The self-help movement has created what it considers to be an antidote for this: Positive Thinking. Positive thoughts still emanate from the same mind. And while they may make one feel more ‘positive,” it is imprisonment all the same. And you will forever remain lost in the struggle of turning negative thoughts into positive ones. Bliss is neither

If I set your house on fire, you would not sit amidst the inferno and ask me what to do. You would surrender to your instincts and do anything and everything to save yourself.

You might ask, What would I do if I had no likes or dislikes? You would take life as it comes. You would experience it. And because you would not be taking sides, you would enjoy it immensely. Please understand this: When you have likes and dislikes, you have a desire for one thing and an aversion for another. This is a deep and painful

The trouble with mindfulness is that it requires persistent effort. It is like attempting to empty the ocean with a teacup. On the one hand you have the majesty of the mind. And on the other hand you have a human being who is trying to be “mindful.” Even the term “mindfulness” makes little sense. Isn’t the entire problem a fullness of the mind? You

The mind can go anywhere it wishes. You need not go With It. The mind can entertain any thoughts that it wishes. They have nothing to do with you. For you are not the mind.

To be the best in the world at one’s craft is largely a journey into the recesses of one’s self, rather than a journey toward a stage. To arrive at one’s goal broken and battered and soul-less, no matter how grand the achievement, is to have arrived nowhere. As it is put so beautifully in the bible, What good does it do a man to gain the world and

A theme that you will find throughout this book is that while normal may be normal, but normal is NOT natural. When the mind has a desire for one thing, it has an aversion for its opposite. In the case of winning and losing, the desire for winning is so great that it creates an anxiety about losing. An anxiety which often turns into outright fear.

If our aim remains fixed upon cultivating Atmamun, we will become observers of our feelings rather than “fixers” of them. We will be constantly vigilant of our observation and documentation of what feelings are arising within us, rather than allowing ourselves to react. Thus neither controlling the reaction nor refining it. For reactions arise from

Please understand this: Man’s greatest dilemma is that he lives in a prison and he believes that he is free. The man who knows that he lives in a prison will find a way to break free of it. But the one who believes that he is free while being imprisoned will remained imprisoned forever.