Movie “NON-DUALITY LIFE AS IT IS”
Comments and reviews
This documentary, based on the books written by Dr. Vijai S. Shankar, crosses the boundaries of mind. The documentary unveils time and reality for what they really are, which is an optical and auditory illusion of light and sound.
with Dutch and German Subtitles
and inlay
- The best 200 of films received (out of >1000) this year by the YoungCuts Film Festival.
- Invited to participate in the inaugural Open City London Documentary Festival.
Michael Jeffreys USA:
The DVD covers several other important topics, such as Cause and Effect (which, like actions, are an illusion), as well as Space and Time (which require each other to exist), but which I will not comment upon so as to keep my review a reasonable length.
I have no doubt that the serious student of non-duality will find the material covered both fascinating and illuminating. However, that is… read further
Jürgen Meißner, Germany
I have received the DVD by mail from Holland now and watched it more than once. The more you know the German subtitles by heart the more you could concentrate on the effects of the film while it watching and this leads to an even better understanding of "life". Since my early childhood I was interested in such scientific topics and the evolutionary sophistication to Dr. Shankar's explanations, (now at the age of 54) seems very interesting to me.
Elisabeth, Netherlands
Yes, I am very happy with the movie. I read the voiceover sentences every day and go over each sentence very slowly and just let it sink in. Where you mention that the losing boxer ‘seems’ to be deeply frustrated, I suddenly realized the word ‘seems’, how everything ‘seems’ to have a meaning. And that just the appearance of a single image is already in the past and not an actuality. And ‘light lacks any meaning itself’ is also a revelation.
Karthik, India
But the "I" is full of alluring pleasures that are very hard to give up, the I is an addiction by itself a bundle of habits that we have become so reliant on... In that case what can we do? I am sure of one thing in my life that even if I take anyone to the state of ego less bliss that original innocence we felt as a baby. Even if you see the separation of thought and self, I am sure you will come back to being an ego! We are not ready, most of us will never be.
Shankar:
If you see the separation between thought and self you will be a witnesser and not an ego
Barbara Lauter, Munich, Germany
The DVD ‘Non-duality Life as it is’ I've got recently is so wonderful that I look at it each day once. The German subtitles are very, very helpful for my understanding. It is explained sooo nicely and together with the pictures the cementing of the understanding so much fun. Thank YOU, thank Floris, Paul, all money donators and all others for the whole "work" so that we can have this super benefit out of it.
Jeremy Labram, London, UK.
The Academy’s DVD, “Non-Duality – Life as it is”, was launched at the recent Denekamp Satsunga.
The film, directed by Floris Ramaekers, had also qualified for a screening at London’s new Open City London Documentary Festival, hosted at London’s University College. A delegation from the Academy swelled numbers at the occasion and made sure everybody there received cards linking the film to the Academy.
We were greeted with the following programme notes:
“Leave behind the boundaries of your mind, strip away beginnings and endings, escape the concept of time in this beautifully shot documentary that unveils time and reality for what they really are, an optical and auditory illusion of light and sound. We live our lives in terms of cause and effect which fills our days with events and situations. From situations we create the emotions - misery and the quest for happiness.”
The film was followed by two other films providing insights into liberation from mental illness. The last statement in the final one of these was “get a hold of life and then love life”, which, in a way, powerfully brought the trilogy back to where it started.
As the chief judge has said, “At its best documentary film goes beyond the familiar and the cliché to reveal the mystery, the poetry, the ambiguity beneath.” Well, my love and thanks to Doctor Shankar, Floris and the team for making the inexplicable ever clearer for one aspirant.
Rebecca Perry, Houston, USA.
If you get a copy of the newly released documentary, Non-Duality, Life As It Is, written by Dr. Shankar, and watch it several times, the possibility is there for you to be transformed. The documentary goes into why, since there is no time, man cannot be the thinker, speaker or doer, that man does not make his life happen- life happens to him, that life is spontaneous, uncontrollable and unpredictable, that life is a singular flow - it will become clear to you that your mind/thoughts do not control your life and your actions. This understanding, once it takes place (and you cannot bring it about since you are not the doer), transforms the ego into the witness and life becomes effortless. None of this means that you walk slightly off the ground, have a smile on your face always and have beatific spiritual visions. You come to understand that you are being lived by existence and trust happens along with patience. The need to have things be the way you want gives way to celebrating life as it unfolds in its intelligent, mysterious manner, which it was doing all along only now you understand that and so you find yourself steady in life, watching in awe the play of light and sound, as it is. Dive deep into the body of work that life is gifting to us at this moment in the living form of Dr. Shankar. This is by no means a comparison but if you were struck by the living words of other recent sages such as J. Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, etc., then you don’t want to miss out on Dr. Shankar. With the appearance of each sage, the message deepens as life evolves and the mind sophisticates. Illusory does not mean it does not exist, so understanding the illusory is paramount and Dr. Shankar’s deep understanding and sharing of the nature of the illusory, the mind, the ego and the real will change you to some degree, which will be determined by existence and not you. His statement that life is an optical illusion of light and an auditory illusion of sound can be explored in several books and cd’s.
Jonne Severijn, Netherlands
I finally had a chance to watch the movie quietly. How amazing that it succeeded in conveying the essence of the fact of Maya in such a clear and convincing pictorial way. A miracle that such a simple approach could lead to such a refined result. If I could feel jealousy I would be become tremendously jealous, now I can only rejoice and be grateful. My sincere compliments to all who have worked on it.
Anna, Slovania
What a beautiful review of Dr.Shankar`s DVD Non Duality: Life as it is, thank you Michael! I haven`t purchased the DVD yet but I certainly will soon. Right now I am reading Dr. Shankar`s Kaivalya Gita Vol.2 and it is really amazing how deep it leads you into the understanding of the thinking process of the mind and how this process creates the illusion of actions in our life. There are no actions in life, they are only thoughts. There is only one singular movement in life and since this movement is eternally ongoing it is not possible to perceive when a sepatare movement of an object or a subject begins or is ending. Everything is in an everlasting movement but the mind thinks that something stops when it interrupts its identification with this thing. When the mind sees the object again then the illusion of an action of any kind arises. There are neither actions nor any doers of actions, there is only movement in an eternal flow. This understanding is very joyful. Sometimes while reading I start laughing and the laughter is both of relief and fun.