This first widely-distributed book from beloved American-born teacher Gangaji points us directly to the diamond of truth that we really are.
Written as a series of short contemplations, The Diamond in Your Pocket shows how it is effortlessly possible, regardless of circumstance, to stop the endless activity of your mind and directly experience the perfect radiance of who you really are.
Available in Bookstores everywhere in the United States.
The Diamond in Your Pocket
Discovering Your True Radiance
Gangaji
A master thief waited his whole life to acquire the most beautiful diamond in the world. When he heard it had been purchased, he spent three days trying to steal the rare jewel. He failed. Finally, the thief walked right up to the owner and asked, "How did you hide this precious jewel from me?" To which the owner replied, "I placed it where I knew you would never look-in your own pocket!" This insightful tale opens the first major book release from Gangaji, an American-born teacher who has influenced the lives of thousands of people through her public events. In her new book, The Diamond in Your Pocket, she describes our never-ending search as human beings to find fulfillment, which, paradoxically, already exists if only we will stop long enough to experience it within ourselves. Join Gangaji to learn more about:
"This book is meant for the rapidly growing number of spiritual seekers who are approaching the end of their seeking and who are ready for the undiluted truth…It is part of an evolutionary transformation of cosmic magnitude: the awakening of consciousness out of the dream of identification with form, the dream of separation. The fact that you are reading these words means that it is your destiny to be an essential part of this great adventure of collective awakening."
From the Foreward by ECKHART TOLLE, author of
The Power of Now
"In clear and powerful prose, Gangaji reminds us of the peace that is our nature and requires no search. Whether examining the roots of suffering, the place for desire in life, or "the trance of language," she points to an experience of underlying presence so effectively that it gives the reader a sense of being in the room with Gangaji herself. The book is, therefore, an invitation to join Gangaji-in presence."
CATHERINE INGRAM, author of Passionate Presence and In the Footsteps of Gandhi
"Nakedness is the profound given. When Rumi speaks of the beautiful nakedness of the soul, this is what he refers to. Gangaji, too, with such grace, gently suggests that we remember and return to the deep being we already are, beneath all clothes of our stories".
COLEMAN BARKS, author of Rumi, The Book of Love
"Gangaji is clear and sharp like a diamond and her words cut through to the heart of the matter. I heartily recommend her as a teacher to seekers interested in inquiry into reality and themselves."
LAMA SURYA DAS, author of Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be
"This book is so wonderful, I don't want to read it too quickly. I want to savor it, to breath every word into my soul. It sits by the side of my bed and I read one chapter before I go to sleep each night. What a gift."
JAMES F. TWYMAN, Peace Troubadour and author of Emissary of Light
"This is a wise and gracious book, a beautiful invitation to the awakened heart."
JACK KORNFIELD, author of A Path with Heart
"In The Diamond in Your Pocket, Gangaji reveals an age-old secret in a direct and very simple way. The reader has the opportunity to notice ensuing habitual responses of human behavior/mind, while being gracefully invited to truly experience the stopping of mind. What a powerful time we live in, where books like these are available to everyone!"
MASARU EMOTO, author of The Hidden Messages in Water
"In The Diamond in Your Pocket, Gangaji has provided us with a profound and moving book showing step-by-step how we can surrender once and for all, and experience an end to our suffering. Writing with crystal clarity, she provides, heart transmission which gives us the direct experience of the fact that the peace and love we are looking for is already within us-it is who we are!"
RUSSELL TARG, physicist, writer, and author of Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness
"With The Diamond in your Pocket, Gangaji is giving us an essential guide and exquisitely specific roadmap for living now. My copy is covered in pencil and exclamation marks and dog-ears. An everyday extremely useful and practical tool…a diamond in your pocket."
SUSAN OSBORN, Singer, recording artist, and teacher
"Sometimes someone comes along whose very words carry in them the timeless transmission of one who lives very deeply in the spiritual dimension. Such a person is Gangaji. The Diamond in Your Pocket brings to life the profound nature of who we are, inviting us into the core of our being and helping us check out the endless ways we try to search outside ourselves for happiness.
When Jesus said, 'Who has seen me, has seen the Father,' he didn't mean his body or his personality. He was referring to the Infinite One who was his deep reality and is ours, too. As I let this book touch me, I saw more clearly than ever that Jesus kept putting it back on people. When he taught, when he encountered the Pharisees, when he confronted the money changers in the temple and in his dying and his rising, his underlying purpose was to open them up to that which lies beneath all the stuff they grabbed onto for identity and security. He wanted them to share his boundless awareness, his oneness with the Father. Gangaji's lucid writing and depth of experience does that, too, putting us back on ourselves and pointing to that Oneness which lies within, love itself, which is calling us from the depths of our hearts.
I believe this book is going to be a spiritual classic, contributing powerfully to the deep shift in consciousness that is stirring in many places."
THE REV. JOHN P. GORSUCH, Episcopal priest and author of An Invitation to the Spiritual Journey
MINDCHATTER January 2006
by Marc Gilson
Seekers sometimes define themselves by their search. For many, that search — the search for peace, self-realization, healing, enlightenment — seems never-ending. We look for more insight, more information, more experience. And in the end, we find ourselves back where we started, sitting with ourselves, still looking outward and elsewhere for value, wholeness, and meaning. What's the universe trying to tell us?
If you're a Centerpointe Participant, you'll find this quote in your introductory materials:
"What we call the beginning is often the end,
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from...
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
T.S. Eliot
In The Diamond in Your Pocket, Gangaji has composed a lyrical, uncomplicated, and reflective book illustrating perfectly the spirit of Eliot's poem. For Gangaji, peace and self-awareness do not come as a result of endless, relentless searching and grasping, but rather by stopping — dead still — and becoming present to yourself and the moment. There is nothing to find or fix. Just stop, and be present. "Self-inquiry is not a path that leads you somewhere. It is the path that stops you in your tracks so that you can discover, directly, who you are."
Born Toni Roberson, Gangaji was brought up in a small Mississippi town "with all the freedom and privilege of a white child of the middle class..." Yet she was plagued by the constant feeling that "some force of darkness was surrounding me on all sides." So, like many of us, she embarked on the journey of personal discovery. In spite of the moments of joy and peace she occasionally experienced, she continued to feel as though a thread of suffering ran through it all.
"I had tried many avenues to alleviate this sense of suffering — psychotherapy, affirmations, meditation, various workshops, channelers, astrology, visualization, automatic writing, dancing, psychotropic substances, acting out all my desires, and repressing all my desires. I had tried loving myself, and I had tried hating myself."
Ultimately, she would find that the answers were not in what she was doing but in the person who was doing it. She would also find her teacher, H.W.L. Poonja, on the banks of India's Ganges River. "Papaji," as he was known to his devotees, was a huge influence on Toni's life, but not because he divulged the ultimate answers to all her questions. Rather, told her, "Do nothing, your whole problem is that you continue doing. Stop all your doing." Truth, for Gangaji, comes in stillness. Happiness comes when we slow down, stop, and tune into our true nature. It's not something you go out and "get," but rather something you find you have had all the time, like a diamond in your own pocket. Gangaji says:
"To 'stop' is to stop searching for yourself in thoughts, emotions, circumstances, or bodily images. It is that simple. The search is over when you realize that the true and lasting fulfillment you have been searching for is found to be nowhere other than right where you are. It is here."
This idea may remind some of you of another highly influential individual named Eckhart Tolle. Appropriately, Tolle wrote the Foreword to The Diamond in Your Pocket, and it's easy to see why these two individuals have so much respect for one another. They both share an obvious appreciation for calm, direct, and open communication combined with a gift for seeing the more profound truths revealed in the simplest of ideas.
One of the most appealing aspects of Gangji's approach as a teacher is that, ironically, she insists she is not on a crusade or mission, nor does she have all the answers. As she has said elsewhere, "I truly have nothing to teach you. There have been many teachers who have taught exquisite and useful codes of conduct, methods of meditation, ways of living and manifesting in the world. I am simply pointing to the stillness that is alive in the core of your being and inviting you to turn your attention to That, to let That live your life."
This attitude of "pointing to the stillness" is wonderfully reflected throughout the book. Gangaji's words cut through so much of the self-delusion prevalent in the personal growth movement today, to illuminate the power of ultimate surrender to the truth of who we are, and that we are.
Gangaji is well-known for her ability to convey tremendously potent spiritual concepts in an "unpreachy," unpretentious manner. Hers is a calm, wise, and prudent voice. She has no otherworldly expectations of her readers. She demands no unrealistic steps away from the demands and duties of our lives in order to see and experience her truths. She simply "invites" us to be still and open to ourselves. She points the way. And she describes exactly what it feels like to experience this still openness:
"There are exquisite moments when the usual meditation stops — moments of being absorbed in a lover's embrace, in the sound of beautiful music, or in the colors of a sunrise. There are moments where there is no 'you' being practiced, there is simply beingness. And in this simple beingness there are peace, insight, clarity, and naturalness, an effortless grace and ease of being."
The Diamond in Your Pocket is a gem of a book, one that deserves the attention of every true seeker. But it's especially relevant to those who sometimes wonder just how long they must run and chase after experiences of wholeness, value, and meaning when, all the time, the value is in the person reading these words, the wholeness in the stopping, and the meaning in this very moment.
The Institute of Noetic Sciences
Shift Magazine — Spring Issue 2006
by Vesela Simic
Shift's recent inquiry into the mysteries of consciousness led our editor-in-chief to wonder, "If matter follows mind, what does mind follow?" In Gangaji's recent book, she directs us to experience what happens when mind, any mind, follows a trail back to its beginning. The process of faithful, at turns unrelenting, and ultimately liberating self-inquiry, that Gangaji supports throughout The Diamond in Your Pocket leads to mind's source — the source that is also the ground of all being and the truth of who we really are. "The truth of who you are as pure consciousness, the totality of being, is infinitely deeper and vaster than any mental understanding of it," she writes. "The mind is an exquisite learning tool. But self-realization, as well as the deepest inspiration and creativity, come directly from the source of the mind."
Gangaji was so named by her teacher, Sri Poonja, a family man from Punjab whose own desire to "see God" was fulfilled in the silent gaze of Sri Ramana Maharshi, one of India's most revered sages. By the time Gangaji met Poonjaji in India in 1990, she was ready for his instruction to "stop" all the doing — all the beliefs, the searching, the excuses, all the mental activity — and in stopping, the fulfillment and peace she had sought revealed themselves to be present all along as the ground of pure, eternal being. "I saw that the truth of who I am is this beingness. This same beingness is present everywhere, in everything, visible and invisible. In this realization, there occurred a remarkable shift of attention from my story of being to the endless depth of being that had always existed underneath the story." She was free, no longer bound "by the story of 'me'!"
"I had thought that it couldn't be so simple . . . Finally, I realized that whatever I thought was always only a thought, impossible to rely on because it was subject to conditioning and disappearance. In the discovery of truth, thought could no longer be trusted. Thought could no longer be master. The previous fear of not knowing was transformed into the joy of not knowing. To not know was the opening of my mind to what could not be perceived by thought . . . What profound release!"
Upon her return to the States, Gangaji was instructed by Poonjaji to speak with others about her experience. These gatherings have grown into worldwide public meetings and retreats, from which excerpts have been edited and compiled into this book of skillfully guided self-inquiry. Each of the short, self-contained chapters serves to unravel our thinking so that we might also experience what lies beneath the surrender of our thoughts: "The only obstacle to realizing the truth of who you are is thinking who you are." Each chapter is an opportunity to see from yet another perspective how we overlook, misidentify, fear, in some way prevent ourselves from discovering directly that "we are all aspects of, points of reference for, the one essential consciousness."
Eckhart Tolle's foreword sets Gangaji's work in the context of today's collective awakening, "It is part of an evolutionary transformation of cosmic magnitude." One of the participants in IONS Research Department's Transformation Project — an investigation of the science of transformation in everyday life — Gangaji reminds us that the global crises challenging our planet make individual awakening "increasingly urgent. It is not just a good thing to do or an addition to our knapsack of experience trinkets. It is not even about some kind of personal pleasure or achievement. Awakening is essential if we are to recognize the patterns of hatred and blame that go on within our own minds and which in turn are reflected into the world . . . In your willingness to see the truth of that, to experience the horror of that, and finally to see what is forever untouched by that, you are at least one aspect of consciousness that knows itself to be free. In that living knowledge, which ignores nothing, it is possible to make yourself useful to all of life."
Science of Mind, July 2005 issue
By Yolanda Porter
This book is a true jewel in every sense. The how-to path for discovering whole, transcendent self is presented in books by a large, diverse group of authors, from gurus to celebrities. If you have found benefit in other books on this subject but still feel incomplete, try following the guidance offered in this superbly written book by Gangaji, The Diamond in Your Pocket, and you may finally find the whole truth you've been seeking.
In the introduction, Gangaji offers insight into her past and how it led her from a place of self-suffering to one of truth and self-discovery. While she grew up in the privilege of white, southern, middle class America she was privately tortured by issues within her family such as her shame over her parent's alcoholism. She shares that in her youth she felt as if she "…was involved in some huge mistake, that some force of darkness was surrounding me on all sides." The years passed; she married, had a child, and most of the trappings that are expected to lead to a life of contentment and sustained happiness, but they didn't.
Like many of us, Gangaji came to the conclusion that she needed "fixing" so she set out on the road to self-help: psychotherapy, meditation, affirmations, and many other common cures. While better for the process, the need for something more eventually led her to India and the man who she embraces as her teacher, H.W.L Poonja (Papaji).
The writing of this book arose from thirteen years of traveling and speaking to spiritual seekers around the world. Gangaji is clear that her intention with the book is not to "fix anyone or teach anything;" her invitation is that by reading the book and working with its offerings, we will directly, through our own truth, self-discover the jewel that is alive inside of us.
Her invitation for self-discovery is genuine. Beyond the introduction, her personal experiences are not focused on. Even the most inveterate seeker will appreciate the queries and insights for revealing self-truth that she suggests. While some of the chapter titles: "Searching for Happiness" or "Truth or Story" are familiar topics, they are addressed by Gangaji in a way that is unique, provoking, and hard to dismiss as "been there, done that."
With a foreword from Eckhart Tolle, a review of any length would most likely not convey the true transformational capabilities of this book.
The Clarksdale (MS) Press Register, Sunday, June 19, 2005
The Cleveland (MS) News Leader, Sunday, June 19, 2005
By Larry Liddell
Five years ago, my Clarksdale High School sweetheart was worried that no one in our class would accomplish anything on a national level, although many were successful in local, state and regional arenas.
Well, she no longer needs to worry.
One of our most popular cheerleaders has published a book that everyone can purchase at their favorite bookstore, including Barnes and Noble!
Toni Roberson, now known of course as Gangaji, has written The Diamond in your Pocket (Sounds True, Inc., $22.95), a 280-page schematic designed to help us discover our true radiance.
And, by Jove, I believe it does.
But I'm not sure.
To discover your true self, you must be willing to ask yourself several questions and to tell the truth and be willing to admit that everything about you is made up of thoughts. What you think is not necessarily who you are.
This self-inquiry does not lead you anywhere. Actually, it is the path that stops you in your tracks so that you can discover directly, for yourself, who you are, she writes.
"Who you are cannot be captured through thought," she says. "The mind cannot capture its source because the mind is only an aspect of the source, not the whole. You are the source, and since you are the source, you can discover yourself as that."
She goes on to state that "we have been taught to believe 'I think, therefore I am,' rather than the truth, which is, 'I am, therefore I think.'"
She writes of "stopping" as simply the opportunity to see that within this seemingly endless flow of thoughts, there is a choice to not follow the thoughts — which stops the mind, revealing what is here, what is silent and is always stopped.
Then, in an instant, you can recognize your true face.
Gangaji, in her wisdom, admits that thoughts can dictate the quality of human experience. When a person is in love, the world is seen as friendly, bright and lovely. But, when the heart is broken, the world is seen as dark, cold and menacing. This leads to an up and down existence.
Finding your true self, through self-inquiry, will eliminate the roller-coaster lifestyle and provide the release of finally surrendering to the truth of being.
The book is divided into four parts: (1) Discovering the truth of who you are; (2) Beyond the mind, deeper than emotion; (3) Unraveling the knot of suffering; (4) Choosing peace.
Once you have read it, the book offers you the opportunity to experience an essential part of the great adventure of collective awakening, an end to seeking the truth as to who you are, really.
But it has to be read slowly and carefully. It is not a book to be read casually or hastily. It must be absorbed into the thought process and dissected into its four parts so that the reader discovers, through the process, who he/she really is.
Toni was searching for fulfillment through relationships, career, motherhood, political activism and spiritual practice until she met Sri Poonjaji, a student of Sri Ramana Maharshi, on the banks of the Ganges River and the floodgates of self-recognition opened.
She tells me she is not a guru or the leader of any religious movement. She says she is a teacher and author who travels the world offering her teacher's invitation to fully recognize the absolute freedom and unchanging peace that is the truth of one's being.
She once told me her life was miserable when we were in high school, and when I questioned that in an earlier column, she clarified her statement, saying the misery was within her internal being and not her external self.
Whatever, her life changed forever in 1990 when she met H.W.L. Poonja, known to all as Papaji. He told her to stop; be still.
She realized quickly that he was not speaking of physical activity, but was directing her to stop all mental activity.
In the book, she shares that with the reader in such a way as to promote the beginning of the trip that will lead you to your true self.
Even if you are not looking to find your true self, the book is worth reading just to get a glimpse into the world of Gangaji, a world far different than most people experience today.
It is a peaceful existence, yet one that evokes a lot of questions. But, if you can get past the questions and stop, and be still, it is a world worth knowing about and studying.
Gangaji welcomes you to study her world. She holds meetings worldwide with millions of people just like you and me who are searching for their true self.
I don't believe the book will diminish the need for these meetings. But, I do believe the book to be a valuable tool in the search for one's true self.
At least it's a beginning.
And as our class celebrates our 45th reunion next weekend, we will all no doubt be talking about Toni, Gangaji, and the book that projects our classmate into the national literary spotlight.
Spirituality and Health
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Gangaji, born Toni Robertson, grew up in Mississippi and, like most Americans, searched high and low for meaning in relationships, career, activism, and spiritual practice. Her quest culminated in 1990 when she encountered Sri Poonjaji, a student of Sri Ramana Maharshi, on the banks of the Ganges River in India. She surrendered to her own radiant inner self and found all she needed was inside her heart. Her teacher gave her the name Gangaji. This book is comprised of a compilation of edited transcripts from her conversations in public meetings and retreats since 1990.
The book is divided into four sections: "The Invitation: Discovering the Truth of Who You Are" challenges readers to enter into the process of self-inquiry; "Beyond the Mind, Deeper than Emotion" covers the dangers and the distortions that come with seeking truth or fulfillment outside ourselves; "Unraveling the Knot of Suffering" deals with our propensity to flee from emotions and distress rather than see them as a reflection of our inner state; and "Choosing Peace" puts forward the idea that surrender to our essential self is the key to inner freedom and deep knowing.
The Diamond in your Pocket is available in bookstores everywhere in the United States. We encourage you to purchase a copy from your local bookstore. You can also order a copy on our web bookstore by clicking here.
To help people in your community discover the "diamonds in their pockets":