually short-lived pleasure side of the continuously
alternating pain/pleasure cycle. Pleasure is always derived from something
outside you, whereas joy arises from within. The very thing that gives you
pleasure today will give you pain tomorrow, or it will leave you, so its
absence will give you pain. And what is often referred to as love may be
pleasurable and exciting for a while, but it is an addictive clinging, an
extremely needy condition that can turn into its opposite at the flick of a
switch. Many "love" relationships, after the initial euphoria has
passed, actually oscillate between "love" and hate, attraction and
attack.
Identification with the Mind
The greater part of
human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind
runs your life.
The pain that you
create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious
resistance to what is.
On the level of thought, the resistance is
some form of
judgment. On the emotional level, it is some form of
negativity. The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to
the present moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified
with your mind. The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it. In
other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer.
Or you may put it like this: the more you are able to honor and accept the Now,
the more ore you are free of pain, of suffering - and free of the egoic mind.
[ Eckhart is too heavy take a break here…..
[Timeless
Moments with Eckhart Tolle
It’s the mundane things I remember about my times with Eckhart, no walking-on-water miracles, but simple moments in daily living. For instance, I remember when we went to a fancy Italian restaurant in Vancouver for dinner. An exquisite bottle of red wine was opened. We all savored the first sip – including Eckhart. Indeed, the wine was of an outstanding vintage. I was seated opposite Eckhart. After a while, from the corner of my eye, I once again saw Eckhart raise the glass to his lips to take a sip. He looked at the glass, raised it deliberately to his lips, inhaled the aroma, twirled the glass in his hands, and took the sip – just as if he were tasting the wine for the first time. I asked him, “Eckhart, I saw you take the first sip. Now, the second sip that you took, it looked as if you were taking the first sip!” I saw this incredible look on his face, like that of a little boy enjoying each successive bite of his chocolate, as if it were the first. The law of diminishing marginal utility certainly didn’t apply in his case. He simply stated, “Yes, it was my second sip, but it was as if it were my first.” It was perhaps the first time that it struck me that he was a living example of his teaching – he was his teaching!
Eckhart’s visit to India in February 2002 was really special. The Power of Now had only been launched six months earlier in the Indian market, but he had already developed quite a fan following, cutting across all backgrounds and age groups – covering seekers ranging from nuns to CEOs. Eckhart spoke to a full audience in Chennai, Pondicherry, Rishikesh and Mumbai. But the highlight of Eckhart’s India trip was the short detour we made to the Ramana Maharshi Ashram, in Tiruvanamalai, for a couple of nights. The high point was walking up the sacred mountain Arunachala with Eckhart, to sit in Ramana Maharshi’s cave for a while. The walk up was not as quiet as Eckhart would have liked it to be, as he was easily recognized and hence interrupted many a time. He did express the desire to return again, though I don’t see him having a quieter trip than the earlier one. In Pondicherry, besides visiting Sri Aurobindo’s ashram, we also visited Matri Mandir – one of the most spectacular meditation chambers in India and perhaps the whole world – a round, all-white room situated at the top of what looked like a geodesic dome, which housed one of the world’s largest crystals. Envisioned by The Mother, the purity of the crystal, all-white surroundings and pin-drop silence have an instantaneous effect of switching off one’s thoughts. Matri Mandir resonates with an electrifying purity, and we sat there for about 45 minutes soaking in the rarefied atmosphere. At both these spiritual centers, I can hardly remember the content of conversations with Eckhart; I think that’s because hardly any took place.
by Gautam Sachdeva]
Resistance to the present moment
The greater part of
human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind
runs your life. The pain that you create now is always some form of
nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of
thought, the resistance is some form of judgment. On the emotional level, it is
some form of negativity. The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of
resistance to the present moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you
are identified with your mind. The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to
escape from it. In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the
more you suffer. Or you may put it like this: the more you are able to honor
and accept the Now, the more ore you are free of pain, of suffering - and free
of the egoic mind.
(Oprah says – “The basic
principle is quite simple – nothing exists outside the present moment.
Everything apart from the present moment is illusory. The past and the future
have no reality of their own. The future is a mind projection and the past is a
memory trace.”
…. Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show
host, actress, producer, and philanthropist.)
Fear of death
Fear seems to have
many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but
ultimately all fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego,
death is always just
Fear seems to have
many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on,
but ultimately all
fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always
just
around the corner. In
this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life.
For example, even such a seemingly trivial and "normal" thing as the
compulsive need to be right in an argument and make the other person wrong -
defending the mental position with which you have identified - is due to the
fear of death. If you identify with a mental position, then if you are wrong,
your mind-based sense of self is seriously threatened with annihilation. So you
as the ego cannot afford to be wrong. To be wrong is to die. Wars have been
fought over this, and countless relationships have broken down.
Have you ever experienced,
done, thought, or felt anything outside the Now? Do you think
you ever will? Is it
possible for anything to happen or be outside the Now? The answer is obvious,
is it not?
The past is a memory trace
Nothing ever happened
in the past; it happened in the Now
Nothing will ever
happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.
What you think of as
the past is a memory trace, stored in the mind, of a former Now.
When you remember the
past, you reactivate a memory trace - and you do so now. The future is an
imagined Now, a projection of the mind. When the future comes, it comes as the
Now. When you think about the future, you do it now. Past and future obviously
have no reality of their own
Joy of Being
If there is no joy,
ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you
need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how.
"How" is always more important than "what." See if you
can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you
want to achieve through it. Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment
presents. This implies that you also completely accept what is, because you
cannot give your full
attention to something and at the same time resist it.
As soon as you honor
the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life
begins
to flow with joy and ease
Of course, but you
will not have illusory expectations that anything or anybody in the future will
save you or make you happy. As far as your life situation is concerned, there
may be things to be attained or acquired. That's the world of form, of gain and
loss. Yet on a deeper level you are already complete, and when you realize
that, there is a playful, joyous energy behind what you do.
Being free of
psychological time, you no longer pursue your goals with
grim determination,
driven by fear, anger, discontent, or the need to become someone.
Wherever you are..
Are you stressed? Are
you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of
getting there? Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be
"there," or being in the present but wanting to be in the future. If
s a split that tears you apart inside. To create and live with such an inner
split is insane. The fact that everyone else is doing it doesn't make it any
less insane. If you have to, you can move fast, work fast, or even run, without
projecting yourself into the future and without resisting the present. As you
move, work, run - do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of
that moment. Now you are no longer stressed, no longer splitting yourself in
two. Just moving, running, working – and enjoying it. Or you can drop the whole
thing and sit on a park bench
Find your Reality
You are cut off from
Being as long as your mind takes up all your attention. When this
happens - and it
happens continuously for most people - you are not in your body. The mind
absorbs all your
consciousness and transforms it into mind stuff. You cannot stop thinking.
Compulsive thinking
has become a collective disease. Your whole sense of who you are is
then derived from mind
activity. Your identity, as it is no longer rooted in Being, becomes a
vulnerable and
ever-needy mental construct, which creates fear as the predominant
underlying emotion.
The one thing that truly matters is then missing from your life:
awareness of your
deeper self - your invisible and indestructible reality.
Do not fight against
the body, for in doing so you are fighting against your own reality.
You are your body. The body
that you can see and touch is only a thin illusory veil.
Underneath it lies the
invisible inner body, the doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested.
Through the inner
body, you are inseparably connected to this unmanifested One Life -
birthless, deathless,
eternally present. Through the inner body, you are forever one with God.
Timeless Moments with Eckhart Tolle
It’s the mundane things I remember about my times with Eckhart, no walking-on-water miracles, but simple moments in daily living. For instance, I remember when we went to a fancy Italian restaurant in Vancouver for dinner. An exquisite bottle of red wine was opened. We all savored the first sip – including Eckhart. Indeed, the wine was of an outstanding vintage. I was seated opposite Eckhart. After a while, from the corner of my eye, I once again saw Eckhart raise the glass to his lips to take a sip. He looked at the glass, raised it deliberately to his lips, inhaled the aroma, twirled the glass in his hands, and took the sip – just as if he were tasting the wine for the first time. I asked him, “Eckhart, I saw you take the first sip. Now, the second sip that you took, it looked as if you were taking the first sip!” I saw this incredible look on his face, like that of a little boy enjoying each successive bite of his chocolate, as if it were the first. The law of diminishing marginal utility certainly didn’t apply in his case. He simply stated, “Yes, it was my second sip, but it was as if it were my first.” It was perhaps the first time that it struck me that he was a living example of his teaching – he was his teaching!
Eckhart’s visit to India in February 2002 was really special. The Power of Now had only been launched six months earlier in the Indian market, but he had already developed quite a fan following, cutting across all backgrounds and age groups – covering seekers ranging from nuns to CEOs. Eckhart spoke to a full audience in Chennai, Pondicherry, Rishikesh and Mumbai. But the highlight of Eckhart’s India trip was the short detour we made to the Ramana Maharshi Ashram, in Tiruvanamalai, for a couple of nights. The high point was walking up the sacred mountain Arunachala with Eckhart, to sit in Ramana Maharshi’s cave for a while. The walk up was not as quiet as Eckhart would have liked it to be, as he was easily recognized and hence interrupted many a time. He did express the desire to return again, though I don’t see him having a quieter trip than the earlier one. In Pondicherry, besides visiting Sri Aurobindo’s ashram, we also visited Matri Mandir – one of the most spectacular meditation chambers in India and perhaps the whole world – a round, all-white room situated at the top of what looked like a geodesic dome, which housed one of the world’s largest crystals. Envisioned by The Mother, the purity of the crystal, all-white surroundings and pin-drop silence have an instantaneous effect of switching off one’s thoughts. Matri Mandir resonates with an electrifying purity, and we sat there for about 45 minutes soaking in the rarefied atmosphere. At both these spiritual centers, I can hardly remember the content of conversations with Eckhart; I think that’s because hardly any took place.
by Gautam Sachdeva]
Will Move On ……
Forgive
The moment you truly
forgive, you have reclaimed your power from the mind. Nonforgiveness is the
very nature of the mind, just as the mind-made false self, the ego, cannot
survive without strife and conflict. The mind cannot forgive. Only you can.
You become present, you enter your body, you feel the vibrant peace and
stillness that emanate from Being. That is why Jesus said: "Before you
enter the temple, forgive."
The Art of Listning
When listening to
another person, don't just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body.
Feel the energy field of your inner body as you listen. That takes attention
away from thinking and creates a still space that enables you to truly listen
without the mind interfering.
You are giving the
other person space - space to be. It is the most precious gift you can give.
Most people don't know how to listen because the major part of their attention
is taken up by thinking. They pay more attention to that than to what the other
person is saying, and none at all to what really matters: the Being of the
other person underneath the words and the mind. Of course, you cannot feel
someone else's Being except through your own. This is the beginning of the
realization of oneness, which is love. At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is.
When listening to
another person, don't just listen with your mind, listen with your whole
body. Feel the energy
field of your inner body as you listen. That takes attention away from
thinking and creates a
still space that enables you to truly listen without the mind interfering.
You are giving the
other person space - space to be. It is the most precious gift you can give.
Most people don't know how to listen because the major part of their attention
is taken up by thinking. They pay more attention to that than to what the other
person is saying, and none at all to what really matters: the Being of the
other person underneath the words and the mind. Of course, you cannot feel
someone else's Being except through your own. This is the beginning of the realization of oneness, which is love. At
the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is.
[Truly,
simplicity and humility are the hallmark of a sage. When Advaita sage Ramesh
Balsekar is asked by seekers how one can determine whether a sage is genuine or
not, he says that what he does know is when a person is not a sage – and that
is when there is an absence of humility. Humility and simplicity are qualities
I have repeatedly observed in Eckhart. As Eckhart himself mentioned at the
talk, “Before The Power of Now I was just an ‘ordinary’ person. Now, after its
success, people look at me and say, “Oh, look at the author of The Power of
Now, he looks so ordinary!”
………….
Rather than just reading their books, one
could see the space between the words, which allows the words to be. Rather
than just listening to their talks, one could hear the silence that enables
them to speak. Casting aside all preconceived ideas and being open to the
pulsating, throbbing dynamism of the moment. Great sages like Ramana Maharshi
mostly taught through silence. Meher Baba did not speak for the last 40 years
of his life. It is on the threshold of silence that stillness arises within us,
and with that, the heightened awareness of what the present moment has to
offer. Which could perhaps give us a glimpse into eternity. In Eckhart’s words,
“Eternity does not mean endless time. It means no time.”
Gautam Sachdeva]
Stronger the feeling of separateness
Surrender - the
letting go of mental-emotional resistance to what is - also becomes a
portal into the
Unmanifested. The reason for this is simple: inner resistance cuts you off from
other people, from yourself, from the world around you. It strengthens the
feeling of
separateness on which
the ego depends for its survival. The stronger the feeling of
separateness, the more
you are bound to the manifested, to the world of separate forms.
You are already there
True salvation is a
state of freedom - from fear, from suffering, from a perceived state of
lack and insufficiency
and therefore from all wanting, needing, grasping, and clinging. It is
freedom from
compulsive thinking, from negativity, and above all from past and future as a
psychological need.
Your mind is telling you that you cannot get there from here. Something
needs to happen, or
you need to become this or that before you can be free and fulfilled. It is
saying, in fact, that you need time - that you need to find, sort out, do,
achieve, acquire,
become, or understand
something before you can be free or complete. You see time as the means to
salvation, whereas in truth it is the greatest obstacle to salvation.
Polarity shift
As long as a condition
is judged as "good" by your mind, whether it be a relationship, a possession,
a social role, a place, or your physical body, the mind attaches itself to it
and identifies with it. It makes you happy, makes you feel good about yourself,
and it may become part of who you are or think you are. But nothing lasts in
this dimension where moth and rust consume. Either it ends or it changes, or it
may undergo a polarity shift: The same condition that was good yesterday or
last year has suddenly or gradually turned into bad. The same condition that
made you happy, then makes you unhappy. The prosperity of today becomes the
empty consumerism of tomorrow. The happy wedding and honeymoon become the
unhappy divorce or the unhappy coexistence. Or a condition disappears, so its
absence makes you unhappy.
(
A note – Eckhart Tolle now lives in
Vancouver with his partner of nine years, a Canadian woman named Kim Eng, who
often teaches alongside him. They have no children)
[
Story break.
Mulla nasruddin’s clothes
(Suppression binds, it
does not liberate. Try to suppress something and you find yourself bound hand
and foot to it.)
One
evening, as Mulla Nasruddin was setting out to call on some of his friends, an
old friend happened to come along. It was twenty years since they had seen each
other. Both were beside themselves with joy. “It is ages since we met.” said
Nasruddin. “I am so very happy to see you. You rest awhile and refresh yourself
for the journey must have been long and tiring. I shall go quickly to see a few
friends I have promised to visit.”
“Oh no!” said the
friend “I have not the heart to waste even a minute of your company. I will go
along with you and we can talk on the way, if you will lend me a coat, for my
clothes are dirty.”
Now Nasruddin had a
set of expensive clothes presented to him by the king, which he had kept by for
a befitting occasion. They were an expensive coat, a turban, and a pair of
shoes. He had never worn them but today was a special day, and what could be
more befitting than that his childhood friend should make use of them! He
quickly brought them out and gave them to his friend. He was so happy that the
clothes had come in handy at the right moment!
But when the friend
appeared, dressed in the royal attire, Nasruddin felt a twinge of jealousy. The
clothes looked gorgeous and his friend looked so handsome in them. Had he done
a wise thing by giving him these clothes. He looked almost like a servant
before him! It is too hard on a man to see another looking rich and handsome in
his clothes, while he looked like a beggar before him! Had the clothes belonged
to the friend, even then it would have been a difficult situation — but this
was worse!
Nasruddin tried to get
over this feeling by telling himself of the higher virtues of life, as all men
of temperance do: “What difference does it make whether the clothes are mine or
his? He is a very dear friend, and that is all that matters. What is there in
clothes?” Thus he cajoled himself trying to convince himself of the
worthlessness of jealousy. But alas whoever they met had his eyes glued on the
friend and his clothes.
The world looks at
clothes and not the man. Nobody so much as glanced at Nasruddin, so that in
spite of all his sanctimonious talk, he was filled with pain and suffering. At
last they reached the first house of call. The door opened and Nasruddin’s
friend came out, but his eyes were caught by the richness of the friend’s
attire! Nasruddin noted this and began to introduce his friend: “This is my
childhood friend, an extremely fine person but as for his clothes, they are
mine.” In an unguarded moment, the words fell out and Nasruddin feet great
remorse. The friend was astonished at his behavior and so were the people of
the house.
When they came out,
the friend reproved him: “Forgive me but I cannot accompany you any further.
You have insulted me. Had I known, I should have accompanied you in my own
clothes, even though they were dirty — they were mine! Where was the need to
point out the clothes?” Nasruddin begged forgiveness: “Forsooth, there was no
need. Pray forgive me; it was a slip of the tongue!” he said.
The tongue never slips
— remember this always. What goes on within the mind comes invariably on the
tongue. That which is suppressed within comes out in an unguarded moment, as
steam bursts forth from a closed kettle. The kettle is not at fault. The steam
collects within and wishes to get out. Even if the kettle bursts, it has to get
out.
“If you say so, I
believe you,” said the friend. “But be mindful at the next house.” Nasruddin
promised to watch his words. And to prove his sincerity, he even made a gift of
the clothes to his friend. “They are yours from now on,” he told him.
They came to the next
house. Here also, the man of the house and his wife could not help staring at
the friend and his attire. Again it came to Nasruddin: “How foolish of me to
give him the clothes right away! I cannot hope to see myself in them.”
And when the time came
to introduce the friend Nasruddin began: “Meet my childhood friend, an
extremely nice person and as for his clothes, they are his, not mine.”
Now Nasruddin entered
the third friend’s house with a vow that he would not mention the clothes. But
the clothes, by now, had taken possession of every inch of his being, and like
all persons of self-restraint, he put up a brave front outside. Little did the
friend suspect what was happening within poor Nasruddin. He looked all right on
the outside, but within, he was verging on insanity. Wherever he looked, he saw
clothes and nothing but clothes. It filled him with anger and pain but do as he
would, he could not subdue this feeling. So he began to repeat his resolve to
himself, lest he slipped again: “I must not talk about clothes — I must not
talk about clothes!”
And now he was called
upon to introduce the guest once again! Poor Nasruddin, with clothes littered
all over his consciousness, he began the introduction: “This is my friend. We
have known each other for many years and now he comes to visit me after a long
absence; and as for his clothes, I have sworn not to mention to whom it
belongs.”
A suppressed mind
works in this manner. It gets involved with the very thing it tries to
suppress. The mind gets diseased, obsessions are formed — is this
self-restraint? Definitely not. But this is how it has been defined over the
years. Even today when someone starts to practise moderation, he begins with
self-repression. The result is that the perverted forms of the very thing he
tries to suppress, take possession of his mind.]
Timeless Moments with Eckhart Tolle
It’s the mundane things I remember about my
times with Eckhart, no walking-on-water miracles, but simple moments in daily
living. For instance, I remember when we went to a fancy Italian restaurant in
Vancouver for dinner. An exquisite bottle of red wine was opened. We all
savored the first sip – including Eckhart. Indeed, the wine was of an
outstanding vintage. I was seated opposite Eckhart. After a while, from the
corner of my eye, I once again saw Eckhart raise the glass to his lips to take
a sip. He looked at the glass, raised it deliberately to his lips, inhaled the
aroma, twirled the glass in his hands, and took the sip – just as if he were
tasting the wine for the first time. I asked him, “Eckhart, I saw you take the
first sip. Now, the second sip that you took, it looked as if you were taking
the first sip!” I saw this incredible look on his face, like that of a little
boy enjoying each successive bite of his chocolate, as if it were the first.
The law of diminishing marginal utility certainly didn’t apply in his case. He
simply stated, “Yes, it was my second sip, but it was as if it were my first.”
It was perhaps the first time that it struck me that he was a living example of
his teaching – he was his teaching! - by Gautam
Sachdeva
(Eckhart Tolle Centres in India
There are several centres of Tolle all over
the world and some centers in India and their addresses are :
1.Devang P.
Desai, A/701, KPM Residency, Surat,
Gujarat
2.Ravindran R.P, 33/2996
Amruthapuri, Kozhikode,Kerala
3. Nushrats, 702
Orchard Palace, Mumbai, Maharashtra)
(Right
Mulla, you think we leave you …
It was their twenty fifth wedding anniversary. They were having
drinks and dinner at one of the fanciest restaurants in town. Both were feeling
sentimental."Mulla," said the wife, "what would you do if
something happened to me?"
"I'd go absolutely out of my mind," said Nasrudin.
"Aw, go on," she said. "I'll bet you would turn right around and
get married again."
"Oh, no I wouldn't," said Nasrudin. "I wouldn't go
that far out of my mind."
"Don't you think, Doctor, you have overcharged for attending my
son when he had themeasles?""You must remember, Nasrudin, that the
bill covers twenty-three isits." "Yes," said Mulla Nasrudin,
"but you forget that he infected the whole school."
"Dad,
may I go in for a swim?""Certainly not," said Mulla Nasrudin.
"It's far too deep, son."
"But
mummy is swimming."
"Yes,
dear, but she's insured."
The
lady contributed to Mulla Nasrudin on crutches, but could not resist the
temptation to preach to him. "It must be terrible to be lame," she
said, "but think how much worse it is to be blind." "That's
right, Lady," said the Mulla. "when I was blind, people kept passing
counterfeit money off on me." )
No comments:
Post a Comment