Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), Advaita sage

1. “Of all the thoughts that arise in the mind, the 'I' thought is the first. It is only after the rise of this that the other thoughts arise. It is after the appearance of the first personal pronoun that the second and third personal pronouns appear; without the first personal pronoun there will not be the second and third.” Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), Advaita sage

2. Robert Adams (1928-1997), Advaita sage, knew Ramana Maharshi • “Problems just mean that the world isn’t turning the way you want it to. But in truth, there are no problems. Everything is unfolding as it should. Everything is right. You have to forget about yourself and expand your consciousness until you become the whole universe. The reality in back of the universe is pure awareness. It has no problems. And you are that.”

3. "The seeker is he who is in search of himself. Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality. To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not. Discover all that you are not -- body, feelings, thoughts, time, space, this or that -- nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive. The clearer you understand that on the level of mind you can be described in negative terms only, the quicker will you come to the end of your search and realise that you are the limitless being.” Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), student of Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, and Advaita sage

4. “Why are you unhappy?Because 99.9 per centOf everything you think,And of everything you do,Is for yourself -And there isn't one.” Wei Wu Wei (Terence Gray, 1895-1986), Irish aristocrat, student of Ramana Maharshi and of Ch’an Buddhism, and Advaita sage

5. Jean Klein (1916-1998)student of "Panditji" Rao, and Advaita sage • The only obstacle [to realizing freedom] is your belief that you are an independent entity. You are stuck in this belief. It belongs to a personality invented by society, education, experience, beliefs, second-hand information and all kinds of reading. You have identified yourself with this fictitious “I” and you live from this point of view. You look at and contact the surroundings from this viewpoint. Because the personality is an object like any other, you live in object-object relationship.

6. “Advaita is a sanskrit word that literally means "not two". Synonyms of Advaita are non-duality (nonduality, non duality). Advaita is not a philosophy or a religion. Non-duality is an experience in which there is no separation between subject and object; a "me" and the rest of the universe; a "me" and God. It is the experience of consciousness, our true nature, which reveals itself as absolute happiness, love and beauty. Consciousness is defined as that, whatever that is, which is aware of these very words right here, right now.” Francis Lucille (1944- ), student of Jean Klein, and Advaita sage

7. Experience is all we have and Consciousness is the primal and most intimate fact of experience. Every experience that we ever have, that we ever could have, that we ever will have, is experienced by this Consciousness. Meditation is simply to abide knowingly as that. It is very easy. In fact it is the easiest thing because we already are that. It would be impossible to be anything else. We just remain as we are, as we always have been. And we allow the mind, the body and world to be just as they are. Rupert Spira (1960- )Ceramicist and nonduality teacher

8. Truth is only discovered in the moment. There is no truth that can be carried over to the next moment, the next day, the next year. Memory never contains truth, only what is past, dead, gone. Adyashanti (Stephen Gray, 1965- ) Zen student of Arvis Joen Justi

9. I experience no edges or borders or limits. I cannot experience a difference between "me" and "you." Your inquiry will confirm this as "your" experience as well. It is not personal, but global, unlimited. It is already that. That is, inquiry will reveal the lack of difference between a "you" and an "other." Ironically, the desire to attain this as a personal experience is as close to separation as you'll ever get - and even then it is not truly separate. The desire to experience what another experiences is based on unsubstantiated beliefs, all of which lead to suffering. Wanting to experience what we project "an enlightened person" experiences is the very feeling of suffering; it's not the path to the ending of suffering. Greg Goode (1953- )Philosophical counselor and nonduality teacher

10. A simple examination of one's personal experience will reveal that what usually disrupts the peace and harmony in life is a thought about something we think we – or someone else – should or shouldn't have done. What mystics have said for ages, is viewed from the perspective of modern living: that actions are 'happenings' and not something done by someone. This understanding is what actually contributes to and helps us in discovering the state of equanimity and peace which we most ardently seek. Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009), student of Nisargadatta, and Advaita sage

11. “You have probably spent your whole life trying to control and modify the events you see are connected to your guilt and suffering. You try to be more patient, more honest, more loving, more chaste, more generous, more open, more tolerant, more productive or more effective. Despite your efforts it is likely that some, perhaps many of the events connected to your suffering and guilt continue to occur. Look deeply into the assumption that you COULD have acted/reacted differently in the moment that you did what you did. Examine the claim by the ego that you were the author, the independent source of that event for which there is now a feeling of guilt.” Wayne Liquorman (1951- ), student of Ramesh Balsekar, and Advaita sage

12. “Rest as flawless awareness, seeing all as flawless awareness, until all is flawless awareness”. In other words, rest as the awareness which is the underlying essence of all thoughts and emotions, seeing the anger and lust as forms of that awareness, and eventually you will find that the anger and lust are nothing but pure awareness in disguise. Candice O’Denver “Great Freedoms” teacher

13. Scott Kiloby (Advaita teacher) • In seeing that awareness is ever present, we realize that awareness is our real identity. This naturally and effortlessly releases the tendency to identify with the various appearances that come and go within awareness. Appearances include thoughts, emotions, sensations, states and experiences.

14. Again and again we speak of this thing: only get rid of your impediments, and simply stay quiet, that’s all. With the very burning desire, like somebody who is burning, and will run to a well, or a river, or a stream, only for water. Someone who is burning must go to the water; he will not go anywhere else. Like this, if you have the burning desire, “I want to be free, in this life, before the end of this life”, this must be a longing always in your mind, then you will be successful. You will have won the game and you will be very happy always because freedom and happiness and bliss go together. Papaji (1910-1997), student of Ramana Maharshi, and Advaita sage

15. “I truly have nothing to teach you. There have been many teachers who have taught exquisite and useful codes of conduct, methods of meditation, ways of living and manifesting in the world. I am simply pointing to the stillness that is alive in the core of your being and inviting you to turn your attention to That, to let That live your life.” Gangaji (Merle Antoinette ("Toni") Roberson,1942- ), student of Papaji, and Advaita sage

16. Ram Dass changed the world in 1971 with the publication of his hugely influential “Be Here Now” - a book that quickly brought spiritual practice and meditation to millions of Westerners. Not only did its stunning information and design impel readers right into a realization of the essential present, it introduced Eastern spiritual practice to the West in a totally accessible way. The book still stands as the highly readable centerpiece of Western articulation of Eastern philosophy, and how to live joyously a hundred per cent of the time in the present, luminous or mundane. It is still part of the timeless present. Being here now is still being here now. Ram Dass (Richard Alpert, 1931- ), student of Neem Karoli Baba, and guru of selfless service and compassion

17. “In this world of desires, a person becomes his own enemy and begins to torture himself. He himself becomes a sinner and then groans. He himself serves the poison of ignorance to himself and thus commits suicide. While he is hostile to himself, he blames others. Why do you commit suicide for lack of knowledge? Give up your illusions and see yourself as you really are. Uplift yourself by means of knowledge. Serve the nectar of wisdom to yourself. Achieve greatness. The soul dwells as the perceiving Consciousness in every being. Reflect on the inner Truth. Explore your own depths. Direct your seeking within. Revel in your own being.” Swami Muktananda (1908-1982),disciple of Nityananda, and controversial guru of siddha yoga

18. “There is only one cause for all mental problems, worries and anxieties: selfishness. Restlessness of mind is caused by disappointments. Only selfishness can cause unhappiness. To maintain your tranquility you must keep your mind away from duality—pleasure, pain; profit, loss; praise, blame. If you can keep your mind away from duality, you can still have ideas and perform actions, but they won't affect you. When you renounce your attachment, there is nothing to shake you. It is the feeling of possession, of clinging, that disturbs the mind.” Satchidananda (1914-2002), founder of Integral Yoga and of Satchidananda Ashram

19. “Using our capacity to be in the witness, we must use vigilance to watch ourselves throughout the day. We must observe dispassionately what sort of state we are in all the time. The criteria we would be watching for are tiredness or tension in the body; a slumping posture; irritability; exhaustion; tunnel vision on a mental, emotional, or physical level; or feelings of overwhelm, depression and boredom.” Leslie Temple-Thurston (1950?-), awakened through TM, and Advaita sage and founder of Corelight

20. “Love gets twisted sometimes. And it shows up in all kinds of sad and tragic ways when it has been perverted, suppressed, and denied. Though love is everyone's essence, not everyone is aware of that at all times. Stay with your own knowing of love. It transforms your vision of the horrors.” Catherine Ingram (1950?- ), Advaita teacher

21. • “I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment.” Tenzin Gyatso (1935- ),14 th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism

22. “It is hard to look at our own problems, negativities, hatreds, fears, and to admit they are there. We tend to cut off these parts of ourselves, to push them away. Or we succumb to them at times. But there is a way of learning how to see these things in ourselves without taking them so to heart, so to speak. We can learn to say, "This is a habit of the mind or this is a conditioning of the mind and it doesn’t feel good." Sharon Salzberg (1952- ), Buddhist meditation teacher and cofounder of Insight Meditation Society

23. “I don't think there's ever an escape from the world as long as we are alive. The goal is freedom from attachment. It's being free from the thirst of desire. It's not nonexistence.” Joseph Goldstein (1944- ), Buddhist meditation teacher and cofounder of Insight Meditation Society

24. “For almost everyone who practices, cycles of awakening and openness are followed by periods of fear and contraction. Times of profound peace and newfound love are often overtaken by periods of loss, by closing up, fear, or the discovery of betrayal, only to be followed again by equanimity or joy.” Jack Kornfield (1945- ), Buddhist meditation teacher, cofounder of Insight Meditation Society, and founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center

25. “The two fundamental things that most people get out of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, independent of symptom reduction, are these. First, the breath is an ally and can be used to calm down and see more clearly. The other, related discovery, is that you are not the content of your thoughts. You don't have to believe them or react to them. That's incredibly liberating.” Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944- ), mindfulness meditation teacher and founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at University of Massachusetts Medical School

26. "Life is Divine...You are alive.You are Divine...All and everything is Divine.Honor the divinity of Life". Master Charles Cannon (1945- )Student of Muktananda, Founder of Synchronicity Foundation Faber, VA

27. Next… • …some autobiography…

28. Poplar Grove Schoolhouse (1904)Plum City, WI (my dad is in front row, 6th from left)

29. Parents and three oldest of ninechildren in 1933, at house where I was born in 1930

30. In 2003, after remodeling and under different ownership, the house looked like this

31. Another 2003 view of my birthplace

32. “Little house in the big woods”, reconstructed on original site near Pepin WI. One of two other things Pierce County, WI is noted for: The birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

33. The second other thing is: • In 1984, the Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery was proclaimed the "Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin“ • Our Mantra: −Cheese Curds in Every Home −Cheese Curds in Every Store −Cheese Curds in Every Restaurant −Cheese Curds in Every Life Style

34. Namaste΄ “ I as Awareness/Presence salute You as Awareness/Presence”