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God and Soul "is" the ultimate of nonduality. What does that mean? I cannot explain it. It has to be experienced metaphysically, or spiritually. The oneness of devotion of the soul for God is Profound. The oneness of devotion of the soul for God becomes nonduality. And of course the clarity of understanding that only the One Exists is also Profound.

Not only profound, but perhaps subtle and quietly spiritual in a way that does not change a thing about things. They seem to just move on along. Chop wood carry water. Or in my case, clean catboxes, vacuum up the woodshop (day job stuff you know!). ha ha And sometimes ... of course not being up to a "me" there will be understandings of Reality and whatnot.

My good friend, Pastor Dave has told me to be direct, one on one... so I will be direct and say it like it is for me. If you are reading this, my friends. There are "things" that happen of a spiritual nature. Metaphysical things. I have been at this for quite some time. I have listened and read, and watched DVDs and various and sundry things about this spiritual path business.

For me, I must tell you that many of the instances of "mini" realizations have occurred during my practice of Kriya yoga. Not every single one. The Divine has a Way of "doing" things, if that makes any sense. But I need to at least say that much. Not to be divulging sacred, personal spiritual experiences. Those are between God and Soul. But, I think it is important to say that the Kriya yoga is in a class that I have not seen or heard or felt from other practices, or readings or watching DVDs or any sort of intellectual pursuits.

Yes, truly I do believe that all paths lead to the Divine. And yes, from my experiments with the inner science of Kriya yoga, I must say that the experiments have led to what I must say are openings into Turiya consciousness.Turiya, the fourth state of consciousness, aka God Consciousness.

"The fourth state is not that which is conscious of the subjective, nor that which is conscious of the objective, nor that which is conscious of both, nor that which is simple consciousness, nor that which is all-sentient mass, nor that which is all darkness. It is unseen, transcendent, the sole essence of the consciousness of self, the completion of the world."¹

But wait! Am I confessing some sort of divine god like status in little old me? Hardly. Lately (winter of 2008) I have been struggling with my daily spiritual routines. Way back years ago that really used to throw me much more than it does now. I am still not thrilled when the meditation and discipline are not going really well, but now when those periods seem to "happen" I remember that no matter what, I am going to continue practicing my Kriya yoga, and my other spiritual routings, and just do whatever I am able to do. I know that "I" am not the doer. I also know that if "I" do not do anything at all, the life directions do not seem to flow in the direction of Dao. They seem to go chaotic.

Yes, I am still working through various karmic patterns. Yet, at the same time, there are definite, spontaneous episodes of Turiya consciousness. They are most often associated with my practice of Kriya yoga. I am not talking about just getting a little bit calm in meditation. (This is sometimes a criticism of meditation by those who may not practice it - that you can achieve the same results by just sitting still on the couch or whatnot)

YOU CANNOT! But of course this is not entirely true. Once I did! I was attempting to meditate in the early years, and was lying back on the couch, listening to "Switched on Bach" (an early synthesizer album), when all of a sudden, my consciousness switched to a higher plane. This was NOT just getting a little bit calm. I went into a different state of cousciousness.

And if anyone is still reading this with the theme of the question regarding "non-duality" ... well, I can only tell you that nonduality is a wonderful concept. And it is more than that. Or maybe it is less than that. Neither of those. Both.

Just typing that mini-paragraph was tiring. And reading it back was tiring. And this morning when I was getting ready for work, thinking of a "spiritual" website, (much like this one, I fear, with a host of spiritual articles on it), was tiring to the soles of my soul. I was a little depressed at the thought. Well, the thoughts, really. So many many many. Never ending. More and more. Thoughts piled beyond the sky - more and more thoughts. Material thoughts...spiritual thoughts. Just an endless supply. This and that and the other. And the "nonduality" websites are the same in that way. Thoughts thoughts thoughts.

Just thinking back to that started to get me a little bit moody once again. But I was lifted up, then and now, with my understanding of Transcendental Brahman, sometimes called Still Brahman. The truly nondual state, beyond, or before thoughts. And now, I am remembering a quote from Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, "Sri Yukteshwarji (Yogananda's guru) will initiate you into Kriya Yoga...it calms the dualistic turmoil by a divine inner certainty."¹

At least for me, this is a wonderful, and hopeful quote. How many people on this earth plane have an divine inner certainty? And I must tell you, this is true. The practice of Kriya Yoga has brought this to me, over time. And I pray that I will never fall from the path of Kriya Yoga, because of this, and other reasons as well. I have felt, witnessed... this inner Divine Certainty. It is not based on faith words from a spiritual book (those can be very good things, of course). Neither is it based upon faith in a charismatic guru (I am not swooning over Guru Yogananda as I write these words - or any spiritual figure, guru, son of God, avatar, etc). It is because of practice of the method of Kriya.

In spite of what we have often been taught in this country, that Grace does the work ... that may be true ... but for me the practice of Kriya yoga has brought, and is bringing more and more ... an inner Divine Certainty, based on nothing in the "outer" world.

I do not intend to divulge, as I said, personal experiences too much, except to say that during the practice of kriya I have had "understandings" of nonduality, that were not quite the same as reading essays about it. I am talking about direct knowing of reality.

It is the difference between, "That sounds like the truth," and "That is the truth." Or, "I believe that is the truth," and "I see that is the truth." (Not seeing with the eyes, but the direct understanding, not coming through reading it and thinking it sounds true)