Buddha At The Gas Pump

Ellie is a happily married woman for 29 years. She has been blessed, with two beautiful children—a lovely daughter and a sweet son. She has graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook and has been teaching mathematics in high school and community colleges. After changing her career, she worked in Information Technology as a Quality Assurance Manager for many years. Since childhood, she was seeing herself as a vision, which was not associated with the body at all. The question was arising, “Who am I?” This was never answered and it was there in her heart for a long time… Since the year 2001, she has been inspired: To get to know who she is To find what she is searching for For the past few years, she has had wonderful experiences by “going within,” meditating and discovering the Truth. The Truth reveals itself to itself by itself. She would like to share these experiences with you. She hopes that by reading her story, you also get inspired to “go within” and "discover" who you really are, and also find the auth

Unmani is originally from the UK, but has lived a nomadic life in many countries around the world from the age of 18. Unlike most people, since she was a child, Unmani never identified with being a ‘person’ in the world, but she felt very lost and alone in a world that everyone else seemed to take so seriously. She spent years traveling around the world trying on different roles and identities to see if any of them fit. Disappointed with each role, she continued searching to find a way out of the pain she felt. She spent some time in the Osho centre in Pune, India, and there discovered meditation, free expression, and other insightful wisdom. But although this brought her more relaxation, it did not seem to get to the root of her search. Some years later she met the German Zen master, Dolano. With her, Unmani recognized that what she had been searching for had always been right here. She woke up to the dream, time stopped and the search ended. She no longer needed to try to fit in or be someone, because Unman

In February 2008 at the age of thirty-three, Karen experienced a sudden and radical awakening. Prior to this realisation, no teachings or practices were followed – in fact at that time the terms non-duality and awakening were completely unfamiliar. This spontaneous realization presented itself during a period of intense emotional suffering and when demands in life exceeded Karen’s physical capability. Karen attempted to persevere in the face of these challenges, the consequence being a severely debilitating illness that affected physical functioning on every level. Although the illness had a devastating effect on life as it was then known, it seemed to create a space for a deeper reality to be recognized. As her state of health was so poor, Karen was unable to return to work – meaning that she spent a significant amount of time confined to her home. The effect of this period of solitude was profound surrender, allowing the realization to become deeply integrated into daily living. Two and a half years after

People have always loved sitting and sharing in the presence of an awakened human being and experiencing that tender beingness. For about 7 years Florian Tathagata and his life companion Julia have travelled around the world untiringly inviting seekers to recognize in their own experience who they really are and to live as an embodiment of truth in everyday life. In his unmistakable manner he embraces the daily and simple life that he is sharing with a constantly increasing number of 'friends of truth', as he calls all those being interested. Again and again visitors of meetings tell of spontaneous awakening, of an all penetrating silence, of simple clarity and presence and of overflowing love and gratitude which they experience in Florian Tathagata‘s presence. With both legs firmly rooted in normal everyday life and at the same time in the heart deeply connected with Ramana Maharshi, Papaji, Jiddu Krishnamurti and his teacher and friend Isaac Shapiro, Florian Tathagata speaks and is silent, laughs and crie

Krishna can be a catalyst for the awakening transformation of your life. He also appears to be a pretty ordinary guy. For most of his life, he has been driven by a desire to know the power that moves the universe. In this mad quest for authentic spiritual realization, he has been blessed to come across the right people at the right time. Besides working as a spiritual coach and teacher and being trained in hypnotherapy, he has also been a cabinetmaker, an auto assembly line worker, a New York City taxi cab driver, and a bus driver. He has lived real life as a down to earth human being and knows that the truth of spirituality is always tested there. His experience is that you will never have exactly what you want and that you are already what you're looking for. His sense is that you don't need to be taught as much as you need to be understood and heard. He is well versed in several spiritual maps but he knows that who you are is beyond any map. You are changeless and you are always changing, and he relates t

Joan Tollifson writes and talks about the ever-changing, ever-present aliveness of Here / Now, that which is obvious, unavoidable and impossible to doubt. She has an affinity with Advaita, Buddhism and radical nonduality, but she belongs to no tradition or lineage. Her main teacher was Toni Packer, but Joan has also studied with several Buddhist teachers and has spent time with a number of Advaita and nondual teachers. She has been holding meetings on nonduality since 1996. In her books and meetings, Joan invites people to explore their actual present moment experience and to question the deep-seated assumption that we are each an independent entity encapsulated inside a separate bodymind looking out at an alien world. Instead, we may discover that everything is one seamless, boundless, unbroken whole in which there are no separate parts. Joan also invites people to question the deep-seated assumption that we are in control of our lives (or should be), and she points to the realization that everything is one

“Adyashanti” means primordial peace. Adyashanti dares all seekers of peace and freedom to take the possibility of liberation in this life seriously. He began teaching in 1996, at the request of his Zen teacher with whom he had been studying for 14 years. Since then many spiritual seekers have awakened to their true nature while spending time with Adyashanti. Adyashanti offers spontaneous and direct nondual teachings that have been compared to those of the early Zen masters and Advaita Vedanta sages. However, Adya says, “If you filter my words through any tradition or ‘-ism’, you will miss altogether what I am saying. The liberating truth is not static; it is alive. It cannot be put into concepts and be understood by the mind. The truth lies beyond all forms of conceptual fundamentalism. What you are is the beyond—awake and present, here and now already. I am simply helping you to realize that.” A native of Northern California, Adyashanti lives with his wife, Mukti, and teaches extensively in the San Francis

Pamela speaks the Truth of Advaita, non-duality - that the universe is one undivided whole. For the last ten years, she has traveled widely in the United States, Canada, and Europe, holding satsang and giving private sessions. Week-long retreats have been held in Mexico, Costa Rica, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the USA. She has endeared herself to many through her lighthearted humor and compassion, and deep understanding of what it is to be human. She lives in the Bay Area of Northern California. Pamela's website Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 8/28/2011 2nd Interview with Pamela Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Pamela Wilson's Spiritual Teachings 00:03:33 - The Supreme Intelligence 00:06:26 - The Play of Natural Intelligence 00:09:31 - Clear Seeing and the Balance of Consciousness 00:13:01 - Coming Back to Deep-Rooted Still Naturalness 00:15:52 - The Devotion of Saints and Sa

At 28 I moved to New York City, a fulfillment of a childhood dream. Oddly enough, even though I had received what I wanted on many accounts, I felt like I was having a premature midlife crisis. Interest in philosophy and psychology arose in response which brought me to The School of Practical Philosophy where I discovered Advaita Vedanta and was initiated into Transcendental Meditation (TM) three years later. Frustrated over my lack of success in my meditation, I left the school and embarked on fixing myself through psychotherapy. On a local radio station I came across Gangaji and Eli Jaxon-Bear. They were sharing the Truth they had discovered through their master, H.W.L. Poonja, a.k.a. Papaji, who happens to be Mooji’s guru as well. Then 9/11 happened. I was deeply hurt inside. The towers that I saw burning and crumbling outside initiated the same inside me. In the days and months that followed, old, hidden pain and fear from the past emerged, but, surprisingly, I felt more alive than ever. There was an exc

For over two decades, several questions have been foremost in my mind: What is this life about? What is the nature of reality? What is truth? How do we live and thrive in this world? For many years these questions puzzled me, but being the inquisitive type, with a restless mind always seeking to find the answers to whatever confronted me, I kept searching and searching. Like many people, I kept groping around the edges of Truth, having occasional glimpses but nothing really definitive. But the Universe is relentless. If its first attempts at getting you to see don’t work, it starts pulling out the heavy artillery and blasting away at your illusions. That’s what happened to me. My seemingly wonderful life turned to crap, seemingly overnight. The Universe was playing rough, offering me a bit of “fierce grace” as Adyashanti likes to say. And it worked! I finally quit groping around the edges and instead leaped into the fire. I began questioning my illusions and starting to see something more. Much has changed

Robert Augustus Masters, Ph.D., is the author of 11 books (including Transformation through Intimacy and Spiritual Bypassing), a relationship expert, a spiritual teacher, and a highly experienced psychotherapist (and trainer of psychotherapists) with a doctorate in Psychology. His uniquely integral, intuitive work (developed over the past 33 years) dynamically blends the psychological and physical with the spiritual, emphasizing full-blooded embodiment, authenticity, emotional openness and literacy, deep shadow work, and the development of relational maturity. At essence, his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of deep healing, awakening, and integration. In all this, he works side-by-side and in very close conjunction with Diane, his wife and partner in all things. Website:robertmasters.com Books: Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters Knowing Your Shadow Emotional Intimacy To Be a Man Interview recorded July 30, 2011,

Wayne Liquorman was both a spiritual seeker and a family man with a successful export business, when he met his first and final guru, Ramesh Balsekar, in September 1987. In April 1989 the process of seeking ended when enlightenment happened through the body-mind mechanism called Wayne. Wayne describes the event as being "of interest only to seekers." His first book, No Way: A Guide For the Spiritually 'Advanced' was published in 1990 under the pen name Ram Tzu because he "didn't want a bunch of miserable seekers cluttering up his living room." In fact, Wayne did not speak publicly until Ramesh asked him to do so in 1996. This enlightenment event and its aftermath are described in Wayne's second book, Acceptance of What IS, published in 2000. He is also the author of Never Mind... A journey into Non-duality, and the editor of Consciousness Speaks and several other books by Ramesh Balsekar, who refers to Wayne as his "spiritual son." His most recent book, Enlightenment Is Not What You Think, was published in

Jan was born 1960 and grew up in Bury, England. His parents were Danish. In 1967 the family moved to Denmark. Jan’s dad is an engineer and there was no spiritual influence from either parent. Yet Jan showed strong spiritual yearnings since an early age. Jan trained as an artist under the Danish painter Niels Hermann Wamberg; he also studied art restoration at the Royal Academy in order to learn the traditional craft. Jan also studied at the university and acquired an MA in history of modern culture. Today Jan works as a full-time professional artist and also has a software company developing photo retouching plug-ins for Photoshop. After doing Transcendental Meditation and the TM Siddhi Programme for six years, Jan felt the need for a guru and found Gururaj Ananda Yogi whom he stayed with for three years. Then Jan’s Kundalini was so active, that he did not need any other guidance than what the Shakti gave, so he gave up on gurus and meditated by observing the inner Shakti’s workings. Following this, Jan bega

One fine morning when I was in my mid-twenties, I woke up and the life I had previously led was over. I was consumed by a longing to be truly intimate with God, the one truth. This great longing grew daily, and it first manifested as being aware of the unseen in nature. Nature invited me into itself, and I found myself taking very long solo trips deep into the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This naturally led to a resonance with Native traditions, and before long I met my first teacher, a highly-respected Lakota medicine man who was very committed to upholding the Old Way. With this association, the intimate awareness of spirit deepened. As the longing for union intensified, the heart opened. This journey took on the qualities of para-bhakti, or intense devotion to the divine. Spontaneous giving of myself to spirit through prayer and tears was a natural response, and I felt myself being consumed. I met my master, Mata Amritanandamayi, in 1993. There was an immediate recognition that I needed to

I was born in the summer of 1942 in Camden, New Jersey to a father and mother about whom I know little other than what I have been told by others. When I was three or four, my mother and father split up and I was taken to be raised by my grandmother, a Holy Ghost Pentecostal Christian, and grandfather. When I was about ten or so, my grandfather died and my mother came back to town for his funeral. Soon thereafter, she was remarried to a sweet man, a tool and die maker, who gave me much and provided me with the basis for a philosophical outlook on life. They took me back from my grandmother, and, within a year or so, we — my mother and step-father — moved to Southern California. In 1958, when I was sixteen and in tenth grade, I stole my parents' checkbook, booked a flight to New York with a bad check, and moved into the Plaza Hotel, where I assembled a wardrobe and other artifacts, went to a play on Broadway (J.B.), drank, ate high and finally bought a $2,500 Patek Phillipe watch in the hotel jewelry store —

Family, friends, clients, colleagues and the world, do not have to wonder if Martha loves them….the answer is lived out in Martha’s actions and words. It’s not just the welcoming hug that envelopes your heart. Or the endearing way that she recognizes your beauty from the inside out. Martha’s love is also demonstrated in the straightforward honest way that she will call out self-defeating and false patterns for those who are interested in discovering their higher, and usually much kinder, next best version of themselves. Martha has the courage and skill of the lion tamer, who steps into the ring with confidence and grace. The ring that she often serves within is called facilitator, teacher, mentor, and friend. Martha joins with whomever she is working with individually or collectively as a group, to meet the unquestioned and stressful thoughts running the show. These false thoughts are typically expressed in stressful, negative, unproductive and sometimes very destructive ways within individuals, relationship

In the eighties, Julie Chimes-Laws worked in the media-based London’s Fleet Street. Company director, businesswoman and part-time racing driver her world underwent a dramatic change when an out-of-the-blue attempt on her life left her for dead. Viciously stabbed repeatedly within millimeters of her life her subsequent survival was considered to be something of a miracle. She wrote a profound yet humorous autobiographical account of her experiences, both in and out of body, A Stranger in Paradise, which was first published by Bloomsbury, London. The book was distributed on three continents and translated into five further languages creating a wave of positive media attention around the world. The extraordinary story was also the subject of a critically acclaimed BBC documentary, which she scripted and co-directed. Leaving the world of convention behind Julie has spent the last seventeen years living abroad. She has traveled extensively during this time whilst encountering the weird and wonderful. Stepdaughter

My birth took place January 7, 1949 on a small rural farm in East Tennessee, but somehow I did not forget my spiritual nature in the process of arriving here as a human. As a child, I remembered myself being free from the limitations of form and language, and I made two vows: first, never to forget who I am and the freedom I had prior to birth, and second, to find my way home no matter what it took. In my youth, I experienced a nagging urge to know the Truth of my existence. By the age of 19, this urge developed into a fierce determination to find that Truth at the risk of everything – career, relationships, physical and even mental health. My quest took me into many investigations including teaching the TM program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for 12 years. Every investigation left me dissatisfied until the late 1980s when Sathya Sai Baba began to appear in my dreams and meditations. I finally journeyed to Baba’s ashram in July 1990. The moment I saw him step off the veranda, I recalled my childhood vow to find

A clinical psychologist in private practice in Binghamton, NY, Michael studied and practiced Zen Buddhism for many years beginning in 1978. An initial experience of non-dual awareness emerged in 1982. Like virtually all first glimpses, this experiential awareness was fleeting. Still, the appetite for an enduring awakening had taken hold, as well as an absolute faith in the spiritual truths reported by Shakyamuni Buddha and the Zen teachers of ancient China and Japan. Years of frequent silent meditation retreats allowed this awareness to deepen and expand, yet there was still searching for true liberation. The continuous experiential Knowing that this is it emerged many years later after an apparent surrendering of the desire to become anything at all. With this much deeper and more pervasive understanding, there arose simultaneously a reconnection with his childhood roots in the Christian tradition. Michael now shares this knowledge of Self with a growing number of students. The teaching is consistent with th

Richard Sylvester is a humanistic psychologist, therapist and lecturer. For thirty years he engaged with a variety of spiritual practices while also training in psychotherapeutic techniques and teaching counselling. In 2002 Richard met Tony Parsons and as he writes in his first book "That was the end of what I thought had been my life." Richard writes “The most common misconception about liberation is that it is something an individual can gain. But actually it is a loss - the loss of the sense that there ever was a separate person who could choose to do something to bring about liberation. In liberation it is seen that thoughts, feelings and perceptions simply arise in Oneness - there is no one to whom they belong. “The sense of separation makes us take the everyday for granted and clamour for something more exciting to happen. But when separation is seen through, the ordinary becomes transformed into this wonderful play of consciousness, and it is seen that this is already it and this is already sufficien