Assimilating These Teachings - Teacher Recommendations

This gentle recording offers a supportive way to approach these non-dual contemplative teachings without pressure or the sense of needing to keep up. Rather than presenting a fixed method, it encourages listeners to follow natural curiosity, resonance, and the quiet guidance of the heart.

Drawing from over 40 years of meditation, reading, and contemplation, Pratika shares a grounded and welcoming way to engage with a growing library of recordings. You are invited to listen slowly, pausing whenever something meaningful arises, allowing space for silence, meditation, and direct experience.

The reflection also highlights the value of returning to teachings over time, where new subtleties and deeper understanding may naturally reveal themselves. Especially supportive for those unsure where to begin or feeling overwhelmed, this offering creates a relaxed foundation for listening with ease, openness, and self-trust — an invitation to let insight unfold naturally.

Transcript

When I was a young monk, There were a couple of books of gurus that I used to read all the time. Now, Guru's philosophy in the beginning was very new to me, So in places it seemed fairly lofty, And I didn't quite understand what it was. I mean, This is the writings of a very well-established spiritual master who's written over a thousand books, So early books that was recommended when you come a place to start. So I took a year off and just read that particular book, Just read it and meditated, Read it and just contemplated the teachings and really began to assimilate and really have the personal experience. So what I would suggest because of the volume of material that's coming online, I mean not only my page, I mean there's so much information available to you. And just let me read this to you because if you're joining or if you're new to this page, You might notice there are many talks, Courses, Meditations, Music and contemplations available now. As with me when I first became a monk, I found there was so much information in guru's books that I felt a little bit overwhelmed and what I want you to, If you can embrace, Don't feel overwhelmed and don't feel that you need to keep pace with everything that's been published. It's important that you listen to your own heart. You'll be drawn to the tracks that appeal to you in the moment and spend some time with each track. Use them actually as a meditation as you listen to them. If there are parts of the track you're not quite sure about, Go back and listen to it again. So use it as a resource to go back again and again and listen and listen and you can just listen a bit, Stop the track, Meditate on whatever it was you just heard, Then play the track again and keep going like that. That's a lovely way to approach. So this takes a little bit of adjustment within yourself, Particularly the ego will be challenged at times. That's fine. It's meant to be challenged because that's how we overcome those little moments of conditioning and the things we tend to hang on to and believe in, Which is all part of the process. I would strongly recommend, And this is your own, You make your own choice, But find the track that you like, Listen to it, Listen to it a number of times and if you listen to it one day, Go back and listen to it again the next day because there is a shift occurring energetically and there'll be some shifts occur in the first time you read it, First time you're meditating with it, Then go back and read it again and there'll be another, There'll be more shifts and more assimilations and a greater sense of knowing. So this is just from my own personal experience and I'm happy to share that with you. So treat these tracks as a library, Go to them as often and I would actually suggest, And part of the process of stepping away from mind and the way mind has been such a part of our life for so long, Is that we need to discipline the mind and that's something generally in the West which is not really practiced and it's not that well understood, But I would suggest part of your deepening awareness, Develop the discipline to at least once a day, Every day, Go to a track somewhere and listen to it and meditate on it. So it becomes like an active meditation and that discipline will really pay off big time and because then you get that momentum, That regularity and go slowly, You know, You're not expecting to understand it all at once. And when I first read Nisargadatta Maharajas, I Am That, A couple of years ago when I first read, Probably three years ago now, You know, It's a 600-page book and it's one of the classics in non-duality and there were chunks of it that I didn't understand. So I read it once, Cover to cover, And then I read it again and then I read it again and then I read it again. So as soon as I finished the first time, I immediately read it again. So this is the way you build up your own inner wisdom and your own awareness and it's something that I would I would highly recommend for you to do. There's a lot of material in there now and there's going to be a lot more coming.