A woman says she had an awakening experience but the intense bliss she felt disappeared soon afterwards. How can the state of mind experienced after a glimpse of your true nature simply fade away?

Rupert Spira is an English teacher of the “direct path”, a method of spiritual self-inquiry through talks and writing, and a notable English studio potter with work in public and private collections. From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen, he learned to meditate and began studying and practicing the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India, which he continued for the next twenty years. During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmanada Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.

In this guided meditation on God, Rupert explores the concepts of desire, prayer and meditation and how they relate to finding peace and joy. Desire, expectation or hope implies the absence of that which is expected. It may at some point in the future appear or happen, but even if it did, it would by definition disappear at some point. Therefore it could not possibly lead to lasting peace or happiness. But when our expectation is divested of its object, it is revealed as peace.

Rupert Spira is an English teacher of the “direct path”, a method of spiritual self-inquiry through talks and writing, and a notable English studio potter with work in public and private collections. From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen, he learned to meditate and began studying and practicing the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India, which he continued for the next twenty years. During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmanada Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.

Is there a simple and effective way to silence negative thoughts and overcome beliefs that no longer serve you? Rupert says thinking is an interpretation that we overlay onto our experience that profoundly affects the way we experience. It is possible to replace thoughts with a thought that more accurately reflects the nature of reality…

Rupert Spira is an English teacher of the “direct path”, a method of spiritual self-inquiry through talks and writing, and a notable English studio potter with work in public and private collections. From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen, he learned to meditate and began studying and practicing the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India, which he continued for the next twenty years. During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmanada Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.

It is said that the greatest teaching is silence, but how does that fit in with contemporary spirituality? And if all teachings other than silence are a concession to the separate self, how can contemporary non-dual teachers reconcile that in their work?

Rupert Spira is an English teacher of the “direct path”, a method of spiritual self-inquiry through talks and writing, and a notable English studio potter with work in public and private collections. From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen, he learned to meditate and began studying and practicing the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India, which he continued for the next twenty years. During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmanada Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.

In this discussion about lucid waking, enlightenment, and death, a questioner asks if becoming aware in a dream state is analogous to becoming enlightened in the waking state. And if we do not awaken in life, does that happen upon death?

Rupert Spira is an English teacher of the “direct path”, a method of spiritual self-inquiry through talks and writing, and a notable English studio potter with work in public and private collections. From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen, he learned to meditate and began studying and practicing the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India, which he continued for the next twenty years. During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmanada Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.