Wisdom of the Masters

Neem Karoli Baba or Neeb Karori Baba (c. 1900 -1973), known to his followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. Baba was a lifelong adept of bhakti yoga, and encouraged service to others (seva) as the highest form of unconditional devotion to God. In the book Miracle of Love, compiled by Ram Dass, a devotee named Anjani shares the following account: "There can be no biography of him. Facts are few, stories many. He seems to have been known by different names in many parts of India, appearing and disappearing through the years. His non-Indian devotees of recent years knew him as Neem Karoli Baba, but mostly as “Maharajji”. Just as he said, he was "nobody". He gave no discourses; the briefest, simplest stories were his teachings. Usually, he sat or lay on a wooden bench wrapped in a plaid blanket while a few devotees sat around him. Visitors came and went; they were given food, a few words, a nod, a pat on the head or back, and they were sent away. Sometimes he sat in silence, absorbed in another world to which we could not follow, but bliss and peace poured down on us. Who he was was no more than the experience of him, the nectar of his presence, the totality of his absence, enveloping us now like his plaid blanket." 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

23 Helmi 202314min

A reading for meditation of excerpts taken from the text "All Else is Bondage" by Wei Wu Wei. Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986), better known by the pen name Wei Wu Wei, was a 20th-century Taoist philosopher and writer. Between the years 1958 and 1974 a series of eight books appeared attributed to the mysterious 'Wei Wu Wei'. These works draw on a variety of sources, including Taoism, specifically the texts attributed to Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, Buddhism, especially The Heart, Diamond and Lankavatara Sutras, and Chan Buddhism as taught by Hui Neng, Huang Po, Hui Hai, etc., as well as the teachings of Padma Sambhava and Sri Ramana Maharshi, among others. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

20 Helmi 202326min

This is a selection of some key pointers and teachings on the nature of no-self taken from various texts by Bernadette Roberts. Bernadette Roberts (1931-2017) was born in California, and is a former Carmelite nun and contemplative in the Catholic tradition. She entered the Monastery of Discalced Carmelites in Alhambra, California when she was seventeen in January 1949. After eight and a half years of monastic life, Roberts left the cloister and returned to lay life where she pursued numerous studies and disciplines. She is best known for writing a series of books on her personal insights and experiences into the nature of non-self. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

18 Helmi 202316min

Baba Hari Dass (1923 - 2018) was an Indian yoga master, silent monk, and commentator of Indian scriptural traditions of dharma and moksha. He was classically trained in the Ashtanga of Patanjali (also known as Rāja yoga), as well as Kriya yoga, Ayurveda, Samkhya, Tantra, Vedanta, and Sanskrit. Baba Hari Dass took a vow of silence in 1952, which he upheld through this life. Although he did not speak, he was able to communicate in several languages through writing. His literary output included scriptural commentaries to Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Bhagavad Gita, Samkhya Karika, and Vedanta, yoga training materials, and a range of others writings. Upon his arrival in North America in early 1971, Baba Hari Dass and his teachings inspired the creation of several yoga centers and retreat programs in the United States in Santa Cruz County, California, and in Canada at Salt Spring Island and in Toronto. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

14 Helmi 202319min

This is a recording of selected pointers for meditation taken from the book "The Truth Is." Formatted as a guided meditation. Sri H. W. L. Poonja (1910 -1997) was born in Lucknow, India, known as "Poonjaji" or "Papaji", was an Indian sage who taught Self-enquiry as advocated by Ramana Maharshi. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

10 Helmi 202330min

A reading for meditation of the Kaccānagottasutta taken from Samyutta Nikaya (SN 12.15). In this sutta, Venerable Kaccānagotta asks the Buddha about right view, and the Buddha answers that right view arises when one sees the origin and cessation of the world. The main theme of the text is the avoidance of the extremes "existence" and "non-existence" with respect to the world, and instead seeing the world in terms of the Middle Way which is illustrated by the twelve links of dependent origination. The one with right-view understands this. This translation is an amalgam of Walshe, Bodhi, Thanissaro, and Sujato. A Sanskrit and Chinese (Saṃyuktāgama 301; also a partial quotation in SĀ 262) parallel text is also extant. Although there is considerable agreement across versions, the Sanskrit and Chinese texts are more or less identical to each other and both slightly different from the Pāli version. The text is cited in Sanskrit in works by Nāgārjuna and his commentators. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

8 Helmi 20239min

This is a selection of key pointers from Nisargadatta taken from the texts "I am That" and "The Nisargadatta Gita" - intended as a guided meditation. Original text of "I am That" edited and compiled by Maurice Frydman. The Nisargadatta Gita edited by Pradeep Apte. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

4 Helmi 202334min

"Wu Hsin" (meaning No Mind) was a fictitious character created by Roy Melvyn to create and structure a series of pith teachings and pointers to the Absolute, based on key non-duality teachings. Despite the controversy around the "deceit" in publishing these works as words from an "authentic" Chinese Master, I have chosen to upload these readings as they are some of the clearest pointers I have read. Please be aware of the context as to how they were created. In essence, we are all really imaginary "persons" anyway! Roy Melvyn (1947-apparently died in 2017? -TBC ) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Eastern European immigrant parents. It wasn't until the 1980s that his interest in spirituality and religion began to blossom and his investigations into the Western religions began. By the late 90s, he was writing about the more mystical aspects of Eastern meditative pursuits, exploring the writings of Dogen, Jiddu Krishnamurti, both Shunryu and D. T. Suzuki and Ramana Maharshi among others. These pointers were taken from the book: "Solving Yourself". 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

1 Helmi 202330min