We are what we seek. Consciousness is ever present right now! First tell us a little about what went into your book: Cathy: I finished the first draft of the manuscript in 2005 following my first trip to the sacred mountain Arunachala. I returned in 2006 where I added journal entries that were for "my eyes only." I wanted to make the book "real" to the spiritual search, so the book is a honest account of a path to awakening. Please describe some unique aspects your book offers: Cathy: 1. By telling this story in chronological order, readers are taken on a colorful pilgrimage from meditation retreats in the U.S., walking with sadhus in the Himalayas, falling in love with a Mountain in India, to finally finding the teacher within in Bali. 2. A variety of meditation techniques and spiritual teachings are weaved into the book, so the reader can explore a variety of practices to help them begin or deepen their spiritual practice. 3. Common spiritual roadblocks such as giving thoughts authority, and the dance of the student-teacher relationship are included to normalize these struggles on the path, along with specific teachings and insights that proved helpful on the way. 4. Throughout my spiritual search, I worked a full-time job as a social worker. I share a variety of practices used to bring spirituality to daily life. 5. Working through a variety of emotions proved freeing on my path. I share what I learned intuitively in the caves of India, and how these techniques can be used in daily life. 6. I followed a path of devotion balanced with the practices of self-inquiry, otherwise known as the search for truth. I describe both paths, and how in the end they converge and lead to the end of seeking. It is my greatest hope that this book finds those who can most benefit from its encouraging message: We are what we seek. Consciousness is ever present right now! Enjoy.  Add Comment Please also visit my new blog http://bringinghomethemountain.blogspot.com. It expresses the deeper inspiration behind my new book, Bringing Home the Mountain. I share teachings and experiences that were pivotal on my path to awakening, including teachings by Ramana Maharshi, and the mysterious energy of the sacred mountain, Arunachala.  Shiva Awakening On the second day I received another sign that I was in the right place. I was wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, still not adjusted to the time change. I got dressed sensing it was time to climb the Mountain. I walked to the main road at 4:30 a.m. It was still dark with the night’s mist lingering. Since I did not know where the trail was located, I tried to ask directions from sadhus who were wandering in the street. Again, nobody seemed to understand my question. Several Hindus were making their eight-mile pilgrimage around the Mountain, a sacred practice in the region. A devout Hindu woman, perhaps around sixty-five, stopped after overhearing me asking for directions. Speaking no English, she invited me to walk around Arunachala with her. I instinctively said yes. At first I followed her, but soon we were walking side by side. We walked together more than four hours as she visited each of the Hindu temples and shrines along the way. Westerners are often not welcome into the inner sanctums of Hindu temples, however, as her special guest I was made to feel welcome. In fact, I felt as though I was her adopted granddaughter. With great devotion and care, she adorned my hair with flowers and painted my forehead with special colored ash.  Bringing Home the Mountain-Finding the Teacher Within weaves teachings into a colorful spiritual story to help others awaken to the truth of who they are. My heart had no choice but to write it. Now, let it find those who it was meant for.  Music to my heart: "I'm reading your book with delight!" "I have been practically devouring your book." "The Mountain has truly been delivered! The book has clearly worded insights that point in the highest way possible to Truth." "I highly recommend the book." "A manuscript that contains beautiful details of the mystical path. It is filled with teachings, personal insights as well as struggles, and a journey's flowering that is unveiled before the reader's eyes." "I received your book today and started reading it. I am liking it very much." "I'm definitely getting this book." "Cathy Jonas' exciting account of her spiritual journey, Bringing Home the Mountain, overflows with an abundance of experiences and insights. Any genuine seeker should find plenty here to both inspire and instruct on his or her own path to Awakening." ~Joel Morwood (author of The Way of Selflessness, and Naked through the Gate) Bringing Home the Mountain: Finding the Teacher Within is a colorful spiritual story written from the heart. May it reach those who can most enjoy and benefit from it.  Bringing Spirituality to Daily Life . . . . When one lives through the open space of the heart, emotional events and challenges do not stick. They flow through. The more we discover that all is experienced within our hearts, the more we are able to be fully present to what is going on in our lives. We just feel what is going on, allowing love to be received in its many forms. Even losses, challenges, and other instances we do not understand are welcomed into the heart. Moving from the space of contraction to expansion becomes the movement of freedom. The Shift of Gravity from the Head to the Heart 1. Tune into the presence of the breath; feel the chest rising. 2. Notice if this space of the heart feels full or even achy. Know there is nothing to do and no need to change it. 3. Bring attention to the space of the heart throughout the day. Continue to feel the presence of the heart. 4. A growing willingness and acceptance to live life just as it is, is experienced. This is living with a heart of presence. The heart can take it all in, and receives by letting in. 5. Breathe into any feelings of contraction, simply resting in the space of expansion. Just be with what you are feeling, settling once more into the Heart Space. This is Freedom.  Self-Inquiry Practice (Who Am I?) 1. Bring mindfulness to what you are doing, either during formal meditation or simply by following the breath in daily life. 2. Be attentive to what you are feeling, or bring attention to the heart space by following the breath with attention. 3. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” 4. Feel the answer, since this is not something the mind can answer. Do not follow thoughts about who you are even if they are spiritual thoughts. 5. Feel who you are. Notice the unchanging stillness or presence within you. Rest your attention in this space. 6.Relax into the unknown space of the heart. This is where Truth is revealed. 7. To deepen the self-inquiry practice during formal meditation or in daily life ask the following questions: “Who is feeling? Who is thinking? Who is seeing? Who is doing? Who is experiencing?” And, even “Who is seeking?” Again, feel the answer in your heart. The Inner Witness With a few techniques and trusting my own experiences, I was learning that all things were passing phenomena. This did not mean that I had lost interest in life. Meditation was helping me become more observant of what was going on around me, and a sense of spaciousness was growing within me. This spaciousness was helping me tune into the internal observer, or inner witness of my own feelings, body sensations, thoughts, and reactions. This inner witness was present during meditation sessions, during my work and personal life, including while I was talking with others. I found that I was more present to what was going on around me, with less energy directed at creating a story about things. Life started taking on a richness that had not existed before. I was fully engaged in life, yet there was a surreal or dreamlike aspect about my daily routines and habits that I was finding easier to tap into. Events taking place around me were taking on a slow-motion quality. This was not because things were actually moving slower, but because there was a greater awareness of my own internal reactions or sense of presence. The fear of everyday existence and whether something unexpected or bad was going to happen was greatly diminished. Footsteps of Ramana Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on thee in the heart. ~Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi  On the fourth day I walked from the guesthouse to the Sri Ramanasramam, Ramana’s ashram, through the back gate and onto a trail that led up the Mountain. I was surprised to note the number of Western spiritual tourists also walking the trail. I made a short visit to Ramana’s upper cave, Skandashram, where Ramana lived with his mother between 1916 and 1922. He then moved into the Sri Ramanasramam, which was built after his mother’s death. I veered downhill to Ramana’s lower cave, Virupaksha, where he lived from 1899 through 1916. Both caves are modernized with white, plaster walls. The lower cave, my favorite, houses several photos of Ramana lining the walls of the outside chamber. I spent the next two hours meditating in the dark and generally quiet, inner chamber. When I was leaving Ramana’s lower cave, I vividly experienced the present moment. I noticed how the activities of my body-mind continued without my effort. Each footstep was for Ramana. My body seemed to be walking his beloved Mountain for him. The simple act of each step, followed by another, or how long I stood on the rocks, or what scenes would draw my attention, demonstrated how the actions of my body-mind simply happen. Who was it that was actually walking? The six hours on the Mountain had a timeless quality, as though a natural rhythm or state of just being had taken over. As I returned to the guesthouse everything I observed was so vivid, all was being experienced as the present moment. It was all Awareness. Sample of Chapter Two: The Invitation (from Bringing Home the Mountain-Finding the Teacher Within) 06/02/2010
Two  . . . . Ramana Maharshi In late December my husband and I also started attending The Center for Sacred Sciences, which we have continued to do.... At the Center we were soon introduced to the path of Advaita Vedanta Although Ramana died in 1950 there was vitality that radiated from the photos of him. It was as though I had seen his loving and all-accepting eyes before, and looking in them gave me a sense of absolute peace and comfort. The video, and in particular his teachings on self-inquiry (e.g., asking oneself the question, “Who am I?”), seemed oddly familiar. Again, this was not something the mind could understand. While watching the video that morning I experienced a great sense of awe that I was even seeing this man on the screen. Tears of devotion flowed down my cheeks and my heart was pounding. I did not understand what was happening but a connection was certainly made. Ramana Maharshi was my guru and I knew it.
| AuthorHi, I'm 'Cathy' Rosewell Jonas, author of Bringing Home the Mountain: Finding the Teacher Within. My book is dedicated to the many who have embarked on a spiritual quest to find themselves, may you all find the way home to your own heart. Archives |
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