Lex Hixon

Babaji Bob Kindler

Annapurna Sarada

Laurence Galian

John Forman

Father Abbot Joseph Homick

CS Shah

Welcome to Nectar of Nondual Truth’s summer issue, which includes, as our cover suggests, fiery philosophical ideas and truisms from timeless traditions designed to inspire and challenge the mind — articles from an ongoing upsurge of concrescent perspectives springing from both experiment and experience in the world’s arena of sacred spiritual endeavor. There could not be a better time than the twenty-first century, nor a better place than this planet, Terra Firma, to encounter and assess what mankind has gleaned, garnered or gathered from his spiritual ruminations and introspections over this seemingly endless span of time we call life in the universe. Therefore please enter in for your own share of Nectar, and bring the clear container of the lucid, percipient and discriminating mind with you, while leaving the doubting, inattentive and querulous ego outside.

The Fire of Spirituality

Nectar #16

Swami Aseshananda

Swami Brahmeshananda

Rabbi Rami Shapiro

John Dobson

Father Bruno Barnhart

It remains somewhat of a mystery, even after all the advantages of contemporary times have been lavishly bestowed upon present day humanity, that the ills of pervasive suffering still persist on the world scene. Of course, we know from the Buddha’s declaration of His Four Noble Truths, that suffering here on Earth will never go away entirely. Still, unnecessary suffering, a type of misery that has viable solutions, also remains constant — despite the fact that humanity has had plenty of time to apply these readily available stopgaps. When looking at this perplexing situation, the conscious observer cannot but notice, often painfully so, that narrowness of mind lies at the root of both the problem of suffering itself, and its tardy removal. In view of all this, when one considers ultimate solutions, there is nothing that compares with that of Universality. Universal religious outlook, universal philosophical perspective, universal compassion, universal service of mankind, a more universal mindset — even a more universally-based business and politics — all would be welcome alternatives to the ponderous and ineffective arsenal of methodical weapons that nations and peoples are presently utilizing to try to stem the tide of pervasive human suffering. True, religion nowadays has become an obvious caricature of itself, and philosophy has turned into a job and a career instead of a means for the revelation of truth. Even altruistic service, after the many attempts it has made towards drying up the ocean of human misery, has shown us its limitations and its downside.

Offering a Garland of Universal Religions

Nectar #31

DS Lokanath

Nan Huai Chin

S Jagadishan

With open arms and open minds we welcome the contemporary reader and lover of Truth to another feast for the soul, some Amrita, Nectar for the aspiring mind of the devout and avid practitioner. This open invitation is extended not only to those who have already grounded themselves in the search for Freedom via authentic spiritual traditions, but also to those who show a keen interest and feel drawn to those subtle visions and revelations of spiritual life which otherwise get obscured by the everyday goings-on of the secularized world and its conventionalized religion. Even a basic curiosity about mystical paths and ways and the esoteric wisdom they contain is apt excuse to embark upon this compelling journey which will turn the confused and restless soul, now enjoying and suffering in turns at the hands of fragmented mind and insentient matter, towards all the answers it requires and has been searching for over many lifetimes. So come, say the sages and seers, and find the highest refection of the soul possible at this sublime wisdom retreat in the isolated mountain ranges of varied spiritual experiences. Any of the tried and true pathways called authentic religions, rightly comprehended, will lead one there. The life-giving waters of Vedanta, Jainism, Vajrayana Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, and Bhakti and Karma Yogas all flow predominantly through the pages of this enlightening issue of Advaita-satya-amritam. Book reviews inclusive of world religions such as Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism also form little liquid pools of its conscious content, while eddies of Sufism, Yoga, Tantra, and Western Philosophy also play with in it — all carried on the powerful but unseen Truth-tide of Nonduality. Read on, dear soul, read on. Get immersed in the Waters of Eternal Life which, like a well-spring appearing near the thirst-filled road of embodiment, brings both peace and Self-realization to the transmigrating soul.

Wisdom Waters of Universalism

Nectar #22

Nahid Angha

Rev Canon Charles P Gibbs

Shivakumar Viswanathan

With a reverence for the universality of all religions, SRV Associations, under the auspice of its Chosen Ideals, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda, offers its 29th issue of Nectar of Nondual Truth into the world-wide community of truth seekers everywhere. The purpose is twofold: first, that religion aligned with philosophy get disseminated and become available to humanity in this trouble-prone day and age; second, that through this divine dispensation, the principle of Universality — the truth of all religions — gets propagated as well. For, as we often say in SRV Loka, “There is no such thing as a foreign religion; all religions are indigenous to your soul.” To this fine end, then, we are to laud and applaud all Nectar contributors towards this singular principle, writers and spiritual leaders from both different walks of life, and from various traditions as well. They are fine examples of the potential of a people united in a world of beings and societies who only grant lip-service to such high-minded causes, but seldom follow through in action and in realization. As Swami Vivekananda has pleaded, “When will man finally be friend to man?”

All Religions are Indigenous to Your Soul

Nectar #29

Sharad Chandra

Arthur Osborne

Bruno Barnhart

Advaita, a word of wondrous Oneness, is the specific topic of our Winter issue of Nectar of Nondual Truth — the journal which declares a timeless message of absolute Unity based upon the indivisible and homogenous nature of all existence. Why indivisible? Because despite the apparent bifurcation of Ultimate Reality into two parts, Shiva and Shakti — the static and the dynamic — and these two into a multitude of things via the inscrutable prestidigitation of the hand of Maya, Reality remains both immutable and ever-cohesive. The acts, movements and various conjurings of mind and nature, involved, willingly or unwillingly, in the process of birth, growth, decay and death, can never divide It. Compartmentalization is for creation, not for Consciousness — and even creation, when seen rightly, is one. Why homogenous? Because regardless of the appearance of multiplicity, that pictorial presentation of ephemeral phenomena before the enchanted mind and senses, all is Consciousness, all-pervasive. What is all-pervasive cannot be invited, encouraged, caused, forced, tricked, seduced or persuaded to give up Its innate continuity. The preternatural cosmic laws and powers such as time, space, creation, evolution, dissolution, life, death, transformation and projection are helpless to effect any change in the natural, unique and nonpareil uniformity of Divine Reality. Thus, as the saints, sages, seers and savants all say, there is but one living “substance” in existence, and that is pure conscious Awareness. Being a spiritual verity rather than a material entity, it is true, it is pure, it is real.

Scaling the Heights of Advaita Vedanta

Nectar #6

Sumita Roy

Swami Ranganathananda

Deacon Peter A. Solan

The fourth issue of Advaita-satya-amritam, which signals the completion of one year of distributing wisdom nectar to spiritually thirsty people, focuses on revealing and supplicating the guru, or Guru-Tattva, the indubitable principle of superlative guidance inherent in all things. Though this ubiquitous force of sempiternal intelligence is far-flung across the universe — present in the innermost constituency of the tiniest material particle on the atomic level, and extending even into the subtlest atmospheres of celestial and empyrean realms — nowhere is it more concentrated than in mankind. Therefore we extol the authentic human preceptor with hearts and minds made radiant with love and devotion.

A Journal of Universal Religious and Philosophical Teachings

Nectar #4

Purnoham Rob Reno

In this first issue of “Nectar,” the Universal Mother’s transcendent wisdom, we offer articles on Vedanta, on Sufi Meditation, and teachings from the Tantric Wisdom of Mother India. There is an article on Nondual Judaism focused on Jewish spiritual practice, and of course the “Wisdom Facets from the Gem of Truth,” teachings from our SRV ideal — Sarada, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda — whose matchless love and wisdom will grace every future issue. In all these articles, indivisible unity, called Advaita or nondualism, is greatly emphasized. This is one of the aims of our SRV journal, to show that all practice along the spiritual path can and should be undertaken with the fore-knowledge of our essential oneness with God. As my guru used to tell me, “Grace and self-effort must go hand in hand.” Human beings are expressions of God, pure and perfect by nature, but the mind needs to know this. This knowing is called Enlightenment, Illumination, Liberation or Self-realization and cannot be feigned, nor can the integrity of the path leading to It be compromised.

Nectar #1

Kyogen Carlson

Tabriz Parinda Lowe

Reyhan al-Jerrahi

Monica Miller

Swami Akhilananda

In this 2009 issue, and to greet the new year in the characteristic fashion of all those who wish to live a dharmic life dedicated to the manifestation of God on earth via the practice of purificatory disciplines, we include articles depicting the wisdom contained in the sacred traditions of Judaism, Jainism, Christianity, Sufism, Taoism, Yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen buddhism, and Vedanta, all underscored by the crucial and foundational element of nondualism, or Advaita. We also invite all those who come in contact with Nectar of Nondual Truth to duly submit articles, writings, poems, or personal questions and experiences from any other faith or belief system so as to give an even more complete and fulfilling expression to this religiously and philosophically committed literary journal.

Harmonization of Religious Traditions

Nectar #24

Surya Green

To know Religion is to know Truth, for that is its basis. And who knows the Truth? Those who have realized It through the unique and specific ways and means leading to It. The enlightened souls and the honest oral and written records they left behind should become the recourse of the wise seeker. Such a seeker hears the Truth contained within the nondual revealed scriptures, then gets the transmission of Truth directly from a realized soul, then practices intensely with dedication and perseverence to realize that Truth. This triple combination produces sages and seers. Reading a few books; giving a few talks; leading a few classes on relationships; fasting, dieting, breathing, and posturing the body; fascination with occult powers; indulging all the many modes of pretended spirituality; intellectual study devoid of any direct experience — when did any of these ever produce an authentic luminary?

True Universal Religion

Nectar #19

Anam Thubten Rinpoche

Judaism, Jainism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Vedanta, and Advaita Vedanta, are all represented in full in this issue of Nectar of Nondual Truth, and if we had the available pages and writers we would certainly include all the rest of the world’s religious traditions herein as well. For, The Religion of the coming age, and of all ages — recognized as such or not — is Universality, and its underlying essence is Nonduality (advaita). Different liquids may be pleasing to the palate, but only water really slakes our thirst. Similarly, religion brings solace to embodied souls, but only nonduality slakes the inner thirst of the soul yearning to be free. Odors of cooked food wafting on the air bring children running for their meal, but only eating it truly satisfies their hunger. Like this, the inward fragrance of religion attracts the soul to perform worship and meditate, but only merging with Divine Reality fulfills all their aims and ends. The holy water and sacred food of the soul, then, is Universality based in Nonduality. Universality is beyond interreligious harmony and outstrips eclecticism. It breathes free, grows, and expands in the rare and exalted atmosphere of the open mind of the sincere and dedicated aspirant. Like the headiness of breathless heights one feels on pilgrimage in the Himalayan mountains, or the inspiration felt by taking pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or the power present when going on Hajj to Mecca, just so Universality verily transports the human mind to lofty experiences of Consciousness felt nowhere else — not even in the life heavens or the causal realms!

Nectar #30: The Desire for Freedom

Annapurna Sarada

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