Amazing Text Interview with non-duality teacher Colette who shares spiritualized chunks of information

by | May 27, 2021 | Interviews

 

I had a great text interview with Colette Davie on Instagram and we went deep into spirituality.

Manish Kadave:- What’s your full name?

Colette:- Colette Davie.

Manish Kadave:- Hi colette davie, What do you think is spirituality?

Colette:- Spirituality is a means for seeking what we are. Throughout the course of life, people seek happiness in objects such as relationships, material things, states of mind and substances. At some point, we realise that none of these things ever seem to fulfil us, and if they do, it isn’t for very long. So, many of us turn toward spirituality as a sort of ‘last resort’ means toward the happiness we seek, hoping that it will finally be found in it. When true spirituality is practiced (if one could call it a practice), we reach a state of fulfilment. In other words, through spirituality, we discover who or what we are, and that fulfils us.

Manish Kadave:- Great answer, now can you describe your spiritual journey in short? If you had one*

Colette:- As a child, my father (who practiced Zen Buddhism at the time) taught my younger sister and I to meditate. We had to do that every day, and that was the extent of my ‘spirituality’ for a long time. I didn’t do much more than sit on a meditation cushion once or twice a day. At some point, it was realised that I was suffering deeply, despite ‘meditation’. Anxiety, depression and other mental health issues had arisen, making daily life unbearable. I also went through an event which truly shook me, and left me at a total loss. I then turned to nonduality (or Advaita) in an attempt to stop the suffering. After following the teachings of enlightened teachers like Rupert Spira, Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle, it was realised that the happiness, peace and fulfilment I had been seeking outside of myself, had been ‘within’ me. Basically, the true ‘nondual’ view of the world permeated my experience, leaving me with nothing left to seek – totally fulfilled in the knowledge of what I am.

Manish Kadave:- Great…Do you think you are a part of the rising of new age spirituality in the world right now?

Colette:- If you think I am, then I am. However, I don’t think I am anything! From a conventional view, I may be viewed in that way. However, I don’t see myself as a part of one thing alone. I’m a part of those practicing spirituality, and I’m a part of those who are not. We are one!

Manish Kadave:- Nice….Do you believe that truth is hidden in every religions? But people don’t dig deeper in their respective religions?

Colette:- Absolutely. I think that many (if not most) of the worlds most prominent religions are founded in the same Truth. The reason that people have wars over religion is that they fail to see that all religions are talking about the same thing. The same one thing.

Manish Kadave:- Yes you are right! Have you read any religious books or scriptures? If so then Which books would you recommend to read?

Colette:- I never read any traditional religious books or scriptures until the Realisation, so I’m busy catching up now! I’m currently busy reading the Ashtavakra Gita, which I highly recommend for anyone on this path. Apart from that, I highly recommend the books written by Adyashanti (I have read them all, and they are all wonderful), as well as my favourite book, Perfect Brilliant Stillness by David Carse. I don’t want to leave out those written by Rupert Spira – as Rupert was basically my ‘teacher’ on this path. I recommend those to anyone – Rupert is brilliant!

Manish Kadave:- Great… Do you think a guru is needed in a spiritual path or do you consider life as the supreme guru?

Colette:- Both! A lot of the time with those that I speak to or teach, and in my own experience, a teacher or guru is needed to answer questions the mind might have that are preventing it from discovering its True Nature. If it weren’t for my first teacher, I would never have known the answer to certain questions, and who knows if things would’ve ended up like this? Probably not. On the other hand, the implication of having a teacher is that the teacher has something which the student does not have, or that the teacher is somehow ‘special’ in some way. This, of course, is not true at all. You don’t need anything (and I mean anything) to be what you already are. In terms of life being the supreme guru – if life didn’t ‘push’ us toward suffering and, therefore, seeking happiness, we would never awaken. In that way, life is also a teacher.

Manish Kadave:- Great answer.. Final question.. Do you think Enlightenment is a fixed thing or a gradual timeless process?

Colette:- Both. I used to believe it would only happen in a big ‘boom!’ moment – that’s often what we read about, isn’t it? We hear ‘and suddenly, there was no one here’. We hardly hear of gradual ‘awakenings’, so our minds keep sort of ‘waiting’ for that moment. I’m happy to say that for what I used to call ‘me’, that moment never came. Somewhere, something changed, or shifted, and when I looked again, everything was different. It was truly a ‘gradual’ process, and I will never know when it happened. It was so subtle, and I’m grateful for that, because now I can tell people that they do not have to wait for that moment to happen! It really enforces the idea that you are already what is here now, and I think that’s beautiful.

Manish Kadave:- Yes right…

Colette:- No one really wakes up, and you realise that really profoundly when it’s not some kind of kundalini moment! You realise you are what you’ve always been, but now you see it’s not what you thought you are. Although this initial understanding seems to happen once, albeit gradually, I think we have the opportunity to wake up to every moment. In every moment, there is a choice of whether to abide as what you are, or to abide as illusion. It’s not a once off thing! Wake up to this moment. And this moment. And this moment. It’s a never-ending ‘now’, which can be deepened into indefinitely.

Manish Kadave:- Be Here Now! Is the timeless message given by all the teachers!

Colette:- Yes! And this is exactly why. Enlightenment is not an achievement which happens somewhere in the past that the person is totally free to carry for the future. That’s not how it is at all. Enlightenment happens now. Awakening is now. Even if that means awakening again and again, being born again in every moment. Whatever! It’s now.

Manish Kadave:- Yes… It was great interview with you…and thank you for giving your valuable time… I think I got a good friend like you 🙂…

Powerful meditation technique taught by the lord shiva himself!

by | May 1, 2021 | 112 Vigyan Bhairava

Meditation is something that you need to do like a duty then the essence of meditation is lost. The thing is that the difference between ancient and modern times is that people have accomplished many things on the material level but they have all became poor inwardly. I mean to say that life has worn them out totally. they are more focusing on ‘doing’ rather than emphasizing ‘being’. Meditation is our true nature as we can say, but the mind has obscured it and we are thrown away from our center of being.

All the different types of meditation techniques were developed in the east only. So today I am going to share one of the most powerful meditation techniques which were given from lord shiva to his wife Parvati. lord shiva symbolizes pure consciousness and goddess parvati is the symbolization of shakti. so lord shiva is the embodiment of pure stillness and goddess Parvati is the embodiment of dynamic movement. So in the ancient Vedas and scriptures, it has been said that the absolute reality splits itself into two halves which are stillness and movement. they are interwoven into each other and by any means can’t be separated from each other. so the lord shiva and goddess Parvati are also referred to as ‘ardhanarinateshwar’ means half male and half female.

So the ancient dialogue between lord shiva and goddess Parvati on meditation has been captured in the book named ‘Vigyan bhairava’. This book has all the powerful meditation techniques given by lord shiva himself to goddess Parvati and it consists of a whopping 112 techniques. I will be making a separate post for each technique as this technique which I am going to speak about from my personal experience is about breathing. So the most fundamental thing which is ever new in our life is the breath. Yes, you can’t argue on that because at each moment we are inhaling and exhaling which is renewed at each moment. Breathing is a common meditation technique that is simple yet it has some mystical touch to it. I said Mystical touch because most of the chemical function in our body depends on breathing or we can say how chemical compounds alter in our brain depending upon the breath.

Now we will dive into the technique and I hope I will make it simple for you to understand so you can play with it, I mean people who take meditation seriously always miss the point of meditation. Just take it playfully and see the magic revealing.

Watch the gap between two breaths

Shiva replies :

Radiant One, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out) – the beneficence.

This is the technique:

Radiant One, this experience may dawn between two breaths.

Explanation of this technique and how to inculcate it in our daily lives:- 

Focus on these two points which are:-

  1. The still point is inside the body where after the in-breath stops and before the out-breath starts. this is the point where there is no breathing for a moment. it’s like a zero-breathing point where everything stops. become more and more aware of this point.
  2. The still point is just outside the nose where after the out-breath stops and before the in-breath starts. this is the second point where there is no breathing for a moment. it’s like we are in a different dimension. become more and more aware of this point.

So as you breathe in and the air starts coming in from your nostrils, just feel it and go with the breath side by side. your consciousness should be side by side with the breath, not before or after the breath. don’t get greedy or lag behind. just go with the flow and suddenly for a millionth second, you will feel as if the breath has stopped! You won’t notice it straight away but become aware of that point. then again your breath starts to move out. go with it and again when the breath is moving out of the body, there will come a point where the out-breath comes to a halt and there is again no breathing. this is the second point nearby the nose. become aware of this point also. and again the breath will start coming in.

so you have to become more and more aware of these two still points. as the awareness grows, these points will become bigger and your stillness and peace will grow day by day. and one day you will find yourself completely in the present moment as your mind will get dissolved.

So keep on practising this technique for at least 7 days to see results. 15 min twice a day would be enough.

thank you guys for reading this article till this point and much love to you guys.