Buddha at the Gas Pump 259. Rupert Spira, 2nd Interview
Nov 5, 2014
Rupert Spira, a leading teacher of non-dual wisdom and author exploring the nature of consciousness. He guides inward inquiry and demonstrates awareness knowing itself. Short practices like asking “Am I aware?” and metaphors about a luminous screen appear. Conversations cover sinking attention into being, how consciousness remains unchanged by experience, and living with that presence in daily life.
00:00
Consciousness Is Self-Luminous
- Consciousness knows itself directly and doesn't need a finite mind or body as a mirror. - Rupert compares it to the sun: consciousness is self-luminous and doesn't need to light a candle to be illuminated.
Use Am I Aware To Sink Attention
- Use the simple question "Am I aware?" and pause to let attention sink to its source. - The attention collapses when it has no object and reveals itself as pure consciousness without effortful practice.
Attention As A Modulation Of Consciousness
- Attention is a modulation of consciousness, a stretching toward objects that can subside into non-attention. - This sinking is not a new acquisition but a recognition or re-knowing of what consciousness already is.
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Intro
00:00 • 1min
Consciousness knows itself without mind
01:23 • 2min
Testing awareness in direct experience
03:13 • 3min
Attention cannot find itself as object
06:25 • 4min
Sinking attention into its source
10:37 • 4min
Screen metaphor: self-aware consciousness
14:27 • 6min
How consciousness knows itself
20:33 • 5min
Moment of being aware of being aware
25:56 • 3min
Consciousness remains home when knowing itself
28:31 • 3min
Stable realization versus fleeting insight
31:04 • 3min
Gradual undressing of attention into pure consciousness
33:34 • 3min
Collapse of subject-object distinction
36:30 • 4min
Living with the reality of consciousness
40:14 • 2min
Consciousness isn't stained by experience
42:41 • 9min
Applying realization in everyday interactions
52:11 • 9min
Practical practice: live as if consciousness is all
01:01:03 • 4min
Longing for happiness as call to home
01:05:04 • 5min
Universal availability of self-knowing awareness
01:10:11 • 2min
Practical steps: encourage attention to return
01:12:11 • 4min
Natural functioning: peace as the good food
01:16:07 • 6min
Percolation of peace through experience
01:21:46 • 1min
Outro
01:23:13 • 6min
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The Ashes of Love
Sayings on the Essence of Non-Duality
Rupert Spira
In 'The Ashes of Love: Sayings on the Essence of Non-Duality,' Rupert Spira collects brief, potent reflections that point directly to the heart of non-dual understanding.
The book distills complex philosophical and experiential themes into accessible aphorisms aimed at evoking recognition rather than intellectualization.
Each saying functions as a contemplative trigger to help the reader turn attention inward and recognize the underlying awareness in which love and experience arise.
The format makes it suitable for daily reflection and as an accompaniment to meditation or inquiry.
It is designed to support the deepening of presence and the softening of conditioned beliefs about separation.
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The Light of Pure Knowing
Rupert Spira
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Transparent Body, Luminous World
The Tantric Yoga of Sensation and Perception
Rupert Spira
In 'Transparent Body, Luminous World: The Tantric Yoga of Sensation and Perception,' Rupert Spira presents an in-depth approach to using bodily sensation and subtle perception as the primary means of non-dual exploration.
The book (and accompanying six-CD audio set) offers guided contemplations and practices that bring awareness into direct contact with sensation, revealing the transparent nature of the body and world.
Drawing on Tantric methods and Advaita insight, Spira emphasizes the refinement of attention and the loving inquiry into feeling.
The material is intended to be practical and experiential, suitable for retreat settings as well as daily practice.
It supports the gradual permeation of everyday life with the clarity and intimacy of awareness.
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• Mentioned in 5 episodes
Being Aware of Being Aware
Rupert Spira
Rupert Spira's "Being Aware of Being Aware" offers a concise introduction to his teachings on non-duality.
The book centers on the inherent awareness that underlies all experience, emphasizing that this awareness is the true nature of our being.
Spira argues that the overlooking of this fundamental awareness is the root cause of suffering.
He guides readers toward recognizing this inherent awareness through direct experience, bypassing intellectual understanding.
The book's brevity and clarity make it an accessible entry point into Spira's profound teachings on self-realization.
It encourages readers to turn their attention inward, discovering the peace and happiness that reside within.
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The Nature of Consciousness
Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter
Rupert Spira
In *The Nature of Consciousness*, Rupert Spira posits that consciousness is the fundamental reality underlying the apparent duality of mind and matter.
The book argues that recognizing this reality is crucial for overcoming existential unhappiness and fostering global peace.
It explores how consciousness remains unchanged despite the flux of experiences, offering a path to inherent peace and happiness.
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Presence, Volume II
Rupert Spira
Rupert Spira's 'Presence, Volume II: The Intimacy of All Experience' continues the exploration of presence by examining how the knowing quality of awareness permeates every aspect of experience.
The book offers contemplative teachings and practical investigations into sensation, perception, and relationship, inviting readers to recognize the intimate nature of all phenomena.
It emphasizes the transformation that arises when one dwells in the direct sense of being and allows that recognition to inform daily life.
Written in accessible language and supported by exercises, the volume helps integrate non-dual insights into practical living.
It complements Volume I by deepening the experiential understanding of love and presence.
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The Transparency of Things
Rupert Spira
Rupert Spira's 'The Transparency of Things' presents short, meditative paragraphs designed to be read slowly and reflected upon, guiding readers toward direct recognition of awareness as the substance of experience.
Drawing on Advaita and related teachings, the book emphasizes investigating perception and sensation to reveal the transparent nature of objects and the self.
Its compact sections function as contemplative prompts, each intended to be re-read and absorbed rather than consumed quickly.
The work invites readers to notice the immediacy of knowing and to recognize awareness as the underlying reality of all experience.
It has been influential among those exploring non-duality and experiential approaches to consciousness.
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Presence, Volume I
Rupert Spira
In 'Presence, Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness,' Rupert Spira explores how direct recognition of awareness leads to genuine peace and happiness beyond conditioned thought and emotion.
The book combines clear explanations with contemplative prompts to help readers investigate their immediate experience and realize presence as their true nature.
Drawing on Advaita and modern experiential inquiry, Spira emphasizes practical investigation of sensation, perception, and feeling as gateways to understanding.
The book seeks to make non-dual insights accessible and applicable in everyday life, encouraging a gentle, loving inquiry rather than abstract theorizing.
It serves as an introductory companion to deeper practice and subsequent volumes in the Presence series.
From an early age Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen he learnt to meditate, and began a twenty-year period of study and practice in the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India.
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 Atmananda Krishnamenon, the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism (which he had received from his teacher, Jean Klein), and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience. Rupert lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the USA.
Books:
The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience
Presence, Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness
Presence, Volume II: The Intimacy of All Experience
The Ashes of Love: Sayings on the Essence of Non-Duality
The Light of Pure Knowing: Thirty Meditations on the Essence of Non-Duality
Transparent Body, Luminous World: The Tantric Yoga of Sensation and Perception (Book and six MP3 CD Box Set - 30 Hours of Audio)
The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter
Being Aware of Being Aware (The Essence of Meditation Series)
Rupert’s YouTube Channel. Interviews can be listened to here and watched here.
Rupert lives in UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and USA.
For all further information see http://www.rupertspira.com.
Interview recorded 10/25/014 at the Science and Nonduality Conference.
Transcript of this interview
1st BatGap interview with Rupert
YouTube Video Chapters:
00:00:00 - The Self-Knowing Nature of Consciousness
00:03:58 - The Experience of Awareness
00:06:46 - Directing Attention Inward
00:09:32 - The Experience of Being Aware
00:13:08 - The Nature of Self-Abidance
00:19:37 - The Unnamable Reality of Experience
00:20:10 - Does consciousness need a mind or a nervous system to know itself?
00:23:45 - The Nature of Consciousness
00:26:14 - The Experience of Being Aware
00:28:31 - The Experience of Consciousness Being Aware of Itself
00:31:30 - Knowing Oneself and Consciousness
00:35:01 - Sinking Attention into its Source
00:38:26 - The Relaxation of Attention and the Shining of Peace
00:42:23 - The Illusion of Separate Self and the Fabrication of the World
00:45:10 - The Test of Reality
00:48:47 - Experience as a Coloring of Consciousness
00:52:40 - The Collapse of the Distinction between Consciousness and its Objects
00:55:43 - Compassion for those in difficult circumstances
00:59:33 - Matter as a Perception
01:02:13 - Living with Love and Awareness
01:05:21 - The Universal Feeling-Understanding
01:08:49 - Treating the World with Kindness
01:11:59 - The Longing for Happiness
01:15:16 - The Source of Longing for Happiness and Awareness
01:18:47 - Stepping in the Direction of Discovery
01:21:32 - The Mud Puddle and Living the Words
01:24:46 - The Natural Style of Functioning
01:28:01 - The Presence of Consciousness in Experience
01:32:10 - Trusting Experience and God's Infinite Being
01:35:33 - A Beautiful Gift to Humanity
01:38:07 - Listening during your commute