Expert in Non-Duality (Advaita)
Oxford
Rupert Spira first came across the poetry of Rumi at the age of fifteen in 1975. Shortly afterwards he learned the Mevlevi Turning, a sacred Sufi dance of movement, prayer and meditation, at Colet House in London. Soon after this he met his first teacher, Dr. Francis Roles, who was himself a student of Shantananda Saraswati the Shankaracharya of the North of India,. Under Dr. Roles’ guidance he learned mantra meditation and was introduced to the classical system of Advaita or Non-Duality. This formed the foundation of his interest and practice for the next 25 years. A turning point in the mid 1990s led Rupert to an American teacher, Robert Adams, who died two days after he arrived. However, while visiting, Rupert was told about another teacher, Francis Lucille. Several months later Rupert met Francis. The first words Rupert heard him say were, “Meditation is a universal ‘Yes’ to everything.” Although this is the sort of phrase anyone on the spiritual circuit might come across, nevertheless it was pivotal moment in Rupert’s life. “At this moment I realized that I had arrived home, that this encounter was the flowering and fulfillment of the previous thirty years of seeking.” When Rupert asked Francis at that first meeting what to do next, he replied, “Come as often as you can.” Over the next twelve years Rupert spent all the spare time that work and family commitments would allow with Francis, exploring the sense of separation as it appears in the mind in the form of beliefs and, more importantly, how it appears in the body as feelings of being located and limited. Francis also introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmananda Krishnamenon, and the tantric approach of Kashmir Shaivism, which he had received from his teacher, Jean Klein. Of the essence of these years, Rupert writes, “The greatest discovery in life is to discover that our essential nature does not share the limits nor the destiny of the body and mind.”
