the
The
is
IS
Is
and
And
of
a
to
• Archive: StillnessSpeaks has put out a two DVD set that contains three and a half hours of a conversation between Greg Goode (author of Standing as Awareness) and Chris Hebard, on the Advaita Vedanta teachings of Shri Atmananda (Krishna Menon), who lived in South India from 1883-1959.
• While less well-known than his Indian contemporaries, Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj, Atmananda’s teachings are no less important.
• In such works as “Atma Darshan” and “Atma Nirvriti,” his words point directly (hence this teaching is known as “the direct path”) to our true nature, which is Consciousness.
• In fact, the heart of this teaching is that there is only Consciousness.However, the notion that we are pure Consciousness is certainly not a popular one —most people believe that they are a separate individual, in a separate body.
• Note that once this belief takes hold, everything outside of themselves is perceived as “not them.”Furthermore, they feel as if the actual essence of their being is located somewhere inside their head, usually behind the eyes and they somehow interact with and connect to the outside world via the five senses. Greg describes this way of perceiving ourselves as the Cartesian model, aka “the container metaphor.” This comes from Descartes who believed that something immaterial (our soul), is enclosed inside something material (our body).