Follow Your Bliss

Recognition of a new and central truth and relinquishment of everything we once considered reality characterize the jnana path to Advaitan realization.  It takes diligence and earnestness to begin and sustain the search, nearly thirty years in my case meandering every which way through various flavors of wisdom literature, and whatever that flavor, always maintaining a discipline of daily meditation.

Delve in, dive deep and open to the currents of intuition such exposure initiates.  Each succeeding revelation amplifies the magnetic pull towards our goal.  Nothing is wasted, no time, no practice; all of it serves in clearing a path through "this is not so" and paving a road of "this is so."  At some point, at first unbeknownst to us, we pass through the gateless gate and find roads and vehicles no longer necessary.  We have arrived.

Here are some suggested primers for establishing a basic, simple practice to begin concentrating and stilling the mind:

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunyru Suzuki
A Gradual Awakening by Stephen Levine
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
How To Know God by Patanjali

That last one might scare off your average Christian, so for you I would suggest Open Mind, Open Heart by Father Thomas Keating. His "centering prayer" sticks closer to the bhakti approach via Jesus, but know, too, that even this love of the Christ in the end resolves into jnani revelation. (Consider these words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas: "Split a piece of wood: I am there.  Lift a stone and you will find me there.")

Here are some intermediate texts to act as bellows to fire you forward:

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi

Here are a few more advanced, essential texts for extensive study and contemplation:

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj
Vasistha's Yoga
Crest-Jewel of Discrimination by Shankara

Of course there are many, many more, preserved for us from the seed texts of the earliest Masters through centuries of commentary by awakened teachers who followed.  You will find gems in every faith, because every faith has the same truth buried within its depths.  Live with them, practice, ripen, bloom....