Qualities and Life Skills
Right Detachment in Practice
How to develop true detachment or inner independence, what is called in Sanskrit Vairagya? (There is more on what this means in the non-dual theory section.) Like all qualities, we can cultivate this simply by practicing it. So for example if we have a strong aversion to something, we can practice not being deflected by…
Read MoreSelf-Examination on the Path of Light
One step towards this higher self-awareness is the practice of self-examination. Setting aside a few minutes for self-examination, we place our mind before us, so to say, and take a detached look at its condition. We remember our highest purpose: progress towards enlightenment. We then review the day’s actions, reactions and thoughts, in the light…
Read MoreDedicated Action
An important part of the practical teachings of non-duality is about the best way of action. Usually, we do our actions with a strong wish that they should lead to the result we want. The problem is that this attachment to the results of action binds us to the process of cause and effect. And…
Read MorePractising Right Discrimination
How can we practise and cultivate Viveka, the ability to discriminate between reality and illusion? We know that under the influence of feelings like fear and anger we have a distorted view of the world. Cultivating calmness and tolerance helps us to see things more as they really are. Then, the world looks flat, the…
Read MoreSelf-Examination
Like many practices, self-examination is most effective when done regularly. We may choose to do this just before we retire at night. Then, we can briefly review our day, note points where we might have done better in our own eyes, and identify the quality that would help us to do so, which could be,…
Read MoreDeveloping Helpful Qualities
The qualities that most help us in the search for knowledge of Reality include: – a growing discernment between what is transient and what is enduring – a growing sense that what matters most to us is that which is enduring We express and deepen this vision by cultivating further qualities such as: – the…
Read MoreDharma
In its broadest sense, Dharma stands for the most subtle, fundamental law underlying the universe, well-known to sages and seers. Indeed, it is by trimming their sails to this law that they have discovered the way which, as the Upanishads say, ‘carries one beyond sorrow’—the way which is called Yoga. Increasing our knowledge of the…
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